Pacenote systems in use among WRC drivers

[Sulland]

There are different pacenote systems, some with numbers some with words, and combinations of several systems.

Some drivers like a lot of info, some less to understand what lies ahead, and drive accordingly.
Petter Solberg liked a lot of info, Meeke the same, some others are happy just with a number for distance, and one for how sharp the coming corner is.

What systems are the ones the WRC and WRC2 drivers prefer?

[ESTR]

Meeke clearly like the sound of: "Jesus Christ Meeke"

[Duvel]

Regarding co drivers and there work, i still have some questions.
Do crews on wrc events have 1 or 2 recce passes?
Does a co driver use a book given by the organisation, whit notes provided by organisation, or do they use own book. And is this recce book the same as the rally notes book used during the actual rally.
How do they messure the distance to the next corner?

I've been a rally fan for 15 years, but never really known that stuf..

[Essaj]

2 passes. Crews get a recce road book which helps them to follow the stage with all the junctions, possible chicanes etc.
All the notes will be written to clean sheet of paper unless they have the notes from the previous years when they only do changes if/when needed.
Recce cars have GPS trackers which can be used to measure the distance from corner to corner but usually atleast the drivers I know only use it for longer straights if at all.
GPS tracker is more important when navigating with the road book to get to and on the stages.

[PLuto]

Recce cars have GPS trackers which can be used to measure the distance from corner to corner but usually atleast the drivers I know only use it for longer straights if at all.

Usually pacenotes says what the driver see. It has no sense to measure the distance according to any tracker as during the rally driver has no time to follow any tracker. It is also not important if that distance is in reality 300 m or 500 m. It is more important that driver knows how far it is according to his eyes and brain.

[PLuto]

More details you can find on internet, for example here: https://www.reddit.com/r/rally/comments/4ok4rc/basic_guide_to_pace_notes/

[KKS]

Usually pacenotes says what the driver see. It has no sense to measure the distance according to any tracker as during the rally driver has no time to follow any tracker. It is also not important if that distance is in reality 300 m or 500 m. It is more important that driver knows how far it is according to his eyes and brain.
WRC have a trip meter very often using in fog or low visibility weather. So 500meters it's a 500meters anyway. And if driver see that 500m as 300m in notes it will be 300m. And according to trip meter he try to turn after first 300m, but here is another 200m of straight. So actual distances very important.

PS 500m and 300m it's a HUGE difference

[dupanton]

WRC have a trip meter very often using in fog or low visibility weather. So 500meters it's a 500meters anyway. And if driver see that 500m as 300m in notes it will be 300m. And according to trip meter he try to turn after first 300m, but here is another 200m of straight. So actual distances very important.

PS 500m and 300m it's a HUGE difference

Only once I noticed on an onboard a codriver who was really using the trip meter. It was Gilsoul in Monte Carlo on a long straight, counting down the meters to the next junction. But that is very rare and almost never necessary.
Most drivers estimate the distance, and there is no problem with that as in 99,9% of the cases, the distance is relatively short or you have a visual reference where the corner is. It's more usefull to say the junction is "at the big tree", than to rely on the distance.

[AnttiL]

I think last year many drivers relied on the distances on Los Gigantes in Argentina in the fog. And Järveoja also does the countdown often.

[Hartusvuori]

I think last year many drivers relied on the distances on Los Gigantes in Argentina in the fog. And Järveoja also does the countdown often.

At long straights you can often hear description like "braking starts at the bush" or "brake at the road sign" - that doesn't help much in a fog, though. Distances stay the same in any condition.

[PLuto]

Here you can find system of pacenotes on paper from one czech crew :)

https://scontent.fprg1-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/49848457_1144716362359342_3060740647435632640_n.jp g?_nc_cat=103&_nc_ht=scontent.fprg1-1.fna&oh=8d55784741e9e931254f47d2b2dd0f01&oe=5CCBA611

[AnttiL]

One thing that puzzles me with the old descriptive notes, what does the K stand for in a K left/right? Someone says the bend should resemble the lines of the letter K but...which ones of them?

[denkimi]

At long straights you can often hear description like "braking starts at the bush" or "brake at the road sign" - that doesn't help much in a fog, though. Distances stay the same in any condition.
Sure that works in fog or other difficult conditions. Unless the fog is that thick that you can't see the side of the road, but they will most likely cancel a stage in such conditions.

The only time where the real distance matters is in long straights in fog or dust when there are completely no recognizable points along the track. But there's almost always something that can be used like: "break 100m behind big tree".

Usually neither the pilot or the copilot has the time too look at the tripmaster all the time.

[Essaj]

One thing that puzzles me with the old descriptive notes, what does the K stand for in a K left/right? Someone says the bend should resemble the lines of the letter K but...which ones of them?

Pretty sure K is used because it's short and easily recognizable from any other note, and not because the corner reminds of K :)

[Barreis]

Antony Warmbold explained modern system with angles somewhere here. he has it on his blog, i think