Please introduce the knowledge of road reporting in rally competitions

/thread-17698249-1-1.html Here is the complete interpretation of the road report. The embarrassing leader-the car rally pilot

When the car performance tends to a level, then What will compete next will be the skills of the drivers; when the car performance on the rally field and the competitive level of the drivers are close, the role of the navigator will become crucial, but how far away is this day?

Speaking of the status of the navigator in the Chinese Rally, many people will think that it is just a very inconspicuous and subordinate supporting role. In fact, this is indeed the case. The name and role of the navigator are often overlooked or even ignored. . The most optimistic estimate is that among the car crews currently racing in domestic rally competitions, less than half of them have navigators who can actually play a role!

The pilot reads the newspaper to the drivers to relieve their boredom

Nowadays, the domestic rally competition is so popular, but there is very little attention to the pilot. I once heard a joke like this: An audience member asked what a rally pilot does? Answer: "The pilot is to apply the brakes for the driver." Everyone present burst into laughter. Later, there were a series of joke versions such as "the pilot reads the newspaper to the driver to relieve his boredom" and so on. The former may be due to a lack of understanding of rally racing, but the latter shows a lack of emphasis on piloting.

Pilot, as the name suggests, means guiding the direction. The navigator in the rally is naturally established to guide the driving route for the drivers and ensure excellent results in the competition. A racing car usually consists of a driver and a navigator, who are collectively called a crew. "Both crew members can drive the car in a rally, and they must hold a competition driving license that meets the requirements of the event" ("Domestic Rally Competition General Rules"). Before the race, the navigator should assist the driver in surveying the track conditions, making a road book, and recording every slope, pit, and curve in detail on the track; he is responsible for leading the race during the game, reading the road book aloud, and choosing the appropriate time. Inform the driver of the road conditions ahead; in some cross-country rally events, the navigator needs to use GPS to guide the driver in the direction of travel, such as the famous Dakar Rally. Due to work needs, the author has acted as a "pilot" and entered the track to survey the road conditions, and has "experience" in the work of a pilot. Because it had just rained that time, the track was still a bit muddy. Entering the stage, the road was narrow and there were many forks... These are things that the road book cannot reflect. A true pilot must record these in great detail. In addition, the pilot must also record the total mileage and segment mileage of the car, pay attention to the competition situation at all times, keep in touch with the team, and always observe parameters such as fuel volume, water temperature, engine oil temperature, speed, etc., and show the competition to the referee. Add cards from time to time and so on. It was getting late when we came out of the track. This experience made me understand the position and role of the navigator in the rally.

I hope piloting is no longer a joke

The road sections of rallies often range from hundreds to thousands of kilometers, and the distance traveled in the Dakar Rally even exceeds 10,000 kilometers. The co-driver often plays a key role in the performance of the driver, and sometimes even determines the fate of his own team. A good navigator is often accompanied by champagne, trophies, flowers, and applause, but sometimes the navigator's mistakes can cause the driver to run off the track, or even be canceled by the organizing committee. In the 2002 National Auto Rally Shanghai Station, due to a pilot error, driver Chen Shaoquan once drove the car on the wrong route. It was a pity that the team's overall result was canceled by the organizing committee. Without a pilot, not only will the driver easily lose his way, but complicated road conditions will more easily lead to damage to the car and withdrawal from the race, making it impossible to compete for the championship. At this point, there is no need to say more about the role of piloting. I hope that the joke at the beginning of the article will never happen again, and I also hope that more people will understand racing and the piloting of rally races.

The real role of a navigator

Full-time navigators are rare in domestic competitions, but full-time female navigators like Deng Baolian (Chen Zihua’s wife) who navigates Chen Zihua are very rare. This is rare, because the pilot and the driver must have a tacit understanding to cooperate well. Currently, there is no specialized navigator course in China, and the training in this area is still blank.

When the level of domestic drivers reaches the same level, the role of pilots will emerge. But as far as the current actual situation is concerned, that day is very far away, because the level of participating drivers is uneven, and the participating cars are good. The difference is different. In this case, the competition seems to be just the performance of the car. When the performance of the car tends to the same level, the next thing to compete will be the driver's technology. When the performance of the car on the rally field and the competitive level of the driver When approaching, the role of the navigator becomes crucial at this time, but how far away is this day?

PS: This article is quite old and was published in "China Machinery" magazine in July 2004. Many situations are changing. Suddenly I found this article of my own, and I feel it is still necessary to mention that Linghang’s status in the country has not changed. In my daily racing work, whenever I mention a certain driver, I always refer to it as a team. I will never talk about the driver alone without mentioning the co-driver, because they are a "participating unit" that no one can do without. who. Road book and its production

Since each stage of the rally is different (sometimes there are several roads with different conditions in one stage), and there are many curves and various conditions that hinder high-speed driving, therefore, The first task of the navigator is to cooperate with the driver to carefully record and organize the road book, so as to provide detailed, accurate and fast information to the driver when the competition officially begins. Usually, when the crew members officially report to the organizing committee, they will receive a road book for the entire race (ranging from two to three volumes, one for each stage). However, the above road book can generally only be used for reference instructions on the driving section. As for the special road sections (racing sections), it is impossible to be too specific due to length and other reasons. Therefore, in fact, most of the car crews discarded the beautifully printed road books issued by the conference. Fortunately, two days before the start of the official event, the conference will arrange for participating vehicles to conduct a road survey for all stages. Therefore, the crew must carefully seize this opportunity to re-verify or make a road book (the act of privately surveying the road before the event - no matter what method is used, may be punished by the arbitration committee). The production of the road book usually looks like this : During the road survey process, the driver dictates the instructions from the starting point, and the navigator records them in the book. The recorded content includes the direction of the curve (also called the turning angle), the length of the curve, the width of the road surface, and the conditions before and after the curve. Distances, hazard reminders, reference signs, acceleration and deceleration reminders, and various conditions that may impede driving. The curvature of a curve is usually expressed numerically. The larger the camber, the smaller the value. This is also the current road book recording format issued by the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA). But this is not absolute. Some riders are used to making road books in the opposite way (that is, the larger the value, the bigger the bend). In short, these are not hard and fast rules. It depends on personal habits. What method should be used for road books? It doesn’t matter how you record or report. What matters is the tacit understanding established between the pilot and the driver and the degree of mutual understanding. The following is a section of the road book for a certain stage in a certain event. It specifically represents the following road conditions: a left 4-degree bend is followed by a right 5-degree bend. After the bend, there is a straight line of about 150 meters (you can use gas to speed up) , after this 150-meter road, you have to pass a small bridge. After the bridge, there is a 3-degree right bend and then a 50-meter straight road. Go up a small slope. After the slope, there is a long left 5-degree bend. After the bend, there is a 100-meter straight route. The navigator can read the route book like this: "Left 4 plus right 5" "150 across the bridge" "Right 3 50" "Left 5 100 after the slope". Speaking of road books, British Prodrive coach Tony Green also briefly introduced some of the methods they are currently using: "The FCACA No. 1 car uses a new system that was determined after running in several games, that is, using different numbers to refer to different Use numbers 1 to 10. The fastest corner is 10. If it is 3, it is a right-hand corner and the driver will pass it in second gear. The number 1 represents a turnaround. Here the driver needs to pass in first gear. We also accurately measure the distance between each corner and record various road conditions, such as sections that can be passed at full speed, sections with jumps, and dangerous sections (corners). There are stones on the inside, or there are holes in the front, etc.).

"It is certainly not easy to make an accurate road book, so you should pay attention to do some exercises when you have the opportunity. And your experience in reporting road books will continue to grow with the number of times you participate. Over time, you will become the same as your regular driver. One person can form his own roadmap and reporting system