Heading for Whangarei - just need a co-driver

Co-drivers can prove very useful during a rally. Photo / Paul Estcourt

It is hard to believe that Rally NZ has come and gone already. It was a huge buzz to be part of the biggest motorsport event here this year.

We finished 17th overall, one place behind our best finish in 2008, second in the Production World Championship class and were fourth Kiwis home. We are now lying second in the NZ Rally Championship after two rounds and with three rounds remaining.

After a hectic start to the season we now have a six week break before our next rally - Rally Whangarei on the 3-4th July. I like the Whangarei rally as it is a compact event and very well organised.

The same team who ran Rally NZ also run the and do a fantastic job of promoting it.

Whangarei is also a round of the Asia Pacific Rally Championship, which I contested last year and finished second in. This means we will have a good number of talented overseas drivers coming to compete against us locals.

Chris Atkinson and Alister McRae - both former WRC drivers - will be driving for the Proton team in Super 2000 cars, and Katsu Taguchi and Gaurav Gill will be competing in Mitsubishis.

Unfortunately for me, my partner and co-driver Glenn has been doing the Asia Pacific Championship with Gaurav and I will need to find a replacement co driver for this event.

It isn't the easiest of vacancies to fill as the role of the co-driver is hugely important part to the success of the team. Many people don't realise the importance of a good co-driver. Along with calling the pacenotes the co-driver needs to have a good understanding of all the rules and regulations, keep time when touring between stages to ensure the team never gets any lateness penalties and in many ways be the drivers dogsbody.

Feed the driver, take the drivers helmet, hold his/her gloves, clean their windscreen, give them a towel to wipe their feet.....you get the idea!

In reality, a good co-driver can not make a good driver drive any faster than their potential, but a bad one can certainly slow a driver down. There is a huge amount of trust in the car with the driver having to believe without a shadow of a doubt that what the co-driver has called the crest in front of them is correct.

And in return the co-driver has to sound confident and continue to deliver the notes in an even delivery even if the driver is all hands and feet as they try to control the situation that they just got themselves into through not listening to the co-driver! I really take my hat off to all co-drivers....they are very brave people!!

In my next blog I will tell you about Glenn's replacement for Whangarei (in the co-driving role I mean!) and what happens when the pacenotes aren't 100 per cent right, as I experienced in Whangarei three years ago.

Till next time.

- Emma Gilmour