Glossary
What the co-driver is actually saying
Watch any onboard and the co-driver is talking almost constantly, in what sounds like code. It is code, and it is learnable. Here is how a call is built, what the numbers mean, and why two crews can read the same corner completely differently.
Every symbol
What each mark on the page means, and how corners chain together with into, tightens and opens.
Systems compared
Australia, the US, New Zealand and Britain — and why the same mark can mean different things.
How a call is built
Every call answers three things in order: how far away it is, which way it goes and how hard it is, and anything that changes how you take it. Strung together at speed it comes out as one continuous instruction, delivered a few seconds ahead of where the car actually is.
“One hundred, 4 right tightens into 2 left, don’t cut, over crest”
- One hundred
- A hundred metres of nothing before it starts.
- 4 right
- A fairly quick right-hander.
- tightens
- It closes up partway through. Do not commit early.
- into 2 left
- Straight into a much slower left, no straight between.
- don’t cut
- Something on the inside will break the car.
- over crest
- A rise hides the exit and the car goes light.
The 1 to 6 scale, with pluses and minuses
This is the system we call in our car, and the one you can hear on every stage on the onboard channel. The number grades how hard the corner is: a 1 is barely above a hairpin, a 6 is nearly flat.
| Call | What it looks like | What you do |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Barely above a hairpin.Hard on the brakes, first or second, big steering input. | Hard on the brakes, first or second, big steering input. |
| 2 | Very tight.Heavy braking and a real direction change. | Heavy braking and a real direction change. |
| 3 | Tight to medium.Committed brake, clear turn-in, back on the power on exit. | Committed brake, clear turn-in, back on the power on exit. |
| 4 | Medium-fast.A lift, or the lightest brush of brake. | A lift, or the lightest brush of brake. |
| 5 | Fast.A lift at most. You are carrying most of the speed through. | A lift at most. You are carrying most of the speed through. |
| 6 | Nearly flat.A breath off the throttle, often nothing at all. | A breath off the throttle, often nothing at all. |
Then the pluses and minuses
Six numbers is not enough resolution for a real road, so each one takes a plus or a minus. That turns six grades into eighteen without adding a single new word to learn.
- 4+
- Quicker than a 4, not quite a 5. Take a shade more speed in.
- 4−
- Tighter than a 4, not as slow as a 3. Get a bit more off before turn-in.
It is also why you hear “four plus” rather than “four and a half”. At speed the co-driver needs the shortest sound that cannot be misheard, and a single syllable on the end of the number does that.
Why other crews call it differently
There is no universal scale. Plenty of systems run the numbers the other way, so a 1 is the fast one. Others drop numbers entirely and use words — square, hairpin, acute, fast. Commercial stage-note providers each have a house style. None of it is wrong; it only matters that the two people in the car agree, which is why a co-driver handed somebody else’s notes spends the week before an event learning them rather than just reading them.
The modifiers that matter
The number gets you roughly the right speed. These are what stop you crashing.
- tightens
- The corner gets sharper partway through. Brake later at your peril.
- opens
- It unwinds — you can get on the power earlier than the entry suggests.
- long
- The corner holds for a while rather than being a single turn-in.
- don’t cut
- Stay off the inside. There is something there that will break the car.
- cut
- The inside is safe and quicker. Permission, not an instruction.
- into
- The next thing follows immediately with no straight between.
- and
- Two things joined, taken as one movement.
- over crest
- A rise hides the road beyond, and the car may go light over it.
- over jump
- The car will leave the ground. Usually paired with a landing instruction.
- keep in / keep out
- Hold a side of the road, often because of camber, a drop or oncoming ruts.
- caution / care
- Something here has caught people out. Slow down and look.
- bumpy / rough
- The surface will move the car around mid-corner.
Roadbooks and tulips are a different thing
People searching for “rally symbols” usually mean tulip diagrams, and those belong to a roadbook rather than to pace notes. A tulip is a small pictogram of a junction: a dot marks where you arrive, an arrow marks where you leave, and the other roads out of the junction are drawn in so you can tell which one to take.
A roadbook is a column of those against cumulative distances. It tells you where to go and says nothing about how fast. That is the whole difference: on a blind rally the roadbook keeps you on the right road and the corners are yours to read as they arrive.
The name comes from the Dutch Tulip Rally, where the notation was first used.
Go and listen to it
Reading a scale only gets you so far. Every stage we run goes up uncut on the onboard channel, notes and all — pick a tarmac stage, where the calls come fastest, and follow along.
Common questions
What do the numbers in rally pace notes mean?
They grade how tight a corner is. In our system a 1 is barely above a hairpin and a 6 is nearly flat out, and each number takes a plus or a minus to nudge it — a 4+ is a shade quicker than a 4, a 4− a shade tighter. That turns six grades into eighteen. There is no single universal scale, though: some systems run the numbers the other way and some use words instead, so a crew has to know which convention their notes use.
What does "don't cut" mean in rally?
It warns the driver not to take the inside line across the apex, because something there will damage the car — a rock, a ditch, a drain or a stump. It is one of the highest-value calls a co-driver makes, because cutting is fast right up until it ends your rally.
What is the difference between pace notes and a roadbook?
Pace notes describe how to drive the road, corner by corner, at speed. A roadbook only tells you which way to go: tulip diagrams of each junction against cumulative distances. A blind rally gives you a roadbook and no pace notes at all.
Do all rallies use pace notes?
No. Many Australian club rallies run blind, with a roadbook and no notes, and some events ban reconnaissance outright. Where notes are used they are either written by the crew on a recce or supplied by the organiser or a commercial stage-note provider.