How do I interpret rally pace notes?

Question

This applies probably much more broadly than to DiRT 3 only, but what do all the pace notes my co-driver provides mean? (Left|Right) [1-6]|"Hairpin" is easy enough to understand, along with the literal "keep left", "near house", but there are random numbers mixed in and other more abstract directions.

Answer 1

The general structure of pace notes is designed to inform the driver about the conditions of the course ahead in a shorthand fashion.

Most commonly they encode the distance to the next turn, the direction of the next turn, and the severity of the next turn. So a pace note might be "100, 5 Left" - which might mean "100 meters ahead is a severity 5 turn to the left." Higher severity in the DiRT 3 pacenotes indicates that the turn is shallow, and can be taken at a higher speed/gear.

Pace note structure and format varies, as it's essentially a form of rapid-fire communication between the driver and co-driver. Part of that is what's written on the page, and part of that is how the co-driver reads what's written.

Some common elements of several systems I researched:

• "Down" and "Up" for downhill and uphill
• Don't Cut or D/C - don't cut the corner, there's a hazard/dropoff.
• Flat - go full throttle, or flat out
• Square - a 90 degree bend (oversquare being more than 90 degrees)

If there's a specific term that's tripping you up, let me know and I'll try to find a specific reference for it.