Team talk: Pace notes explained.

It's well known that top WRC drivers need accurate pace-notes in order to win - but it's not just as simple as telling them which way to go. Look at a co-driver's notes on paper and they look like hieroglyphics. Hear them read out and instructions like 'left tightens', 'right plus' and 'over crest into short' don't make much sense either. So here Petter Solberg's co-driver Phil Mills translates a bit of the language that's used by professional rally drivers and co-drivers...

Pace notes from Acropolis Rally 2004: SS4 / SS7 Pavliani:

1. Start, 30, Keep left over a crest into short 4 right plus opens, 60, crest and 6 right plus and don't cut short 6 left minus.

2. 60, line into 2 right minus over a bump tightens to a hairpin over a ditch.

3. Into 6 left long opens over a crest, 30, 6 right into 3 left plus long don't cut tightens to 1, into a short 1 right plus and short 2 left minus tightens at junction (junction 2 at 0.6kms) 20.

Translation:

1. Start, drive 30 metres then keep left over a crest into a fast fourth gear right-hand corner, accelerate for 60 metres to a crest, then stay in the middle of the road for a sixth gear left hand corner in half throttle.

2. Drive 60 metres, keep to the left hand side of the road for a second-gear right-hand corner, which tightens very badly over a bump, at the same time brake hard for a hairpin over a drainage ditch.

3. Accelerate flat out into a sixth-gear long, left-hand corner over a crest, drive 30 metres then into a sixth gear right-hand corner, brake hard for a third gear left-hand corner in half throttle. Stay in the middle of the road for their are some bad rocks on the inside, and then brake as it tightens to first-gear, immediately changing direction into a fast, first-gear right-hand corner. Then accelerate into a second-gear left-corner past a junction (junction No 2 in the road book at 0.6 Kms), carry on for 20 metres.