Rally driver admits he had no idea what co-driver was talking about

MotorNews.co.nz

MotorNews.co.nz6:32pm 25 September 2012

markfischer-rally

Top British rally driver, Mark Fischer, today found himself at the centre of a storm of controversy after confessing that he had absolutely no idea what his long-term co-driver, Gethyn Davis, was talking about during races.

It had been assumed that co-drivers were reading ‘pace notes’, a series of instructions describing how to negotiate the road layout ahead, but Fischer claims the notes are ‘total nonsense’ and that he has simply been humouring his co-driver all these years. ‘It’s just gibberish,’ he said. ‘But the regulations say that there must be two people in the car at all times during the race, and Gethyn was a good mate so I always just took him along for the ride.’

Davis is reported to be furious at Fischer’s statement and maintains that they were equal partners in the team, but Fisher has been quick to dismiss this.

‘Oh, come on,’ he said. ‘I mean, ’50 5-left and stop 2-right half minus braking into K-right 90 maybe and absolute crest 500′.  What the hell am I supposed to make of that when I’m flat out over a jump sideways at 90mph?’

This is not the first time Fischer has courted controversy over the role of co-drivers. In 2009, after finding himself without a co-driver for the Jyvaskyla Rally in Finland, he kidnapped a homeless man and forcibly strapped him into the passenger seat to ensure that the two-people-in-each-car rule was complied with. The stunt only came to light when onboard footage taken during the race revealed that rather than reading the ‘pace notes’, the Finnish co-driver was in fact screaming the words ‘Oh shit!’ over and over again, occasionally interspersed with other phrases including, ‘Watch out for that house’ and ‘Slow down, you mad bastard’.

2 Responses to Rally driver admits he had no idea what co-driver was talking about

  1. Andy C says:

    This is a joke in fact, from a British joke news site called http://www.newsbiscuit.com/ – take a look at some of the other stories on it….

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>

Super Rally introduced to NZ Rally Championship

1:20pm 8 February 2013

Lance Hastie
0

briangreen-nzrc

New Zealand’s premier rally championship will feature three competition categories for 2013, to include the number of hand-built cars…  More >

Block set to hoon on three rallies in 2013

9:08am 25 January 2013

WRC.com
0

kenblock-wrc

Ken Block is aiming to tackle three WRC rounds in 2013 as part of a busy competitive programme for…  More >

Frenchman takes another Paris Dakar win

9:34am 21 January 2013

NZ Herald
0

parisdakar-winners

Frenchmen Stephane Peterhansel and Cyril Despres successfully defended their Dakar Rally car and motorbike titles yesterday. Peterhansel, leading the race…  More >

Loeb takes seventh Rally Monte Carlo victory

9:31am 21 January 2013

WRC.com
0

sebastianloeb-wrc

A dramatic final evening of Rallye Monte-Carlo ended with the cancellation of the last two stages to enable Sebastien…  More >

Hyundai confirm WRC team details

4:42pm 13 January 2013

WRC.com
0

hyundai-wrc

Hyundai has revealed more details about its plan to return to the WRC at the highest level in 2014,…  More >

10 reasons to get excited about WRC in 2013

9:31am 3 January 2013

WRC.com
0

wrc-citroen

With the start of the 2013 FIA World Rally Championship just around the corner, WRC.com looks ahead to the…  More >

RACE COUNTDOWN

NZV8

Manfield Round 3

V8 SuperTourers

Hampton Downs Motorsport Park Round 1

  • Latest story comments

  • Latest forum comments

  • "));
    Newsletter icon

    Get the latest motorsport news delivered to your inbox