Pace notes explained: the complete rally guide

Updated: 2026-09-30 · 8 min read

Pace notes (also written pacenotes) are the co-driver's description of a special stage: every corner, crest, junction and hazard, written in shorthand during reconnaissance and read aloud to the driver while the car is at full speed. They are the reason rally drivers can commit to roads they have only driven twice, slowly, a few days earlier.

What are pace notes?

A rally is won on special stages: sections of closed public road driven against the clock, one car at a time. Crews may not practise these roads at speed. Instead, during the recce (reconnaissance) the driver and co-driver drive the stage at legal speed and build their own map of it in words. That map is the pace notes.

A single note usually tells the driver four things:

• Direction: left or right.
• Severity: how fast the corner can be taken, usually as a number.
• Shape and modifiers: whether the corner is long, tightens, opens, has a crest in it, or should not be cut.
• What comes next: a distance to the next feature, or a link word such as into or and when features follow each other closely.

A typical call sounds like: "100 left 4 long, tightens, into right 2, don't cut." That means: in 100 metres there is a medium-fast left corner that is long and gets tighter towards the exit, followed immediately by a slow right where the driver must not cut the inside because of a ditch, rock or other hazard.

Pace notes are different from the road book. The road book is issued by the organiser to every crew and uses standard diagrams ("tulips") and distances to describe the route, including road sections between stages. Pace notes are personal: written by each crew, in their own language and system, describing how fast the road can be driven.

A short history

Detailed route notes were used long before modern rallying. Two frequently cited early examples are Karl Kling and Hans Klenk, who won the 1952 Carrera Panamericana with the help of notes, and Stirling Moss, who won the 1955 Mille Miglia with journalist Denis Jenkinson reading notes from a roll of paper. Since then pace notes have become universal in stage rallying, from national club events to the World Rally Championship (WRC).

Corner severity scales

There is no single official system. Every crew uses the scale the driver is comfortable with, and the co-driver adapts to it. The most common approaches are:

Whatever the system, a few words sit outside the number range because they describe a shape, not just a speed:

• Square: roughly a 90° corner, typically at a junction.
• Hairpin: a corner that turns back on itself, close to 180°.
• Flat or flat out: a kink that can be taken without lifting.

Many crews also add + or − to fine-tune a grade ("4 plus" is a little faster than a 4). The key rule is consistency: a 4 must always feel like a 4, on the first stage and on the last.

Common pace note calls

Beyond direction and severity, notes use a compact vocabulary. The table lists calls used by many English-speaking crews; exact words vary between crews and countries.

How crews write notes on recce

Pace notes are created during the recce. In the World Rally Championship the rules allow crews two passes over each special stage, in normal traffic and at road-legal speed, with speed checked by GPS tracking. The usual workflow is:

1. First pass: writing. The driver calls each feature as it appears ("left 4 long, don't cut"), and the co-driver writes it down in shorthand, together with distances from the trip meter.
2. Second pass: checking. The co-driver reads the notes back as if it were the stage, and the driver corrects grades, adds cautions and fixes anything that felt wrong.
3. Review. In the evening the crew goes through the notes again, often with onboard video from the recce car or from previous years, to clean up the book before the rally.

Shorthand is personal. A left 4 may be written as an arrow and a number, a crest as a small arch, a caution as "!". What matters is that the co-driver can read it instantly while being thrown around the cabin.

How co-drivers read notes at speed

Reading is a skill in its own right. Good co-drivers:

• Read ahead, but not too far. The driver needs the next corner early enough to prepare, but not so early that it is forgotten before it arrives.
• Keep a rhythm. The tone and speed of voice carry information: fast sections are read quickly, cautions are stressed.
• Always know where they are. Co-drivers cross-check notes with the trip meter and landmarks, so they can recover instantly if the car goes off line or a note is missed.
• Stay calm. The voice on the intercom is the driver's reference in the car. If something goes wrong, a clear, steady call helps more than anything else.

Gravel crews, ice notes and safety notes

Road conditions change between recce and the rally. At top level, teams use gravel note crews (called ice note crews on winter events such as Rallye Monte-Carlo or Rally Sweden). They drive the stages shortly before the competitors and update the notes with fresh information: new ruts, moved stones, ice patches or cut lines. The competing crew then adds those updates to its own book.

Organisers of some events also issue safety notes that highlight known dangers for everyone, such as a bad junction or a spot where cars have crashed before.

Common mistakes with pace notes

• Inconsistent grading. A corner called 4 on Friday and a similar one called 5 on Saturday destroys trust in the notes.
• Too much detail. Notes that try to describe everything cannot be read in time. The best books are precise but economical.
• Missing distances. Without distances the driver cannot judge how long a straight is before the next braking point.
• Grading at recce speed. A corner feels very different at 60 km/h than at competition speed. Experienced drivers learn to "imagine" the stage speed.
• No calibration. If the trip meter is not calibrated to the organiser's road book, distances drift through the stage.

Digital pace notes and RecceLab

Paper and pencil are still standard in the car, but more and more crews prepare, check and practise their notes digitally. RecceLab is a browser-based tool built for this:

• Recce with GPS. Enter notes on a keypad during recce; each note is tied to its GPS position.
• Draft notes from a GPX track. Generate a first draft of corners and severities from a route file, clearly marked as an estimate to be checked on the road.
• Studio. Synchronise your notes with onboard video (YouTube or a local file) and practise reading them in time with the car.
• Works offline and in 16 languages.

Always check the regulations of your event for which devices are allowed during recce and in the competition car.

Frequently asked questions

Why do rally drivers need pace notes?

Stages are long (in the WRC most are somewhere between about 10 and 30 km) and run on roads the driver does not know well. At competition speed there is no time to see a corner and react; the notes tell the driver what is behind the next crest before it can be seen.

Which pace note system is the best?

None is objectively best. The best system is the one the driver understands instantly and the crew uses consistently. Beginners often start with a simple 1–6 scale and a small set of modifiers.

Can I use someone else's notes?

In most international rallies crews write their own notes on recce. Some national championships supply organiser-produced notes to all competitors to reduce costs. Check the regulations of the event.

What is the difference between pace notes and a road book?

The road book is the official route description issued by the organiser. Pace notes are the crew's own, much more detailed description of how to drive each special stage.