Navigating the Mayo Stages Rally

DRIVE TO SURVIVE  Our columnist Ger Flanagan (right, navigating) is pictured in action with driver Colm Connor during the Mayo Stages Rally last week.  Pic: Ciara Buckley


The way I see it
Ger Flanagan

I received an awful lot of texts two weeks ago in the build-up to the Mayo Stages Rally wondering if it was actually ‘yours truly’ who was named as a navigator in car 131?
My reply to confirm that it was indeed this ‘Ger Flanagan’ who would be taking part in the Rally for the first time was met with surprise in most cases.
“How did you end up as a navigator in a rally? And why on earth would you do that?” were the most common questions I was asked.
Well, I ended up in the navigator seat after my Balla GAA team-mate Colm Connor asked me to join him over a few pints one night. He has driven numerous rallies across the country in the past and is no stranger to the scene, but his former navigator (and brother), James, is now Down Under.
After selling his first rally car a couple of years back, Colm made another purchase recently and, like a lot of rally enthusiasts, had an itch to scratch after lockdown.
A few pints deep, I jumped at the opportunity, oblivious and not thinking too deeply about the difficulties of the task ahead, or the risk!
I liked the idea and decided there and done that I was doing it.
My nearest and dearest would have appreciated a heads-up, or at least a conversation about me doing it. But it was an experience I wanted to pursue and I’d made my mind up.

Race Weekend
AFTER signing up to the Mayo Motorsport Club and getting my navigator’s licence, the next task was the ‘recce’ around the route on the Saturday before Sunday’s rally.
This is when racers get to scout the routes before the race. It’s done in a road car and the roads are still open to the public, but it gives driver and navigator the opportunity to familiarise yourself with the pace notes.
Nowadays, drivers and navigators just buy the pace notes instead of making their own and Killian Duffy made a fine job of them this year. It makes the navigator’s job a lot easier and puts you at ease as opposed to having to make them yourself.
In the days leading up to Saturday, I had been practicing my pace note reading, understanding all the abbreviations and trying to get a natural flow to my reading. I also made a call to an experience navigator called Martin Flynn, who was entering alongside Castlebar’s Gerry Casey. Martin’s tips and pointers made things clearer.
One thing people may not be  aware of is that navigators do much more than just reading the road ahead for your driver. The navigator has to ensure the drivers line up in time leaving the service area, arriving to stages on time, and fill out the time card, along with reading a roadmap for the routes between stages.
Those tasks alone are much more difficult than the rallying itself.

Lights Out
IT was a 6.30am start on race day, with the safety briefing at 7.30am.
We weren’t due out until around 9.30am for the first stage, but it ended up being well after 10am as a crash on Stage 1 meant it was cancelled and we went straight to Stage 2.
That hit the nerves a bit more too!
Thankfully, the weather was fabulous and the crowds were big.
So by the time we hit the start line the anxiousness to get going was at boiling point.
You’re strapped in to the point where only your arms can really move, but as you’re watching the lights go out, you’re feeling as alive as you have ever been.
Despite the emotion, the cockpit is actually quite a calm place. With the helmet on and microphones plugged in, it’s a very calm and intimate experience between driver and navigator.
Mind you corners come thick and fast – so quick that before you know it you’re at the finish line.
In terms of reading the notes, and keeping the tempo in line with the speed of Colm’s driving, I felt I did really well. Once you get the knack of keeping track of where you are from notes to road, glancing up at the right times and keeping focused, you get in the groove very quickly.
The sooner you forget that you’re in a rally car and not a road car the better as well, but the second you lose concentration of the road then you might miss a crucial call.
I’m proud to report I didn’t get lost on my notes once.
It’s also not the speed that gets you, it’s more the braking – it’s incredibly aggressive and incredibly late.
Some times I would glance up as we were coming flat out to a chicane, or a 90 degree turn, and my inner voice, informed by every part of my survival instincts, is screaming at Colm to brake!
But the force of the brakes, and the grip on the tyres, is astonishing.
Something else that is astonishing is hitting a jump at over 100mph and feeling the car flying through the air for a few seconds before landing hard. Or going flat out over a blind crest not knowing what on earth is on the other side, but having full commitment that your notes are right.
That’s a feeling nothing else in life will ever be able to recreate.
There’s a certain level of fearlessness that goes with doing this sport too.
I was pleasantly surprised with myself about how calm I felt during the experience. Much of that too was down to Colm’s brilliant piloting skills, which just got sharper and sharper as the day went on.
Rally drivers are a different breed of people.
It’s also down to how surprisingly safe and secure you feel in the car with all the stringent safety procedures. Not to mention how meticulous the preparation is from the organisers’ point of view.
The Mayo Motorsport Club gets the height of praise in that department. The sheer scale of running an operation like that rally really blew my mind.
There’s also the money!
Rallying is a rich man’s game and we were lucky to have some great local sponsors on the day – Branded Castlebar, Emmet Flanagan of Hemi Race, Michael O’Connor of Dent Reflect and ABS Mechanical Services.
In terms of a result, we had no expectations other than getting the car home.
So we started off slowly as Colm got the feel for the machine, but by day’s end he was in serious form and we ended up outpacing our class winner in the last three stages and finished a very respectable third.
Shout out to fellow Belcarra native Barry Cuffe and his navigator Michael Loughney, who won their class well in their Mark II Escort.
Now I can say for sure I’ve got the bug for rallying.
I’ve already decided that if (and when) I win the lotto I will be buying a rally car.
Oh, and Colm and I are currently looking into our next event!
Watch this space!