Blind crests in a rally car: combine pace notes, recce and speed in stages, what trust really means and why training happens only on closed ground.
The honest answer: You take a blind crest without seeing what comes behind it. That works only because you wrote it down and scouted it beforehand and because your co-driver calls the information at the right time. "Trust in the call" therefore does not mean believing but: you have checked, and you stick to the check.
And here is the part almost nobody tells you up front: there is no study that shows how best to learn crests in a rally car or what speed is safe. We therefore name no speeds. What is supported is the strain: in a survey of 13 professional and 105 amateur rally competitors, complaints of the lumbar spine (70 percent), cervical spine (54 percent), shoulders (47 percent) and thoracic spine (36 percent) were most common; co-drivers complained more often about the neck (62 percent) than drivers (46 percent) [1]. That is a reminder that every crest that makes the car land hard hits the body.
All moves below are coaching practice and carry no source number.
Realistically: this is an intermediate skill with high risk. It depends on the pace notes (see the guides on pace notes on gravel and at professional level) and is built up only in stages.
Drive the stage slowly before the event and write down every crest: how steep, how far is the view behind it, what follows? Note only what you have seen and mark what is uncertain.
Milestone: For every crest in the notes it says what comes behind it.
Set up your own simple scale, for instance "flat", "clear" and "blind with consequence". What matters is that you both use the same scale. Which terms these are is team agreement, not a standard.
Milestone: Your co-driver and you grade the same crest the same way.
Drive the crests first at low speed so that you see how the car behaves. If the notes do not fit, you correct them before you get faster.
Milestone: You drive all crests in training without a surprise.
Raise the speed only as far as the notes carry you. On a blind crest you drive only what you have scouted and written beforehand. Whoever "just trusts" here leaves the safe area.
Milestone: Three steps higher than at the start without a crest that surprises you.
Discuss after each run: which crest felt different from what you thought? Add to the notes. That is how trust becomes experience.
Milestone: You have changed at least one note in the pace notes.
Write into the notes not only the crest but also how you recognise it: "tree left, then crest". A visible object before it gives you an anchor in case you miss the call. That is coaching practice, there is no study on it. Driver and co-driver should both know the object, otherwise it does not help.
A crest behind which you cannot see the road. You take it according to pace notes that you scouted beforehand and with your co-driver's call.
We name no number because it depends on car, crest and surface. You raise the speed in stages and only as far as your notes carry you.
Complaints of the lumbar spine are common among rally drivers: 70 percent of respondents named them, for the neck 54 percent [1]. Crests and jumps set the car down hard.
No. On public roads, races and grossly reckless driving are punishable under section 315d of the German Criminal Code [2]. Practise on closed-off, permitted stages.
Yes, you need a co-driver with whom you speak the same language. The regulations of your series tell you what is allowed for beginners.
Jumps in a Rally Car: Jumping Flat and Short – What Is Behind It and Why It Is Not a Beginner Topic