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Introduction

International Rally Co-drivers Rory Kennedy, Gordon Noble and I share some advice, tips and strategies gained over 40 years of competing on well over 1,000 car rallies between us.
We came up with 16 detailed actions, which if followed could make big improvements not only in your rallying, but a lot of them are equally relevant in other sports, business and life in general.

Rory Kennedy

Rory is from Letterkenny in Donegal, seen by many as the mecca of Irish rallying. He started out at the same time as me in 1979. We met very shortly after that and have been great friends ever since. Rory worked his way up the co-driving ladder to become Irish hero Bertie Fisher’s full-time co-driver in 1990.
Together they won 4 Irish Tarmac Rally Championships, with 19 major international wins along the way, in a partnership that lasted 15 years.
He then spent two years competing regularly alongside Alistair Ginley in the World Rally Championship with some top ten finishes.
Next up, he became a double British Rally Champion with Mark Higgins to close of the first part of his career.
The second part is ongoing, where he regularly competes with Garry Jennings, the highlight of which was a win on his home event, the Donegal International Rally.

Gordon Noble

Gordon is from Omagh in Northern Ireland, and over the years has co-driven
Kris Meeke, Niall McShea, Alistair McRae, Mark Fisher, Rory Galligan, Trevor Cathers, Garry Jennings, Rory Kennedy (yip – you heard me right) and more recently Alister Fisher to name a few.
Like Rory, he’s had great success all over the world right up to World Championship level.
He was a factory co-driver for the Peugeot team in the British Rally Championship and with Trevor Cathers won the Group N title in both the British Rally Championship and the Irish Tarmac Rally Championship for two consecutive years – the double double.
His skills transferred easily to the rally organisers role and he was the Clerk of the Course for Ireland’s round of the World Rally Championship as well as Northern Ireland’s round of the European Rally Championship.
You can see now the wealth of experience these top men have and why I was really looking forward to getting them to share their secrets for success.

Learning notes

Between the three of us, we came up with 16 key learning points and suggested actions. If you’re serious about upping your game, do something, do anything no matter how small to start the momentum. Remember you won’t get fitter by just looking at your bicycle…

Here are Rory’s suggestions: –  

1. Do as many rallies as possible with a variety of drivers, the goal being to get selected for a driver or co-driver academy. That experience will help give you confidence. Talk to the organisers of all rally academies or award schemes to fully understand what skills, knowledge and attitude you need to win. Ask previous winners what they think made them stand out.

2. Do all you can to meticulously prepare for rallies, with the attitude of being at least as good as everyone else if not the best.

3. “feed confidence into your driver (or co-driver)” Help them with their self-belief

4. Rory described how his experience in running marathons showed him that the body is stronger than the mind at times. Don’t allow that inner voice to hold you back.

5. Remember how important all team members are, and that everyone should be aiming for the same goal. Rory told us how his incredible success with Bertie Fisher was down to meticulous organisation, having the best resources possible, including your tyre partner, gravel crew, etc… Aim to partner with the best driver or co-driver in the best car, run by the best team that you can realistically afford.

6. Remember what Rory said about the detailed study of pre-event paperwork, including regulations, maps and roadbooks. Looking for anomalies will force you to pay attention. Remember to respect all rally organisers when asking your questions.

Gordy’s top tips included: –

7. Collaborating with another co-driver to carefully look at all details. This is particularly useful in drawing up an efficient recce schedule.

8. Communicate clearly with everyone in the team, the co-driver is the link.

9. Make sure you, your driver and team have shared ambitions and goals.

10. Think outside the box. Gordy gave great examples of Mark Fisher pioneering the use of a primitive in-car camera and recorder, as well as creative interpretation of the rules to not only gain an edge, but to psychologically get one up on your competitors, even before the rally starts.

11. Gordy also mentioned the accumulation of marginal gains which has been associated with the huge improvements in British Cycling. Small gains tally up to a sizeable advantage.

12. A final tip form Gordy is to think ahead about all potential scenarios. His experience as an acclaimed and respected World Rally Clerk of the Course, is a great asset in that area. He started out marshalling for his local motor club. Never underestimate the learning from that and you’ll be doing your bit to contribute to the sport along the way.

Trevor’s learning

13. My key learning from this episode, is to recognise that your biggest competitor is not the car in front or behind you, it is in fact the one inside your head. The one who chips away at your self-confidence or makes you panic when things go wrong.

14. A simple equation I learnt from The Inner Game of Tennis by Tim Gallwey covers this: – Performance is your potential – any interference. Understand where that interference is coming from and learn how to quieten the mind

The goal is to be in the zone where everything is effortless. The only way you’ll arrive there is to get into a state of relaxed concentration. Trying hard does not help.
I‘ll be covering that in future podcasts and blog posts. Be sure to keep an eye on stagebystage.com/blog

15. I also highly recommend all co-drivers learn the fundamentals of coaching if you truly want to help your driver perform to the best of his potential. I suggest you buy the coaching bible; Coaching for Performance by Sir John Whitmore.

16. My last tip is to stretch yourself by tracking down and asking the very best people for advice. Accept it as a challenge, you might feel nervous, but this will massively help your self-confidence. Make sure you do what they tell you and report back on your progress regularly. They may even become your mentor. This will transform your career.

I hope that has been useful. Thanks to Rory and Gordy for all their input and to you for listening.
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That’s all for now, until next time, stay safe and take care.