Here is the Red Mist guide to Rally
Terms. Basically, it's a Rally Dictionary.
The list is not
complete. If there is any addition to be made, email us.
- A
-
all-nighter n.
usually occurs before the rally, repairing the damage from the last
one
- alloy
n. material used to
triple the price of car parts
- autotest
n. an organised event
designed to test use of the handbrake
- B
- black ice
n. See moment, stack
- box
n. slang for …
- bridge
n. pace note
instruction warning of potential yump or bump. See moment
- bump stop
n. small rubber object
designed to protect McPherson strut valves and fuel lines
- C
- catch
v.t.
to survive a moment, as in `I
caught the first three'
- cattle
grid n.
See moment
- caution
n. a particularly fine
yump the rally organisers have taken pains to point out
- car
accountability n.
sweeps up afterwards
- chase car
n. car full of spanner
men who fix the cars after the stages, now banned (boo hoo)
- Clerk of
the Course (COC) n.
Man who thinks he is in charge of the rally
- clue
n. navigational rally
route instruction, as in ``I haven't got a clue what this means''
- Cossie
n. rally prepared Ford
Escort or Sierra RS Cosworth. Opposite of scrapper in every sense
- crest
n. the top of a hill,
usually taken “Flat”
- cross
roads n.
too many options!
- D
- Deputy
COC n.
man who actually is in charge of the rally
- dipstick
n. 1. some oily thing in the engine 2. see Driver
- ditch
v.t.
to parallel park a car
unexpectedly during a rally
- ditch
n.
edge of the road, with an affinity to attract rally cars
- driver
n. incompetent person
holding steering wheel
- dongle
shaft n. the "real" reason for the retirement. See
excuse. Takes the form "The dongle shaft in the box broke"
- doughnut
n. novel means of
ploughing grass with a rear wheel drive car
- E
- escort
n.
company you can rent for, well, you know.
-
electrical trouble v.t. Con-rod through the alternator,
see excuse
- excuse
n. means to explain
poor result in rally, or ditching or similar manouevres. Typically
getting more outlandish as the Smithwicks consumption increases.
- F
- fade
v.i.
what brakes do when they overheat. See moment
- farmer
n. 1. Nice man with
tractor pulling your car out of the ditch 2. Angry owner of the
fence you just totalled
- farmyard
n. cobbled area not on
the rally route, often strewn with mud and cow dung. See moment
- flat
n. stage rally
instruction, meaning ``Keep your right foot flat on the floor''
Usually screamed just before “moment”
- ford
n. mid-rally car wash
- four
wheel drift n.
simultaneous understeer and oversteer
- G
- Green
Book n.
a baroque comedic work in the style of Lear poetry published by
Motorsport Ireland
- grip
n. See Yokohama, but
lacking on the headquarter floor due to the spilt Smithwicks
- H
- hairpin
n. Corner much tighter
than a square
- handbrake
1. n.
Direction changing lever found between the front seats, but not on
Citroen, Saab or Alfa Romeo cars 2. v.t. To make use of the
handbrake
- hang on
n. instruction to
navigator
- harness
n. go-faster seat belt
-
headquarters n.
biggest pub in town
- hedge
n. Follows hairpin,
handbrake, hang-on
-
herringbone n.
form of navigation clue, usually works on the organisers' kitchen
table but not in your car
- hooking
n. 1. making use of the
ditch to assist cornering. 2. gone fishing
- I
- icing
n. what happens to
carburettors in cold weather. See excuse
- insurance
n. overpriced piece of
paper
- J
- jugs
n. Weber DCOE or
similar carburettors fitted to cars which club members can't afford
(or can't afford to run)
- K
- K-right
n. road reading
instruction used by poncy navigators, meaning corner of between 30
and 60 degrees, depending on the navigator's handwriting
- knobblies
n.
pair of knees
- L
- left
n. often confused with right.
- lift
v.i.
a driving technique for chickens
- limo
n.
a large, luxury vehicle
- lose
v.t.
1. opposite of catch. See moment,
excuse 2. What club crews in Fiestas do to Cossies (maybe a fantasy
!).
- LSD
abbrev.
An illegal drug
- lump
hammer n.
precision adjusting tool
- M
- marshal
n. cold masochist
- masochist
n. someone lacking a
sense of self preservation. See marshal, navigator
- Mintex
n. a means to prevent
fade
- minute
n. over-optimistic time
by which you try to reach the next time control
- moment
n. an incident during
which the driver has even less control of the car than usual. The
name derives from the duration of the incident in the navigator's
reference frame; in the driver's reference frame it lasts several
minutes. See ``The Principle of Relativity'' by A. Einstein.
-
Motorsport Ireland (MI)
n. The guys who set the
rules for rallying in Ireland, and take pleasure in setting
unworkable rules.
- N
- National
B n.
hooligan's certificate
- navigator
n. incompetent person
clutching pace notes
-
Non-Expert n.
exactly
- Novice
n. class of night
navigation competitor provided with easy clues to give the
Non-Experts someone to follow.
- O
- off
n. unplanned departure
from the road. See ditch
- oncoming
n. traffic flow of
inconsiderate local residents and Ford Fiesta's driving the opposite
way to night navigation route
- opening
ceremony n.
the start of the drinking, sorry, rally
- OTL
abbrev.
Too Bloody Late
- oversteer
n. a state in which the
car tries to ditch itself on the inside of a corner
- P
- pace car
n. large vehicle,
usually white, sporting extremely tacky go-faster stripes,
multifarious flashing lights and driven by dour faced gentlemen in
navy blue suits
- pace
notes n. book
that contains descriptions of the road. Usually dumped at the first
service.
- panic
n. standard
navigational technique
- passage
control n.
NOT the 89 reg. Corolla with the steamy windows
- pendulum
n. poser's cornering
technique
- pirouette
n. ``handling''
characteristic of rear-engined vehicles. See moment
- porta-power
n. hydraulically
operated precision adjusting tool for large jobs
- poti
n. Night navigation
trial’s navigator's essential equipment for fast sections. Typically
too small for use after a major "moment"
- PR
problem n.
Anal-retentive resident of a remote village
- Q
- Quality
n. Something no rally car has!
- R
- rally car
n. See scrapper
- rally fan
n.
drives faster than the rally cars. Thinks he or she has a God given
talent, superior to the WRC drivers. Has all the stickers to prove
it
- rally
route n.
a series of roads marked with dead rabbits, black lines & ditched
rally cars
- red line
n. point on the
tachometer below which the needle should not be allowed to drop
- red mist
n. a reason to make the
car go faster. See ditch
- recce
n. time for crews to
cheat.
-
regulations n.
the rules for the rally. Understood by lawyers only
- right
n. often confused with left.
- road
reading n.
prediciting the road ahead from assorted squiggles on the map,
something the navigator often stops doing at inconvenient times. See
moment
- rocket
fuel n.
a half and half mixture of unleaded and super unleaded petrol
- ro(a)mer
n. a bit of plastic
kicking around the floor of the car
- road book
n.
comic book distributed by the rally organisers
- S
- scrapper
n. a motor car in a
similar condition to those found in ``automotive recycling'' yards;
a typical motor club vehicle
- sheep
n. game pie target for
a larger car
- single
track n.
a type of road not wide enough for a car and a tractor to pass side
by side. See moment
- skid
marks n.
a series of streaks which can be used to judge the quality of a
moment, if the driver can be persuaded to part with his or her
underwear.
- spanner
men n.
blokes who fix the cars, and understand terms like socket set, etc
- speed
bump n.
bump not felt at 30mph in recce, but becomes obvious at 110mph on
stage.
- sponsor
n. Person who pays the
bill for the rally organisers. Typically has the driving talent of a
turnip.
- square
n. a corner the shape
of a right-angle. See moment
- steward
n.
person appointed by MI to see that all the rules are obeyed.
Typically spends all day trying to find out what is going on in the
rally, with nobody telling him.
- straight
line v.t.
to take the ``racing line''
through a roundabout
- sturgeon
n. a species of fish
prized for its stomach calming properties
- sulk
v.i.
See navigator
- T
- tantrum
n. See driver
- tightens
adj.
navigator's euphemism. See moment
- time
control/TC n.
place where the navigator haggles with a marshal for a minute
- toe down
adj.
proper driving style
- twin cam
n.
type of engine configuration, understood by experts only and spouted
by rally fans
- U
-
understeer n.
a state in which the car tries to ditch itself on the outside of a
corner
- V
- W
- white
n. 1. proper,
unsurfaced rally road 2. colour of navigators face after stage
- wimps
n. people who suffer
from common sense while driving a car
- WRC
abbrev. World Rally Championship. Where the cars are more
expensive than a castle!
- work
v.i.
something done after the rally, somehow generating the funds needed
- X
- X-roads
n.
shorthand for crossroads
- Y
- yellow
n. tarmac rally road
- Yokohama
n. a Japanese company
which manufactures ingenious transfers used to apply rubber to
tarmac
- yump 1.
n. a crest on a road
specially designed to separate the car's wheels from the ground 2.
v.t. to drive a car spiritedly across a yump
- Z
- Z-bends
n. pl. a series of
consecutive moments
The list is a gathering of my own
musings, overheard conversations and collected funnies. If there is any
more, drop us a line