Talking key to being good co-driver

HAVING FUN: Rotorua co-driver Joelle Eyre in the car which won the inaugural Rally Xtreme Series this year. Photo / SCOTT JOHNSON 200913RALLY

Rotorua's Joelle Eyre says one of the key aspects to being a successful co-driver is talking a lot, which has helped her win the Rally Xtreme Series this year with driver Geof Argyle.

Eyre and Palmerston North driver Argyle won the overall series this year, capping off the title earlier this month at the Possum Bourne Memorial Rally.

The series was held for the first time last year, set up as an alternative to the New Zealand Rally Championships.

Eyre said she had been co-driving for four years now and simply loved it.

"Being the co-driver and reading the pace notes is awesome, there is a great sense of responsibility. If you say 'go right' the driver will go right," she said.

"And of course going 200km/h down a gravel road is really fun as well."

Eyre said one of her strengths in the passenger seat was good communication. "There is a lot of talking and I'm great at talking," she said with a laugh.

"Also, you need to be able to keep calm. You have got to know that your driver has it under control.

"It is a fun thing as well, you have to be able to have fun while you go."

The Rally Xtreme Series was broken up into five rally events, with Eyre and Argyle placing third, second, first, second, and sixth during the events.

The pair won the overall series earlier this month after they placed ninth overall, and sixth among the Rally Xtreme drivers, at the Possum Bourne Memorial Rally in Pukekohe.

"The Possum Bourne Rally was quite a cool one to win the series on because I started that rally," Eyre said. "The event has been going for 10 years and there were four of five of us that got it going.

"I grew up in Pukekohe and knew Possum through rally. My dad and him were really good friends, they grew up together."

Eyre and Argyle won the series this year in their Mitsubishi Evo 8.

Eyre said she had been around the sport since she was a girl.

She said after starting out organising events, the pull of actually getting into a rally car was too much and she began co-driving.

This was her first year co-driving an entire series, something she hoped to do again next year.

She said her current driving partner, Argyle, was looking to step down from racing next year to concentrate on organising events in the Rally Xtreme Series.

"I'm not too sure who I will be racing with next year. Geof is one of the driving forces behind the Xtreme Rally Series. So it all depends."