We were dumfounded to learn
that most Finke co-drivers don’t
actually navigate – they just open
bottles of water, hum encouraging
tunes and scream in fear occasionally- which is why Hagon described Bernie
Webb, a rally navigator with 20 years’
experience, as his “secret weapon”.
Webb spent several days recce-ing the
Finke track, not so much for directional
pace notes but for terrain warnings.
“I’ve never done an off-road race before,
but the idea was to bring a rally mindset
to an off-road race and we ended up with
80 pages of notes, for each direction,”
Webb explained. “Most of these co-drivers
haven’t got anything in their hands; we
couldn’t see why you wouldn’t have notes
so you can point out the hazards, tell him
where he can get on the gas, and where he
needs to slow right down.
“It was just brutal. I’ve had some big
crashes in my time and I can honestly say
that hopping out of the car I felt like I’d had
a 130km/h rollover, it was that bad.”
Navigating
through
the desert
madness
“WHADDAYA
MEAN THERE’S
NO DRIVE-THRU
MACCAS?”