Rally navigation course
ERTF roadbook navigation for riders and co-drivers.
A navigation module for motorcycle riders and for co-drivers in SSVs and cars. You work on the ERTF UNIK 4, the unit supplied by the Dakar organiser, with training roadbooks written to special-stage conventions. Riders and co-drivers train with the same material.
What you learn
Reading, heading, finding.
The module follows the order in which navigation fails in a rally: first the roadbook is misread, then the heading drifts, then the waypoint is missed. Each block is ridden or driven on a training roadbook, then reviewed with the coach from the track log.
The roadbook
Tulips, distances, notes and danger grades as the organisers write them. Working the UNIK 4: scrolling, the trip, resets and corrections at speed.
CAP headings
Navigating on a compass heading between tulips and off the track, holding the line across dunes and open ground, and correcting when the terrain forces a detour.
Waypoints
The waypoint types the organisers use, how each one opens on the unit, and how to confirm a hidden waypoint off-piste without losing the stage.
Pace and errors
When to slow down for the roadbook and when to trust it. Recovering from a missed note without a loop back. For co-drivers, calling the roadbook to the driver at rally pace.
Equipment
You train on the hardware you will race on.
ERTF UNIK 4 electronic roadbook units, the system supplied by the official Dakar Rally provider, with training roadbooks written to the same conventions as a real special stage.
Roadbook
ERTF UNIK 4
Written by
Konrad Dąbrowski
Module length
2–4 days
Units
Provided by RTC
Who teaches it
Coached by people who navigate for a living.
Jacek Czachor leads rally navigation coaching, with two FIM Cross-Country Rallies World Championship titles and twenty Dakar starts. Konrad Dąbrowski writes the training roadbooks and rides them before the season. Ola Fløene, WRC and rally-raid co-driver, also takes part in navigation training with the team.
Where and when
Morocco in the season, the UAE on request.
The navigation module runs at the Erfoud base in Morocco during the desert season and in the UAE on request. It can be booked on its own or as the navigation days of a motorcycle or SSV camp. Groups are one to four people.
Riders
On the bike
Navigation days inside a motorcycle camp, on your bike or a rented rally bike with the unit fitted.
Motorcycle training →Co-drivers
In the right-hand seat
Calling the roadbook in an SSV with a coach driving, then with your own driver.
Desert Experience →