How to read a Dakar Rally Road Book

[@RedBullRally]

Riding flat out AND reading this roadbook at the same time 🤯

[@shannonbaz-casper7745]

SUPER tough. Now try doing it really old school without an auto-advancing rollchart!

[@DeepSouthBuilder]

?? This is a VERY simple navigation system. Especially considering competitors that read a lot of different languages. They’ve taken a huge portion of the judgement calls and interpretations out of the equation from traditional map and compass navigation. It’s Mapquest for off road driving.

[@richardhague3455]

@shannonbaz. They don’t have an auto advancing roll chart the toggle switch on the handlebars moves it forwards and backwards. O and it’s called a road book not a roll chart 😂

[@shannonbaz-casper7745]

​@@richardhague3455 not sure what's so funny about that. Their "road book" in many other types of racing (such as motorcycle enduro/adventure/dual sport ) is called a "roll chart" and it is the exact same thing with a similar format and the same types of information, so we're honestly talking semantics here. I didn't notice the toggle switch, but even an electrified one seems like a huge luxury while the rest of us are over here scrolling our roll charts (or road books/route sheet/whateverTF you want to call them) by hand :-)

[@richardhague3455]

@shannonbaz what’s funny is you thinking that the Dakar rally on a bike is going to be made harder by turning a knob rather than pressing a toggle switch. I don’t know what motorbike enduro,adventure, dual sport racing you ride but maybe you could get Sam Sunderland to give it a try, as a 2 time Dakar winner, he might need more of a challenge racing you😂😂😂😂

[@roitofficial]

"That was just 5km, normally we do 300 - 400" Add the fatigue, elements and 14 days, gives great perspective to how damn tough this stuff is, huge respect!

[@RedBullRally]

Yes, they're true warriors

[@GearHead36]

It's the toughest type of Motorsport there is, after all. You don't just win a cross-country rally, especially Dakar. *You finish it.* Indeed, winning is preferable, but in a race like this? You'd be really freaking lucky to reach the Finish Line in an undamaged vehicle.

[@nikhiltripathi5989]

I love how the guy introduced himself just only as a dakar rider instead of 2 time champion👍✌️🙏

[@hard_satania926]

That's when you know that he's humble enough to not mention any of his achivement

[@seatrader8404]

absolutely agree with you!! he is true champ !!

[@gredem4799]

no wonder hes the champion. he puts way more attention to what he does, so he has less chances of getting stuck / making the wrong turn

[@abhinavsoni6255]

Wtf 😂😂, damn he must be great to talk with

[@ktwei]

These guys are heroes by being able to read these while speeding across an unknown desert.

[@RedBullRally]

Exactly!

[@durango8882]

I’m like how do you read that standing still? 😄

[@uahoe]

You dont know what heroes means

[@MrNanda38]

It's not that hard.

[@NK-rm7kc]

@@uahoe love your name😂 and yeah, u r right. Nevertheless maybe „mad men from another breed“😉

[@andystreet339]

My dad rode Enduro back in the 70s and 80s and he had a road book and tried to explain to me how he would read it and keep up with everything and it always blew my mind how they can keep up with the road book while trying to navigate the trail

[@RedBullRally]

yea and at the speeds they're sometimes riding too!

[@andystreet339]

@@RedBullRally these guys are insane! Thanks for sharing

[@jazztryppyn8445]

And here I'm not allowed to answer my phone while driving.😁

[@therealxenoz]

@@jazztryppyn8445thats because youre just an average person compared to them

[@jazztryppyn8445]

@@therealxenoz it. was. a. joke. Of course I'm an average person.

[@EpicSpartan574]

Thanks “A Dakar Rider” for the educational session

[@TheNuclearBolton]

Hamburger

[@eblackshaw]

Love these educational tips. I've been wondering about the road book / riding skill for awhile. As a geography teacher who teaches orienteering on foot, I can only imagine the stress to navigate at this speed ... what a skillset. Thanks for sharing, RedBullRally.

[@RedBullRally]

Absolutely!

[@nelsonvzaks9186]

Reading pace notes at 150km/h on uneven terrain, mad respect for these guy🎉❤

[@bluerebel1148]

I played that Dakar Desert Rally game that released last year I think, and it actually does a decent job of teaching you how to use a road book! At first it was frustrating but once you learn what everything means (and you turn off that annoying Co-driver and open up the index and learn the symbols) you start to blaze thru some stages and it so thrilling! The only reason I understood what was going on in the video was because of that game, lol. I bet alot of people were lost during this but I'm sure our rider tried to do his best. He was Riding, navigating, and trying to talk over that loud bike, lol.

[@anotherweirdperson5382]

Yeah I learned how to read the roadbook thanks to the older dakar game (Dakar 18 I think) and I got Dakar Desert Rally on launch lol, the best part is that the game uses the exact same road book of the Dakar 2020, 2021 and 2022, no simplified version for beginners or anything, just the exact same road book :D

[@bluerebel1148]

@anotherweirdperson5382 Yeah, that game is awesome for that, too! Make driving fast a bit more interesting!

[@undercomposition]

Seeing/playing that game is what sparked my interest in Dakar and Rally Raid and now it is my favorite sport.

[@itsmiep4583]

To anyone seeing this comment and is interested in trying the game; its free on Epic Games till 22 february :p

[@hunteraff5872]

I can understand WRC pacenotes and it’s pretty straight forward because you’re following a track. I could not do Dakar😅 middle of nowhere, probably one singular rut showing where to go

[@MrGbustamante]

This is the best video on the subject that I have seen yet, thank you!

[@rdtym515]

Thank you for sharing information about Dakar racers how to read navigation on desert tracks. Reading navigation in the Dakar Rally motorbike race turns out to be very different from cars. Extraordinary! ✨

[@Toxic88088]

I always thought those road books slightly rolled themselves automatically as you ride. Having to manually roll them is insane.

[@marshallcollins8634]

Did I miss something or did the map self scroll. I don’t think you watched the same video I did

[@vongdong10]

@@marshallcollins8634 I didn't hear him say anything about self scrolling. Just a manual toggle switch.

[@JustHoonIt]

@@marshallcollins8634 Manually with the left thumb toggle

[@ribaaz]

Basically, being that sometimes they get lost or real POI are not as explicit as they are in the roadbook, it being manual lets the rider go up and down the imdications as they wish

[@General-Failure]

Automatic scrolling of the roadbook would require knowing the precise location of the rally vehicle at all times, like a satellite navigation system does, and that information is not made available to the drivers. The Dakar, being an orienteering race, does not permit GPS based navigation, but only uses the technology to register that vehicles reached their mandatory waypoints (Way Point Controlled, WPC).

[@Titanium308]

Thank you for sharing, so awesome to see the high skill set and andurance needed for this race, love Dakar.

[@martinbailly573]

Amazing ! Reading the road book and going fast ! So impressive ! Thank for such an informative video !

[@michaelanderson3771]

Great Demo Sam. Super difficult. I used to navigate in a old Datsun 1600 rally car here in Aus in the novice Combine 6 series using mud maps (forestry maps) back in the late 80's early 90's. That was tough but you guys have is so much more difficult. And doing all that yourself on the fly at 160 kph. Huge kudos brother. Sorry to hear your out Day 3 with Mechanical issues. Maybe next year.

[@belanagy5595]

Oh Man! From my comfortable gamer seat it so easy to watch motorbikes going with high speed so easily in such road conditions - but looking this from rider perspective how difficult it is, following the navigation, in the meantime keeping the speed and momentum to finish the race in the top, also making sure you don't get fall off the bike, rolling the roadbook, checking Compass...OMG such a complex task. Thanks for sharing it with us!

[@zacharybartlett8519]

Wow! This is next level concentration and commitment. Actually pretty stoked to watch this years Dakar. Best of luck to all these guys and gals! 👌

[@earthroamer9907]

Very well explained, really appreciate this type of format. Always wanted to know how your nav worked. Now I know. Thanks!

[@RedBullRally]

Glad it was helpful!

[@piccalillipit9211]

*I did the PariDakar in 2004* we did not have any of this - we had maps, a compass, and two hand-held super basic Garmin GPS - which is probably why we got lost in the mine field in Westen Sahara

[@Sk0lzky]

I love how when it comes to these extreme events we're doing exactly the same stuff our ancestors thousands of years ago did (proper cartography is pretty much a XIX century invention and the first bird's eye view maps weren't meant for navigation whatsoever). Great stuff.

[@TurboJoe304]

I’m loving all these detailed videos of how the Dakar works from a riders standpoint

[@McRocket]

Man! I thought it was mega, mega hard before. Now, it seems even more difficult. Wow! Thanks for this, Sam. ✌️

[@kapilchaudharyttto5899]

Amazing skill level for processing this much information riding at this speed in all unknown territory …hats off

[@BrianLitke-yj6qw]

So a person on a motorcycle can do all that, and all the other vehicles have navigators. The motorcycles always leave first as well and everyone else can follow their tracks! At speeds of up to 160 km! Amazing.

[@azcojpg]

Loved the explanation, so much concentration needed for roadblock and obstacles while trying not to crash day after day must be a huge mental toll.

[@Laurynas_S]

Moto class is probably the most difficult one in Dakar especially for the guys in Original by Motul class, where they don't have any mechanical support team.

[@willjones7132]

Excellent video, great explanation, I'll have even more respect for what these guys go through when watching the race.

[@broman113]

........WHEN I was underweight for co-drivrer from rally.... this makes me happy to a good print out

[@BartMullin-o3d]

Loading the road-book reminds me of loading a roll of film into a medium format TLR camera. The only difference (obviously) is you don't have to worry about light exposure with a road-book while loading it...

[@Theasaurus2]

Imagine having a roll-fed 4x5 like this…

[@BartMullin-o3d]

@@Theasaurus2 Let's not and say we didn't... Sheet film gets unwieldy fast. Love the negative size and resolution (equal to a 40-50 megapixel camera's image quality) but, it gets bulky to carry and harder to load outdoors I'd think.

[@peterplunkett7394]

I always wondered how they used the road book. such an interesting video, thank you Red Bull and to Sam for taking the time to make this tutorial 👌

[@RedBullRally]

Glad it was helpful!

[@GraemeChapman-d6z]

It must be extremely difficult trying to navigate through really challenging terrain while maintaining speed. Amazing what these guys can do. I take my hat off to them. Really impressive and inspiring viewing. Thanks for sharing this excellent information.😊

[@roryothen7005]

One of the best roadbook videos I’ve seen

[@haxzie]

Absolutely love the explaination! We need more of these videos. super helpful :)

[@mauriciomessa7575]

Creo que es impresionante la manera en que van haciendo y resolviendo tantas cosas a alta velocidad. Mis respetos !!!

[@scratchydog]

Thats fantastic , what a great tutorial !! Thankyou so much for that , im very impressed by your ability to do so many things at the same time and have a conversation with the locals ( goats) no offence , i cant wait for the start, im a serial dakar addict every year 25+ years Good luck and thankyou again !!

[@RedBullRally]

You're very welcome!

[@f.h.9606]

For everyone who is interested in a Rallye Raid from France to Dakar/Senegal, take a look at the Africe Eco Race. They have a KZbin Channel. It's just like the Daker used to be 20 years ago!

[@f.h.9606]

@red_bull_rally I'm listening...

[@ADabtU]

best video I have seen on Dakar Rally

[@prasannabaruah3732]

Motorcycle racers and rally raiders are a different breed of brave and crazy.. F1 drivers complain when its raining saying its dangerous and stuff (i mean no offence to their capabilities) but these guys ride on two wheels, have to go through maps and notes all while riding a motorcycle at breakneck speeds and in horrible conditions within a desert...mad respect for them...

[@pedro.kakiko]

I would live to do smth like rhis one day, it seems like a ton of fun, and the spirit and cooperation must be incredible

[@PT_Master_Chief]

that was a nice explanation, never saw before how they did this!

[@paranormalgambler2814]

Jus got the game dakar 18 and loveing it cant believe i never new about this amazing really tell jus a week or so ago ! Hats off to the men an wemoan that do this..hopefully one day i will get to try out in real life as well!

[@christopherleblanc9599]

interesting , thanks

[@CyclingNeko]

on race, are the black buttons will be disabled to lock the odometer? I mean, if you accidentally push the button, your odo meter will be out of synch with the Road book.

[@pauliusvidugiris5152]

Great explanation! Although I wonder what method they use to relocate if they make a mistake and lose the track. It should be tricky without a map.

[@DJBLUEPHOENIX]

Awesome video! I always wanted to know more about this!

[@gustavoguti27]

That's madness, huge respect for this athletes

[@jforden78]

Brilliant video, thank you very much

[@martinlee9391]

I always wondered how that all worked Even more respect to you guys.

[@_zajlock_6635]

Now I can play dakar desert rally on professional mode and not get lost on every corner!

[@thomaswiesenthal3980]

Thx for the ride 🚀 Good luck, Fingers crossed 🤞🏼

[@NicolasSaudemont]

Thanks a lot for those explanations and true-life examples !!! I knew you guys were gods riding in such terrains at those speeds, but I must admit I didn't expect the road-book to imply that level of hieroglyphic de-ciphering on-the-fly for hundreds of km !😀

[@codadeo]

Thats was awesome. I always wonderd how you used that navigation. The amount of concentration and focus is insane, plus the distance you ride everyday. Your a beast. Good luck on the rally.

[@nokia.s3350]

Mad respect for those bikers. They really knew how to read those maps in the middle of nowhere. 👍

[@GreenG-314]

Of course the dirty secret here is that most of the competitors are not good at navigating by RB, and have employed "other navigational means" or just followed the leader in previous years. Dakar has done a decent job of trying to curtail navigational cheating with A/B routing, inspections, and lockboxes for phones, etc, but there are always those who push the rules. One example is the use of Garmin inreach satelite transponders (you can see one on Sams bike). These are amazing safety devices and i carry one myself, any they only update periodically but they are frequently being used by support crews to help riders reorient themselves via radio. This was part of the reason for the 2 minute rule (cant stop for more than two minutes without explanation). I'm 100% sure Redbull GasGas would not chance it, but II'm sure some of the smaller less competitive team absolutely will.

[@e2rqey]

They should really just make it a GPS thing. I remember how in many of the stages last year and the previous years, riders would try to purposely try to avoid coming first so that they didn't have to be "leading" the next day and be forced to do the actual navigating. Since the navigation is needlessly complex, time consuming and difficult. And since everyone behind them could just follow their tracks. If I remember correctly, the cars have switched to a digital version, and the bikes are still on the old version. If this is supposed to be a race and not a navigation competition, I don't know why they don't use some sort of digital checkpoint system, or a easier to navigate digital road book.

[@undercomposition]

​@@e2rqeyin my opinion the road book is a big reason I find Rally Raid so compelling.

[@Will-Foxknight43]

@@e2rqey the big thing about the rally is the fact that it is a navigation competition

[@Zeninari]

came due to the game Dakar desert rally, and i'm impressed that even this was informative on what to do in game 💀 its also cool to get quite literally an inside look on an actual rider and the bike and real road book, which i did not expect it to be . . . a scroll? that threw me off but makes sense, easier to use than an actual "book" XD

[@sagitta98]

Just get that game for free on EGS. Bikes and quads are bit difficult because there's no co-driver and you need to navigate it yourself.

[@Zeninari]

@@sagitta98 i already owned the game before that sale, but ty for the info. i prefer supporting the devs if i can ^^' i tend to have a backlog of games i purchased in the past, and intended to play but never got around to.

[@sagitta98]

@@Zeninari Yeah. I felt a bit guilty for it too... Maybe I'll just go buy their DLCs.

[@Zeninari]

@@sagitta98 well thats what i do when i do get a game from a friend or from an epic games free sale, i buy the dlc. plus I'm a 100% type of person so ill eventually get all the dlc anyways

[@Welter87]

Just a questions, why the 355 points south? I thought 360 was nord... 🤔

[@chewylandlive]

This is the most interesting thing I have ever seen....ever. I need this on my 310.

[@walterhaumaier9137]

It would be hard to navigate through that without keeping your eyes on the directions holy smokes my hats off to these guys

[@taneumjct5156]

Jonah Street our local legend and nice guy!!

[@thealchemist013]

Props. Great video. Good luck, my friend!

[@caturlifelive]

First time i saw explanation about it is from Norally Itchyboot. Thanks for teaching us about it RedBull

[@esk.purple5748]

Insane

[@dennisje182]

What do you do when you for some reason go the wrong direction? Do you backtrack? Seems difficult to backtrack

[@RedBullRally]

yes, that's exactly what they have to do.

[@Simoxs7]

I feel like this is something you can’t really understand watching a video with a shakey camera it probably makes more sense when you’re riding yourself. But still its crazy how he manages to do this at speed…

[@alexold8183]

Great explanation, seems like a very cool adventure

[@Dr.NagendraJayaram]

Dakar rally is a really a test of mental and physical endurance. Hats off to the racers

[@SuperSecretSquirell]

That's nucking futs!

[@stanbrow]

Thank you. Very interesting, always wondered how these worked.

[@srk1200]

Thanks for putting together this video for us lesser mortals. Thats a lot of eye, brain and body co-ordination that too at triple digit speeds on sand and rocks. The Bike & ATV riders are super heroes👍

[@jwdegroot1177]

Thank you! This was excellent!

[@migueltavares4639]

massive respect! good luck to dakar!

[@sorianoraul]

This video was awesome! Thank u thank u!!!

[@youtubeattacker]

Have they tried Google maps or Waze?

[@khalilsjan183]

Amazing information about route map ✌️✌️✌️✌️💕💕💕💕

[@MichaelTV44]

This is crazy. A Dakar champion needs to be a fast and skilled rider and also be able to navigate themselves too.... absolutely crazy!

[@rogerfield4521]

Great info and video, best of luck 👍

[@windmuhlenmann7741]

I want to do this too

[@boguee]

Love seeing him. Go Sam

[@saafrican]

FFFFFFFFF how the heck do you go fast .... stay on course ......not crash and navigate Ive raced the ROOF OF AFRICA and kalahari 1000 in the 80s on a motor cycle . but you guys are are absolutely amazing . thanks for the insight

[@Vreguleift]

Very cool. I always wanted to see how these worked.

[@RedBullRally]

More to come!

[@hamiam2243]

Damm thanks for the explanation helped. A lot looks very hard.🤯

[@JaydeJackson]

Chucky Sanders is my hero.

[@jimday666]

This was interesting

[@megabreeeze]

How much ahead of time do you get from receiving the rally road book sheet to look over it ahead of time and to install it and then head out to race, can you open it up all the way and go over it, or they hand you the road book and you put it in and go.

[@layzeemi98swagger41]

This feels like a fighter jet in a training session type of complications..... Interesting

[@matteomay9828]

what these guys do is actually crazy

[@hellusw]

thank´s for the insight red bull !

[@Garry_Conntact]

I can only dreams about that. Good luck!

[@benwrightson]

Tough gig lads! Respect 🤟

[@linesided]

I find it stressful enough mountain bike racing with a gps track never mind going 5x as fast in the middle of nowhere with the dead sea scrolls to navigate by. Respect!

[@sczullkjengker8380]

I like his "bo'em" rail

[@joehart4370]

Amazing stuff you would want 4 eyes these bikers are just amazing..its another world

[@lesklower7281]

I tried to follow it one thing on the book it does have land marks which is good for 35 years l was a courier and l actually got lost once the nain 43ason it was ovr4cast and could not make out were the sun was

[@TimeTraveler6022]

Man that's hard. Well done.

[@MOHAMEDHASSAN-fk9jv]

Incredible and mind boggling 😮😮😮

[@Raygun-w2w]

Crazy. . Desert racing/sprint format like the Finke are hard enough when ya know where you are going. Lol. .

[@royjose8091]

This is awesome. I wonder how these roadmaps are made with so much accuracy. Man made maps or satellites?

[@michaelschneider1365]

play dakar rally desert and it’s hard to read it’s a lot to take in but a fun game.

[@mistrd2041]

I wanted to become professtional racer all my life i have experience and sense to control tye machine but i think that dream will be dream