How to read a rally roadbook

Read the next instruction before reaching it: distance, diagram, direction and notes. Anticipate the feature, any earlier hazard and the speed or preparation needed. Identify it using distance, approach geometry and landmarks; a similar-looking junction is not enough.

Act only when the evidence supports the instruction. After the feature, confirm the exit using direction and ground, then advance the roadbook. If clues disagree, slow safely and recheck the last confirmed instruction before changing counters or committing to another turn.

Practise this complete routine from the beginning. The navigation workshop pairs a full roadbook with perspective scenes, instrument controls and explanations, followed by fresh assessment variants with delayed feedback.

A rally day combines road sections with one or more timed Selective Sections. Riders start at assigned times and follow the official itinerary in waypoint order. Start order and intervals come from the event regulations and classifications; do not assume they are simply yesterday’s result.

A roadbook row combines total distance for the section, partial distance from the previous diagram, a tulip diagram, and a description. Current top-level motorcycle rally-raid uses an electronic roadbook in the NAV-GPS; paper or separate devices may still appear in training and other events.

The navigation system is intentionally limited. It shows course over ground (COG) while moving and speed, then supplies CTW/DTW guidance only under the rules for the selected waypoint. It is not a moving map with the rally route drawn on it. Follow the official roadbook and every published update.

The roadbook’s total is the distance from the start of the current Road or Selective Section. Its printed partial is the fixed interval from the preceding diagram. Authored beginner lessons and automatic-trip exercises provide partial resets as a learning aid. Rally School’s rider-operated trip leaves partial resets to you; check the session briefing for the chosen convention.

Keep three quantities separate: the printed interval is fixed; the live partial counts from its last reset; distance remaining is an estimate from their difference only when their reference points agree. For a printed 0.60 km interval and an aligned live 0.42 km partial, about 0.18 km remains.

Real equipment may let a rider reset a partial and adjust the total reading. The 2026 FIM NAV-GPS odometer recalibrates automatically at each validated waypoint. In Rally School, event GPS calibration and rider-operated correction are separate choices: selecting paper or digital reading does not choose the distance sensor or correction policy.

A wheel-sensor trip measures rotation of the wheel carrying its sensor. Circumference error and that wheel’s slip or loss of contact can change the reading; rear-wheel spin does not directly add pulses to a front-wheel sensor. A detour adds real travelled distance. GPS distance uses position samples and has different errors, so do not diagnose every mismatch as wheel spin.

Compare distance with several clues: CAP, the tulip shape, surface and landmarks. Correct a manual trip only at a feature you can positively identify. A mismatch is a warning to cross-check, not proof by itself that the roadbook is wrong or that you are lost.

CAP is a compass direction in degrees: 000 north, 090 east, 180 south and 270 west. The NAV-GPS COG is your actual direction of travel. CTW is the direction from your position to an opened waypoint, while DTW is the remaining straight-line distance to it.

Read which CAP instruction applies. An exit CAP describes departure from a feature; an average CAP describes the overall direction of a winding feature; a calculated CAP is the bearing between references; a changing CAP develops along a curve. For example, a wadi with average CAP 000 can bend locally: do not leave it just to force COG 000 at every instant.

On a defined track, the roadbook diagram and ground normally lead while CAP confirms the instructed direction. Off-piste, combine the stated CAP, distance, terrain and required controls. COG describes movement, not where a stationary bike points; a GPS course display cannot establish a new heading just by turning the bike while stopped.

A waypoint arrow is not a route line. It points directly to an opened target and can tempt you to cut across terrain or approach from the wrong context. Keep reading the itinerary and use GPS guidance only when the waypoint type permits it.

Follow the incoming route line through the junction to the exit arrow. In the printed roadbook the route is blue; the other tracks show the junction context.

Classic ball-and-arrow diagrams mark the approach with a ball. The printed book uses a measuring pin whose point marks the distance reference; its offset dot is not an incoming road. Neither mark is your live location. A GPS target opening, a validation-circle boundary and the physical diagram reference are distinct events.

Do not learn that every unused branch must be crossed out. A strike can appear as an explicit trainer cue, but the reliable instruction is the highlighted arrowed route. Match its angle and the number of contextual branches to the ground before committing.

A solid line represents an existing track and a broken line represents off-track terrain. Diagrams are schematic rather than maps to scale, so read their topology, direction, notes and distance together.

2026 FIM defaults are: WPV full GPS information, validation 200 m; WPE opens after the previous waypoint validates or within 1,000 m if it was missed, validation 90 m; WPM guidance opens at 800 m, validation 90 m; WPS opens at 1,000 m, validation 30 m. A WPM masks coordinates and GPS guidance, not its roadbook row.

WPC gives no navigation guidance and validates at 300 m. WPP is listed in waypoint order but is not marked in the roadbook and gives no NAV-GPS guidance; its default opening/validation figures are 100/20 m. WPN opens at 800 m and validates at 200 m. WPV coordinates are supplied; “visible” does not mean the object must be physically visible on the ground.

A Danger 3 must be associated with a WPS, but a WPS can also be used for other safety or control purposes. CP is a physical passage control, normally associated with a WPS; WPC is a virtual navigation control. Default opening/validation figures include DSS 1,000/200 m, ASS 800/90 m, CP 1,000/90 m, and DZ/FZ 1,000/90 m.

These are defaults. Supplementary Regulations, the daily first roadbook page or a roadbook modification may redefine radii, so event documents always win.

Scrolling the roadbook changes the page you read. Selecting a GPS target changes the requested guidance. Neither action validates a waypoint: the bike must physically pass within the required radius. A control can validate before you reach its diagram reference, and validation of a start or finish waypoint does not itself cross the timing line.

In Simulation, physical passage earns navigation credit even during an event-GPS outage, but a failed or acquiring receiver cannot record a waypoint. Repair restores future recording; it cannot fill the earlier gap. A later valid passage can record that control, while the missing device history still leaves event-time classification pending technical review. Staffed timing remains separate.

One, two and three exclamation marks indicate increasing danger. They do not define universal safe speeds or a fixed list of obstacle sizes. Read the description, create margin before the feature and obey the event briefing and qualified safety instruction.

The 2026 FIM rules assign Danger 2 and 3 audible alarms to the Vehicle-to-Vehicle Alert System, and require a WPS at Danger 3. Lesson hazard-speed thresholds are coaching values only; they are not real-world safe speeds or FIM danger-mark limits.

A DZ begins a posted speed-control zone and an FZ ends that zone. Other restrictions still apply after FZ: the dated 2026 FIM Rally2 profile has an independent 160 km/h category maximum on both road and Selective Sections. Zone and category infringements are separate rule checks.

Speed-zone compliance is checked from the organiser’s GPS data. Neutralisation means competitors are stopped by race direction under controlled/parc-fermé conditions; it is not simply an untimed stretch to ride through calmly.

The dated FIM reference allows 90 m deceleration and acceleration areas around DZ and FZ. Introductory lessons instead ask you to enter within the limit and hold it through FZ as a stricter practice routine.

Work one instruction ahead: know the next partial, tulip and CAP before reaching the current feature. Approaching a dense junction or danger with spare attention is faster and safer than arriving too quickly and guessing.

Use a hierarchy of evidence. First follow the official row and waypoint order, then compare distance, CAP, branch geometry, surface and landmarks. Wheel tracks from other competitors are only another clue; they may belong to someone who is lost.

Smooth inputs leave mental capacity for navigation. Build speed only after correct reading is repeatable. The fastest useful pace is the one at which you can still notice a mismatch early.

If the book and ground stop matching, reduce speed without creating a collision risk and move clear where possible. Re-read the last confirmed row, compare distance and heading, and follow the organiser’s lost-route or assistance procedure when the safe route is uncertain.

Never ride the rally route in the opposite direction to recover a missed waypoint. Reversing on a single narrow rally track is specifically forbidden and creates a head-on danger. Do not teach yourself to make a U-turn on the competition line.

In open off-track terrain, the FIM rule permits recovery only by deviating away from the rally tracks before returning, and only where terrain, event rules and safety allow it. Otherwise continue to a safe place and use the event procedure; a waypoint or time result is never worth a collision.

The itinerary remains secret until official distribution. On current electronic systems, start by confirming the correct day and section, brightness, controls and power. Learn the organiser’s procedure for roadbook changes and verify that every official update has been applied.

Use only information and annotations allowed by the event regulations. Under the 2026 FIM rules, only official briefing notes may be carried for the Selective Section. Do not rely on a personal marking ritual that may be obsolete or prohibited at a particular event.

Before moving, scan the first available rows, special instructions and any event-specific waypoint radii. At each safe stop, check that the displayed row, total, selected waypoint and physical location still agree. A masked waypoint’s GPS restrictions and an unreleased section’s sealed roadbook are separate controls on information.

A GPS waypoint, a timing line and a staffed control have different jobs. DSS starts Selective-Section timing; ASS records the flying finish. You still have to present at STOP and complete the return liaison and its time control. The rally day does not end just because the timed section has ended.

Worked timing example: ASS is crossed at 12:20:00 and the rider presents at STOP at 12:22. STOP records that earlier ASS crossing. With 50 minutes allowed for the return liaison, the nominal arrival time is 13:10, calculated from the recorded ASS minute. The two minutes reaching STOP are already inside that allowance.

Follow the assigned neutralisation restart time. If DN is 10:00 and FN is scheduled for 10:20, leaving at 10:22 keeps those extra two minutes in the timed result; waiting late does not extend the excluded neutralisation. Early departure can also earn an additional penalty under the selected event profile.

Refuelling permission is not general service permission. Real FIM refuelling requires the engine stopped and rider off the bike, with only the work allowed there. In the current short procedure course, stop, use the refuel action and wait for its timer; repairs have their own stopped action and are blocked in restricted control areas. The exercise uses a 20-minute neutralisation, matching the FIM baseline minimum for Rally2 refuelling, and an authored two-minute refill action. Events can require longer neutralisation.

Beginner lessons retain their coaching, pauses and established lesson scores. Rally School lets you choose reading format, trip behavior and support. The strict Simulation profile currently includes a short procedure course; it is not a full-length rally or a reproduction of a particular proprietary instrument.

In Simulation, expanded roadbook reading uses live event time. Suspend saves the ride and closes the instruments; resume continues that saved state. For the short procedure course, liaison pages are available first and selective pages unlock at its briefed start window. Training allows preview. These release details are the exercise supplement, not a claimed universal FIM distribution rule.

Navigation results keep credit for a control recovered after a wrong turn, while clean navigation and recovery are reported separately. Navigation credit and event-time classification are separate: manual transmission does not reduce navigation points, and a fuel or equipment retirement keeps the progress already earned without creating a classified finish.

After retirement, optional unranked continuation records practice progress separately. It cannot rewrite the original result or add control credit to the retired attempt. Read the status and sporting ledger as well as the navigation score.

Practise in layers: first identify arrival and exit arrow, then distance, then CAP, contextual branches, waypoint logic and hazards. Say the instruction aloud before acting so a vague impression becomes a clear decision.

Use the simulator to build recognition and calm decision-making, not to memorise invented speeds or penalties. Review why each error happened and repeat the exact skill at low pace until the correction is automatic.

Real event documents, briefings and safety instructions always outrank this trainer. A strong navigator is precise, adaptable and willing to slow down when the evidence does not agree.