Visually impaired and living the dream; this is the story of a blind navigator who does not allow her disability to get in the way of her what she wants to achieve.
As we mark the close of National Disability Rights Awareness Month, which ended yesterday, Motorsport South Africa explained how well visually impaired navigators who participate in the sport are faring.
Navigator Nicky Roos is one such example. Roos experienced her first blind navigator rally at the age of 11. She is 53 today and still navigating.
She is certified as totally blind and is also chairperson of the Blind Navigator Rally Club (BNRC), which is affiliated to the South African Regularity Rally Association.
A regularity blind navigator rally requires teams to meet specific speed and direction changes, only drive on certain roads and reach checkpoints between time-frames, not before or after.
“My mom wanted me to experience as many things as possible because of my visual impairment. It was a long time ago, so I don’t remember too many details, but my first rally was fun and I knew I wanted to do it again,” Roos said.
She explains that blind navigators participate in a separate class in a rally alongside fully sighted crews. A blind or partially sighted navigator is paired with a driver who has to follow the instructions which are read to them from either a braille or large print schedule.
In most cases, a schedule will have an instruction number, distance travelled, speed, an instruction and time.
“An example of an instruction on a schedule is ‘98 | 124.17 | 78 | yellow building | 02:14:01’. So, you must reach the yellow building at the specified time and change your speed to 78km/ph. You must drive exactly at the speed given – usually 10% below the speed limit. It is all about accuracy,” she explains.
Roos said a rally typically took about three hours. Some are longer, depending on the route.
“It’s not a race about who gets there first; it’s very much about accuracy and being on time. The cars leave one minute apart at the start. If you catch up to a car ahead of you, either they are running late or you are ahead of time.
“I think one of the biggest challenges is that you can’t help your driver look for the different landmarks they need to look for. They have to concentrate on the driving and the road, look for the landmarks and keep everything together.”
Roos said the navigator also needed to try to read ahead, because sometimes instructions and timing were very close together, like speed changes or turns.
“Missing turns is a big thing – because if you realise that you have missed a turn, you will have to turn back. Your odometer will be out and you will have to speed up to make up for lost time.”
The fun element of this motorsport has never failed to meet Roos’s expectations.
“Today rallies are run with a GPS. There are GPS markers, but you don’t know where they are – they can be anywhere on the route. Your aim as a team (driver and navigator) is to drive as accurately to the time as you can. Every second, early or late, at a GPS point is a point against you.
“These days we only drive on tar roads, but back when I started, we used to drive on dirt roads. Driving 180km on a dirt road in the rain trying to make up time was scary but I really enjoyed it.”
Adrian Scholtz, CEO of Motorsport South Africa, said blind navigator rallies were a perfect example of how inclusive motorsport is.
“This is a way for blind and partially sighted people to participate in a motorsport event; not as passive passengers, but as the actual navigators. The rally instructions are in braille (for partially sighted students it is in large font). The drivers can't read braille and are dependent on their blind navigator to complete the day's drive – and, do so competitively.”
Roos said you should not put limitations on yourself.
“Many people are living out a dream they never believed possible in motorsport today.”
Rallies mostly happen in Gauteng and Roos said they use “normal, everyday cars”. The relationship with the driver was absolutely key, she added.
“We pair drivers and navigators and you build up a relationship with your driver. I have been driving with my driver, Nicky Squair, for about seven years.”
Ross said getting along with your driver is very important. “I’ve been driving with Squair for many years and our personalities work well together.”
But the club was quite low on navigators with a total pool of 20 and they’re hoping to drive up their numbers again.
Pretoria News