Alex Campbell | Bilingual Pit Board Messages
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The relationship between rider and mechanic is crucial at the pro level. It’s the mechanic’s responsibility to build and maintain the motorcycle, take feedback from the rider and apply it to the setup, and communicate to the rest of the crew what is going on. But what if there’s a language barrier between the racer and the wrench? That’s an obstacle that Alex Campbell faced in his pairing with Dylan Ferrandis. Together for the past two seasons at Monster Energy/Star Racing/Yamaha, Campbell and Ferrandis have claimed their share of wins, podiums, and the 2019 250 West Coast Supercross title. It’s clear that they have bridged the massive geographical and cultural gap, as Campbell is a Minnesota native and Ferrandis is a French import to the US, and over time the two have figured out ways to get around the issue, particularly with the messages that Campbell writes on the pit board during a race.
Ferrandis has an impressive handle on English, but the intensity of a moto leaves little time for him to see an English word on the pit board, translate the meaning in his head to French, and continue fending off advances from other riders. Instead, Ferrandis, Campbell, and riding coach David Vuillemin developed a list of keywords that are put on the pit board during a race. “It’s just really simple messages that are easy for him to see. He can read English, but it’s easier and quicker for him if it’s in French. If he sees an English word, it’s a little harder for him to process it,” Campbell explained. “The French words I do know, I write those depending on the situation because it takes less time for him to think about it. A lot of times what’s written on the pit board is simple, one or two words, and the lap times. I can’t write anything like, ‘Do this before the whoops,’ or whatever. It’s simple and there are a few words that DV helped with. Some of them I don’t know how to pronounce, but I know how to spell them and he knows what they mean [Laughs]. I try to keep it simple so it’s easy for him to see.
“‘Respire’ is ‘breathe’ and ‘tours’ is ‘laps.’ The one I don’t know how to say is ‘propre’ which means clean, and I’ll put that on there when he needs to do something perfectly and really focus on hitting obstacles. ‘Oui’ is yes, so I’ll put that on there when I’m happy and everything is going good,” Campbell said of their lingo.
Since gestures are universal, Campbell uses his arms and hands to get his point across. “I’ll give him a thumbs up or a thumbs down in front of the pit board sometimes. I point at my head when he needs to focus or come back from a mistake, and he understands,” the mechanic shared. We were a bit surprised to hear that Campbell doesn’t cross his arms in an “X,” which is a common action in European and Asian cultures that means “no” or “bad.”
Although the two have a system, there are still times that things get lost in translation, especially because Campbell isn’t fluent in French and Ferrandis doesn’t know every single unique word that we have in English. “His phone is in French and my phone is in English, so when we text it can be difficult because it translates and gets it mixed up,” Campbell shared. “When we’re at the track sometimes, he will say something and I’m trying to understand, but I just don’t. And then he doesn’t understand me sometimes, so he just rides off and goes about his day. As long as the bike is good, he does the work.”
Have some of Ferrandis’ French ways rubbed off on Campbell? Not quite. “I really like their baguettes, which is cliché. Being from the Midwest, I’m not big on stuff like escargot, the snails. I still just like Starbucks, but he said it’s just colored water [Laughs]. He does straight espresso shots. We had French champagne on the podium at Washougal and he was pumped. He said it was a bottle of really good champagne.”
