It’s time for Rally School

It was with much anticipation and some fogginess that I arose at 7am on a Sunday (crazy, I know…) to prepare myself and my partner Sarah for the drive out to the Werribee 4WD centre. This open expanse of land, sprinkled with dirt roads and muddy hillclimbs, is the preferred Victorian location for Mick Ryan’s rally school, a student of which I was about to become.

Of course, Victoria was playing to its strengths, with four seasons in one day, though thankfully it appeared as if the rain would hold off by the time we arrived in the car park amidst a handful of other students and assorted observers.

We were welcomed cordially, and offered refreshments as Mick’s crew prepared the cars, the paperwork and themselves for the day ahead. I signed up to the half day course – 24 laps of basic rallying technique around ‘practice rally stages’ of varying configurations as we developed our skills, an instructor always alongside. The appeal of being presented with a certificate to hang on the wall at the course conclusion was essential, simply so I could exaggerate my prowess at the wheel of a rally car to friends later!

Mick sat the drivers down to briefing, complete with whiteboard, markers, and intent to use both. He introduced the crew and gave us a bit of history on what the school is about (basically a “travelling roadshow” that is based out of Sydney but every other weekend is in another capital city) before moving on to some theoretical technique. For people familiar with circuit theory, the discussion raised the odd eyebrow as Mick talked about exiting the corners on the inside as that is where the cleanest surface would be. “(Former rally and later circuit ace) George Fury once said ‘It doesn’t matter what you do on the entry, the exit is where the time is,’” he explained. Cleaner surface means more bite for the purpose built rally tyres, and consequently better traction. He also touched on smooth inputs with all controls so as not to upset the cars attitude, and gave any potential “boy racers” a dose of reality with the simple phrase: “You crash it, you buy it.”

To assist with our lines the crew had set up witches hats around the beginner’s loops, encouraging precision right from the start. Our first runs comprised of 6 laps on each of these loops, the right side utilising 3rd gear on its more open sections with the left section being more technical in 2nd gear.

My nerves were eased somewhat when we were told to take the first lap very carefully to get a feel for the car, and credit to our group of 15 students who adhered to this advice and listened to the experts, being circumspect with the throttle until their responses caught up with the car.

As the names were called off, 2 at a time, the nerves began to crawl back, thoughts of “binning it” being uppermost in my mind after the briefing. “Adam, you’re in the Evo 9 with Gareth.” There goes the heart rate, though I breathe deeply and reassure myself that it will all be fine. A calm focus then took over.

I must confess in the lead up to this weekend, I was secretly hoping that the many hours watching Ari Vatanan as a youngster would rub off. In reality, the only thing resembling a ‘climb dance’ (Climb Dance on YouTube) is when I stumble over the Evo’s roll-cage to get in. Safety is paramount to this operation, of course, and a couple of minutes go by as adjustments are made to my seat and belts to ensure a comfortable driving position. Wrists resting over the top of the wheel, the seat then pulled forward to allow full pedal pressure below. Gripping the wheel at 10 to 2, I give the nod and the door is shut, closing off the outside world and Sarah’s camera lens. It was time.

Gareth’s first advice, once we get moving (very easy clutch effort in this car), is to “get into 3rd gear. This thing has heaps of torque and it will take the circuit entirely in 3rd.” He isn’t kidding. The Evo, a fully prepped rally car- adjustable suspension, tricky diffs and anti-lag, feels insanely fast. Especially when teetering around on loose gravel at the top end of 3rd gear, between witches hats that seemingly grow closer by the lap. Despite the sensory overload feeding back through the car, I become conscious that another form of feedback is being imparted. It’s Gareth, telling me my braking point is way too early! “Whaaaaat?” I am thinking. “This is gravel, this is a long straight, and we are coming towards a 90 degree left. Did I say this was gravel?” My mind is going through a perpetual loop of warnings and alarms as it tries to compute this data into something more realistic.

By the end of the first run I am gaining confidence with turn-in, then balancing power through turns to maximise the application on the clean exit line. But I run out of bottle into that 90 left, lifting off early down the straight, before rolling into the braking zone. Obviously the Evo could take the late brake and more, but I didn’t have the confidence to control the rear on entry- trail braking in a slower corner indicated enough rear slip to indicate I wasn’t yet prepared to try it from a higher speed, despite its assistance in tucking the nose to the apex.

Gareth’s feedback offered an explanation for the nervous rear. “Try to smooth out your steering inputs rather than making continual adjustments as that unsettles a car on dirt. The Lancer is so reactive to driver input that if you are nervous with the wheel it will behave nervously itself.” On tarmac I like to get a feel for front end grip from a slightly early turn in, before squeezing on the power, so this was a big adjustment to make as I pondered my second run, with Tim on the left side loop in his Sti-RA Impreza.

The 90’s Impreza was clearly well used but well loved, it’s appetite for coolant being traced to a leaky upper radiator hose. Thankfully Mick had his ex-Possum Bourne LHD Impreza GpA rally car on hand to donate the part!

Driving another car, with another co-driver is a real strength of the school, in that you receive sage advice from several experts in one session whilst experiencing how each car reacts to certain situations. From watching the others, I know the left side loop is slower and that 2 corners – the one leading on to the longest straight and the one at the end of it – were quite technical.

Out lap complete, I come down the straight and turn it at what looks like a natural apex. Not so. “Something that is so important to rally driving is vision through a corner. Look at where you want to be at exit, the cleanest surface is to the inside of the corner. An apex you might use on tarmac will leave you too wide and you won’t be able to use all the power on corner exit.” Tim explains as I drive the remainder of the loop, slowly so as to better take in his advice. We come back again, and I turn later than the last lap but Tim comes across with his hand to straighten the wheel, to put us on a radius that seemed, well, unnatural to me. It clicks though, the grip on exit allowing more revs and consequently a higher speed. By the fifth cycle, I brake late (getting better at that!)…wait…wait, turn and balance throttle, increasing right foot as the car straightens. As my inner self screams “Yes!” Tim gives my arm a friendly tap and says “That’s about as perfect as you will get through that corner today, well done!”

My focus now shifts to maximising speed on the straight for the last lap with Tim and again it requires a mental re-scramble. “Brake in a straight line through the esses, turn in and back on the power….harder….harder!” My mind is crying out “You have too much lock on to be using all that throttle, back off!” but the Impreza tucks in, grips, and slingshots us forward. So fast, I forget to recalibrate my braking point and ruin my previously perfect corner that followed!

As we pulled into the pits, Tim again mentioned my steering inputs, and to better use my vision to look through an entire corner and visualise where the car should be on exit as exit speed trumps entry speed every time.

Once all the second runs were completed, it was time for some group discussion as Mick asked each of us what we felt was the most pertinent thing learned so far. Some were amazed at how modulating the brake pedal correctly actually made you faster than trying to be overly late and hard with your foot. Others talked, like me, about the vision through the corner and spotting the cleanest surface to drive over. We were then taken out into the blustery wind onto the full track we would use for our final 2 sessions, dust kicking up all round in the chilly wind. Mick stopped us at a long right hander, which was deceptive in its angle and camber. The approach was third gear back to second, and tightened past 90 degrees as the camber changed pushing to the outside and the ditch. Mick and Tim walked us through each facet of the corner, from turn in point, through to the apex and exit. “We have had so many offs here that we decided to show people through first!” said Mick, “You have to get the car tucked in to the corner so it doesn’t ride the camber to the outside. Keep a balanced throttle once off the brakes and get right to the inside where the grip is, then you can pick up the throttle early enough to pull you out of the corner properly.” We were lucky that a witches hat was placed most of the way around the corner (again a lot further through than one may have thought on tar), signifying the ideal apex.

Like a sponge I soaked in this discussion on corner technique, combining it with feedback from my earlier runs to provide a solid basis from which to improve in the later sessions. After a quick drink and sugar fix, my name was called again and I met my final instructor Nathan after getting comfortable in the Blue Impreza Sti. The long circuit incorporated parts of both loop tracks but run in an anti-clockwise direction, allowing a good mix of straights and varying corners, 2nd and 3rd gear in the Sti.

Distilling all I had learned, I began to gain confidence, smoothing my inputs through steering, metering out throttle and brake applications, balancing my downshifts with heel and toe. The corner that we walked through was indeed a challenge, marbles on anything but the ideal line not letting the Impreza turn in. I started to brake a little earlier but with less pressure to settle the car better on the entry phase, as Nathan encouraged sniffing out that witches hat to nail the throttle. Being such a long corner it felt like forever on part-throttle, but the harder we tucked the nose in, the more robust we could be with the throttle. After 12 laps with Nathan (a break after 6 laps) in the same Rex, I felt as if I was finally beginning to scratch the surface of these vehicles abilities, my exit speed onto the main straight growing exponentially with my confidence in the car and myself.

Too soon, it seemed, Nathan called me into the pits. For the first time I was shaking with the adrenaline of the run, and when I was thanking Nathan for the feedback and encouragement, another helper commented “Do we have a budding rally driver here?!?” which just made me beam!

We weren’t done yet though. Now it was Nathan’s turn to take me out. Being a regular contender in the Victorian Rally Championship with his 2006 Sti, I could feel that this was going to be something special as we jumped in the full-house Evo again. The next 3 minutes re-defined my concept of ability. Both car and driver were suddenly dancing, attitude being provoked rather than avoided in an effort to simply get through a corner as quickly as possible. At one stage, a long, almost 180 degree section, Nathan flicked the Evo through more than 90 degrees of rotation, foot planted and diffs working their magic. Complete control, and the budding rally driver comment was now out the window as I again felt like a rank amateur with so much to learn. But that is the beauty of mastering a craft, the path you take to get there. I don’t think I would ever get tired of learning this though. Hmm, if I could just grab a cheap Integrale from Japan….

For more information on the rally school, visit www.rallyschool.com.au

© 2010 lautista.com.au.