There is nothing – and when I say ‘nothing’, I mean not a single, solitary thing on earth – that can prepare you for what it feels like to be a passenger in a World Rally Car when it’s being driven flat out, by a proper WRC driver, through a proper WRC-style forest stage.
The most shocking thing of all, however, about this most shocking of experiences is just how smooth the whole thing feels, how graceful it seems, almost to a point were the car feels as though it is gliding across the ground rather than merely driving upon it.
And then, of course, there’s the small matter of the sheer speed you’re carrying as trees, earth banks and sometimes huge rocks flash past your right ear, seemingly no more than a few inches away at some points.
That, too, is quite hard to get your head around to begin with, even when the driver in question happens to be Kris Meeke and the car you’re being flung about in is Citroën’s DS3 WRC.
I’d gone to France initially to drive, rather than be terrified by, the DS3 WRC. But when I arrived at our destination, a high-end test facility just outside Clermont-Ferrand were they fire canapés at you as you walk through the door, the plan changed a bit. And the plan, it seemed, now involved me being driven by Meeke first, just so he could show me what to do, before I would then get my go.
Which sounded fine. I mean, what could go wrong? What harm would it do to be shown the ropes by the young Northern Irish maestro before climbing into the big chair and having a rip myself?
In theory, none. In reality, lots – because sitting next to Meeke in the DS3 WRC would, as it turned out, completely and utterly frazzle my mind. Which is not the ideal way you want to be feeling before you climb into someone else’s 300bhp works rally car, in front of an increasingly large crowd of people, and try not to make a complete chump of yourself.
But anyway, after the death ride with Meeke, I wandered into the forest for a quiet word with myself and tried to calm down a bit. And then 10 minutes later I came back, still oscillating violently inside, and went through a pre-drive brief with the car’s chief engineer, whom I think was called Sébastien, but by then the nerves had well and truly taken hold, so I’m not actually sure.
He explained how the differentials work and how the boost button completely changes the performance characteristics of the car. He also said he would only be pressing this after I’d done a couple of laps to get acclimatised, “because it makes the car feel totally different – much, much faster”.
For the first three laps, he added, he would give me advice via the intercom about how to drive, where to drive, what to do and what not to do. And then for the last two laps I’d be on my own.
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Face It
Even your big bum!!!
I am thrilled that you got behind the wheel and threw it at the scenery with aplomb. I bet the adrenaline rush for two days after was still with you? I am an ex rally driver but never had my
own 4wd monster - I was first RWD and then FWD privateer eating all my pennies with more pleasure than anything else ever gave me in life. 12 years doing it in Greece which surfaces are more tricky and hard on the bum and spine. You noticed the heat - imagine what its like inside one of these when the outside temp is 35-40C - I used to lose 5 kilo in two days - you should try it next year as part of your diet!!!
Oh and yes Ricky Burns was a very close friend and I used to help him with pace notes for the Acropolis and unofficially he let me play one day - a memory I will never forget and I was only 2 seconds slower than him!!! But now you know and I wish many others learnt that this is the king of motor sports not getting dizzy round an ultra smooth piece of asphalt. This is man and machine against the elements
Now that is why the likes of Kimi Raikkonen find it hard........
There is such a difference in driving at 11 tenths in a WRC car than driving F1 / WEC / Indy or Nascar.
From my perspective WRC Drivers need the biggest balls of all.
Like Steve, I had my greatest day out behind the wheel of a Rally Car at a Price Waterhouse jolly many years ago. Having grown up driving in the mud (on the farm) from age 10, I loved the feeling of being on the edge of control.