Driving with a supernatural being in a rally car:
By Richardd Adams: August 2012
I spent a few years driving race cars, from an old Ford V8 Stock Car with too much power and old school everything, to a Golf GTi rally car which was built and set up by VW Motorsport.
With the Ford, either you controlled a light throttle, or you will be fighting the car continuously under a full throttle. In the GTi, the car always seemed to be able to achieve a pace faster than the driver would allow, it was always perfectly balanced.
I arrived kind of late on the rallying scene, having already accumulated some 30 years under my belt. I had the impression that the cars were largely home built for night racing (judging by the number of lights they had). Later, as an entrant, I soon discovered that motor manufacturers built specials, driven by an elite group who were constantly up front scoring championship points and chasing after last year’s champion.
I never desired to win a rally event; I just loved driving fast on unknown dirt roads in a racing car. Occasionally, special stages were paved race tracks and my time was spent learning the lines for a lap or two, before setting an acceptable stage time.
Then, something happened to change my approach to rally cars forever:
I did a rally stage in a Group B Audi Quattro driven by a works driver…..
It’s was two days after the local national event, we are at the local race track which was the last stage in rally the event.
The temperature hovers around 25 degrees, the weather’s clear. I am standing at the pit wall, far too excited to be sitting. I am to be the honored VW Rallyist to experience a demonstration run in the Group B Quattro.
There is an eeriness around the race track and the haunting near-silence of the hot tarmac is punctured by the distant and offbeat howl of a tortured in-line five cylinder at full power. The howling war cry is followed by the crackle of a turbo boost limiter on the overrun and it’s getting louder, harsher, as it hauls goes down the main straight behind me.
Then in an explosion of noise, fury and with daytime lit spotlights, the yellow Quattro rounds a hairpin bend, its driver holding it in a smooth four-wheel drift, accelerating hard towards us and then in an instant, it comes to an inch-perfect halt in front of me. There is a smell of hot rubber and burnt oil, combined with the sound of a highly tuned competition engine bubbling away.
I wobble over, slipping the exiting journalist a quick “how was it” but not expecting an answer, his very pale face and googly eyes said something about going to the loo (quickly).
I get a smile from the driver (he knows something?) I slide into the navigator’s seat as my non racing boot slips on the bare metal floor. I don my own helmet, but the intercom plugs differ, so all verbal communication will be erased by the 20 valve Audi engine. The driver lights up a cigarette (what?) and puffs away, while checking the instruments.
I flip the seatbelts to a centre point in an attempt to show him I had done this before (you know) and I am soon strapped in. I give a thumbs up and the cigarette is flipped out as the revs get blipped higher and higher. Then the clutch is released!
– HELL SOMEONE JUST SMASHED INTO THE BACK OF MY SEAT WITH A 100 km/hr HUMMER !!!
The acceleration and noise exceeds that of my Honda 750 tenfold! We are heading into the sweeping left hander in two seconds, then a right, sideways (was that insects splattered on the side window?) then off the main circuit, without braking, onto the dirt road. The car was unbelievably quick, yet rock solid on the rough road. It was devouring the road and everything before it with ease.
The car control of the driver was not that of a humanoid, his minimal steering and pedal input was unbelievable. I am sure that at one stage he was resting his left leg against the (gearbox) tunnel. He steers the car early, using the throttle to control the entry into the corner. He brushed off speed with his left foot on the brake pedal while his right foot never left the throttle. I was thunderstruck by his effortless & calm style.
We turned back onto tarmac at a mind-boggling speed, the four tyres clawing at the road, like a cat having its tail pulled and we hit 200km/hr in seconds, into a four wheel drift around the hairpin (he was braking and accelerating at the same time!), onto the main straight and slowing to a halt at the pit wall.
The Audi settled into an idle as the turbo spooled down – he opened his door, leaned out and picked up the cigarette still burning on the road surface. He smiled and puffed away, awaiting his next victim ….
Anda you wanna example: Here’s one of the best, see the video of maestro Walter Rohl in the Audi:
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