Crashes happen all the time, it’s a given, but you’d never wish it on anyone. The reality is that it’s just part of motorsport, and it’s often the most spectacular aspect – just ask any NASCAR fan.
Thankfully, cars are safer than ever, personal protective equipment is just as good, and mitigating risk still remains high on the priority list. Race car-related deaths aren’t nearly as common as they were in the late 20th century and injuries are far fewer too.
Away from the asphalt, rally drivers risk their lives as they race in between trees on loose gravel or any variety of surfaces. To that end, it’s still one of the most high-risk motorsports with far more variables and fewer opportunities to limit harm. Craig Breen’s death is proof that even the most freakish of accidents can happen.
Soon, the EROAD Australian Rally Championship will get underway. Before the season began in earnest, organisers invited me and a few journalists to the category’s official pre-season media day.
It’s a chance to meet drivers, interview them, and if you’re lucky enough, go for a ride in the passenger’s seat. For me, I’d never been in a rally car, and the thought of flying by trees at close to 200km/h was both exhilarating and terrifying.
Tuesday’s media day took place on a short special stage in Canberra ahead of the rally on March 21-23. There, I’d have the chance to go for a ride in a few Rally2 cars to compare and contrast them. First was a Toyota GR Yaris, then a Skoda Fabia, then a Hyundai i20 N, and finally a slightly older R5-spec Ford Fiesta.
My first time in a rally car was with Harry Bates in his Toyota. Before Tuesday, I’d been in several race cars – including a Gen3 Supercar, a GT3 Ferrari, and even a two-seater Formula 5000, which was like a coke can with a NASA rocket strapped to the back.
Nothing prepares you for a ride in a rally car. There’s no aerodynamic downforce to speak of, and the way the cars are able to grip a loose surface is mindboggling. It just doesn’t make sense. How do these cars go so fast through the corners and do it sideways?
I got out of the Toyota telling Harry he was a madman. I said the same thing to Scott Pedder and Hayden Paddon. I asked Hayden if he had ever been a passenger before. Only a couple of times. “I hate it with a passion,” he said. “I like to have a steering wheel in my hands.”
The difference between the cars is almost indescribable. Most of the time lost or gained is in the driver — and that makes sense, the Rally2 formula is parity-based. Each car sounds different but according to the drivers they make their speed differently.
The word was that I was the first to ride shotgun in all three Rally2 cars, so there were a few people keen to know what I thought – but I’m no driver, and I certainly couldn’t tell you if one was quicker than the other. They all felt as wild as each other. Hayden reckoned the Hyundai was slower than the Toyota and the Skoda, but Scott thought the Skoda was slower than the Hyundai and the Toyota. Maybe the Toyota was the quickest.
The final ride was with Tom Clarke, who had just rebuilt his Ford Fiesta after a crash late last season when he hit a tree. No one had told me that before getting in the passenger’s seat. No worries.
His car was slightly older than the others. R5 predates Rally2, but by and large, they’re pretty similar. Sitting in the cockpit you can notice it. I felt like I was sitting a lot further back in the two-door Fiesta as opposed to the other four-door cars. The interior of the newer cars was nicer too.
At the beginning of the day, I was pretty nervous. When you sign an indemnity, you sign it never once thinking about the consequences of that piece of paper if it has to get pulled out from the pile. By the end of the day, I was pretty non-plussed. The process of strapping myself in was second nature. “I can see you’ve done this before,” said one of Tom’s mechanics.
We set off. Tom got me to press the “RS” button that initiated the launch control sequence. The car lit up in a cacophony of pops and bangs and away we went.
What I noticed immediately was the five-year gap between the R5 and the Rally2 cars. The newer cars are just that little bit faster and perhaps even more nimble, a bit more pointy. The straight-line speed was much of a muchness, however.
The Rally2 cars had me grinning from ear to ear. They’re violent in the best way possible but also weirdly refined. The suede dashboard feels somewhat out of place, but the interior is immaculate and a step up on the older R5.
As we’re heading through the stage, nothing seems out of the ordinary. Tom’s got it all under control until we approach a 90-degree right-hander. It’s been a hot spot for spectating throughout the day, but there’s just one photographer standing there though.
Having sat shotgun with Harry, Scott, and Hayden, I knew the corner well by now – and Tom’s approach was no different to the others. All of a sudden the horizon was tilting on its axis and as soon as I knew it we were going over.
You don’t have much time to think. Preservation isn’t really an option. All I remember is the bizarre sensation, which felt awfully familiar to going upside down in a rollercoaster.
We’d rolled, and thankfully landed on all four wheels. Tom was gutted. He apologised. Thankfully neither of us was injured. The HANS device had done its job but it still rang my bell bad enough to give me a headache. The belts did their job too.
My door flung open. There was the photographer, Jack Martin. “Chappo!” he yelled. “I bet you didn’t expect to see me here,” I replied. “Did you get the shot?” Not quite.
Tom reckoned we must have been going around 90km/h an hour when we rolled. The car was pretty sore. The right rear wheel had come astray and the nose of the car had taken most of the impact. Initially, Tom reckoned the car mightn’t be fixed but was more optimistic once he got it back to the service park.
My hands flew up into the air during the crash. Tom’s colleague said I needed to work on that. I didn’t realise they’d flung about like an inflatable tube man until I saw the onboard. She’d also been in the car once when Tom had a crash. Go figure.
So what did I learn? Crashing definitely isn’t fun. I’m thankful for the HANS device. Safety measures like that are a godsend. If not for that, I imagine I’d be nursing a pretty sore neck right now, if not something worse.
I’ve got even more respect for rally drivers now than I did before – co-drivers too! Putting your trust in each other is an enormous task of bravery on both sides when you’re driving on the absolute limit of adhesion at more than 200km/h.
It’s madness, in the best way possible.
