Part 2: Keep digging

In the past I had flirted with the idea of getting involved in track motorsport. My (admittedly cursory) research indicated that you needed a vast reservoir of cash, expert knowledge of equipment and a semi-professional level of mechanical engineering. And that’s before you’ve even sat in a car. Due to having none of the above, nor having a clue how to obtain the above, I rapidly abandoned all hope.

My early research into rally was no different. Like every self-respecting millennial, my first stop was to trawl through YouTube. The first few guides I stumbled across seemed pitched at people already competing in motorsport, with the financial means and technical knowledge to get started right away. The guys in those videos were experienced petrolheads, talking in a foreign language of limited-slip differentials and toe-angles. If I rocked up to one of their events, I would surely be exposed as an imposter within minutes, and strung up – an example to others to stay away. Right? It almost felt like some where boasting about how hard it was to break into, and how exceptional they were for having cracked the code. I was paralysed by the overwhelming complexity, as well as the fundamental questions left unanswered. A legion of questions surrounded me, demanding instant, perfect answers. For a second I felt like giving up. But this time things would be different. This time I was on a quest!

So I kept digging.

After a while I came across the YouTube channel of Team O’Neil Rally School. While there was still a fair amount of technical talk, there was also heaps of super helpful advice about starting out. These guys clearly hold the hands of absolute beginners on a regular basis - sometimes city folk who’ve never even driven a manual car before. These guys seemed OK. I didn’t feel like they would instantly dismiss me as a clueless rube, at least not to my face. In their tutorials their instructions are clear, simple and patient. For the first time I could see some of the steps between zero and rally.

Soon enough I stumbled across a series on The Drive channel that was almost made for me. MY LIFE as a RALLYIST is a series of vlogs by Ryan Symancek, an enthusiastic American lad on a budget, who loves Subaru Impreza rally cars and dreams of competing in a rally... Who moved to New Zealand... And ended up rallying... Well well well. It seemed so simple. He just went out and bought an old Toyota Starlet for a pittance, and hooned around the gravel back roads of Southland. Soon enough he got friendly with a local rally guy who took him under his wing. He entered an Autocross event with no formal race training. Whoa, scary right? Not so much. It’s basically just driving around some cones in a field on your own. You don’t need a turbo-charged WRC car or even a roll-cage. I could now see there was a way into the sport for mere mortals.

While I admire Ryan’s pluck, it’s not in my nature to just dive in head first. I want someone to show me how, then give me a pat on head and tell me it’s going to be OK. Only then I can have the confidence to go ahead on my own. I’m certainly not the type to go out and buy a car to bomb around the backroads with no idea what I’m doing, let alone show up at an event. And so, before I compete, I decided that I had to get some formal training at a rally school – Rally Drive NZ’s two-day rally school to be exact. In March I’ll get half a day of theory, half a day on basic car control, then a full day on the gravel tracks around Hamilton in a range of rally cars, including a fully fledged Mitsubishi Lancer Evo. It’s all booked up and I am very excited.

In the meantime I started looking for a car club that ran Autocross events. (You need to join a car club in order to compete, and joining one club gives you access to events from other clubs too.) I need to check out a few events as a spectator and see what it feels like for myself, and maybe pluck up the courage to pester some of the members. I reached out to a few clubs in the Auckland region – Gavin from the Hibiscus Coast Motorsport Club got back to me the same day. I’d heard that the rally fraternity was a helpful bunch, and Gavin has so far lived up to that reputation. He talked me through the types of events beginners progress through on their way to rally:

• Motokhana events are the step before Autocross. Tracks are marked out with cones and can’t be longer than 400 metres. Gavin explains them best: ‘Motorkhanas are very relaxed, no helmet, no overalls, hell no seatbelt if you don't want. Mostly the surface is not too rough and you can enter daily driven vehicles - the 70+ year old guy that’s always at the pointy end of the field uses his daily driven 1300cc 90's Corolla. Motorkhanas teach you low speed handling and car placement more than anything else.' There’s one happening in February which I’m going to check out.
• Autocross events, as I’ve already mentioned, are basically charging around a track marked out by cones in a field. The tracks are longer than in a Motokhana and focus more on racing lines. For these events you’ll need a helmet and two-layer fireproof overalls, but any car will do.
• Hillclimbs are the next step on from Autocross. Again, this event is for everyone, in any car, as long as it’s in good working order (though a minority of these events do require a roll-cage). Stages are usually a few km long and you get to run the stage between 3 and 5 times.
• Rallysprints are where it starts to get a bit more serious. They are basically a single rally stage which you run 3 to 5 times. In addition to your personal protection, vehicles require a roll-cage, co-driver, first aid kit, fire extinguisher, racing harness and more. So, unless I sign a major sponsor for Team Rally Quest (do get in touch) (please), Rallysprints might be a bit of a reach for the near-term. But we can all dream.

Of course there’s plenty more research to do, but for now I feel a lot more reassured about the whole thing. Indeed, one of the main reasons I decided to write this blog was to reassure others interested in starting out in the sport, and so hopefully this is a good start.

Coming up next: I’ll be spectating a Motokhana mid Feb, going to Rally School in March, making a decision about which car I should get, and Dirt Rally 2.0's imminent release.