PH goes rallying: training, part one
Rally pundit turned competitor Dan Prosser prepares for his debut alongside our own Chris Harris
An intriguing idea, but given that neither of us has ever called a pace note and that our collective hands-on experience of the sport amounts to a couple of stage rallies back in 2005, the learning curve does appear to be a treacherous one for us both. I, in particular, have never competed in motorsport beyond a few club kart races as a youngster. Time for some professional intervention.
The priority for me was to get some experience manhandling a rear-wheel drive car on a low-grip surface, and also to learn some of those driving techniques that define this discipline. That I could achieve these objectives without risk of hurting myself or any metalwork - in a standard road-going version of our rally car, no less - made a frozen lake the obvious choice.
Tips from the top
Multiple rally and rallycross champion Pat 'Flying' Flynn runs such a school in Sweden, using a fleet of six-cylinder BMWs, Ford Pumas and much more besides. His lake, close to the Norwegian border, features various courses; a steering pad, an oval with a couple of slaloms and a pair of particularly challenging circuits, one half a mile in length, the other a full mile.
Aside from the obvious benefits, such as the dearth of solid objects to crash into and the relatively modest speeds, a frozen lake is the best training ground for drivers of all experience levels because it requires and promotes a purified technique.
Newcomers to the discipline, myself included, are able to repeat corners endlessly and there's no overstating the importance of this. Imagine trying to learn the fundamentals of rally driving on a stage in which no one corner is repeated. You'd simply fluff every single bend and not make any progress. The lake, however, allows you to practice each corner until you've begun to develop the necessary skills. It doesn't matter that you'll never find an exact replica with the same profile and grip levels in competition - you'll soon have the powers of reading the surface and car control in your armoury.
Dancing on ice
More experienced drivers, meanwhile, are able to refine their skills to an even greater degree. The low-friction nature of the ice means that driving errors and ill-judged inputs are magnified vastly. There's no relying on Pirelli's finest to dig you out of trouble. If you turn into a corner too quickly you'll slide hopelessly into a snow bank. If you get on the power too early you'll miss the apex and shed time. If you're too slow with corrective lock, you'll spin and be laughed at.
The ice allows a driver to really feel
what effect every single minute input has on the car's dynamic behaviour to such as degree that gravel or tarmac could never replicate. Only a pure, refined driving technique will see you lap the outer circuit quickly and efficiently.Pat preaches a very simple formula for negotiating a bend: brake, turn, power. It seems laughably obvious, but those three stages form the very foundations of proper driving technique. Braking, which includes lifting off the throttle, sheds the speed, puts the car's weight on its front wheels and enables the driver to turn into a corner with as little steering input as necessary. Turning in smoothly whilst releasing the brakes, perhaps with a blip of power to send the back end around and keep the front tucked in, comes before patience. It's agonising to sit with your foot hovering over the gas, desperate to stamp on it as if it'll make you faster, but once you've felt the front end wash wide as a result of a premature throttle input a handful of times, you soon realise the virtue of patience. As Jackie Stewart says, you must never get on the power until you're certain you won't have to come off it again.
Back to basics
So it's slow in, fast out. These truisms remain the same regardless of surface, albeit to differing extents. There's no better to place to get your head around this simplest of techniques.
The very best competition drivers go one step beyond their rivals in producing their own grip, rather than relying on the rubber of their tyres. They'll either find it in the surface (perhaps a deep patch of gravel in a braking zone) or they'll shift the weight between the axles to ensure it's where they want it. Such a driver is proactive behind the wheel, dictating the car's behaviour, rather than reacting to whatever it happens to do. He or she will also exert less effort and go faster.
Ice driving is such an enlightening experience that you soon wonder if it isn't the very foundation of a great driver's make up. It's certainly one of them; as discussed, it's the best place in which to refine technique and a driver can cover the equivalent mileage of a full domestic rally season in a single weekend.
Early learning centre
Pat has some rather more radical ideas about the development of a great driver though. "If a child's parent is a smooth driver, that rhythm will be passed on naturally," he reckons. "Equally, if your mum or dad is interested in performance driving, you'll become accustomed to the sensation of a car at its limit from a very early age. Imagine never having felt a car at the limit; how are you ever going to know where that limit is?
"Stick your kid on a trials bike. They won't hurt themselves with all the gear they've got on, and they'll get a feel for traction. The other thing is people in the agricultural trade; a farmer who ploughs a field in the middle of the night doesn't want to get stuck. It's a long walk home. He'll learn how to measure traction perfectly."
I've never ploughed a field. My parents were as interested in driving as I am in bush topiary and I didn't have a motorbike as a kid. Two days on a frozen lake, though, did more to advance my rally driving technique than did eight years on the open road.
I think its a bit like being into football. I'm not interested in it (in fact I really can't stand it) and I think that's as a result of growing up in a house where football was never on the TV and no-one was remotely interested in 'what's the score'. As a result neither of my sons show any interest in it either.
However - it's always difficult to try and push kids into things. A mate bought his son a small kiddy motorbike but his lad wasn't interested. Plays guitar in a rock band now...!
If you like driving/ car control/ going sideways, there really is nothing like it.
Here is our vid from last year:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbs87i4sXls
From 6 min onwards you can see the balance of the BMW's - just being held there with the throttle and steering. The best feeling in the world!
It made me a far quicker and safer rally driver and as the article says much more aware of how to look for grip etc, as for car control you soon have the car on a piece of string!!!
We did take our own car one year and that was an awesome road trip!!! some of my fondest memories ever!!
Having been in the RWD Challenge - as a co-driver - for the previous two years, I've known about Pat and this Ice Driving experience.
Work/time/finances have so far not allowed me to go and do it, but I REALLY want to get out there and try it for myself.
Maybe next year...
Only joking of course.
Great idea, glad it is a success.
Looking at the website for Ice Drive its a little unclear about costs, so could someone give me a little bit of an idea how much a 3 day trip with a friend would be?
- take all the CDW insurance you can!!
Ryanair fly to Torp and Rygge, most people paid £80 per pair this year sharing a large bag
Hire car is roughly £50 a day for a focus or golf, fabia style, its about 4 hours drive to the lake
You can get hotels for £120ish per twin room, or I can rent you chalets at £25-30 per head per night, then its simple cereal breakfast and out for a pizza at night etc
Lake fee over say 3 days is £600 [£200 a day for the car and crew]
I can do you a BMW or Puma or other cars for £150-175 a day plus fuel
You will use fuel, its not like a normal experience where you line up and take turns, you drive instaed for as long as you wish, As Andy Hebron says hundreds of laps is the norm!!!!
We alternate tracks and directions daily to give fresh challenges, we are there when you want tips and coaching, we have 5 expert rally/race/rallycross drivers on hand to help each day!!!
The number is on the site, you are welcome to call and chat, we seem very popular with track day guys too, who want to learn limits!!
Thanks Pat
Ryanair fly to Torp and Rygge, most people paid £80 per pair this year sharing a large bag
Hire car is roughly £50 a day for a focus or golf, fabia style, its about 4 hours drive to the lake
You can get hotels for £120ish per twin room, or I can rent you chalets at £25-30 per head per night, then its simple cereal breakfast and out for a pizza at night etc
Lake fee over say 3 days is £600 [£200 a day for the car and crew]
I can do you a BMW or Puma or other cars for £150-175 a day plus fuel
You will use fuel, its not like a normal experience where you line up and take turns, you drive instaed for as long as you wish, As Andy Hebron says hundreds of laps is the norm!!!!
We alternate tracks and directions daily to give fresh challenges, we are there when you want tips and coaching, we have 5 expert rally/race/rallycross drivers on hand to help each day!!!
The number is on the site, you are welcome to call and chat, we seem very popular with track day guys too, who want to learn limits!!
Thanks Pat
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