Talotekniikka 10 SM-ralli 16th-17th of September

The final round of the Finnish rally championship in 2011. This time co-driving for Andreas Amberg who also belongs to the rally training program. Friday the 16th of September and heading to Kerava for the recce. Easy trip this time since it's a 30 minute drive from home. The recce was a relatively short one, because almost all the stages were run twice and so you only had to do "half" of the pace notes compared to normal. After the recce we stayed at a hotel near Kerava. even though the rally is close to home it's good to take some time of from the normal everyday routines and concentrate on the rally. As a co-driver I spent most of the evening cleaning up the pace notes before having dinner and a good night sleep.

Saturday and the normal routines at the rally head quarters. Checking that everything is OK with the car, rigging up in-car camera, camel bags, putting on the racing overalls, checking official time from HQ etc. Then off to the stages. The first stage was familiar from the previous years. A fast stage on a wide gravel road, but probably a bit slippery since it had been raining for several days. Our aim was to start at maximum attack, but the conditions didn't make it easy for us. The road was very slippery and we were fighting for grip. Then on a fast left/right combination we lost the rear and spun the car when travelling around 120 km/h. Unfortunately the rear of the car hit the side of the road during the spin even though we were traveling quite slowly already. That caused us to roll on the road. Not significant damage to the car except we lost the exhaust which of course meant we didn't have all the power from the engine.

Photograph by Valokuu.com

We did drive through the stage, but decided to retire because we were missing the exhaust and had lost too much time during the stage to fight for a podium finish. Sometimes these things happen in the rallies when you are pushing, but we are not planning to make a habit of it. After our retirement we left the car for our mechanics and went to see other guys on special stage 5. Lots of people in the same corner watching and even some of my friends. I forgot that I had recommended the corner when they had asked for a good viewing spot. My next rally as a co-driver will be in October again with my brother in a BMW M3 in it's maiden rally. Before that some volunteer work as a marshal in one rally to help other crews to enjoy their day driving/co-driving.