Loving the Mid-Casual event! That Mini is an absolute blast on the gravel of Greece, but it really comes into its own on the open flowing bends and crests of Finland. Rock8man, we may need to anoint you the QT3 DiRT Rally Sommelier! :-)
Went quite well on the first two Greek stages though I recall at least one moment where I probably should have taken more significant damage than I did and was lucky that the ‘bounce’ kept me in the middle of the track and pointing in the right direction.
The night stage was looking pretty similar until I had a spectacular high speed off in the final few corners (a downhill right with a big run-off area). Car flipped, landed on its roof, before rolling back onto its wheels and giving me a view back up the mountain from where I’d achieved lift off. The front left was punctured but, thanks to the large run-off, I didn’t receive a penalty and was able to limp through to the stage end with probably less than 10 seconds lost.
Gave it death through the downhill slalom which comprised the fourth stage and was looking good for a decent time until I over-cooked the tight left at the bottom of the hill and plowed into the undergrowth as I crushed the brake pedal through the floorboards. Damage was light and I was able to reverse it out without taking an official time penalty.
On to Finland and within seconds I was cursing my laziness at the service area as I realised the Mini’s stock gear ratios are waaaaay too short for the open straights of the Scandinavian countryside. Slapped it into fourth and jammed the little motor at the rev limiter for pretty much the entirety of the first two Finnish stages. The repair stats were some of the most comical I’ve seen with ‘Engine’ sitting in the low 80s and everything else in the mid/high 90s!
I corrected my oversight for the final two stages and the Mini was able to achieve some pretty decent air with the throttle wide open. Unfortunately the taller gearing meant I was approaching the mid-speed corners at a much more rapid rate than I was used to and, despite telling myself to drive conservatively to avoid a last minute, event-ending catastrophe, I managed to hit trees three(!) times on the final stage, coming to a complete halt in all cases, such were the impacts. It brought back memories of Ogier at Catalunya last year as he threw it all away almost within sight of the finish line, pushing hard for some completely irrelevant power stage points…
Speaking of Ogier, did anyone catch his amazing high speed save on SS16 at Sweden over the weekend? Unfortunately I can’t find the footage they used on the highlights show - a chopper view where you could appreciate just how fast he was going (and could hear the engine bouncing off the rev limiter in top gear for at least 5-10 seconds leading up to the corner), followed by an in-car shot of him as ripped the wheel from side to side, pulling out all the stops to keep that Polo on the road…but barely lifting his foot!
This video is from a fan on the side of the road, but you can’t see the recovery thanks to the cloud of snow and ice he was kicking up:
Actually this one’s basically the chopper cam but it has a voice-over (no engine sound) and they cut before the in-car replay is shown:
Props to our kiwi, Hayden Paddon, for becoming the first ever non-European to make the podium at the Swedish event as he pushed Ogier hard to come in a comfortable second! Yes, he had much better road position, but he was outstanding given his relative inexperience in those sorts of conditions.
Looking forward to the car-breaking Mexican outing in three weeks’ time as 2016 is already shaping up as a more competitive competition between the main manufacturers (Hyundai has gone well in both events, Citroen just need Kris Meeke to stop rolling snake eyes on all his saving throws, and even Ford have had their moments courtesy of Mads and Ott Tanak).
