Driving Sports

Episode #16 - Ryan is sent to Utah for an ice driving refresher with Subaru and Norwegian instructor John Haugland, trainer of Champions. (Vehicle damage is practically guaranteed.) Plus, a recap on Ken Block's first WRC event in the Monster World Rally Team Ford Focus.

Welcome to your Driving Sports Extra, for the second week of March 2010. For bonus content from this episode, check our app, available now for the iPhond and iPod touch.

This week, Ken Block challenges the world, and we ship Ryan off for driving lessons in a frozen wasteland called Utah.

Only a week following his big win at 100 Acre Wood – Round 2 of the Rally America Championship – Ken Block was back at it for his first run with the Big Boys. Yes, we’re talking the World Rally Championship… Corona Rally Mexico, specifically.

So how did the man dubbed “Chico Malo” by the Mexican press (translation: Bad Boy) do in his first ever WRC event? His time splits were impressive, especially considering he had very little seat time in the WRC Focus prior to competition.

Unfortunately, on the first stage of Day 2 of the three day event, he went wide on a corner and impacted a rock wall – the result of an incorrect pace note.

In spite of this, Block was still upbeat after his first event. He said, “When things were going well, my pace was way more competitive than I would have ever expected to be, that said, I am really looking forward to Turkey now!”

We have confirmed that Ken Block and the Monster World Rally Team Ford Focus will be appearing as a major part of the official Rally Mexico coverage. In the United States you can catch it on Discovery’s HD Theatre starting on Thursday, March 18.

On April 16, WRC’s Chico Malo is back in action at Rally Turkey.He will be returning to the Rally America series on April 24th as part of the Olympus Rally on the coast of Washington State.

Ryan, we heard you could use a little help with your ice driving.

I arrived to find that Subaru was not just setting me up with an Impreza and a custom built ice track, they also flew out John Hauglund, a Norwegian ice driving instructor, to review my technique and hone my skills.

Now, keep in mind, the techniques we’re covering today are specifically for competitive driving only.
According to Haugland, the number one problem for drivers is braking. Too early, to late, too soft, too hard, these are all bad. Entering each corner with the correct speed is critical.

On cars like the Subaru STI, ideally all cornering should be performed under power, where the front-wheels pull the car in-and-around the turn. This is done by dialing the DCCD to a manual, front-bias and disabling the VDC. Dial it back with too much rear-bias and the tail is going to come around too aggressively and send the car into a snow bank.

Of course, just entering a corner too hot can also result in a similar predicament as most cars will simply keep sliding forward: a situation I find myself in quite often while testing on snow and ice. For this, John suggested tapping the handbrake to assist in rotating the vehicle-- this has always been my personal favorite. Getting the car repositioned, I could then move back to power.

A more advanced technique is left-foot braking.

Though tricky in practice, it’s pretty simple to explain how it works: simply keep the throttle engaged and gently apply the left foot to the brake. This shifts weight to the front of the car, which gives the tires more bite while steering. As Haugland points out, most drivers don’t have enough sensitivity in their left feet to put this to good use without a lot of practice.

With the instruction portion out of the way, it was time to test what I had learned, to see if I was ready to graduate. For my final exam Subaru provided a pair of Impreza 2.5i’s. Me in the blue hatch, and Haugland in the white.

Off the line I ceded the first chicane, there was no way both our cars could fit side-by-side going through it. And, considering the man’s experience, I figured he’d be quicker off the line. He was, but he didn’t get too far ahead.

Through the first lap I was running a couple car-lengths behind when Haugland either made an error--unlikely-- or just let me pass on a wide corner to keep the race more entertaining. I took this advantage and ran with it, I maintained my lead for the rest of lap two and the first half of the final lap, refusing to give him a passing opportunity.  Then, in the penultimate corner, I entered too hot and pushed the corner wide.

Haugland took advantage of my error--only we didn’t have quite enough space for both cars to fit. What does that matter to an ex-WRC driver?

He made the car fit. And, coincidentally, took out my side-mirror and crumpled a few panels in the process. Maybe it was his way to remind me that I should have applied the brakes sooner in that corner?
We both charged to the finish, swapping paint as we entered the final turn.

Now, I’m pretty sure Haugland was being nice and giving me an advantage. But, I’ll take this win, thank-you-very-much.