Basic Rally Driving Techniques

Get the most out of your rally driving experience day with these three tips…

If you’re going on a rally driving day as part of a stag do, or someone has bought you a
rally car driving experience gift, do a bit of homework and you’ll get much more out of it
when you’re putting the car through its paces on the course.

1. Handbrake turns

When a corner’s tighter than the steering lock of the car you’re driving, the handbrake turn
is useful for cutting down on the amount of steering needed to get round a tight bend. Aim
to approach and leave a tight corner in second gear; don’t enter too fast and take your foot
off the gas to transfer the car’s weight forward for grip. Turn into the corner in one
motion and apply the handbrake firmly, locking the rear wheels. Keep the release button
pressed. When you’re in the spin, point the car towards the exit, then release the handbrake
without overcooking the exit and power out. In RWD cars, you’ll have to engage and release
the clutch at the point where you apply and release the handbrake too.

 

 

 

 

 

 

2. Lift Off Oversteer

Another rally technique for maintaining speed around corners is lift off over steer. Liftoff
refers not to leaving the track, but to taking your foot off the accelerator after you’ve
powered into a bend; oversteer is the resultant drifting motion of the backend, which you
then influence by countersteering to direct the car smoothly along your desired line through
the bend, or series of bends. A controlled slide, if you will.

So power into the corner with a lot of throttle, then the act of quickly releasing the pedal
transfers the car’s weight to the front. As you turn, the car will feel like it’s moving
sideways as the back end loses grip – that’s your cue to apply the right amount of
countersteering in the opposite direction, pointing the car back to where you want it to go.
Applying acceleration at this point sends weight to the back of the car again, giving you
grip to regain control.

3. The Scandinavian Flick

It sounds like an ABBA hairstyle craze from the ’70s but this technique is another power-
transference technique that was popularised by Northern European drivers in the 1960s
onwards to maintain car control round corners and thereby win precious time. Plus, it looks
exceptionally cool, so if you know a little about it in advance, you could master it on your
rally driving day and really impress the crowds of adoring bystanders.

 

 

 

 

 

Head for the outside edge of the corner you’re about to turn into and approach normally.
Before the point you’d naturally turn, perform the flick – you do this by steering rapidly
away towards the outside of the corner. This transfers the car’s weight to the inside
wheels. The next part of the manoeuvre is crucial – you need to transfer weight to the
opposite side of the car at the same time as turning the wheel sharply into the corner. So
turn the wheel in and take your foot off the throttle; the back of the car will slide while
the front end points towards your exit.

Next, you reapply revs and countersteer (back towards the corner’s apex) to bring the car
back straight. Continue this and the car’s trajectory will smoothly ‘pivot’ along the racing
line; reduce the countersteer smoothly and you’ll be in control and accelerating away,
looking pretty damn amazing.

If you’d like to try out these techniques under the watchful eye of an in car advanced
driving coach – check out the range of driving experiences on offer at Silverstone – for
more details please go to the Silverstone site – http://www.silverstone.co.uk

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