Rally Driving is the fantastic sport of driving a fast car on and off road. There are some famous rally driving competitions such as the RAC Rally in the UK, and the World Rally Championships (WRC). Watch the video where Jeremy Clarkson is petrified as he goes on a high speed passenger ride in a rally car.
The Rally Driving Experience
Rally driving takes your driving skills beyond those required for driving on the road. If you want to experience rally driving for yourself, get yourself a rally driving lesson or get someone to buy you a rally driving gift experience.
Your rally driving experience will start with a short classroom session. You will be taught the theory about how to brake, steer, and get around corners as fast as possible. The key to this is to brake at the last possible moment to throw all of the rally car’s weight over the front wheels to give the best grip for steering. This goes completely against everything you will have been taught about driving safely on the roads. Other things you do differently are keeping the rally car’s engine at higher revs.
Once you have a reasonably good grasp of the rally driving basics, you go out to the rally cars. You are shown the best seating position, the gears and the handbrake. the handbrake is different to a normal car in that it doesn’t have the ratchet to keep it on. this is so that you can do handbrake turns and be able to release the handbrake easily afterwards by just letting go of it.
Jeremy Clarkson Scared Witless on High Speed Rally Passenger Ride
The thrilling bit about the rally driving experience is that you are encouraged to go fast but keep it controlled. The instructor sits next to you with a kill switch. This is connected to the engine and will kill the engine if the rally driving instructor thinks you are not driving safely. The rally car has a complete roll cage, full seat harness and will have been safety checked before each use.
Before you know it, you will be hurling your rally car sideways around corners with the rally driving instructor next to you encouraging you to go faster into the corners. The most common mistake that young drivers bring to the rally driving experience is the habit of driving with one hand on the gear stick. You will be reminded that whatever you drive, you should always try and keep BOTH hands on the steering wheel to maintain control of the car.
At the end of your driving session, often the rally driving instructor will then take the wheel and show you how it should be done by a professional rally driver. Hold tight, you are in for one thrilling ride!
Depending on where you book your rally driving experience, you may get a mix of tarmac and off road stages. Rally driving experiences in Wales offer forest stages that a more akin to the RAC Rally Stages.
If you enjoyed your rally driving experience, then maybe you want to get involved in the Junior Rally, and get rally driving lessons that could lead to you entering the RAC rally of even the World Rally Championship.