Last Friday I was invited by the London Rally School to take part in their £195 Monte Carlo Half Day Course. It was the best fun I’ve had for quite a while. I had wanted to do a bit of rally-driving for a very long time, but for some reason it had always been other activities that ended up in my diary so far.
Banzai Action Sports
London Rally School is part of Banzai Action Sports, which is family-owned and -operated. Banzai offer all kinds of other adventure activities from an adjacent building, such as paintballing, quad-biking, target shooting, off-roading, axe-throwing, and rides on Rage Buggies. I joined four other participants who had booked a full day. They had already completed their morning session. Mike, our instructor, greeted me friendly. We were his first students of the year, as the School had only just re-opened after the UK’s months-long, third lockdown.
Half Day Course
In short, the Monte Carlo Half Day Course lasts just under three hours and includes some basic rally-driving training on the following two cars: an ancient (1980) but completely modified & recently upgraded Ford Escort Mk2 RS2000 and the impressive and brand-new Subaru Impreza WRX STI group N.
Video (c) LRS, all pics (c) BSqB except the first pic below of the Impreza
Theory
We went through about twenty minutes of safety training and rally driving theory, then we took our turns driving the Ford Escort around the triangle that was marked with traffic cones on the yard in front of the building.
Handbrake turns vs. power-turns
We practiced doing handbrake turns and power turns and a number of other moves. It turned out that I’m 100% useless with the handbrake. I just couldn’t get my head around it, it is so counter-intuitive to me. I asked Mike if it was okay to simply focus on power-turns, and turned out that was just fine. You basically push the gas pedal down and steer largely by regulating the power, not so much by using the steering wheel. You only move the steering wheel in order to keep your front wheels pointing in the direction of travelling after you’ve done the steering with your gas pedal.
Even though we probably never exceeded 40km/h, considering each length of the triangle is only 30m long or less, it was an exhilarating experience to slide around the yard, throwing up dust.
The Stage
Next up we were let loose in the Ford Escort on the ‘stage’, i.e. the short race track that meanders through the woodlands and across the fields next to the buildings. My guess is that we reached about 120km/h on the longest straight stretch, but it sure as hell felt more like 240km/h on these bumpy dirt tracks.
Rear-wheel drive
The rear-wheel drive of the Escort makes for perfect classic sliding around the corners. I felt like I had always been meant to do this. Should I switch careers and become a full-time rally driver? There is a fair bit of money to be made if you’re good at your job, I hear?
This was kick-ass. The other four dudes clearly felt the same. None of us were able to wipe the big smiles off our faces.
Four-wheel drive
Then we received some training and instructions on the 4WD Subaru. Mike didn’t beat about the bush: this car would be a lot more difficult to drive. Much heavier, and the 4WD would take some time getting used to.
The other participants seemed to handle it pretty well. One of them in particular seemed to have been born in an Impreza, roughly 60 years ago. I had a lot of fun trying to figure out how to drive that thing, but truth be told, I did not exactly excel.
Looks vs. Speed
The team agreed that I looked pretty fast, largely because I was throwing up so much dirt. The others were driving much more smoothly, producing much smaller dust clouds on the track. When the finishing times were announced for our respective second laps, I was shocked to hear that I had been a whole 16 seconds slower than the best racer: 153 seconds instead of his stellar 137.
There is only one conclusion here: I will need to come back as a paying customer for a full day to get a few more practice rounds under my belt. Probably this summer. 5 out of 5 in my book.
Looking for more posts about speed? Feel welcome to check out our articles about supercars, jetlevs, powerboats, and jet boats. Or simply interested in fun outdoor activities? We’ve written about hiking trips, mountain biking, white-water kayaking, packrafting, deep sea fishing, and a seal safari.
24 Comments
Half-day driving course, looks very interesting! I’m good at drifting,I’d love to improve my skills in the near future!
Thank you, John. I forgot, but of course, as a tour guide in wild Africa you’d actually have to have some good drifting and rally-driving skills as part of your job, just in case a rhino tries to play bumper car with the jeep or a hippo happens to be in a bad mood for whatever reason… 🙂
This driving course at the London Rally School looks awesome! Sounds like it would be a great adrenaline rush. I can see why you’d want to go back again.
Thank you, Becky. Yes, I won’t lie, there was some adrenaline involved haha… 🙂 🙂 🙂
Oh how cool Stefan. If you aren’t in a boat you are in a car giving it throttle. I’m not sure if I could do the handbrake either. Not used to using it except when I’m parking.
Haha… yes, that handbrake turn was not really for me lol…. 🙂 🙂 🙂
Yes this sounds like so much fun and right up my alley. I remember my brother having an Ford Escort when I was younger.
Don’t think I’d be able for the handbrake either.
May have to take a look at this when I get back to the UK for a visit
Oh… awesome… yes, do take a look when you’re back. You won’t regret it. Heck, you might even bump into me on the track doing a few more rounds… 🙂
Love that you can just beat up an old Escort in the mud. Must have been quite the stress release.
It was so much fun, guys. You would’ve loved it just as much as I did, I’m sure. 🙂
The things we can do in our home regions are so interesting. I’m not a very joyful driver so this is not my cup of tea but I’m glad that you enjoyed yourself!
Thank you, Carina. Yes, you’re right. So many fun things to do so close to our respective homes. 🙂
Sometimes all that matters is LOOKING fast! What a great day. Thank you for sharing!
IRK haha..!?!! Who gives a darn about so-called finish times if you can look faster than light by throughing up so much dust. 🙂
Awesome! Fast and furious mode. I never thought I can possibly do this!
Oh.. I’m sure you’ll have just as much fun as I did, Vinn… and statistically you’ll have a 100% chance of being faster than I was haha.. 🙂
The fast, the fulgurous, the fearless and the furious – here’s to speed and adrenaline. Wouldn’t it be great too if London Rally School opt for electric cars in the future?
I had to google fulgurous, to be honest haha… Yes, totally agree, electric cars are even cooler than petrol cars. I’m guessing that 1980 Ford Excorts are currently still more economical to procure and maintain and you don’t need to be an electronics expert to replace broken parts, just a hammer and some duck tape. 🙂
This has to be just great. You are becoming my source of excitement with these fantastic adventures that you have been posting the last weeks.
I would love to try this thing of using the handbreak to turn. I remember in Argentina, in a former job we were in a team building. I was in the car with my boss and another guy, and when we were arriving to the camping my boss started to drive as a maniac and he park using the handbreak. He did a fantastic entrance aahaa.
Thanks so much for this compliment, Ignacio, it’s appreciated. 🙂
Wow.. your maniac former boss sounds like a fun type of guy haha… I hope you get a chance to do some rally driving too. It really is a lot of fun. 🙂 🙂
You can count me in as the 6th dude with a big smile in his face. How fun!
Consider it done. 🙂
What a fun experience! Truthfully, I’d be useless at this, but my other half would love it! One to remember for next time 🙂
Thank you for the comment, Lisa. Hope your other half gets to make his rounds on the track. It really is a whole lot of fun.. 🙂