Video: Gear stick? Audi needs no stinkin’ gear stick!

Learned any new Finnish words and phrases lately? They might come handy for watching this video, amusingly uncut and full of not-just-pacenotes conversation between Jari-Matti Latvala and his temporary (or second, as he likes to call him) co-driver Asko Sairanen.

When things break on a rally car in the middle of the stage, you either try to repair them, or you just make the car driveable again, so you can reach the end of the stage. Jari-Matti Latvala’s Audi Quattro got fed up of it’s gearbox stick, so it just detached it. That’s right, the scene you would usually see in movies with Louis de Funès, happened to Jari-Matti.

He did well by not parking the car for repair attempts on one of the side roads, because without the ability to switch gears the car would have to be pushed back on stage. Either way, repairs did nothing, so Volkswagen factory driver popped the hood, manually selected third gear, and finished the stage using third only.

Enjoy the beautiful Estonian stages, slightly wounded Audi, mildly disappointed crew and listen so some immense turbo lag. Pay special attention to when they start moving again, and Jari-Matti reaches for something that is no longer there.

Finally, is this the most manually manual gearbox ever made? You don’t use the stick, because too advanced. Instead, hood up and do it the new way!