Mind the F***’n Bale!
As rally fans, it is easy to get sucked into the serious matters of the sport. We’ll spend hours thinking and talking about issues such as calendar changes, skyrocketing costs, and manufacturer involvement. At times, we’ll worry about the direction the sport may be taking and wonder about the health of rallying moving into the future. All of these are important issues that deserve to be discussed, but sometimes we need to just relax a little bit and remember what we love so much about this sport. At the end of the day rallying should be fun. It is too easy to forget this with all the hand wringing about the issues the sport is currently facing. I stumbled across an on-board video last night and just had to share it with you. It is a few years old, and you may have already seen it once, but even if you have, it’s worth another look. It will help you remember why you fell in love with rallying in the first place.
If you are a rally enthusiast, at some point, you have been mesmerized by an on-board video. To outsiders, it doesn’t make much sense. Why would you spend an hour on YouTube watching grainy footage of a car driving down a road? However, as we know, the on-board camera brings us into a world that many of us will never get a chance to experience in person. What is it about these videos that can leave us spellbound? Sometimes it is seeing the inch-perfect placement of the car over blind crests and cambered corners. Other times it is listening to the synergy between the driver and navigator as the pace notes and corners flow together in perfect harmony. When watching these videos, we are amazed by the incredible courage, skill, and concentration exhibited by our heroes as they go about their business… well, most of the time that is…
Let me introduce you to Neil Hickey and Enda Kennedy. I have never met these guys, but now that I have seen their on-board footage, I hope to someday! We all love seeing the absolute pinnacle of rallying in the WRC, but sometimes we’re in the mood for something a little different. In this video, you aren’t going to witness the precision of Sebastien Ogier through the corners of the Monte, or the commitment of Jari-Matti over the jumps of Finland. Instead, you are going to see two lads having a blast just chucking their car around some forestry roads. Get ready for some dodgy pace notes, (slightly) rubbish driving, and a whole lot of fun! Oh, and if you find yourself playing DIRT rally after reading this, remember… MIND THE F***’n BALE!
