Want to know what it takes to succeed on the fast and flowing gravel roads of New Zealand? We asked an expert: Red Bull Citroen driver Mikko Hirvonen.
He’s never won Rally New Zealand (yet) but he’s been on the podium three times. And the flying Finn is hoping for more at this weekend’s event:
1. Arrive with all your luggage
This may seem like an obvious point, but Mikko’s pre-rally preparations haven't quite gone according to plan: “There was a hydraulic problem with the plane an hour out of Frankfurt so we went back there for 11 hours,” he says. “Obviously I missed the connection in Singapore, got the next plane and arrived into Auckland 12 hours late with no luggage. My co-driver Jarmo was going shopping so I asked him to get me some clothes. He came back with one pair of boxer shorts with ‘Party Animal’ written on them and three pairs of socks.” Thankfully, Mikko is now reunited with his luggage and ready to go.
2. Go with the flow
The roads in New Zealand are heavily cambered, which is what makes them look like rollercoasters and means that they are great fun to drive. Understanding how the cambers work is key to getting a good rhythm and making the car ‘dance’ from a corner to corner. “When you’ve got it right, it feels like the car is driving itself,” points out Mikko, somewhat alarmingly. “But you need to have a good instinct about the roads.”
Mikko Hirvonen competes at WRC Greece 2012 © GEPA Pictures/Citroen
3. Challenge yourself
We thought that Mikko was talking about the rally car, but what he meant was doing the ‘Sky Jump’: a leap off the tallest building in the southern hemisphere, Auckland’s Sky Tower at 328 metres. To be fair, you do have a safety harness attached during this controlled bungee, but jumping off a building always takes guts. “I did the Sky Jump earlier this week: it was pretty cool but a bit scary,” Mikko reports. “Some other drivers did it with me, so being manly was the only way forward: I had to jump!”
4. Keep an eye on the sky
That applies even if you’re not jumping off any buildings. The weather in New Zealand at this time of year (it’s winter) is notoriously changeable but remains on the damp and cold side. If you trust the weather forecast you can be prepared in the event of rain. “We set the car up differently for the wet and if you believe the forecast you can have a bit of a gamble,” says Mikko. “Sometimes it works out and sometimes it doesn’t.”
5. Feel the need for speed
If in doubt, flat-out. New Zealand is a rally that emphasises raw speed more than anything else. Why else would Colin McRae have won there three times on the trot? So it’s the sort of thing that Mikko, with his Scandinavian tendencies, just loves. “We’ve had a lot of rallies on rough gravel recently, but here it’s much more flat-out, which is really my sort of thing” he explains. “We’ve already shown that we’ve had the speed to win this year – and we’ve taken four podiums from six rallies. I’m going to be pushing hard…”
Want more?
- Visit the Rally New Zealand event page
- Official site of the WRC
- Five things you never knew about Mikko Hirvonen
- Watch videos on the official WRC YouTube channel
- More Red Bull Motor Sports
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