"Drive with Guts": The Origins of Rallying

“Sisu!” is a term which loosely translated in Finnish means “Drive with Guts!”. This term is widely used in rallying due to the way that you must drive in order to succeed. Rally Drivers are known for their fearless approach to motorsports. The formal definition of Rallying according to Wikipedia is this:

“ ...also known as rally racing, is a form of auto racing that takes place on public or private roads with modified production or specially built road-legal cars. This motorsport is distinguished by running not on a circuit, but instead in a point-to-point format in which participants and their co-drivers drive between set control points (special stages), leaving at regular intervals from one or more start points. Rallies may be won by pure speed within the stages or alternatively by driving to a predetermined ideal journey time within the stage.”

Rally racing originated in the early 1900s with city-to-city road races that current rallies are still based on. Since the invention of the sport, rallying has gone through many changes mostly in regard to places, cars, and safety. In the old days of rallying, dodging livestock and night driving were regular parts of the course, whereas now courses are laid out on closed courses and professional drivers travel to different countries each month for a race. Then, public roads were used as the course. As the sport grew in popularity it became too dangerous to continue this.

Modern day rallying is made up of special stages and super special stages. Special stages are closed courses, usually either on a public road, closed to the public for the duration of the stage, or offroad trails that have been used for past rallies. Super special stages are usually held at a venue with a set up course on a tarmac with more than one car on course. This was developed for spectators to be able to see a portion of a rally without having to go out in the fields and deserts to watch. These courses are navigated by the co-driver. The driver and co-driver go through a reconnaissance prior to the race. A reconnaissance is where they are allowed drive through the stage prior to the race and they take down stage notes, or pace notes, written in code between both drivers to be given quickly on course.

Rally has grown in popularity within the last few years, largely due to the larger than life personalities behind the wheel. Colin MacRae was the most well known of present day Rally drivers. MacRae was a 5-time BRC Champion and 3-time WRC Champion. Sadly, MacRae died in 2007 in a helicopter accident which also claimed the life of his son and two family friends. Another driver that is not as known for his winning as much as MacRae, is Ken Block. Block has brought attention to himself and the sport with his carefully choreographed videos that are posted online. His videos have helped him and the sport build a large fan base of new enthusiasts to become involved in all that is Rally racing.

-Amanda Martin

Read more from Amanda Martin at Female Racing News

Photo Credit: Dimitris Papazimouris