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I'm Mike Chen Motorsport has always been
part of my life I remember the first
time I sat in a cart and my first ever
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race I now work in television and have
been given a challenge join me on an
Epic Journey as I prepare to compete on
one of the toughest events on the World
Rally Championship calendar Wales rally
GB
with some help from the very best in the
business I have to understand the
differences between circuit racing and
rallying 60 slow it down two plus I must
learn Pace notes get
fit and master the art of driving on
slippery mud and
gravel this is going straight sideways
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[Applause]
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I'm down here at the
St 2 1
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go rallying is one of the most extreme
forms of Motorsport and while the cars
and drivers have definitely changed over
the years the basis of the sport remains
exactly the same drive a group of stages
from point A to point B as fast as you
can add all of those stage times
together and whoever is fastest wins
come on you have won your first ever
World
Rally the World Rally Championship
travels around the globe combining snow
ice gravel
mud tarmac and anything else that mother
nature can throw at
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it the teams and drivers start at
Sunrise and finish at sunset this is raw
and these boys get stuck
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in damage the car in a stage get out and
fix it
yourself this Elite group of drivers are
without question some of the most
talented technicians behind the wheel of
Any Car anywhere in the
world my challenge to compete at Wales
rally GB and this was their genuine
reaction on hearing that
news hold on has in TV reporter mik Chen
it sounds bad actually it sounds bad
driving that is the best thing I've
heard today rally GB he actually doing
the
rally brace yourself that's all I got to
say Mike chin really that's a news I
think it's going to be good fun a good
show as well that's a recipe for
disaster will be harder than to to hold
the mic maybe I can take this and do the
interviews to Jenny after the first
stage he's a crazy guy and uh he like to
try new things so I wish him the best of
luck I don't think there's a lot you can
take from the circuit to a Wheels rally
GB um he's definitely going to have his
work cut out but hey that he's a brave
boy for trying rally GB is run through
the stunning Welsh Countryside but don't
be fooled by all of this natural beauty
it masks many hidden
dangers it's always renowned for end of
season getting the beginning of winter
wet cold fog and Rain descend upon
gravel and mud roads making it one of
the slipperiest rallies in the world and
because of that Wales rally GB comes
bathed in history Heritage and folklore
it's it's an iconic rally uh for the
world championship and it always has
been I I remember obviously watching my
hero Colin McCrae win the World
Championship here and you know going
back to the 70s and ' 80s it's always
been one of the rallies that's you know
highlighted the end of the championship
so it's you know renowned for the the
wet weather and the mud um it's what
makes a rally unique and uh you know
it's a special place to
come basically rally GB is legendary but
it's not recommended as the place to go
to lose your rallying virginity right
then here we go
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we've hopped in the van on our way from
ingland to Germany for addac rally
deutchland where we're going to go and
meet the
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drivers they've been doing this for a
long time and it's all about experience
so hopefully we'll learn something
hopefully they'll be able to give us a
few hints and tips what to look out for
what to do what not to do how to prepare
and whether or not they just think this
is a plain stupid
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idea and uh and won't laugh won't laugh
too much at the idea of me going and
doing a
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rally 8 hours later we're rolling into
tree air
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Dan
Kern nice bunch to the
Germans let's go and um let's go and see
if we can find some
drivers I went straight to the service
park to catch up with the drivers and
pick up any tips on preparing for
GB rally Germany marks exactly 2 months
before I will roll up to the start line
and I desperately needed some help so I
sat down with yary Matty lill a two two
times winner in Wales for some much
needed
advice I see it as a as a great thing
that you can go and do the rally because
rallying is completely a different
different than the racing world but at
the end of the day when you when you get
the confidence yourself and the for the
car running is a lot of lot of
fun it will be an Adventure it will be
an adventure for you and you have to be
prepared that the days are long uh sleep
well before the event it will be long
hard hard week uh so this is very
important that you you feel fit when you
when you come to the
event so is there any any skills I can
transfer from circuit racing to rallying
if you would be going to the tarmak
rally and if you would be going to Spain
Catalonia you would transfer a lot of
things from the circuit racing to the to
to the rallying but because you are
going ra GB first of all you own gravel
normally it's graining and it's quite
muddy so unfortunately you can't
transfer so many things but what you can
transfer is your feeling from the ground
to your you uh to the steering wheel and
then to your body and that tells you
when you have to break and when you have
to uh when you have when you can
accelerate and and when you have to cut
the car a little bit sideways
when you have driven a a racing car I
believe that it helps you also to to get
quicker into the rally
car what do you think I will struggle
with the most what do you think I will
find the most difficult when it rains um
there's lot of different grip levels the
funny thing is in in Wales when it's
been raining overnight stops raining you
have a cold night you start in the
morning and usually the the wor my tip
is don't try to play with the setup just
drive drive drive that is the best thing
but let's have approach that you don't
want to go to win the rally in the first
stage just get the feeling and then it
then you step by step when you feel more
comfortable you you raise the speed
Perfect You're Legend thanks thanks yary
Matty had been a massive help and given
me a lot to think about my next Target
the M sport team providing and running
my Fiesta in Wales and I'm in safe hands
alongside their Factory WRC team these
boys build more customer rally cars than
any other rallying manufacturer in the
world so I caught up with Norway's mads
osberg to find out how best to drive a
rally spec for
Fiesta what can I be looking for to get
the best out of out of the fiesta
obviously you know how to drive so
that's that's a good starter I would say
first of all the fiesta is very easy to
drive it's very reactive from the front
so as soon as you turn the steering it
actually it's very point and squirt
exactly the grip level is is not like
you are used to it will vary from stage
to stage and even corner to corner so
you need to break earlier than on the on
the circuit you need to be more careful
when you go back on the throttle if not
you'll create a lot of under
steer probably this will be your only
rally probably yeah yeah so I to last
all 3 days if possible not 100 me into
the first stage so I would say that you
would start normally a little bit
carefully but I would definitely
increase maybe every service if you
crash on Sunday you're not missing out
on anything so how much my suggestion is
you you start carefully and crash on
Sunday yeah I thought you were going to
say that yeah you you there's a little
bit of you that wants me to crash
absolutely I suggest to get an overall
and we take uh my Fiesta for a spin yeah
and let's see if you can learn anything
perfect let's go
all right see you in a
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sec ready to go for a run with him in
Germany in the Shakedown stage it would
be nice to get the experience on Tac to
know what a WRC car can
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do it could be interesting to see his
face when he's coming back
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good night
night that is
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unbelievable okay now I will SC you you
know the big pest on this page yeah like
the bad ones yeah we're taking it now oh
God that will take you quite
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F I'm just ch but you didn't get
scrambled eggs and beans all over you
again from Brey
mate unbelievable man thank you don't
wor
unbelievable what was it like having me
sat besid
you for about seven8 years I've been
pestering you and now that was my
ultimate payback normally I would I
would say yes but to be honest I I think
I was a bit too kind to you because I
started warning you for scary things in
the stage I shouldn't do basically I
shouldn't scar well well yeah well you
did
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thanks brother that was legendary no
worry I can't believe the speed that
they're carrying into Corners how late
they're getting on the brakes and the
grip through corners as well
particularly the highspeed stuff it's
yeah it's it's it's it's unbelievable
and what they can put the cars through
as well you know you couldn't put a
circuit racing car through that the
jolts and the bangs um circuit racing
cars aren't designed to handle that sort
of stuff so that's what sets rally cars
and WRC cars apart it's um know it was
it was an unbelievable
experience next time on going straight
sideways I head to Wales to get my first
taste behind the wheel of a rally
car that up and I need to pass my
competition license test feel a little
bit like I'm back at school um and I
didn't do very well at school without it
I will be unable to compete at rally GB
I also head to Cumbria to visit the
mport factory and learn a bit more about
the history of the sport the mark 2
escort probably the most famous rally
car and I work on Pace notes with my
co-driver Richard before pedling a
children's cart around with some pants
on my head
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