How I could have died

I remember thinking, on my way over there, that we might have to take the bus back home. But who knew i was only inches away from doing so.
(If you only want to see my run and the crash, scroll down for the full video)

Rally is awesome. If I had a chance to have a motorsport career, it would definitely be in Rally. In general, driving on a loose surface is my favourite type of driving - bike or car. There are few things I find more exciting than that.
A friend from the Auto-slalom community, Geir Åge Lia, told me there was a Rally event arranged by KNA (Royal Norwegian Automobile Club) coming up. What excited me the most was the opportunity to join a professional driver as a passenger and try out my own car on a closed gravel road.

I knew I came to the right place when I saw these two.  A 1st generation Toyota MR2 (Vidar Hulløen), rigged for Regularity and a Mitsubishi Outlander Evo (Steinar Hunstad). Two rare finds. 

There was also a Toyota Celica (Jens Anton Berge). 

And the main attractions of the day; two Rally rigged Volvos 940. 
Andreas Hvambsahl in orange and Jørgen Bondal in blue.

Lets jump straight to the action!

First up was a ride with Andreas Hvambsahl in his Volvo 940. This is my first time in a proper Rally car and it felt freaking amazing!

I then wanted my girlfriend to catch a ride. Not without help from all the nice ladies from the KNA, selling waffles and coffee, I convinced her that it is completely safe, hehe.

When I saw them leaving, I knew she truly feared for her life.

It takes less than two minutes to complete this round, but they were gone for more than five. I started to get a bit worried. What if they had had a bad crash? What if she was hurt? And that I was the one responsible, pushing her to join.

It turned out they had suddenly lost the power and could not start up the engine. Thank God.

A group of men were looking under the hood, but no one could figure out what was the problem…

Until they realised there was no fuel left in the tank. Btw, the guy pumping is Andreas´ father, Norwegian rally champion, Mats Peder Hvambsahl.

Show time:
It was now my turn to give it a go. My 1-Series M-Sport BMW with 2.0 turbo diesel engine got some snow action last winter, but no real gravel experience. I was stocked.
A skilled rally driver, the one with the Evolander, joined me as a passenger.
First round went smooth. I stayed in the middle of the road and it was nice to control the slides.
I brought more confidence and more speed in to the corners the second round. And this is where things went south.

Full video of the run and the crash:

I was so concentrated on keeping my eyes on the road, that I rarely checked my speed. After accelerating quite a lot on the straight, I did not slow down enough before the upcoming corner, which resulted in the car coming out too wide and my co-driver saying: “I think the driver is getting warm now”.
Instead of reading this as a warning and hit the breaks, I carried the same speed into the next corner. The next thing I knew, I was sliding on the exit and had absolutely no grip with my front wheels. We slid off the road and got stopped by a big boulder, just a few meters away from the lake.

A perfect spot for a refreshing dip in the lake and to observe wild Volvos in their natural habitat.

The reason why I was so happy after the crash is that I did not feel the boulder hitting the wheel. It felt like we parked smoothly next to it. After seeing the situation from the outside, I was sure I would only loose the front bumper and a fog light. But guess what?

The bumper popped back out and the fog light did not receive any damage. Luck? BMW quality? I thank God it ended so well.

We agreed that we could not end the day like that, and took another run. This time being more conscious about the speed. It went fine.

I must admit, that even though I could have lost my car, and maybe even gotten injured, I am glad I had this experience. It was a little taste of my rally dream and I learned a valuable lesson about myself, the limits of my car and the speed. I also confirmed for myself that I want more of this.

Big thanks to KNA Drammen for the event. Geir Åge Lia for inviting me and helping me out. And my co-driver Steinar for the courage, patience and trust.

This experience also inspired me to buy the Volvo I posted about earlier.

And got me a nice picture to put on the wall.