The Density of Difficulties

The reconnaissance with the route of the Rally Sweden left the mixed emotions for the crew. There were no problems for Dmitry and Anna during the recce, the crew had enough time to make the pacenotes and even enjoy the picturesque winter Swedish landscapes. But the sportsmen now are to decide – what strategy to choose for the rally itself.

    The first recce day was completely dedicated to the stages that would be run in the second half of the rally. And the impressions from these stages could be called the “routine” ones: yes, they are not going to be easy, but these are special stages that by the end of the day consist of curves, bends and jumps that could be described in the pacenotes, and than passed using the technics that the crew practiced on various roads in last months. But the second day, that was dedicated to the stages that are planned for the first half of the event – displayed to Dmitry and Anna something that is completely new in their career!

     The part of the distance that “visits” Norwegian roads is significantly different from all the other stages. The Swedish roads are used for many years and they are in the perfect condition now. The Norwegian part is much more bumpy and twisty.But the greatest impressions were left by one of the greatest stages of the Swedish Rally – the Vargasen stage with its well-known “Colin’s crest”!

       Dmitry TAGIROV: I had never seen in my life such a density of bends with various tricks! That density is much more serious than, for example, in Estonia. In one curve you can have the jump on the entrance, the bump on the apex and another jump on the exit that would lead to the "negative" banking! And it is followed shortly by the next bend with the similar, but still very different tricks! Yes, it is still possible to describe all that story in the pacenotes, but we are here not only to "describe", but also to race through these roads. So it would be a great challenge for the speed of reading and understanding the information. I got cautious, to be honest! Yes, we want to be fast, but at a good speed it is so easy here to have an off-road end for the rally. Saying more – the ruts would also appear for sure. So the second part of the rally seems easier for us, but first we have to get there. The first day would be a real challenge at a full scale. But still I'm happy that I have now a chance to see all that and to try it myself – I'm really happy that we managed to get here!

    The usual problem for WRC events newcomers is the stressful 2-day recce of a long distance of the rally that equals 2 or even 3 national events route. But Dmitry and Anna have no problems with such a schedule. Saying more – they had enough time not only for the reconnaissance, but also had enough time for a nice light lunch and spent some time for an interview with the rally TV crew at the start of one of the stages. Only once they had a slightly nervous situation, when there was a delay at one of the stages and they managed to get to another one literally in the last possible minute. Both the driver and the co-driver noticed the highest level of the organization and the well-scheduled program for the pre-start days of the event. The only annoying factor for the crew was... the GPS-tracker, that is mandatory to use at all the recce cars of PWRC regulars.

            Anna ZAVERSHINSKAYA, the co-driver: That small box demands so much discipline! We have to go within the speed limit even deep in the forest on the empty roads! It's OK on the public roads and in the towns and villages, but deep in the forests it's really annoying! But when we only tried to go faster once – the box started namely "scream" immediately with an ugly voice, so we didn't even try to speed any more! I can say that the fact that the speed limit is very strict, but we still had enough time for everything – is an extra illustration of how well the schedule is planned by the organizers!

                A weather during the recce days was a perfect winter one with the temperatures about 8-9C below zero in the daytime and down to -15C at night. The wet snow of the early beginning of the week was over quite fast and the roads were cleaned almost immediately. Dmitry noticed: "The surface is so smooth that you can drive a go-kart here in snow and ice!". Both driver and the co-driver praised the beauty of Varmland:

Dmitry TAGIROV: I'm really shocked how many moose are everywhere around here! We had seen them almost around every other village and they come so close to human houses! And we also liked very much how the houses appear in the evening time, when the darkness falls, There are lights, lamps, illuminated bouquets almost in every house. It's really amazing! It seems they have Christmas all the time here!

Anna ZAVERSHINSKAYA: And there are also a lot of horses and ponies! White, black... They are so nice!

Any way, all the difficulties and positive emotions of the recce are a part of history now. Thursday would see the real world level debut for Dmitry and Anna. Thursday morning is dedicated to the shakedown and the evening is the time for the ceremonial start of Rally Sweden 2011 and the first Superspecial on the purposely-built track in Karlstad.