I would love to one day witness the spectacle of a WRC event in the EU. Be it up to my ankles in mud alongside a stage in the UK or huddling next to a fire just before dusk at Finland. (Even recounting the day's excitement at a cozy gasthaus in suburban Germany somewhere!) Granted, there is WRC action just a few hours south of me in Mexico, but I suspect it's very similar to the California Rally Series events held right here in Arizona. If you're not going to run, there needs to be lots of spectatorship to make those stages come alive if you ask me.

And I've been fortunate enough to ride in a proper Mini to boot. I can't recall the gent's name, but we rode out to work time controls on a turn-around stage at the Seed 9 Rally south of Las Vegas a couple years ago. We had to creep out to the location, but the rally cars left deep ruts in the rocky trails that meant we were forced to drive on all the rocks! Some of them were as big as the wheels on the Mini and it was my only experience sitting in the left hand seat without a wheel in front of me. Wonderful!

I would love to one day witness the spectacle of a WRC event in the EU. Be it up to my ankles in mud alongside a stage in the UK or huddling next to a fire just before dusk at Finland. (Even recounting the day's excitement at a cozy gasthaus in suburban Germany somewhere!) Granted, there is WRC action just a few hours south of me in Mexico, but I suspect it's very similar to the California Rally Series events held right here in Arizona. If you're not going to run, there needs to be lots of spectatorship to make those stages come alive if you ask me.

And I've been fortunate enough to ride in a proper Mini to boot. I can't recall the gent's name, but we rode out to work time controls on a turn-around stage at the Seed 9 Rally south of Las Vegas a couple years ago. We had to creep out to the location, but the rally cars left deep ruts in the rocky trails that meant we were forced to drive on all the rocks! Some of them were as big as the wheels on the Mini and it was my only experience sitting in the left hand seat without a wheel in front of me. Wonderful!

This is your big opportunity to do something with your time to make money connected with something you really love (I'm guessing Cars and Driving in particular Rallying!)

(just email me or dm me on Twitter for my ideas… @lovedriving)

Re Rally Video above – really awesome. In my younger years when I was a Teenager in the 80's I was a big Rally fan and used to go watching the Lombard RAC Rally which was held in the freezing cold UK every October. It was the age of the Audi Quattro and other Group B machines. At the time they could accelerate from 0-60 in 2.8 seconds on the gravel (as fast as an F1 car at the time), as you know they were sadly banned for being too quick after a few tragic accidents.

Re the Jumping bit – When I was about 18 I had an old Mini (original not BMW) and I had an incident which was the opposite of a jump where I hit a big dip at some traffic lights. I hadn't noticed that there were road works as it was so dark. When the car rebounded from the dip it actually turned into a Jump! I flew up from my seat and hit the roof of the car and seriously worried I was going to land in the passenger seat it was so high! Anyway luckily I landed ok and the car just about survived the landing (it was very old and unsafe I thought it was going to fall apart when it hit the road).

All the best and get making some money with your passion for Cars!

Dave

In as much as I can, I'm here to help. This might be a great time for you to focus an additional effort onto Tarmac and Gravel. Or maybe it could be the forebear of a major change for you (for the better, of course). Either way, it will be an interesting journey for you and I wish you the absolute best!