[Video] Is this the craziest rally stage in the world? | GRR
Imagine driving a rally car. Now imagine doing it on ice. Not imagine that but at night. And now, to top it all off, imagine there are people in the woods with giant towering bonfires either side of you.
Mental, right? Like some kind of scene from a Mad Max spin-off. Well, no, this is very real. This is a stage of the awkwardly named Sno*Drift Rally in Michigan, a competition in the heart of winter and one that has been called one of the most difficult rallies in the world.
Not only is the visual of towering bonfires enough to distract the driver – the section of the stage is called, rather correctly, Bonfire Alley – but there are other things thrown into the mix to put you off.
The fact that competitors are banned from using the usual studded tyres, an essential tool on pretty much every other snow-based rally in the world. Making the attack even more difficult. It's a bit like going speed skating and being told just beforehand that blades are not allowed, and you'll need to do it in your plimsolls.
Here we join Era Motorsport – more famous for a mixture of LMP2 in IMSA and historic racing – for a jaunt down Bonfire Alley. We're onboard a Hyundai i20N R5 car which, despite being one of the most up-to-date R5 cars around, is still a handful without studs. Just take a look at how long the braking distances are...
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