The Samsonas Motorsport team undertook a journey of almost a thousand kilometers to central Finland, the Mecca of rallying. While the preparations went well and the stage 1 time looked promising, the crew of Martynas Samsonas and Ervinas Snitkas were stopped in the middle of stage 2 when an electrical issue appeared in their high-flying BMW M3 E36 with N5 suspension. Nonetheless, important experience and data was gathered. After returning to Lithuania, Martynas Samsonas shared his thoughts on the weekend.
Almost a week in the heart of the Finland rallying – what was that like?
A long week, many kilometers. We visited both DogBox Oy and Printsport Oy. We looked at beautiful garages and beautiful Toyota Yaris. We settled in a house by the lake and on Friday morning we rushed to the administration commission.
The rally is very simple. Five non-repeating stages, about 50 km in total. No stress, no reece schedule, no controls. There was no time cards. As they say – “gentleman rules”. And everything is really easy and good. When doing the reece, for example, it’s not that there are no traffic jams, but if you catch up with another reece car, it lets you pass very quickly.
The Finns have a very high driving culture everywhere. It’s the same on the road – if they see you overtaking, they slow down and let you pass. Or if they see that you are driving in a long vehicle and have to change lanes, they do not tailgate or interfere, but on the contrary, give you space. The same applies to the stages where you can find a high culture. Although we know what Finland is like, we are always pleasantly surprised.
We quickly passed the administration, got maps (they were not even published beforehand), and went to the reece. From 10 am until nightfall, we passed all stages 3 times calmly.
The actual competition officially started around 11 am on Saturday. We were already fully prepared, with sportswear and sports tires we went straight to the scrutineering, and at around 12 am the official start through the arch. Then immediately 3 kilometers to the start of the first SS.
The rally took place on almost the same roads as the WRC Finland – what are these roads like and why are they so legendary?
Well, like everything else in the world, nothing happens without a reason. Even the legends are not for nothing. It was very uncomfortable. Not that it was very scary but uncomfortable.
There are very big differences in terrain, and it’s hard to tell whether you are going to fly here or not. And if you are flying, the question is where are you flying? The speeds are also high in one place and it’s very twisty in another place.
At one point on SS2, both Ervinas and I were practically speechless when the “Crest and L8” (which practically means a very quick turn over a hill) whipped us into the air for about 3 seconds at a speed of about 150 km/h… I was thinking – OKKK, where are we going to land :))))
Not for nothing are these legends famous and for many WRC participants the favorite rally is Finland. By the way, this region cannot be compared to the Arctic. It’s different here, that’s a fact.
How did the N5 suspension cope with the jumps and the terrain?
Well, now I honestly feel we’ve got amazing quality. I was really looking forward to those big jumps. Of course, as I said, there’s always a certain unease because you never know everything until the end. Well, maybe only some specialists who have never driven in a rally, especially in the forest at 150 km/h or 200 km/h, know that.
Anyway, I waited and it was interesting to see how our car would fly. After the reece and the Alūksne setup, we just tightened a few high-speed clicks and that was it.
At the beginning of the first stage, there was a section with several fast jumps and we had a lot of fun taking those jumps with the little braking. If there had been a second run, we could probably have done it without braking. Anyway, I enjoyed it and the time for the first stage was not too bad either, although I think we and the other 2WDs were going at about 90% of actual speed. Well, it was very slippery, much more slippery than in Alūksne.
Is it better to take part in such a rally at least once than to drive 2-3 rallies at home on familiar roads?
Well, maybe I wouldn’t subdivide 2-3 home races and 1 such. Basically, the biggest costs in these rallies are the ferry and accommodation. Well, tires. But even with used tires, it would have been ok here.
But to get back to the question, you have to look at what people’s plans, goals, and budgets are.
If the budget is limited and the goal is only 6 Lithuanian events, then that’s clear. But if it’s possible to plan a bit more, then such rallies are a big win for the crew.
We also talked about how cool it would be to do a Lithuanian rally championship event in Finland 🙂 Of course, that will probably never happen, but this was more about the specifics of the unknown special stages, the complexity, and what the result of all that would be.
What are the Finns and their rally culture like?
Well, as I wrote before, Finnish road and rally culture are a perfect example. This isn’t Lithuania or Portugal 🙂
No one here is in a hurry, neither on the road nor in reece. But you can’t catch them at a rally stages 🙂 And where everyone is crazy, fast, and uncultured – they often do not succeed in this sport 🙂
The same applies to all drivers as human beings. In this sense, you can talk to J.M. Latvala, Harri Rovanpera, and Marcus Gronholm about simple things, about the love of the sport, etc. in peace and quiet. In Lithuania, this is not possible with all the stars.
Now Otepaa and 100 Acre Wood await? What’s next?
Yes. The Fivemiletown rally in Ireland was canceled because of the storm-ravaged woods. So according to our priorities, we have to drive the second Estonian event in Otepaa on February 22.
Then we’ll fly to Charlotte, work and drive to St. Louis.
I don’t know what else. With an old N5 classmate, we’re dreaming of the Vieira do Minho rally in Portugal, because the date fits and the rally is also beautiful.
I think we’ll see how we get on with the new Subaru and then we’ll look for a place to test where we can drive. We want to drive a lot of kilometers before the Rally Visaginas in May.
We’ll increase the quality of speed.