My first rally experience: A day I’ll never forget (PICS)

A GR Yaris competing at the GR Legends Rally. Picture: Shaun Holland Thanks to Toyota, I finally got the opportunity to attend the Gazoo Racing Legends Rally. This wasn’t just any rally event for me, though, because my colleague, Mark Jones, whom I have looked up to for much of my career, was competing in the event in a GR Yaris.

I’ve been a petrolhead for most of my life, and it’s a passion I share with Mark. Unlike me, however, he has been behind the wheel of numerous race cars and has written many articles about his racing experiences. To finally see him in action was something I had always wanted to experience.

Jones is more accustomed to racing on circuits. From competing in his own yellow BMW E90 race car to taking part in the GR Cup against journalists from other media houses, he has experienced what many petrolheads only dream of. This year, however, Mark was taken out of his comfort zone when Toyota gave him the chance to compete in the GR Legends Rally alongside far more experienced rally drivers.

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I was eager to see how everything worked behind the scenes. We made our way to the meeting point at Soetdoring, near Bronkhorstspruit, on the second day of the event. It was a cold Saturday morning, but as soon as I arrived, I headed straight to the service area to see the setup on Mark’s Yaris.

As soon as he pulled into the service bay, I noticed how quickly Mark began communicating with his team about how the car had performed. I immediately realised how important that communication is between the driver and the mechanics. They only had a limited amount of time to identify and fix any issues before he had to head back out for the next stage.

Rally drivers rely on their teams far more than most people realise. Rallying isn’t a one-man show. Besides the mechanics, Jones also had to place complete trust in his navigator, Kez Naidoo.

Rally drivers often approach corners they can’t even see, so they have to trust the voice coming through the intercom, even when every instinct tells them otherwise. The team had just 15 minutes to prepare the car before Mark headed into the next stage. That was our cue to jump into our own vehicles and make our way to the first spectator point to see the GR Yaris in action.

The Toyota team warned us that things were about to get dusty as the cars approached the corner, but I was armed with my camera and determined to get the best shots possible. While everyone else stood well back, I moved as close as safety allowed in search of the most dramatic photographs. As the first few cars flew past, one thing became very clear: I would only get one chance to capture the perfect shot of Mark.

If I missed it, that was it. The cars blasted past in a matter of seconds, and before you knew it, all that remained was a massive cloud of dust.

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