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As we’ve journeyed down this road, I hope you’ve discovered that we share a common interest or two. Mine include reading (lots!), baseball, airplanes, and of course, history. But there’s another love of mine, and while it occupies less time now than it used to, it’s still worth mentioning today.
Rallying.
And what is rallying? Well, a quick search on the web would give you tons of information, but here’s a sort of Cliff’s notes. Rallying is a sport…with cars, and it’s my favorite form of motorsport. It has many looks, but in its simplest form, it’s driving a car over a preset path (called a “stage”) as quickly as possible. A “rally” is comprised of numerous stages of varying lengths and varying levels of difficulty. Everything is timed to the second…when you start a stage, when you arrive at a service point, how long your car can be serviced…everything. Being late incurs time penalties. Starting a stage early incurs penalties.
The driver with the lowest overall time wins. Pretty simple. Rallies can be run on gravel roads, sealed-surface roads, and roads covered in snow and ice, and the cars can reach 120+ mph. Stage rallying is fabulous sport at any level, but at the top level – the World Rally Championship, or “WRC” as it’s known – “breathtaking” is the only word that comes to mind. In this rarefied air, you can forget about Formula 1, NASCAR, and Indy. Rally drivers are, without question, the best car-control experts on the planet. Period.
And one of the best rally drivers was Richard Burns. Born in Britain on January 17, 1971, his driving skills were noticed at a very early age. He enrolled in a rally driving school at age 10(!), where his instructors were so impressed they suggested rallying as a career. Burnsie listened, and by 1993 was the British Rally Champion. The world stage beckoned.
Richard got “the call” in 1996 and drove at the top level through 2003. In those years, he was employed by factory teams from Mitsubishi (’96-’98), Subaru (’99-’01), and Peugeot (’02-’03). In just over 100 starts, he finished on the podium 34 times (including 10 wins), a very good percentage considering the challenges and the level of competition in those days. He finished as the WRC’s runner-up in both 1999 and 2000, but took the top spot in 2001.
As his record indicates, Richard Burns was an extremely consistent driver, relying on sparing the car and solid finishes as much as outright speed and going for the victory. The future was indeed bright for this car-control wizard…
…until a rare brain tumor took him from the sport as the 2003 season was ending. Richard would fight his affliction for two years, before succumbing and leaving this life, his long-time co-driver Robert Reid, and all of his fans in November 2005 at just 34 years old.
There have been more successful drivers in the sport of rallying, and certainly more famous, but none rekindled my love for the sport like watching Richard Burns rip through the forests and hills of Finland in 1999, or watching his titanic battle with teammate (and rallying legend) Juha Kankkunen over Argentina’s stages that same year. I get goosebumps thinking about it.
Rallying at the WRC level has really changed in the last 4 or 5 years and I don’t think it’s nearly the sport it was. All the teams for which Richard Burns drove are no longer in the sport (Subaru having just departed after 2008), but the memories live on…in my mind and on video.
Happy Birthday Richard Burns!!
Recommended Viewing: Gobs of videos – They show not only the talent required to compete in this sport, they show the talent that Burnsie had. Enjoy!!
Richard in Finland
Richard in Spain (Catalunya)
Richard in Argentina
Another of Richard’s battles with teammate Juha Kankkunen: 1999’s Rally Finland
Recommended Playing – Richard Burns Rally – It’s the best rallying sim to date. It’s tough!!
Today's History Lesson 