In the end, it came down to just 28 seconds. Räikkönen – the fearless Iceman of former Formula One fame – challenged Blazusiak, a fellow madman and enduro biker, to a duel at the Erzberg Rodeo.Kimi would be driving the two-litre, turbocharged, 300bhp Citroën C4 WRC that he normally uses on the World Rally Championship, while Taddy was on his KTM trials bike. This boasted the somewhat more modest output of 71bhp from 550cc.
But it’s all about ‘horses for courses’, an appropriate metaphor when it comes to dealing with a rodeo. In fact, most bucking broncos would deliver a considerably smoother ride than the one offered by the gravel surface that Kimi and Taddy were competing on.
The route was a 13km boulder-strewn road, carved out of a mountainside quarry. Imagine Climb Dance (the epic Ari Vatanen Pike’s Peak hillclimb film) crossed with Mad Max, and you get the general idea.
'Actually it was very close. And we had a lot of fun' – Kimi Räikkönen
Erzberg is the venue for the Red Bull Hare Scramble: a knockout race during which around 1,500 mad bikers compete for the title of Hare Scramble champion. Taddy, from Poland, has won it for the last three years – so it would be fair to conclude that he knows it a bit.
Kimi, by contrast, has just five world rallies under his belt in the C4 WRC. And he’s never driven on a road as rough as this. In fact, until he started rallying this year, a rough road for Kimi meant running over a manhole cover in Monaco.
“It reminds me a bit of the Safari Rally in places,” said Kimi’s co-driver Kaj Lindstrom after they returned from a quick recce – complete with a puncture on the Citroen C-Crosser that they had purloined for practice purposes. In total, they faced 93 corners, many of them blind.
Taddy however – short for Tadeusz, the Pole’s full name – was unperturbed. “I think I’m going to have a job beating the car down the road, even though I know the way pretty well,” he said. “The beginning part of the road is tight and twisty, so I’m going to have to try and take advantage there.”
Kimi doesn’t generally go in for bold predictions and sweeping statements – nor was he about to start now. “I wouldn’t want to guess who is going to be quicker,” said Räikkönen. “For us, it’s going to be a question of getting the car down there in one piece. Some parts of the road are very rough, so it could be easy to have some damage or a puncture, and other bits are really narrow.”
Taddy set off first, just to show Kimi what he had to beat. Dodging the rocks, he screamed down the course in front of an estimated 45,000 spectators, many of whom were by now well-acquainted with the beer tent. It was a great show, and the Pole reckoned he couldn’t have done it faster.
Next up was Räikkönen, the Iceman now beginning to melt in the unexpectedly warm weather of Austria. He, too, gave it everything in front of an appreciative audience, but it was impossible to tell visually who was quicker. A black market of betting emerged among punters looking to make a quick buck, with Kimi attracting a lot of the smart money.
The result was announced at a dramatic finale, with the loser having to wash the other’s vehicle. Helpfully, the organisers had provided a bucket of water and some sponges for the occasion.
“It’s all about the fun today – the real action starts tomorrow with the actual Hare Scramble,” said Taddy. He was fortunate to see things that way, as he was the one who ended up wielding the sponges. Kimi had beaten him by 28 seconds, not a massive margin though given the length of the stage.
“I think we were able to clinch it at the very end because the rally car has a better top speed, which made a difference in the fast bits,” said Kimi. “But actually it was very close. And we had a lot of fun.”
So for the time being it’s a case of two wheels good, four wheels better. But Taddy is already muttering something about revenge. And Kimi is definitely deranged enough to take him on again…
Source: RedBull.com
No comments:
Post a Comment