motorsport

Ari Vatanen

The Finnish rally legend on motorsport, life, death, and everything in between

Words Vaishali Dinakaran

208 September 2019 Overdrive.in Overdrive.in September 2019 209 Ari Vatanen and Terry Harryman in their he says, his voice heavy with emotion 205 T16 at the 1985 as the memories come flooding back. “I , which, was absolutely fascinated… captivated unfortunately ended in by what I saw. And I think my mind, my retirement spirit, went with the car. Only my body stayed behind,” he smiles. It was at this precise moment that Vatanen says his dream was born. A dream that was, “Not to succeed, but a dream to just drive and to just experience the overwhelming pleasure of driving!” Vatanen is aware, however, that it was probably this quest for the “overwhelming pleasure of driving” that not only characterised his driving style but also his rally results. It isn’t something that bothers him even after all these years, because, as he puts it, “I have lived life not at the reserve! I cannot live like that,” he says. And he says it so emphatically and earnestly that one can’t an artist!” he says. And it immediately help but feel it was the right choice for conjures up images of that him to have made. “I live in a way that T16 drifting through the snowy stages of I say ‘Let’s go for it!’” he laughs. But he Monte Carlo. does admit that there were a couple of Pure artistry. Albeit artistry that he times when, had he braked 10 metres believes led to that infamous “Vatanen earlier, he might have “saved my wife and Luck”, that he’s already owned up to myself a few headaches and heartaches.” creating. “I got consistently carried away, However, Ari Vatanen is Ari Vatanen. because my pure pleasure of driving Which is why he reacts the way only he overwhelmed my rational thinking,” t’s a sweltering hot day in continues flat out over the Pikes Peak add, “I’m not a hero. I haven’t saved can react - “spontaneously”. Which is he says. But his habit of going into Essay, , where the course with only the other hand doing anyone’s life.” What he believes he’s done, why he writes the way only he writes - a corner without knowing what lay first round of the TitansRX the steering. It seems almost surreal that instead, is this: “I just witnessed how my “My writing is very large. My signature ahead, and then braking late, led to an championship is taking 31 years after that video was filmed, I’m life unfolded in front of me in a way I takes up a whole page. It’s just my important realisation. One that he doesn’t place. Almost all of my watching that very driver - rally legend could have never imagined.” character”. And which is also why he recommend people try while driving, but a energy is directed towards Ari Vatanen - casually amble through To fully grasp what he means we drives the way only he can drive: “I am metaphor that he feels is applicable to life preventing myself from a tent introducing himself to people, need to travel to the tiny Finnish town not an ‘Alain Prost’, not someone so itself. “If you brake late in life, you have no melting into a puddle of oblivious of the effect he’s having on of Tuupovaara, 460km north-east of clinical, someone who studies. No. I’m time for opportunism, you have no time nothingness, and the heat them. Eyes widen, jaws drop and tools Helsinki. A place remote, isolated, so for cynicism. You, with all the drawbacks has lulled my brain into such a stupor nearly slip from greasy fingers. After all, sparsely populated, that it was guarded you have, lead a real life,” he declares. that not even the revving of a 540hp how many people who’ve accomplished by a single policeman. One who would But this real life that Vatanen speaks Iengine has any effect on me. I’m only as much in motorsport as Vatanen has, inevitably be fast asleep when, in the of, came with ups and downs that roused from my reverie when a tall can manage to be this unassuming? dead of the night, 13-year-old Vatanen followed each other in rapid succession. Vatanen and Harryman yumping their way to pleasant-faced gentleman presents A month after that first encounter, would try practising the Scandinavian victory in the Peugeot 205 T16 at the 1984 Like the ever-changing nature of a himself before me, grasps my hand in an I manage to wrangle an interview with flick on deserted country roads. But the San Remo Rally. And tackling a corner at the rally stage - a sharp left here, a sharp amiable shake and says, “Hi, I’m Ari!” Vatanen. This time it’s at the second turning point in his life had been a year 1984 RAC Rally, which they won. Also seen right there, a crest here, a dip there - I’m not quite sure if I do a very good round of the championship at Lydden earlier, when a rally visited the faraway celebrating their win on the podium Vatanen’s own life seemed like it moved job of introducing myself, because at that Hill. It’s here, even while I see him town in which he grew up. All of 12 years from misery to joy and back again very instant, my brain conjures up footage posing for an endless number of fan old then, he sat by the side of the road rapidly. “You cannot believe how low I from Climb Dance, that most beautiful photographs, and stopping to talk to from 10pm, waiting with bated breath was after an accident,” he says, speaking of all motorsport videos, and flashes several people that he’s befriended over for the rally cars to come by. The first especially of his early days in the sport. forward to the 3 minute 28 second the course of the week, that he tells me car showed up at 2am. “It was a Finnish The Vatanens didn’t have a fortune to mark. It’s the point in the video when of his approach to his fame. The fact that summer night in mid June. So you spend on , and the money he lost after battling corner after corner with he wears the mantle of ‘motorsport hero’ have this fantastic light in the middle of early on in his career was significant. both hands on the steering wheel, the lightly is evident. Of course, he is touched, the night. And then at two ‘o’ clock the “If I would tell any of my neighbours brave driver raises one red-gloved hand he says, by the affection and respect first car, a white Volvo 544, came and how much of my limited family budget I to shield his eyes from sunlight, and people have for him. But he’s quick to kicked up the dust and went sideways,” was losing, they would think that I was insane. Or that my mother was insane. She had already lost her husband in a If you brake late in life, you car crash and now her son was doing something life threatening!” But Ari have no time for opportunism, persisted. A week before the Nortti Rally, you have no time for cynicism a turning point in his career, he’d had a

210 September 2019 Overdrive.in Overdrive.in September 2019 211 Vatenen recovering from his horrific crash at in ‘85. Also seen in the Rothmans Rally Team Ford Escort, with co-driver Dave Richards at the ‘81 Rally San Remo. The pair won the title that year. Right: In the Legacy RS at Acropolis in ‘93

disastrous outing at another local rally, The highs, of course, include the 1981 like an out-of-body experience. over him. On the Saturday of the rally, There is, however, another aspect rolling his car in only the second stage. title, and Of these stages, one came during over a 20km stage, Vatanen managed to finding those seconds. And it’s just as From the depths of his misery, however, four Dakar titles won in rapid succession the 1985 , where he to beat Kankkunen by four seconds. mysterious. According to Vatanen, these he was flung forward to the highs that between 1987 and 1991. “Four-and-a-half had that famous duel with Walter Rohrl. Then over a 40km stage, he beat him seamless performances only show up came with the win at the Nortti Rally. Dakar wins,” he reminds me, referring to If you want a blow-by-blow account of by another four seconds. And on the when you find the elusive “key”. “But you “And a week later, I could not believe the time he was disqualified from the ’88 what transpired, I recommend reading subsequent stage, held over a distance don’t know where the key is. It’s not like that I was physically or psychologically edition of the event after his Peugeot was Vatanen: Every Second Counts by Vesa of 20km, he beat Kankkunen by an a loaf of bread that you can go to a shop in such a state that I could beat Hannu briefly, and bizarrely, stolen while he was Väisänen. It’s a beautiful and honest astounding “11 seconds!”. If not for a and buy. Or a cup of coffee that comes Mikola by seven seconds!” Even now, all in the lead. But Vatanen seems to hold account of Vatanen’s time in rallying, missed gear that lost him time, he might when you order it. I suppose you can do these years later, he sounds incredulous. excellent driving, as opposed to merely but it’s a hard book to find. So here’s a have beaten him by 13 seconds. Vatanen some mental training to find the key, but He says he went from wanting the earth racking up wins and titles, as a true brief summary: after the initial stages of might not have won that particular rally, it’s not linear. It’s not like you do this, to swallow him up, to coming out of this measure of his prowess behind the wheel. the rally, it seemed that Rohrl was well but that stage win was very, very special, this and this, and it happens,” he says. funk and saying in his characteristic Which is why a handful of rally stages on his way to a fifth Monte Carlo victory. and his eyes light up just talking about But even as Ari Vatanen learnt from manner, “We go, we go, we go!” It led to where he felt such a smooth, seamless, Then Michelin gave Vatanen new tyres it. “When I saw Juha’s time, because I the highs that life brought him, it was the another realisation about rallying and almost musical flow, matter so much to for his Peugeot 205 T16. “They gave was second on the road, I hit the roof so lows that came with far greater, long- about life: “That your lows are low, and him. Stages where it no longer seemed me fantastic grip, just suddenly! They hard out of joy that I nearly sprained my lasting life lessons. The sort of lessons your highs are high.” like he was driving, but instead it seemed also uplifted me psychologically to wrist. Of course, on the following stage that shaped him into the person that he is another level. I got wings! I got wings! we had a technical issue and I fell back, today. “I realise the depth of life because I flew! I got wings!” he exclaims all but that single stage stands out in my I have been to so many funerals,” he says. these years later. On a stage that was life,” he laughs. But how did he manage The levity with which he has spoken so approximately 22km long, he beat such a phenomenal time? His answer far, seems to have diminished, and he Rohrl by “Over 20 seconds!” It wasn’t brings to light his spiritual side. He tells says quietly, “I very nearly died myself.” all smooth sailing from then on though. me that I might find it hard to believe or After his horrific crash at Rally Later on in the rally, when co-driver understand, but it has to do with a young Argentina in 1986, there was a period of Terry Harryman made an error, the duo Finnish girl named Daisy who he had darkness that followed. “I was a totally lost eight minutes and seemingly lost met at the stage start. Vatanen had first broken man in every way,” he sighs. It their chances of victory. But eventually, met her grandparents in 1977 when, as a took multiple surgeries to patch him Vatanen’s decision to go with studded fledgling rally driver, he went to Kenya back together and set him on the road to tyres would prove to be smarter than to compete in a rally. The Finnish family physical recovery, which was challenging Rohrl’s decision to run without studs. ran a care home for African children enough. But perhaps the greater, and at That, and some fabulous driving, would who had been born with birth defects - a one point seemingly impossible, challenge allow him a glorious, hard-fought, Rally noble cause, and one that clearly means was inside his own head. Vatanen was Monte Carlo win. a lot to Vatanen. “Suddenly in my mind convinced that he had contracted AIDS Another one of those stages was in I thought of my first visit to Africa. during a blood transfusion in Argentina, Jyväskylä at the 1993 Rally . This Meeting her at the beginning of the start and despite several tests and several time, Vatanen had to hunt down Juha line seemed to give me some sort of doctors who assured him that this wasn’t Vatanen en route a fantastic Kankkunen who had a 16-second lead spiritual strength,” he says. the case, he persisted in his belief. It victory at the 1985 Monte Carlo Rally. Above: Seen with Colin McRae and with whom he formed we need to do unreasonable things ’s driver line-up for the Dakar in the early aughts in life. we have to exceed ourselves

212 September 2019 Overdrive.in Overdrive.in September 2019 213 alienated him from friends and family, Perhaps it is this desire to do is to put things mildly. From what I and he was in agony from a disease he did something, to push forward, to exceed saw that weekend, he isn’t merely alive. not have. “For months it became a reality himself, that led to Vatanen’s political He’s enthusiastically alive. Which also for my life. And then I finally awoke as career. Between 1999 and 2009 he explains his desire to be part of a new if from a nightmare, and I never looked served as a Member of the European championship like TitansRX. “I have back,” he says. Parliament, something he felt was “a enormous respect for Max Pucher, who Unpleasant though some of noble cause irrespective of whatever has invested his money in this because Vatanen’s experiences might have been, happens in everyday political life.” he believes rallycross can be improved. they brought with them the realisation: And it was during his monthly visits He put his money where his mouth “What makes life so fantastic is that to Strasbourg, where the parliament is, and so I want to be involved in the it can be taken away from you every convened, that he had the chance to process as far as I can, because people minute, or any minute. It’s so fragile gaze upon the magnificent Strasbourg like this need to be encouraged.” But and that’s why it’s so beautiful,” he says. Cathedral. A building so awe-inspiring his role within the paddock seems to And also: “Life ricochets like a bullet. that he likens it to life itself. “That extend far beyond that of the series’ It can suddenly change direction. And structure is made of a million little brand ambassador - he knows the name that’s why you can’t control it. Once pieces of stone, and I think that we all of nearly every single mechanic or team you realise you can’t control it, you can bring our own little piece of stone into member in the paddock, and calls out enjoy it,” he smiles. And since we have the cathedral of life. It doesn’t matter to them to say hello as they walk by. no choice but to accept our inevitable how big the piece is, but it has to stand He’s got a word or two of advice for mortality, he says it’s entirely futile to the test of time, the scrutiny of time,” he drivers who seem to be having trouble live a life of safety. A life without risks. says. “We must be hopeful, and we must over the course of the weekend. And “If you’re looking for truth in life, you give hope to everyone,” he continues. he poses for photographs and answers end up swimming against the majority But what’s it like for someone who every question that the fans gathered always. But what have you got to lose in spent a large part of his life measuring at Lydden Hill have for him. In short, life?” he asks. And then, as if to impress his every move against the clock to finally it seems like Vatanen is doing what he upon me that this really is the only way start slowing down? Vatanen laughs. said he believes we all ought to be doing to make progress, he adds, “We need “I don’t worry about aging. I accept it. - giving people hope. And working on to do unreasonable things in life. If we I try to remind myself how lucky I am that little stone that he wants to put into only do reasonable things, humanity will to be alive. I don’t worry if I am aching the cathedral. You can be sure though, start to go backwards. We need to do here and there because it means I’m still that his stone will enter the cathedral at unreasonable things… to push the limits alive!” he chuckles. full speed, brake a little late, and finally - we have to exceed ourselves.” To say that Ari Vatanen is still alive, flick itself into position sideways.

214 September 2019 Overdrive.in