Training period 2 02 Aug. - 06 Aug. 2015

2015.08.26

（Instructors：Jouni Ampuja, Jarmo Lehtinen, Mikko Hirvonen ）

【Training objectives】

The main objective is to  improve basic driving skills such as driving line and balancing the car with left-foot braking, and pacenote skills.

Drivers are to work on the pacenotes by cooperating with co-drivers who starts joining the program this time. 

Training summary

30 Jul. - 2 Aug. - Getting to know WRC

 

Before their real training starts, both drivers, Hiroki Arai and Takamoto Katsuta, observed Neste Oil Rally Finland to get to know what WRC is all about. They have experienced the world level by closely watching the driving lines and how to deal with the crests and corners with full speed. They have learned a lot from the top drivers and also found what they can improve in their driving.

Day1 3 Aug. - Driving training @ Pokelantie
Started the day by doing the pacenotes for the stage which is a medium fast, flowing road with few jumps.
Day2 4 Aug. - Pacenote training
Spent the day by making pacenotes to the roads used in Neste Oil Rally Finland. Driving lines from the past days were still visible and that gave Hiroki and Takamoto good understandings of lines to take at full speed . Phil Hall, a co-driver candidate from UK joined the training from the day.
Day3 5 Aug. - Driving training @ Hahanpohjantie
Driving training on the road with many challanging corners and blind crests in a row. This road is very familiar for many WRC teams as a test road.
Day4 6 Aug. - Driving training @ Rantakylantie
Did training on the wide and fast road, on which drivers are required to change the rhythm several times.

トレーニング日記

Hiroki Arai
HIROKI ARAI

written by HIROKI ARAI
It was our second training in Finland and I imporved a lot on left foot braking with much more throttle on. We learned it last time and I think I got much better during this training.  
Also, Phil Hall, a new co-driver from UK, joined our training this time, and I will be participating in Turku rally with him next time. I'm really looking forward to it!

【Comments from instructors】 Arai did a good pacenotes and drove well throughout the training. Combination with Phil Hall is already working well and this is improving all the time. By keeping the car more straight and balancing it in some more places, he will be able to keep higher speed in the corners without raising the risk level.

Takamoto_Katsuta
TAKAMOTO
KATSUTA

written by TAKAMOTO KATSUTA
In the last training I tended to go too fast into the corner, so during this training I concentrated to go into the corner with appropriate speed by keeping the good balance with high traction. By doing this I felt my driving got much better.
In the pacenote training, we improved a lot by paying attention to the caution points and distance between corners. I think I can be better if I could match the cornering speed by listening the pacenote reading. I will try that in the next training!

【Comments from instructors】 Katsuta got used to the left-hand driven car and the gear-shifting. He also improved a lot in speed control, which was one of his objectives. Especially on the last day, his driving on the fast road was a positive surprise. His next objective is to get used to making pacenotes as he doesn't have much experience on that area.

Summary and Preview of the Next Training

lecuture

We have been working on pacenotes with co-drivers this week. On the last day, we were on the fastest road we've ever used since we started and it was nice to see the improvement. Still lots of things to work on, but their driving keep improving all the time, and so our next focus will be pacenoting.
First training with a new co-driver, Phil Hall went very well. I'm really happy with his attitude and we will make a longer plan with him. Through the coming trainings we can expect better cooperation between driver and co-driver.

【Next Training】Drivers will participate in Turku rally, the 5th round of Finnish Rally championship. Before the rally, we will continue working on the pacenote practice and driving at the fast stages. Drivers will set up each car during the training.

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