Latest / Rusty's Garage / Chris Atkinson (Part 2)

Transcript

Chris Atkinson (Part 2) · Rusty's Garage

• 0:02
  A listener production.
• 0:20
  G'day, it's Rusty here at the Startline, getting the countdown for part two of my podcast with World Rally Championship driver and US Rallycross star Chris Atkinson.
• 0:30
  If you haven't listened to part one yet, it sets up his early years, watching his dad compete, the two-wheel influencers, trading places with his brother Ben and being catapulted onto the world stage after only a few years in the sport.
• 0:44
  So jump back to the library and make sure you check it out.
• 0:47
  We begin Stage 2, Part 2, by reflecting on his time in blue with Subaru and if there was one car that he had a soft spot for.
• 1:01
  I think the S12B, which is basically, it's a car we made, we put band-aids on to make work.
• 1:10
  The engine was unreal.
• 1:11
  Like the engine was so strong.
• 1:14
  Like they were running six dinos 24 hours a day, basically in Japan on the engine.
• 1:19
  So the engine was insane.
• 1:22
  The times on rallies, which are power rallies like Germany and things like that, you could do some
• 1:27
  Amazing stage time.
• 1:29
  We put band-aids on the diffs, basically just made them more aggressive than they needed to be just to hold everything together.
• 1:35
  We had fairly basic diffs compared to the opposition at the time with some of their clever mechanical differentials, which could act like active differentials, which I learnt later on.
• 1:47
  But we just...
• 1:49
  It still was an incredible car to drive.
• 1:51
  So, where I'm picking at is like we were missing 0.2 of a second a kilometre or something.
• 1:55
  It's not like we were missing a lot.
• 1:57
  But we just knew that's where it was at.
• 2:00
  And I think that's probably the car I got my best results in and most consistent results in.
• 2:05
  I was probably faster in that car than any other car when I got a lot of stage wins.
• 2:11
  You see that car in tarmac spec.
• 2:14
  I think there's almost no better looking rally car like that.
• 2:18
  That 07 Subaru with the big wings, lowered massive gold wheels.
• 2:23
  It just looked amazing and was epic to drive.
• 2:28
  Can you pick a moment?
• 2:29
  Like there's podiums that you've had along the way in the World Championship, more than 40 stage wins.
• 2:33
  I think I saw you describe to someone once in that competitive nature that you have that, you know, to win,
• 2:41
  a stage to beat the best drivers in the world is immensely satisfying and lots of ingredients have to come together to achieve that.
• 2:51
  Is there one that sticks out for you where you just look back and think, man, that was a joy to drive, just nailed it and so on.
• 2:59
  That may be hard, but is there one like that?
• 3:01
  I wouldn't almost call it a joy.
• 3:03
  It's a stage, St. Benet and Stefan actually, like it's such a famous old stage.
• 3:09
  It's up in the Monte Carlo Rally, but it's 400 kilometres from Monaco.
• 3:15
  But it's up in the high land.
• 3:18
  It's quite often got ice on the roads and snow.
• 3:20
  They've done it in years in full snow and snow.
• 3:24
  The year we did it was patchy ice.
• 3:26
  So, you're on a semi, basically a full slick, but you know you're going to have ice patches.
• 3:31
  And the time I did on it, I think I took it, call it 25 kilometers.
• 3:37
  I think I took 15 or 20 out of Pedder and 10 to 12 out of Sebastian.
• 3:42
  And you just knew you pretty much couldn't go any faster.
• 3:47
  And like there were moments where you just on black ice, just sliding, waiting for the grip to come at the other end at like 180k an hour.
• 3:54
  between trees and you just on time and you just like so fun no but the we like we just every time we did that stage and i think i've still got the stage record for it we just was so quick on that stage and i think it was that my notes were really good on narrow high speed um stages
• 4:15
  So I could really commit with super high speed, with trees close.
• 4:21
  So that sort of was my go-to stage.
• 4:25
  And to still hold the record for that, like you sort of said, it's –
• 4:29
  to be faster than anyone else in the world down that piece of road than they've ever been is such a cool feeling.
• 4:36
  And that's – I used to love that about rallying.
• 4:40
  You want the overall result as well in the rally, but epic piece of road, an amazing stage to be faster than anyone else in the world, that's a cool feeling.
• 4:53
  What about when it goes wrong, Chris, you know, when it goes upside down?
• 4:57
  You know, sometimes that's just a byproduct of pushing hard because you have to do that.
• 5:01
  But has there been one where you thought, oh, a bit lucky there or that, you know, just got the heart rate up, maybe gave you a little scare?
• 5:10
  Was there one that sort of comes to mind?
• 5:12
  I can't say I've ever thought like that.
• 5:15
  Wow.
• 5:16
  Yeah, even still.
• 5:17
  I think the older you get, you become a bit more cautious in a way.
• 5:23
  You're a bit smarter.
• 5:24
  You don't take the risks.
• 5:26
  I had a crash in basically the end of the Subaru time in 08 in GB.
• 5:32
  It was at night.
• 5:34
  It was icy and rainy.
• 5:36
  And it was pretty much a flat corner, a left, right, and I still have no idea what happened.
• 5:40
  Stefan remembers it.
• 5:41
  I...
• 5:42
  I got knocked out and don't remember, but basically flat in sixth gear, 200 something down a hill in the mud and rain.
• 5:50
  And the car just hit a small bump and went straight right into this wall.
• 5:55
  And I think it,
• 5:57
  There's some crazy time it spent in the air.
• 5:59
  The engineers have on like quite a few seconds flying through the air.
• 6:04
  And then it landed straight on my head.
• 6:07
  So, I broke the cage and the cage hit my helmet.
• 6:11
  I've still got the helmet.
• 6:12
  The FIA took the helmet and designed the new regulations for the helmets around my helmet.
• 6:18
  They sent it back.
• 6:19
  you know, five years later, actually.
• 6:20
  Say 10 years ago, there was a big step in helmet design and that was based on my helmet from that accident.
• 6:26
  And, yeah, I think we rolled seven or eight times, but no one really knows.
• 6:30
  Stefan said the impact was just insane, basically like 40G on my head and then just barrel rolled.
• 6:37
  And I don't remember.
• 6:38
  I woke up in hospital.
• 6:39
  Yeah.
• 6:41
  So it's probably a good thing I don't remember.
• 6:42
  I'd agree, mate.
• 6:44
  Tell me about the development in the cars.
• 6:46
  You know, you got to play at world championship level in different cars over more than a decade.
• 6:52
  Subaru prominently at the beginning of your WRC chapter.
• 6:56
  But I mean, there's miles at the wheel of a Citroen.
• 6:59
  You drove a Mini as well.
• 7:01
  We touched on Hyundai before.
• 7:02
  What, you know, how much did the cars change?
• 7:06
  Yeah, I actually think they went away from- I think I'd be more suited to the current cars.
• 7:11
  I don't think I really suited that next generation where they became small and sort of just mechanic, basically a more simple version of a World Rally car.
• 7:21
  My driving style is say more understeering, like relying on the aero.
• 7:26
  things like that where they became a car you basically just threw into the corner as hard as you could and just carry the speed that way.
• 7:37
  But I got to develop the Hyundai World Rally car from the beginning as well.
• 7:44
  And like to get to drive the Citroen, to see like the technology they had developed, that Citroen was such a pleasure to drive, so easy to drive.
• 7:56
  I wish I had some more rallies in that at the time.
• 7:58
  And yeah, it's...
• 8:02
  Awesome to look back at that.
• 8:03
  I think I was at one stage one of the only people that had driven nearly all the World Rally cars, the current World Rally cars.
• 8:09
  So that's where I sort of became go-to as a test driver.
• 8:12
  But to get back to the level, because I had been so on and off, to get back to that level in WRC, I probably needed almost a full season again to build back up and that opportunity never really came.
• 8:24
  And that's...
• 8:27
  That's probably a little bit frustrating to look back at it like that.
• 8:30
  When Subaru pulled out, there were no seats available.
• 8:34
  Funny enough that Citroen approached me at the end of 08 about leaving Subaru, and I guess my loyalty
• 8:45
  kept me there and then I just signed a multi-year deal with Subaru going into 09 and that's when they, at the end of 08, they pulled the pin.
• 8:59
  So yeah, that was sort of what sort of killed it off there in a way.
• 9:03
  You probably can't go into detail, Chris, but I mean, would that have meant that you were, you know, who would you have been working with at Citroen at that stage?
• 9:12
  I mean, that...
• 9:13
  Careers are often, there are always stories of ifs, buts and maybes and people don't like to focus on that.
• 9:20
  But what was the potential in that for you?
• 9:24
  Basically, it was just to be Sebastian's teammate there on a multi-year deal.
• 9:29
  So, it was great to be in that position.
• 9:31
  When you look at the end of 08, then I basically had two offers going forward.
• 9:38
  And I must have had a year left.
• 9:40
  I think I had a year left on my Subaru contract or even two because I'd just signed at the start of that year.
• 9:46
  So, you could have got out of it, but then also...
• 9:51
  We felt like we were turning a corner.
• 9:53
  We had a new car coming.
• 9:55
  Things like that was going on.
• 9:56
  So, yeah, frustrating, but that's the way it is.
• 10:02
  Somewhere here, some circuit racing opportunities come up too because I think from memory you've done some miles at Nürburgring.
• 10:09
  You paired with Cody Crocker and Dean Herridge to a second at the Bathurst 12 hour in 2007.
• 10:16
  Did you enjoy the circuit stuff?
• 10:18
  Yeah, I enjoy it.
• 10:19
  I think it's... People ask me this all the time, which is a funny question.
• 10:23
  It's like, oh, would you go V8 supercar racing?
• 10:25
  I don't have a chance, you know, to go up against those guys.
• 10:28
  They're so good at what they do in each area.
• 10:32
  You'd understand this.
• 10:33
  Like, it's each sport, it's same as guys can probably come rallying and will become reasonably good, but will they get that last little bit?
• 10:40
  No.
• 10:41
  That's the decades of experience and that given sport and...
• 10:47
  Something like a V8 supercar is so unique in that way.
• 10:50
  And circuit racing, I think when it comes to production cars, is more achievable.
• 10:56
  And even the rally cross car in a way is basically circuit racing.
• 11:00
  And it's so similar to a rally car, then that's easy for me to transition into.
• 11:05
  Like to get to do the Nürburgring 24-hour race, I think that was my first circuit race actually.
• 11:11
  Crazy.
• 11:11
  Yeah.
• 11:12
  Yeah.
• 11:13
  That was such an experience and like at night with fireworks going off and everyone's running full headlights and like full rally spotlights.
• 11:23
  It was just like an insane atmosphere.
• 11:26
  So then my second race was Bathurst, the 12 hours.
• 11:29
  So my first two circuit races were pretty decent tracks.
• 11:33
  Definitely.
• 11:33
  You did get to drive Russell Ingalls supercar though.
• 11:35
  I know it may have been a promotional opportunity or something or other, but you did get to sample it, didn't you?
• 11:41
  Yeah, no, I did a handful of laps and they basically stuck me out straight in a full test day.
• 11:46
  Like there was 30 cars on the track.
• 11:47
  I had no idea what I was doing.
• 11:49
  So, I think I pissed off a few of the drivers out there.
• 11:53
  But yeah, no, it was good to drive that.
• 11:55
  And then I got to drive Michael Petrizzi's Porsche after that.
• 12:00
  And I actually enjoyed the Porsche much more, the cup car to drive in the supercar.
• 12:05
  It's sort of something I could...
• 12:07
  feel a bit better and trust a bit more.
• 12:10
  So that was something very cool to drive as well.
• 12:23
  If you're ever planning on trying circuit racing for your first time, just go on the Nürburgring.
• 12:29
  Trust Chris, you'll be fine.
• 12:32
  Chris, in doing some homework for this, I loved seeing your name come up in connection with the legendary Ken Block.
• 12:42
  And there are some cool things that you've got to do in relation to Hoonigans.
• 12:47
  One of them that springs to mind was you driving...
• 12:50
  a rear-wheel drive escort with him and having a lot of fun.
• 12:53
  What is he like?
• 12:56
  How did that all come about, that connection?
• 12:58
  Yeah, we met those guys like Travis and Ken, obviously, through the Subaru connection.
• 13:02
  They were coming down to Mexico to do Rally Mexico with the Subaru America team back then.
• 13:12
  And so we did some PR stuff together, got to know each other.
• 13:15
  Both Ken and Travis are awesome guys, such legends as well.
• 13:22
  And Ken is just such a clever dude as well.
• 13:25
  Like to create what he's created from basically a non-motorsport person is unreal.
• 13:32
  And he's got great skill and he's so motivated.
• 13:35
  Like he's made it happen.
• 13:36
  But, you know, to start racing so late, you know,
• 13:40
  and be so successful and he understands it.
• 13:43
  He's just, he's got, he's always thinking, he's always got ideas.
• 13:46
  He pitches it like that's his background with DC Shoes, like that marketing sort of promotional side.
• 13:53
  And he just brought it to a rally and he was just having fun.
• 13:56
  And yeah, to get to become mates with him, like I've stayed with him at Park City quite a few times, I go snowboarding with him.
• 14:03
  So yeah, it's been great to have that friendship and then to get to drive,
• 14:09
  Some of his cars as well, that Escort, we all know how fun and how good Escorts sound.
• 14:15
  And, yeah, we were just messing around.
• 14:17
  We were trying to see how long we could hold a drift between like three corners at the time or something and what gear.
• 14:23
  And that's what some of that footage is from.
• 14:25
  Like we were just trying to link up these corners and just having a blast.
• 14:28
  Very cool.
• 14:29
  I mean, you know, the following, the cult following that it has on,
• 14:35
  social media and YouTube is huge.
• 14:37
  But in addition to the Escort, what other things, you know, in that garage did you get to drive and what were they like?
• 14:43
  It was more messing around with just like even things like snowbills and buggies and things like that.
• 14:49
  I never got to drive the Gymkhana car, which is a shame.
• 14:53
  We were there a couple of years ago and that Hoonicorn was there, which would have been cool to have a go of.
• 15:01
  So, I think at the time it was like 1600 horsepower or something.
• 15:05
  Um, but yeah, he's got quite a collection, collection together.
• 15:09
  Um, that escort videos was one of the more fun ones.
• 15:13
  I've obviously driven his rally cars and stuff like that.
• 15:17
  But yeah, that was a good day.
• 15:19
  And it reminds me of another moment.
• 15:22
  I did some work with Tuthills, the Porsche team out of England up in Sweden.
• 15:28
  And a guy turned up one day with a BDA Escort on the ice lakes.
• 15:33
  And you go, take it, go do as many laps as you want.
• 15:36
  And like that, that thing, like lock to lock, like just spinning the wheel off to try and get rid of the steering.
• 15:43
  That sort of stuff is just so much fun.
• 15:45
  Like it's, and they sound absolutely epic.
• 15:48
  How did the opportunity to go to Rallycross and to sort of take on America and, you know, keep your rally career going, but blend some sort of circuit racing with some rallying?
• 16:01
  It's a really unique discipline, isn't it?
• 16:03
  Yeah, I'd already been looking at Rallycross as a potential avenue.
• 16:06
  I was racing in China at the time for VW up there, like I mentioned earlier.
• 16:12
  And I'd been to America a couple of times and checked out the Rallycross.
• 16:16
  And I was actually trying to work on a deal with...
• 16:19
  I had a relationship with Hyundai Australia.
• 16:22
  And we were looking at trying to get into Rallycross over there with Rhys Millen.
• 16:26
  And...
• 16:28
  Randomly, I'm trying to remember how it actually happened.
• 16:32
  A guy I know at STI in Japan approached me to come to see if I'd be interested in coming to test a rally cross car over in the US.
• 16:44
  And there was a sort of relationship becoming between Vermont Sports Car, who run the Subaru America team, and STI in Japan.
• 16:52
  And STI was helping develop a car to take the rally cross car to another level.
• 16:58
  They were sort of struggling in the US a bit, wasn't super reliable and weren't getting the best results.
• 17:04
  I don't think they won for a few years over there.
• 17:07
  And basically, I came over and...
• 17:12
  It might sound stupid or whatever, but I hopped in the rally cross car and it was so like a rally car.
• 17:19
  And I spent a lot of time with this guy, Rob Wilson, in the UK that sort of evolved my tarmac driving.
• 17:25
  And whenever I get to a super special stage or something like that and I end up winning quite a few of them, I really think about his techniques and...
• 17:33
  And I know a lot of the V8 supercar guys have gone to see him as well.
• 17:36
  And I just hopped in this rallycross car and I just did the same things, just drove around.
• 17:41
  And my first flying lap, I broke the lap record on the rallycross test track they had.
• 17:47
  And they were like, then Lance Smith sort of pulled me aside and goes, do you want to stay in the US for a few weeks and come and do this next race?
• 17:57
  So, I was like, oh, yeah, that sounds pretty good.
• 18:00
  I didn't expect that.
• 18:01
  I didn't even know that it was actually a driver test at the same time.
• 18:04
  So, the Japanese had me there wanting to test their car and help them with development.
• 18:08
  And at the same time, they had guys coming to test car.
• 18:12
  There was like PK Jr.
• 18:13
  There was Austin Sindrick who races NASCAR.
• 18:16
  There were some other NASCAR guys.
• 18:19
  Anyway, I did the quickest lap somehow.
• 18:23
  And because it was such like a rally car, you know, it's just hopping it and drive it like a world rally car and it's just got a bit more power.
• 18:29
  So, I just took that approach and that started that.
• 18:33
  And that was like the end of...
• 18:37
  I'm trying to remember, is the end of 16 or 17?
• 18:41
  Must have been 17.
• 18:42
  And then basically at the end of, I think I qualified on pole on the third race with them.
• 18:49
  We basically realized again, made some bandages for the car to try and make it work.
• 18:54
  And I set it up as a qualifying car and we got pole ahead of everyone in that rally cross series.
• 19:01
  And then-
• 19:02
  they offered me a basically a three-year deal to race in the US.
• 19:06
  Amazing, mate.
• 19:07
  And super cool cars too.
• 19:10
  Just sheer...
• 19:11
  I mean, for a start, it's like a stadium spectacular.
• 19:14
  It's great for the crowd at the venue.
• 19:16
  It's great for tailor-made for television.
• 19:17
  It's awesome.
• 19:19
  Some wicked jumps sometimes and things like that in it.
• 19:22
  But tell us more about that car and its...
• 19:27
  you know, some of its stats and underpinnings, mate?
• 19:29
  Yeah, so it's loosely based off a world rally car.
• 19:32
  The initial engines we ran were world rally car engines, but then basically unrestricted, bigger turbos, things like that.
• 19:41
  They end up creating a billet engine for it in the end, which was a lot more reliable and more cost-effective.
• 19:48
  They still do have an inlet restrictor on the turbo, so...
• 19:52
  I'd give a power number of, say, 630, 650.
• 19:58
  But, yeah, so the torque and the response... You've got too much power, basically.
• 20:05
  Anyway, that's your issue.
• 20:06
  You've got more than enough power there for the grip because you're on a semi-sleek or basically slick...
• 20:12
  which is crossing over into gravel and dirt and tarmac, and they're not the biggest tyres.
• 20:16
  So it's more a game of managing.
• 20:19
  You've got all this power.
• 20:20
  How do you manage it then?
• 20:21
  But like the launches and full credit to Scott Speed, when he joined the team, our launches were a bit unreliable and he came from the Volkswagen team and,
• 20:31
  and the launches would, they'd most of the time cane us, but the launches are so critical.
• 20:37
  Like it's out of control.
• 20:39
  Like you're six cars wide on a grid.
• 20:41
  You've all got 600 horsepower and it's basically who gets the whole shot is most likely to win.
• 20:46
  So it's just game on on that first corner.
• 20:49
  Like it's out of control, the noise.
• 20:51
  You got everyone on their launch control, like limiters, and everyone trying to nail their launch.
• 20:57
  They say 0 to 100 in under 2 seconds.
• 20:59
  Like, really, it was just over that.
• 21:01
  But with the amount of grip we had, like, that was still pretty quick.
• 21:05
  And it's more they just keep going.
• 21:06
  You know, you just...
• 21:08
  keep picking gears.
• 21:10
  You could say you pick gears nearly as fast as you can when you're accelerating.
• 21:14
  Like, you pick a gear, you pick a gear, you pick a gear, you pick a gear, and then you're in six gear flat out.
• 21:18
  You know, it's just like they just keep going.
• 21:21
  Torque would be 1,000 newton meters, whatever, and just...
• 21:27
  It's more managing that.
• 21:28
  They are such beasts and so, so insane like to drive.
• 21:34
  Like I went to heaps of Subaru festivals over there to put on displays and shows and you just, you do the donuts and the drifts, you can do them for an all-wheel drive car are pretty cool.
• 21:45
  Damn you, COVID as well, because it turned up at a time, mate, where you were really hitting your straps there.
• 21:52
  I mean, we've seen you celebrating on top of the car, podiums, second in the series, I think, to Tanner Faust.
• 21:58
  It was all just going so well, wasn't it?
• 22:02
  Yeah, it's a funny one, actually, because, yeah, actually, that was my last race.
• 22:07
  I did.
• 22:08
  We won, so it was nice to finish like that in full mud up in Ohio.
• 22:15
  which was ridiculously slow racing, but very challenging.
• 22:20
  But yeah, basically I was at the end of my contract again and the series that actually stopped and the Nitro series was going to come into effect.
• 22:28
  And if anyone's seen that Nitro series that Travis set up with 150 foot gap jump, like that's the future of Rallycross.
• 22:36
  That is entertaining, so cool to drive.
• 22:40
  and even another level on normal rallycross in terms of entertainment.
• 22:44
  So that was going to be the future.
• 22:47
  I hadn't done a deal yet moving forward and basically on COVID hit.
• 22:52
  I was actually meant to head to America and do a hill climb for them last year as well.
• 23:00
  And then...
• 23:01
  that it all went up in the air and here we are.
• 23:05
  So I haven't actually raced now for a year and a half, which is a bit crazy.
• 23:09
  Definitely.
• 23:10
  But you have been kept busy steering things because you've hooked up with Al Bors and Paul Marrick and the guys at Car Expert and you are their designated test driver.
• 23:22
  And you've got a bit of skin in the game here too, haven't you?
• 23:24
  Are you enjoying being involved in that?
• 23:26
  Yeah, that was a great...
• 23:29
  experience to get involved with them and a big thanks to Guido Schenken at Hyundai.
• 23:34
  Said I should go have a coffee with our boys and all of a sudden I end up investing in their new business and becoming a performance editor, which is basically just getting to thrash some cars around Queensland Raceway every few weeks.
• 23:47
  So very, very cool opportunity.
• 23:51
  And I love seeing how these guys like operate.
• 23:54
  They turn car advice into a $60 million business, sold that to Channel 9.
• 23:59
  and now basically have started again.
• 24:00
  But this is bigger and better and much cooler.
• 24:04
  They've got big plans for this business.
• 24:07
  I think the YouTube channel now is the number one, in terms of minutes viewed, number one motoring YouTube video in Australia now and that's in just over a year.
• 24:17
  I just did a video on the Yaris, GR Yaris versus STI.
• 24:22
  So if anyone hasn't seen that, go and check it out.
• 24:25
  I think that's got nearly half a million views already.
• 24:28
  So, different world for me and a bit strange to be standing in front of the camera.
• 24:33
  I'm more natural when I'm in the car doing those things.
• 24:35
  When I have to stand in front of the camera, it's a bit harder, but you're all over that.
• 24:39
  But for me, it's a bit daunting, but good fun behind the wheel.
• 24:45
  And sort of great to be a part of that whole team and see what they're doing.
• 24:50
  I reckon the Chris Atkinson that used to take us for tours of his rally car in the early days when we tried to get you to do some crook stuff for our coverage versus the Chris Atkinson I see now on these videos is a very different presenter, isn't he?
• 25:01
  Yeah, just a little bit.
• 25:02
  Maybe he learns a little bit over the years.
• 25:05
  A little bit more polished than some kid who had no idea what he was doing.
• 25:08
  That said, mate, the lineup, I mean, you talked about Yaris GR versus Impreza.
• 25:13
  I mean, there's been the Supra.
• 25:16
  I think you're at the wheel of the Ferrari Pista at one stage.
• 25:18
  I mean, there's been some good cars already that you've had a chance to steer.
• 25:21
  Yeah, so we've got basically a leaderboard set up.
• 25:24
  You call it like the top gear leaderboard, but we really wanted to make it sort of professional.
• 25:28
  We do like quite...
• 25:32
  rule orientated we did four laps tire pressures are set at like manufacturer sort of standard so we don't try and mess around with too much we just keep it as it is and let's see how fast this car is on the track gd2 rs is leading at the moment we actually didn't do a time in the pista although that was incredible it was a one of our balls as mates car and it was just on a track day i think that would give the
• 25:56
  The GD2 RS had run for its money.
• 25:58
  Just drove the new M4 BMW the other day, which was absolutely incredible on the track as well.
• 26:05
  But we all go all the way down to like more standard cars, like...
• 26:11
  What have we got?
• 26:12
  Mazda MX-5s and a lot of the Hyundais, Hyundai i20 and i30Ns, things like that.
• 26:19
  So we've got a pretty wide range.
• 26:20
  I think there's probably about 30 cars on the leaderboard now.
• 26:23
  We just want to keep growing it and sort of build a place where not everyone's going to take these cars to the track.
• 26:28
  But the track's a great way to explore the potential of a car and see how they are designed fundamentally.
• 26:35
  Because quite often, many road cars...
• 26:38
  talk the talk but can't walk the walk on a track.
• 26:42
  And you can really see it clearly when a car just
• 26:46
  fundamental engineering is done well.
• 26:48
  And I've tried to do my stories a bit like a debrief.
• 26:51
  So I've taken like the racing idea of how I finished a test and I'd run through components of the car and I basically do the same in my stories as well.
• 27:00
  So I'll run through the engine, transmission, gearbox, differentials, suspension, and give my feedback on each of those areas.
• 27:09
  And I actually wanted to call it like the debrief.
• 27:12
  That was my sort of idea behind it.
• 27:14
  I've got to tell this story because it's how I met our balls.
• 27:17
  I don't even know if we're allowed to tell it.
• 27:20
  I was, we were in, it must be around 2014.
• 27:24
  And I was hosting with the Hyundai PR guys, Bill and Guido.
• 27:30
  We had a few journos over from Australia and our balls was part of that.
• 27:35
  A lot of other guys you would know as well.
• 27:38
  Steve Oatley.
• 27:40
  I took him out on the town in Monaco and we had a bit of a party, which got a bit out of control.
• 27:50
  And let's just say our boys might have ended up in Monaco Hospital.
• 27:57
  And lost his way around town.
• 28:02
  And I see a message from Guido in the morning and it just pops up on my phone.
• 28:06
  Our ball's in hospital.
• 28:07
  Where are you?
• 28:08
  And I was like, oh, no, what's gone wrong?
• 28:11
  But I think I can't go into too much more detail, but it's pretty legendary as a PR trip around the ranks, that's for sure.
• 28:19
  Awesome, mate.
• 28:20
  And you've ended up going into business with him, so you must have done all right.
• 28:23
  He's trying to keep me quiet.
• 28:26
  Exactly.
• 28:26
  All right, couple to finish.
• 28:28
  Firstly, you're a proud dad now, three girls.
• 28:31
  Do they know what dad does for a job?
• 28:34
  Do they think it's a proper job?
• 28:36
  And are they likely... Is there any interest in motorsport there?
• 28:40
  I guess what was cool was we travelled heaps as a family.
• 28:45
  We always have.
• 28:46
  We've taken them everywhere.
• 28:48
  Wherever we go, we sort of take them and have them involved.
• 28:51
  So we love doing that with them and experiencing that.
• 28:56
  And obviously then they started to...
• 28:58
  When I was young, you know, I'd never have...
• 29:00
  I hate having people at the races.
• 29:02
  I was so focused.
• 29:03
  But when you become even mature, it's sort of like nice to have the family there and the kids there.
• 29:08
  And then they get to see me win.
• 29:10
  Yeah.
• 29:11
  for the first time in what I was doing.
• 29:12
  I don't think they cared too much, but you know, they were happy and get to see the trophy and get to see what I do.
• 29:18
  And I just think they enjoy, they just enjoy the experience of being a part of that and the traveling and that's what we tried to show them.
• 29:28
  And it was great to be able to share that with the older two.
• 29:30
  We've got a newborn.
• 29:31
  now so she might not get to see much of my racing career i can look it up on youtube the chris atkinson school runs i reckon it'd be a uh that'd be well worth being a part of i but i'm almost the opposite it's it's funny how because i get the outlet you know i have the outlet i don't i would just cruise along you know i keep plenty of space i hate people taking my space or tailgating me i just like um
• 29:56
  And I never used to get it because Marcus used to be like that because he was the sort of older one, Marcus Gronholm, of the crowd.
• 30:03
  And I'd be in the rally car and be racing on like recce and stuff between each other.
• 30:10
  I remember one time in...
• 30:12
  In Spain, it was me.
• 30:14
  So we'd all have these white recce cars, sort of plain white, dark tinted windows that no one could see in or anything.
• 30:21
  But they were basically a rally car, like full cage, seats, harnesses, quick, unrestricted group end cars, basically.
• 30:28
  And Sebastian was in front, I was in the middle, Petter was behind me, and we were sort of having this race on these back roads, messing around flat out in Spain, and a cop car came past the other way, and he's put his sirens on straight away.
• 30:41
  And he's flipped on his lights and Sebastian's just like dropped the hammer and gone.
• 30:46
  And so we're all just going even faster.
• 30:51
  And I reckon we did like 50K, like absolutely flat out, like just on each other's bumpers.
• 30:58
  And we got to the next stage to check in for recce.
• 31:03
  And Sebastian's like, if he caught us, he can have my job.
• 31:07
  He's like left it at that point.
• 31:09
  Yeah, we used to run a bit of...
• 31:11
  I even... Well, I've crashed recce cars, to be honest, in between stages racing, which the boys didn't enjoy.
• 31:19
  But then Marcus would just cruise along.
• 31:20
  Marcus would just be doing 40k an hour in no rush.
• 31:23
  He had kids.
• 31:24
  He was relaxed.
• 31:25
  And I sort of see that now in my own driving.
• 31:27
  I'm like just...
• 31:28
  Just put the cruise control on.
• 31:30
  It's very, very sedate.
• 31:33
  Although I would love to, and I really want to take them out on the track.
• 31:37
  They've done some go-karting already.
• 31:39
  Not that they're passion.
• 31:40
  They're more into ballet and things like that.
• 31:42
  But I really, I remember those days of...
• 31:47
  as a six or seven year old sitting on my dad's lap, driving the car, you know, learn to drive at 10, flying planes at that age, you know, always been, you know, doing stuff like that.
• 31:58
  And I really try to instill that, although it's hard these days, but want to get them riding motorbikes, go-karts, just experiencing it.
• 32:05
  I think it's great for when they get on the road, that they understand it, they understand the risks.
• 32:11
  Like most people have it,
• 32:12
  no idea of the risks, no idea the consequences of what they're doing.
• 32:16
  And that's probably the most frustrating part of what you see on the road these days.
• 32:21
  Great piece of advice, mate.
• 32:22
  That's right of passage stuff that it has a...
• 32:25
  you know, it has a profound effect on you, I think.
• 32:27
  Couple to finish, Chris, if we can.
• 32:29
  I was reminded when we went back through your Instagram feed, that very sadly, mate, we lost one of the greats in Hanumikala early this year and you crossed paths with him.
• 32:40
  You had a bit to do with him, didn't you?
• 32:42
  Yeah, I was fortunate to get to know Hanu.
• 32:46
  His son, Vesa, was my teammate in Suzuki in 2004.
• 32:52
  And Hanu was super supportive, like just –
• 32:58
  outgoing, encouraging, like just a great guy, just a legend of the sport.
• 33:02
  I got to stay with the family over in Finland when I was over there to come from where, you know, Australia, just like I'm going to go do some rallying.
• 33:12
  All of a sudden, spending time with Hanu Mikla is amazing.
• 33:15
  And, yeah, it was just...
• 33:18
  Such sad news when that came across.
• 33:20
  I'd been trying to catch up with Vester a few times.
• 33:23
  He lives in Canada now and hadn't seen him for a few years, but we messaged occasionally.
• 33:30
  Yeah, just sort of devastating news and a legend that we missed.
• 33:36
  Is there one event or one trophy that you're most proud of?
• 33:42
  I mean, there's podiums in the WRC.
• 33:44
  We've talked about the fact that there have been more than 40 stage wins.
• 33:47
  I mean, you can add to that that you won, I think, the 2012 Asia-Pacific Rally title as well with, you know, in the SCOTA for MRF and so on.
• 33:55
  Is there one thing that you're proudest of on this incredible journey?
• 34:00
  I think...
• 34:01
  The podiums in Monte Carlo and Finland would probably just stand out because they're such iconic rallies.
• 34:11
  I would have loved, I led Rally Australia twice and would have loved to have won that.
• 34:18
  that would have been massive and a shame that didn't happen.
• 34:22
  But I think to stand on the podium in Monte Carlo, which is such a European rally, a tarmac, ice rally, like nothing compares in Australia, and to have that result is pretty cool.
• 34:37
  That's something that I'll always remember.
• 34:40
  Have you kept...
• 34:41
  a competition car of some kind that you have a soft spot for, or is there a little resto project in the Atkinson garage?
• 34:49
  And if so, tell us about it.
• 34:50
  I would love to have kept a WRC car.
• 34:53
  That would be my aim, but I have nothing at the moment.
• 34:57
  It's something that's always in the back of my mind.
• 35:00
  There are some getting around that S12B, the 07 car.
• 35:04
  If I could come across one of those, that would probably be the one.
• 35:09
  But yeah, no projects at the moment.
• 35:13
  Nothing too exciting.
• 35:14
  I think I'm that busy with school runs and going to be for the next 20 years.
• 35:21
  That would be my main focus.
• 35:24
  And, like, even if my career is to end now, I don't know where we're at.
• 35:28
  Then, like, to have race cars for 20 years professionally is amazing.
• 35:33
  And the experiences and the adventures from it, I think I've been to over 50 countries around the world.
• 35:40
  And it's not just going to countries.
• 35:42
  It's going to places that you just wouldn't normally go.
• 35:46
  Racing in the Gobi Desert, things like that.
• 35:48
  You just...
• 35:50
  around Jordan, like South America.
• 35:53
  It's just been, that's just there that some of the highlights for me almost more than the racing results.
• 35:59
  Congratulations, Chris.
• 36:00
  Some amazing insights along the way.
• 36:04
  And you've certainly ticked some boxes that we're all very envious of.
• 36:09
  And we're pleased that you're enjoying family life now, but still importantly, having a steer, mate.
• 36:14
  Thanks so much for talking to us.
• 36:15
  I appreciate it.
• 36:16
  Thanks, mate.
• 36:22
  Rusty's Garage is written and presented by me, Greg Rust.
• 36:26
  Series producer and editor is Alex Mitchell.
• 36:30
  Audio production by Darcy Thompson.
• 36:39
  Listener.