A WEEK IN THE LIFE OF A GBWINNER
ELFYN EVANS OPENS HIS DIARY
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A fter a historymaking win on his home round of the World Rally Championship, what did Elfyn Evans get up to in the week that followed? Read on. Elfyn’s opened his diary and revealed all to Motorsport News.Sunday,october 29
I’m still finding it quite incredible to think what’s just happened at Brenig; there were so many people there, it was unbelievable. The support we’ve had on this event has just been outstanding, I’ve really never seen or felt anything like it before. The people were everywhere, so many Welsh flags.
Driving from Brenig to Llandudno, the feeling in the car is just brilliant. Dan and I had worked really hard to make sure this felt like just another rally and we’d done a good job – but once we’d stood on the top of that podium and heard the national anthem, it was pretty clear this was no ordinary rally!
Into Llandudno and there were more people, the crowd were great in the town. But I think I knew what they wanted… and I was very happy to oblige – that’s definitely the first time I’ve done donuts in front of Marks and Spencer!
Once we got back down to Deeside and through the press conference it was really quite late, so the team cancelled the post-event debrief. I had more interviews to do and it was gone 2000hrs by the time we walked back into the hotel.
It was time for a few beers with the lads and the team. It was a bit of shame, some of the guys had already left to get back up to M-sport. We’re already planning a bit of a celebration after the final round.
Monday, October 30
For the first time in ages, I sleep in a little bit longer and don’t wake up thinking through the strategy for the day ahead. This time I wake up with a pretty good feeling. We won! And there’s a small headache to remind me we won!
I was straight back to Deeside to the temporary S4C studio, where I did a longer interview with Ralio. It was really nice, my dad and Howard [Davies, Gwyndaf’s co-driver and now Ralio presenter] were there on the sofa. Then there was a BBC thing to do finally another S4C show, but they wanted to do that in the [car] dealership in Dolgellau.
Finally, there was a bit of work to do with the Rally GB organisers. I was really surprised at how much interest there was in what we’d done. It took pretty much all day to get through the media stuff. Then it was time to go home. Driving back down the road was really surreal. This was the same road I’ve driven our Ford Fiesta WRC down just the day before, but everything was back to normal. The crowds had gone and taken all the cars from the side of the road and the atmosphere was really nothing like what it had been. Saturday’s road section on our round of the world championship was my road home today.
After a fairly late night, I was completely ready for my bed when I walked in the door.
Tuesday, October 31
More interviews, this time on the phone and there were loads of them. Yesterday had been so busy, I really hadn’t had much time to look at the phone, so I was pretty surprised to see so many messages. The afternoon was largely taken up with replying to those messages. They were really special, with some coming from some very special people.
Later in the day, I talked to some of the engineers from M-sport and started the debriefing process from the event. I was kind of ready to get back to normal…
Wednesday, November
The best way to get back to normal for me is to be in the gym at seven in the morning, so that’s what I did today. I worked really hard for an hour and a bit, but then had to get home for another interview.
This time it was Radio 2 for Chris Evans’ show. I’m always aware with these kind of interviews that you have to be careful not to go into too much detail – it’s probably fair to think that the average listener didn’t want to know the ins and outs of our tyre compound or centre diff setting.
The interview was done and it was only when I got a text from somebody asking how it felt to talk to nine million people live that I started to think about what I’d said!
Today’s the first time I’ve had a minute to sit down at home, relax and just think about what we did. I must admit, there were a couple of moments when I had a smile to myself. I still can’t believe the event went so smoothly for us. And not just
us, for Sebastien [Ogier] to take his fifth title and, of course, for the team to win the manufacturers’ that was so special – an amazing weekend.
Thursday, November 2
There’s more work to do with M-sport today, going over more detail from the weekend, essentially more debriefing. After that I remembered there was the television coverage of the event to watch.
The coverage was great and to see all of those people at Brenig again was fantastic. Good as the television was, it didn’t bring the real feeling of that moment or the atmosphere when we got out of the car. That was something Dan and I will remember for a very long time.
Friday, November 3
It really is back to work today. Been on the telephone to Dan for a while talking about Rally Australia and what we’ve got coming. Both of us are back at it today. Wales and Rally GB is put to one side now, it’s time to crack on with watching the onboards and going through our pace notes for the next one. I didn’t do Australia last year, so it’s even more important for me to get this preparation done.
As well as watching all the onboards, I also start working on a tyre strategy for the event. Obviously I work closely with the engineers and DMACK on this, but I want to look at what we’ve got and where it’s going to be best to use the tyres – this is everything: what compound we take on the car; what we have in the boot, when we swap them. This kind of detail is so necessary for getting the best out of what you’ve got.
Really feeling back to normal today, I like to get back to the routine of being in the gym at seven in the morning as quickly as possible. I’m ready to move onto the next challenge now.
Saturday, November 4
It’s fair to say we’re in for a very different weekend this time around to last week. It’s a pretty steady start to saturday and then off on the bike for a long ride. I’m asked a lot of the time if I ever ride through Dyfi – the Athertons are making a really good mountain bike trail in there, so it would be good – but I must admit I haven’t been in there for years. I don’t think I’ve done Dyfi on my bike since I was in school. The rules are a fairly grey area regarding what constitutes an illegal recce and I definitely don’t want to get caught somewhere where I shouldn’t be. Fortunately, Wales isn’t short of great forests and forest tracks and Coed-y-brenin is one of the best. So, it’s onto the bike for the long road section out of town and up to the Tarw Du, the Black Bull. Coed-y-brenin used to be a stage used on the RAC Rally regularly – my dad’s certainly driven it a few times – but I’m safe… there hasn’t been a rally car in there for years. And this is a pretty hard ride.
It’s great to get back between the trees again, working hard on the hills and going quickly on the downhill is a great way to clear everything out of your mind. It’s a great day.
Sunday, November 5
A week on. I do a fair bit of thinking back to a week ago today. Such a special time. There’s a bit more training to do on the bike before I’m back to getting ready for Australia. It’s only a few days before Dan and I are on the plane and heading for the longest trip of the year, so it’s really important that we get through as much of the preparation as early as possible.
I must admit, after a week out of the car, I’m really itching to get back in it again. These 2017 World Rally Cars really are pretty amazing to drive, they’re everything we hoped they would be. And I must admit, I think there’s going to be something even more special when Dan and I get back in the car for the first time since we climbed out in Deeside.
Sunday afternoon’s a good time to relax and for relaxing means being busy doing some of the odd jobs around my new place – I’m still in the process of finishing the garage at home before winter and the really bad weather arrives.
I also quite like the process of washing the bikes down after we’ve been for a ride – this sort of thing takes my mind off the rally prep which I need to do.
To be honest, I can’t believe a week has passed already since we won.
But even in that week, I’ve really got the feeling that I want more of that. Winning a round of the World Rally Championship was as big a thrill as I ever hoped it would be. And to take my first win at home – and really at home, with so many of those people who supported me from a really young age around me was just perfect.
Still… wouldn’t mind rewinding a week, just to the start of the powerstage one more time! ■