Benniz 13 Posted January 19, 2015 Hi everyone!The 31st of January I will be making my debut as a rally driver, driving the Norwegian rally event, Rally Hadeland. It has been a dream of mine for many years, and I am now finally going through with it! Since we have become a nice community of the past years, I thought I would share my experience with you all. First, a little about me, besides being a big fan of rally games and Codemasters, and of course wondering when we will be seeing this great game we have been promised. This is me:My name is Benjamin. I am 25 years old, live just outside Oslo which is the capital of Norway. I am born in the UK, and moved with my family to Norway in 1996. I work as a freelance photographer, mainly focusing on journalism and commercial work. Besides this I have photographed the Norwegian rally championship the past seven years, and also the Swedish round of the WRC. I have been following rallying the past fifteen years, and my big hero has of course been Colin McRae! During this time I have been a keen rally gamer, and have won two Norwegian championships in rally gaming. The first in 2005 was driving WRC 5 Evolved, the second in 2007 driving DiRT 1 (the final stage was Pikes Peak!). I have also driven Richard Burns rally a lot, and am now using it to prepare for the upcoming event. One of my motivations to finally go ahead with my dream is to try to compare the virtual driving experience with the real thing. I have previously tested a group N Impreza and a couple of banger racing cars, and my impression is that many of the driving techniques I can use in rally games also work well in a proper rally car. The rally event I will be driving is the local event which runs every year not far from where I have grown up during my years in Norway. I have co-driven on this event in 2006, and it's fantastic! No surprise, the surface will be snow, covering 37 kilometres of stage action. Actually, WRC-driver Mads Østberg will be competing on the event too, I expect to be right up there following his pace - NOT. The car I will be driving is a front wheel drive Nissan Almera with about 150 bhp, which I will be renting from the Norwegian rallying legend, Trond Lyseng. Trond himself has actually won the national class of Rally Hadeland with this car previously, beating mighty BMW M3's and Volvo 240's - a pretty good driver there. My co-driver, Simen, is a good friend of mine who also has been photographing the Norwegian championship. He has also competed on a number of events as a co-driver the past five years.The last weeks I have been working to prepare things for the event. I have been lucky enough to be able to cover all my expenses through sponsorship, thanks to long time customers who liked the idea of me finally competing. The plan is to test the car for the first time this Saturday, so I am pretty geared up at the moment. Hoping to get some kilometres under my belt, so we have a good starting point for the rally. I will be keeping you all updated in the time towards the event. We will be making a video from the whole experience which I will be sharing with you after the event. We also hope to get some video and pictures from the upcoming test, this will of course be shared with you all. For now, there isn't really much more to tell, other than that I picked up my driving gear from Gundersen motorsport (Birger Gundersen, a BRC-driver back in the 90's) this afternoon:I will be back with more for you very soon, please ask questions and start discussions if you like! :smile: Cheers,Benjamin - Benniz Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Rallycameraman 241 Posted January 19, 2015 @justbiglee I think ben needs some stickers ;) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TURBODEVIN19 19 Posted January 19, 2015 Thanks a lot for sharing this with us, I'll be looking forward to future updates :D I wish you the best of luck pursuing your dream! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
justbiglee 0 Posted January 19, 2015 This is awesome, thanks for posting it up. Tomorrow I will share your tale with the world :D Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Operator1 4 Posted January 20, 2015 Awesome! Best of luck! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Evilsmurf 90 Posted January 20, 2015 Best of luck, hope you have time to enjoy the event and to nervous. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MartijnvH 12 Posted January 20, 2015 Goodluck Benniz! :D and keep the shiny side up please! ;-)I think we got a "Codemasters forum rallyteam" running soon xD Think we need some Codemaster forum mechanics and co-drivers left :P Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Benniz 13 Posted January 20, 2015 Thanks a lot guys! It's going to be awesome :smiley: Will keep you updated the next weeks! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DriftCM 0 Posted January 20, 2015 Best of luck, Benniz! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
KickUp 0 Posted January 20, 2015 All the best Benniz. The hardest part is geting the sponsorship. Now you can get out there and have fun! :D Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Hatward 1 Posted January 20, 2015 Good luck Benniz! Let us all know how it goes.Remember - Start off flat out then try and get faster. :wink: Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Rallycameraman 241 Posted January 20, 2015 Hatward said: Good luck Benniz! Let us all know how it goes.Remember - Start off flat out then try and get faster. :wink: Unless you're driving THAT car. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
tbtstt 2,416 Posted January 20, 2015 Excellent read @Benniz. Best of luck and look forward to seeing how you get on! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MBKF1 91 Posted January 21, 2015 That looks awesome Benniz, best of luck!Also reminds me, @justbiglee, are there plans to have any more Codies Weekly Round Ups this year? I hope there are because I really enjoyed them last years and also, this has to go in there! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Benniz 13 Posted January 21, 2015 New material on the way to you tomorrow! This time a video :smile: Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Benniz 13 Posted January 22, 2015 Yesterday Simen (my co-driver) and I did some pacenote practicing at home in my flat. We used Richard Burns rally for this, because of the authenticity, and pretty much got the hang of it! Check out the video below to see how we did :smile: http://youtu.be/ogOSO2FwBJk Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
justbiglee 0 Posted January 23, 2015 Benniz said: because of the authenticity, woa woa woa... hang on :P Seriously though man good luck for the weekend :)PeteTheDuck said:That looks awesome Benniz, best of luck!Also reminds me, @justbiglee, are there plans to have any more Codies Weekly Round Ups this year? I hope there are because I really enjoyed them last years and also, this has to go in there!yeah I'd love to do them but sadly I've got nothing to do a weekly update on, I get shouted at when I stray close to the lines when I'm talking about upcoming games and the old ones are that far behind us now. I'll try see if I can put one together for next week :) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BenjaminJohnson 0 Posted January 23, 2015 This looks awesome. Great production as well. Good luck! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Benniz 13 Posted January 24, 2015 Right! I'm back again. This time with a teaser video from our test today - which by the way was awesome :smiley: I'll be back with more footage and a longer video tomorrow evening!http://youtu.be/jJIbH0LtV2M Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
learjet60guy 0 Posted January 25, 2015 This is awesome! Good luck! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Andi 7 Posted January 25, 2015 Cool story and content, looking forward to seeing and hearing more. Good luck! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Benniz 13 Posted January 25, 2015 Alright lads! Here is a point of view (POV) video from yesterdays test. Things turned a little more dramatic than I had hoped for, watch the video and you'll see why! Hope you enjoy it! I'll be back with a longer story from the test tomorrow evening for you :smiley: http://youtu.be/ywCNLh1IyfM Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Evilsmurf 90 Posted January 26, 2015 Looks like a lot of fun! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
tbtstt 2,416 Posted January 26, 2015 That looks like a lot of fun: mind those snow banks though! ;) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Benniz 13 Posted January 26, 2015 I won't lie, it's absolutely fantastic, can't wait until the event! :smiley: Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
