RallySport Magazine August 2016

WHERE ARE THEY NOW: WAYNE BELL
round of the championship. My friends
and I screwed the thing back together,
stuck it on a trailer and headed for SA.
We lined up at the start of the first
stage, never having driven the car,
and away we went. It was pouring rain
and Greg (Carr) was car one, we were
second on the road. Greg’s lines were
perfect, out wide, clip the apex then
drift out wide again.
On the other hand, I was all over
the road. Wherever the wheels were
pointing when you hit the throttle, that
was where this bloody thing went! I was
up the inside of corners, literally all over
the road.
The stage was some 16km long and
when we got to the end Dave Boddy
just looked at me and said: “That was
bloody terrible”. I replied, “Yep, not so
good, eh!”.
As he was walking back from the
control table he was shaking his head
and laughing. He got in and said “guess
what?”
I just shrugged. “We were 16 seconds
faster then Greg!” I said “You are
f*+&$# kidding”.
I did get the hang of it as the rally
progressed, and we ended up winning
by some margin, if I remember
correctly.
When mastered with left-foot
braking and getting into how to drive
these things, they were bloody quick.
Completely different to anything I had
ever driven.
Moving forward, you were the first driver
to bring Hyundai to rallying, and had a
successful program in Australia, the Asia-
Pacific region and in the World Championship.
42 | RALLYSPORT MAGAZINE - AUGUST 2016
Wayne Bell in his super fast
Toyota Sprinter.
What were the highlights during the formation
and the running of this program?
I guess bringing a brand new
manufacturer into the sport, they were
as keen as mustard, but had no idea
what it was all about. The cars were
fairly standard and were super strong.
We competed in 24 events before we
had a retirement, finished no worse
then second in class. I do believe that
it gave Hyundai Korea the impression
that they could win the WRC, that this
rallying was easy.
Korea always made the decision
to compete at the last moment. With
Group N this was not such a problem,
however, the move to Group A was
something else. I could never make
them understand that I needed
approval and budget well in advance of
the proposed competition date.
“They were as keen
as mustard, but had
no idea what it was all
about.”
I had exactly three weeks to build
two F2 Coupes for Rally New Zealand.
Fortunately, I hade assumed they would
approve the budget and went ahead
and got the homologation and some
parts designed and built. If they did not
go ahead, I was financially up the creek
big time.
My car only did one stage and had no
oil pressure, but Bob Nicoli managed
to finish the event. Despite the time
constraints we got the cars sorted
and had some success in Asia with the
Coupe.
Highlights? Well, the Hong Kong
Beijing Rally was unbelievable, and
winning our class in that was fantastic.
A feature story in an old
Chequered Flag magazine.
Also, when Greg Carr drove our second
car in Rally Australia and the cars
finished first and second in class.
Being treated like a king in Korea
was amazing. I went into a shop to buy
some Nike shoes, as they were super
cheap in Korea, and the little guy in the
store just stopped in his tracks. “Mr
Wayne Bell,” he mumbled. “Please,
please sit down.”
My wife just looked at me and made
some smart comment!
Even to this day I have Facebook
friends in Korea. Yes, they were the
good days for sure. Hyundai are a great
company and I have some life long
friends in Korea.
Your fourth place in Formula 2 in Portugal
must have been the one of the best moments
in your career?