BBC_Top_Gear_South_Africa_June_2017

Want to be a rally
mechanic? Better like
cleaning floors
Sweden is the coldest WRC
round and ice, predictably,
gets everywhere
keeping an eye on the timing screens. One mechanic
compares the sleep-deprivation to a heavy weekend
drinking with mates, minus the alcohol. And with a
week away from home for each rally and lots of
testing in-between, they see very little of family and
friends.
With all of them trained mechanics, why do they
choose to do it here, then? “You cannot only do this
job for money,” admits Bartosz. “But as a young boy
you go to see rallies and you start to think ‘I would
like to wash the screen for the drivers’, then you
move on to change some wheels, and you keep
wanting to work on more, and go higher and higher.”
“If it was only about me I would stay in this job
forever,” says Martin Kasík, one of Dani’s mechanics.
“But my family aren’t always happy with how much I
am away. It is still like a hobby. I’ve loved rallying
since I was small – my father also loved it. So it’s
brilliant to work on it from the other side.”
It’s a quote made all the more endearing when
stage eight of the rally skirts by the edge of Torsby
airport, where the service area is rooted. With a
small amount of time before the cars return for their
evening service, every single mechanic piles onto an
upstairs balcony for their one chance at a distant
peek of the action. They cheer as the recognisable
sound of the i20s signifies their drivers passing, and
indulge in innocent jeering when rival cars pass,
before running to see the timing screens.
For evidence of their passion for the job, and
how their team spirit transcends evident language
barriers, it’s perfect. I may not be legit, but these
boys definitely are.
Fit your dampers and
wheels right, and your car’s
driver is free to do this...