Why drivers love Rally Sweden

I did 9.17 miles in just under eight minutes during last week's Rally Sweden.

I had 2001 World Rally Champion co-driver Robert Reid alongside me and we had a ball.

Virtually.

Actually, we were sat at my laptop watching one of Reid's best memories and Richard Burns' finest hours: the Sagen stage second time through in 2001. YouTube it for a fuller understanding of what I'm about to discuss.

A bit of background, Burns and Reid had gone off the road early in the event, dumping their Subaru Impreza WRC2001 in a snowbank. Their chances of winning the event had gone south and they would end the rally 16th overall. But they could still have some fun.

And so could we.

The footage starts as Reid calls "10 seconds."

The first thing you notice is that Burnsie doesn't fiddle with a bunch of switches or look like he's readying himself to launch Space Shuttle. He just stirs the delicious flat-four a foot infront of him with a prod of his right boot. The noise is fluffy for a second, reflecting the uber-cold conditions, but once it's cleared its throat, he gives it a few more revs.

Sweden was round two of Burns' world title-winning 2001 season © LAT

Glorious. And, as an aside: the noise Prodrive produced from this car rivals anything a Group 4 Escort or Metro 6R4 could produce.

As Reid starts the countdown, you realise there's no launch control, so much of the aural drama that accompanies sending a current World Rally Car into a stage has gone. But the first and only Englishman to win the world championship doesn't need science, he's got the gist of getting this thing off the line pretty damn quickly.

And we're away.

Burns almost appears to jump the start, but this is no doubt him planning for the nanosecond of wheelspin that comes before the tungsten studs sink into Sweden and send him and the Scotsman next to him horizon-bound.

The first 'easy left to easy left tightens' is about 150 metres into the stage, hit in fourth gear with a big chuck and a twist of lock in the opposite direction.

I start laughing. I can't help it. Watching this just makes you smile.

"I love this stage," says Reid. "It was always my favourite and it was one of Richard's favourites too."

As the miles roll out before us, it becomes quite clear why Burns was in the middle of such a purple patch, both at this time in his career and on this event. After his shunt, he scored six stage wins - just one less than Colin McRae who had parked his Focus in a snowbank minutes before Burns.

But this footage is the reason everybody loves Sweden. Chuck the rulebook out of the window and hit the apex backwards.

"Aye," says Reid with a wry smile, "you can see Richard backed us into a few corners in this one."

It's a shame we can't see his face, because there must have been the odd grin. Must have.

Reid drove with Burns throughout his WRC career © LAT

Reid explains: "He liked this stage because it was what he called a B-road stage. It was a car and a half wide, so there's enough room to play with the car, but it's not wide enough that you're going to lose your lines or anything like that. And it's fast and flowing."

It certainly is. You can just about make out the gear indicator, which is largely showing four, five and six.

And then there's a rare mistake when he overcooks it into a left-hander. This is no grab-the-handbrake moment at all, but even from where I'm sitting, you can feel the car's not going exactly where it should be. There's a smidge more understeer on turn in and a quick shuffle to confirm the meeting of right-rear and snowbank on exit.

I laugh again.

"But did you see the way Richard picked the point at which he was going to hit the bank?" says Reid. I hadn't, and then I did.

"And look at the [steering] lock," he adds.

I do.

"He's got the lock ready for the impact with the snowbank, to make sure the front of the car doesn't get pulled in."

Man, you just forget how good he was.

Evans watched a lot of Mads Ostberg test footage for kicks pre-Sweden © LAT

I watched lots of Mads Ostberg onboard testing footage just before Sweden and absolutely loved it. But for outright, full-fat fever, there's just nothing to touch this. I now have this bookmarked on my machine and when we're heading for another one of those dark stories about the plight of North One Sport or the lack of a promoter, I'm going to be Richard Burns in Sagen again. It certainly lightens the mood.

Time wise, the 2001 stage winner completed the 9.17 miles in 7m54.6s, while Jari-Matti Latvala stopped the clock in 7m22.8s on Saturday. The stage was, however, 53m shorter than the one Reid and I had just reveled in.

One of the reasons for writing this column is that it shows just what a joy driving in Sweden in the right conditions is. And, last weekend was largely the right conditions. OK, there was some gravel here and there, but with some really cold temperatures, the ice wasn't too bad.

And yet Sebastien Loeb still wasn't really at the races, putting his Citroen in a snowbank and finishing a distant and largely uninspired sixth - although he did win the flat-chat powerstage at the end. It's a really strange thing. As good as Burns was, and while we never truly had the chance to measure them against each other, you'd have to say Loeb is probably a more naturally talented driver. Yet he just doesn't get one of the best driver's events in the championship.

Yes, he's won it before - but Loeb quickly points out himself that his 2004 win came courtesy of a Markko Martin mistake.

Sebastien Loeb oddly doesn't seem to get Rally Sweden © LAT

Only Loeb himself could say if he truly likes Rally Sweden or not, but I suspect the rapidly changing conditions don't really suit him. Loeb likes to have his car constantly under his command. He doesn't like it moving around in the ruts or sliding too much. In Sweden you get both, in spades.

There wasn't a more precise driver than Burns in his day, but Sweden was his one chance to let his hair down. Except he never really had enough to let down...

A World Rally Car on studs on good snow and better ice is as good as it gets for most of the drivers. Maybe Loeb is just the exceptional exception.

In the meantime, get to a computer and get on YouTube. Fully clothed, there's no better way to spend 7m54.6s in front of your laptop.

Thank you Richard. And thank you Robert.