From fan to co-driver: A novice makes a big mistake on the legendary Ouninpohja stage – “A million thoughts race through your mind in a second”

RallyJournal.com's popular series continues with its eighth instalment, as we revisit Saturday’s Vetomies competition, featuring the legendary Ouninpohja stage. Additionally, the article dives into what it’s like for a co-driver to jump into the car with a different driver.
Eemeli Aho
Eemeli Aho has been exploring the secrets of co-driving. Photo: Matti Purojärvi
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For a co-driver, there are two key things you want to avoid at all costs in a rally: crashing and losing track of the pace notes. I experienced both of these during the Vetomies competition, held alongside Rally Finland in early August, while co-driving for Jarmo Vesterinen in his BMW M3. Now, I’ll share more about the latter experience.

Be sure to check out my previous article, where I detail our Friday mishap, which involved flipping the car upside down.

Read more: From fan to co-driver: “Runki Eemeli” swiftly joins the roof club – this is what it feels like when a rally car rolls over

This time, we’ll focus on Saturday’s Vetomies action, which took place on the Jämsä loop. We left the competition centre at Killeri in the morning, hoping for a clean day of driving. The stages lined up for us were Västilä, Päijälä, and, as the cherry on top, Ouninpohja. It must be said that Friday’s rollover had an impact on the mood as we headed to the stages, especially as Ouninpohja sent nervous chills through my stomach.

After an over-hour-long transit from Jyväskylä to the Västilä stage, located behind Länkipohja, it was time to get ready. However, preparations were quickly cut short when the stage was cancelled due to an accident. It was disappointing to drive through the stage just to check the notes, as every kilometre of driving would have been valuable. The main thought was gratitude that nothing serious had happened in the accident.

Finally, it was time to race. The stage was Päijälä, a stage I’d watched from the spectator’s side four different times. I knew it almost by heart. We were facing numerous challenging spots, from the birch-left corner to Veiby’s corner, then through the pine grove, the big jump at Päijälä, and the legendary “clear-cut right.” We had it highlighted in our notes because if you mess up on the clear-cut area in 2024, you’ve ruined your reputation with rally fans forever.

Päijälä went well for us. The notes were spot on, and the damage to the car from the previous day didn’t hinder our driving too much. After this, we headed to service and then on to Ouninpohja.

Watch the in-car video from Päijälä below. The article continues after the video.

At the start of Ouninpohja, we had to wait, as there was a delay in the WRC pack. Delays during a rally can feel frustrating, but they’re also good opportunities to chat with fellow competitors, which lightens the mood and enhances the enjoyment of the event.

Ouninpohja demands respect. That was the main thought as we prepared for this over 30-kilometre challenge.

A little bit of nervousness showed in me, as in the very first corner combination, I almost got ahead of myself. Long corners have been a slight issue early in my co-driving career because I’ve struggled to wait long enough before reading the next note. However, I’m confident that with more experience, these rookie mistakes will be minimised.

The second, bigger mistake came about 11 kilometres in. I lost track of the notes after the famous rock-cut section, as I somehow got mixed up in my pace note book. As I mentioned in my last article, I’ll need to follow the note with my finger more actively to avoid getting lost.

When you realise you’ve lost your place in the notes, a million thoughts race through your mind in a second. The first thing you do is try to sense how well the driver remembers the upcoming sections. Luckily, Jarmo remembered them well and wasn’t thrown off by my confusion or the incorrect note I called for a left corner. As note review teaches us, it’s important to mark landmarks in the notes to help you find your place again. I had marked such a landmark (a memorable drop-right), but another tip is worth noting for both beginners and veterans.

Jarmo Vesterinen ja Eemeli Aho
Jarmo Vesterinen and Eemeli Aho competed in Vetomies with a BMW. Photo: Matti Purojärvi

I recommend everyone download the Rally Tripmeter app to their smartphone, which allows you to track kilometres using the tripmeter while following the notes. Thanks to Jarmo’s advice, I had been doing this since my first note practice sessions, and this trick made it easier to find my place in Ouninpohja. I mark each kilometre in my pace note book with a small circled number. In that situation, I checked the phone mounted on the roll cage and saw that we were at about the 11-kilometre mark. From there, it’s easy to start looking for landmarks and ensure you don’t frantically flip through too many pages, which would guarantee more confusion.

I found my place again, and slowly got back into the rhythm. It was reassuring to see that there was no extra pressure from the driver’s side – Jarmo stayed calm, which in turn helped me relax. We got through the situation without any major incidents.

Watch the video from the start of Ouninpohja below:

Watch the video from the end of Ouninpohja below:

As for the adrenaline, Ouninpohja is the most memorable experience of my life. I’ve parachuted, played ice hockey my whole life, fished, and done many things, but nothing compares to the feeling of conquering Ouninpohja. At the finish line, the feeling is incredible. That 32.98 kilometres packed in so much emotion (and physical) roller-coasting: pressure, disappointment in mistakes, satisfaction in success, flow of thoughts, and so on. The list could go on forever.

At the finish line, the overwhelming feeling was of liberating joy – the joy of making a dream come true. I almost got carried away before we reached the finish, mumbling through the final corners. Overall, that joy and relief come across well in the in-car video of Ouninpohja.

During the Vetomies weekend, I gained a lot of valuable lessons for my co-driving career. I got the chance to put them into practice sooner than expected when I received a phone call two weeks after Vetomies, on a Monday.

A new driver, new pace notes

I was sitting at my desk as usual when my phone rang. It was a typical Monday, and the upcoming Saturday was the PH Peltiasennus Rally in Inkoo. On the line was Eemil Mielityinen, someone I knew vaguely through various connections. His regular co-driver was unavailable, and he needed a substitute for Inkoo. The timing worked for me, and so I signed up for the rally.

The Inkoo rally was a new experience in the sense that it only took one Saturday. The rally consisted of five stages, which were recce’d on the morning of the event. I had been thinking beforehand about what it would be like to jump in as a co-driver for an unfamiliar driver on such short notice. I asked Eemil a few days before the rally about the basic structure and scale of his notes. We were expecting a laid-back rally without holding back.

The recce itself was nothing out of the ordinary. The only difference was that Eemil used a tripmeter for distance measurements, so the numbers and corners reached my ears with a different rhythm. I quickly got used to it, though, and we got the stages written down. In Vetomies, I had made the mistake of over-tidying my pace notes, and I managed to shake off that compulsion in Inkoo. After the recce, there wasn’t much time to waste before we had to suit up for the competition.

Eemil Mielityinen ja Eemeli Aho
Eemil Mielityinen and Eemeli Aho in action in Inkoo.

Eemil’s notes were quite different from Jarmo’s, but looking back, that was a good thing. It made me focus on the notes in a new way, and there was only one small timing error during the entire rally. The note reading went smoothly, and Eemil was quick in his little Corsa. We won our class and finished tenth overall.

“The note reading went really well, considering how little time we had. Right from the start of the first stage, I knew I could trust the notes. Especially considering we hadn’t done any tests or note practice before the rally itself,” Eemil said after the competition.

After Inkoo, I’m feeling positive about continuing my co-driving journey into the autumn. The next two weekends, I”ll get to enjoy rally action again, as Jarmo and I will compete in the Finnish Rally Championship event in Kitee this Saturday. The following week will be the Hakevuori Rally in Kerava, which will wrap up my first summer season.

Read all published parts of the “From fan to co-driver” feature here.

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