Case Story Rally driver Kees Burger and RDF
Kees Burger is 51 years
old Dutch director and owner of an
international tanktransportation company Jan Dohmen BV, active in the
transportation of very hazardous chemicals in liquid and gas-form world wide.
During his free time he wants to relax and have something else to think about
so he started to drive and practise rally few year's ago with his wife, who
drives herself also in Finland supported by the same team in Rally Specials and
Mini rallies and does this quite well. Mr Burger is one of RDF drivers at Finnish
Rally Championship and we took the time to chat about his thoughts about
rallying with RDF Rally Drive Finland.
Why and when did you come to Finland to rally school?
Since the early nineties my wife and I visited
Finland frequently business wise and as the country stole our hearts we also
spend some holidays in Finland enjoying the peace and quietness of this
beautiful country. My first encounter with a rally-car was in 1992. When on
holiday in Finland we booked a half-day rally course at in those days Ari
Vatanen's rally center in Tuupovaara. The interest in rally was already there
for many years but as the opportunities where simply not available in Holland
and business also limited my time. I simply could not come round to do any
active rally driving. That all changed when the rally center at Tuupovaara was
taken over by Kauko Miettinen and we became frequent guests for four years in a
row. Spending 2- to 3 days a year first driving Ford Escort and in the last two
years also driving four-wheel drive Mitsubishi EVO III. Instructor in these
days for us was Jarkko Miettinen an extremely talented rally driver who taught
me how to drive first of all with a rear wheel driven car, and later shared me
his knowledge in handling a four wheel drive car. In those days the courses always ended with a
co-piloting lap sitting next to Jarkko. When then stepping out of the car I
most of the time booked my next year's session right away as I wanted to become
as fast and skilled as him...9 years later he is still teaching me how to get
"faster"!
Did you have any rally experience before?
Not really.
When I was 16- to 18 years old working at a
farm I drove some old NSU 1000 as a rallycross car on the fields of the farm
together with a friend driving an old VW-beetle. But nothing competitive. It
was just teenagers having some fun with old cars and most of our earned money
was spent on gas and tyres.
What did
you think about your coaches and their expertise? Where they interested in helping
you to start rally driving?
Expertise of coaches I have experienced sofar
being Jarkko Miettinen and Teemu Arminen is in my perspective at a very high
level. If I look at the level that I am currently holding in terms of driving
skills I could have never done this without these guys their proper
instructions and guidance. Credit in this must also be given to Mikko Markkula
who taught me to make pace-notes and how to make them well. " Chapeau" Mikko as
only now being in my 2nd year of FRC I've learned the value of
making " good notes".
It was basically these guys that " forced" me
in to driving rally competitively, so I would say they were more then
interested to see me driving competitively in the rally scene. Although, it was
me that was reluctant at first to start driving in such a competive field of
rally drivers in Finland. As I expected to drive somewhere around the last
position behind the historic two wheel drive cars. It turned out to be
substantial better thanks to these guys!
Why do you drive rally in Finland and not in Holland or middle Europe?
Two reasons, first of all I prefer driving on
gravel and snow as I think that when you can handle a car on and under these
conditions you can only call yourself " a rally driver". 2nd in my
opinion Finland has the best infrastructure to do this, both from a
road-condition point of view as well as from a coaching/supportive side. Look
at the history of rally driving the majority of good rally-drivers do come from
Finland this is not a coincidence!
You started racing in Finland in 2010. What
can you say about your progress until now?
Starting at Arctic in 2010 around 23rd/24th
position I am currently driving around 15th position in Finnish
championship. This is absolutely the achievement of having good coaches that taught
me how to handle a car properly and secondly having one of the best co-pilots
in Finland, Miika Teiskonen! Supported in this by a team of good mechanics that
see to it that I have a competitive car.
You have developed
well your speed. You have finished constantly to top 15 in Finnish championship
races 2011 and you have done some very fast stage time's. How is this possible
as you just started to drive rally a year ago?
The intensity with which
I can now drive rally's (remember I come from driving once a year) and in this
context the help of proper rally instructors bring me to where I stand now. Although
I realise that the only way to learn this properly is driving as much rally
km's as you possibly can. Being 51 years old now and only started at the age of
42 I've lost some " good" years but with the help of RDF I still hope to
develop further although I will never form a threat to the Juha Salo's and
Rantanen's of this world. I do however look ahead and hope to come closer to
say Top 10.
What can say about RDF's rally training program for you?
The great advantage of RDF is that they can
offer the " full-package" in terms of training. From driving skills to making
pace-notes, but also assist you in physical training scheme's and actively
willing to assist you in this. Together
with complete service facilities, arrangement of test roads, booking of
accommodation, etc, etc.
Basically I have nothing to worry about, I say
what I want to drive and they make it happen! As an absolute rally enthusiast
but also as a gentlemen driver this is exactly what I am looking for. I just
concentrate on my driving they take care of the rest.
What goals have you set for yourself as a rally driver and how this can
be achieved?
My goals would be to drive in FRC towards the
10-12th position before the end of the year. Then trying to improve
for 2012 to a more stable 10th position in Group N throughout the
season and achieve a more stable and secure level. But I realise that we still
have some work to do here, but together with RDF we should be able to get
there.
Other then that my challenges are to drive some
WRC events and see how I stand in the international level of drivers. To start
of this year with Neste Rally, an event I dreamed of since I was a kid and
never thought I would actually ever drive it. But these guys at RDF made it
happen...now its up to me to finish it!
« Return to List |