Colin McRae, Richard Burns, Petter Solberg, Craig Breen, Andreas Mikkelsen, Alister McRae, Nasser Al-Attiyah, David Higgins, Mark Higgins, Martin Rowe, Niall McShea, Andrew Nesbitt… the list genuinely does not stop. And it’s not just rally drivers: two-time British Touring Car champ James Thompson, rallycross ace Andreas Bakkerud and even Mercedes Formula 1 chief Toto Wolff are among those from other corners of motorsport to count as members of the club.
That eclectic motorsport alumni have been to John Haugland’s Winter Rally School.
It’s an overused phrase, but Haugland is an absolute legend of rallying. Born and raised in Norway, the now-77-year-old at one stage appeared destined for a career on the circuits before a sudden change of direction (more about that below).
Synonymous with Skoda, Haugland represented the Czech marque for almost 20 years, amassing over 100 class victories on rallies in that time as well as outright victories on the likes of Barum Rally. He was also a regular in the UK, starting many British championship rounds and the RAC a mammoth 18 times. After he hung up his helmet, the Norwegian dabbled in championship coordination for various cups in his homeland, and started his world-famous Winter Rally School that has welcomed and nurtured some of the best drivers around – most recently the latest crop of youngsters from the FIA Rally Star programme. And above all else, he’s an avid MN reader...
Engaging, enlightening and entertaining, Haugland was super generous with his time which we are incredibly grateful for. Here, he tackles a range of questions from you, the Motorsport News readers, covering topics such as his thoughts on the current state of the WRC, an incredible tale about how he accidentally drove through a Romanian restaurant, and the car he wished he could’ve driven. But we start off with how the John Haugland motorsport story began:
Question: Where did your passion for rallying come from?
Mark Glasgow
Via email
John Haugland: “My passion for motorsport came first from motorbikes at the age of about 10 years old, because we had a speedway track close to where we lived. So I was very much interested in motorbikes but not in the riding or competition. I actually started circuit racing before I was a rally driver in 1965, but in 1970 the Norwegian Skoda importer wanted me to go rallying.”
MN: Do you reckon if they hadn’t said that to you, you would’ve ended up being a circuit racer for most of your career?
“It could be because that was my main interest and that was what I started with, and it was going well. The importer then wanted to go into rallying and I can tell you a little story about that because that came by coincidence.
