Canada - Interview with Scott Trinder
Nov-27 2003 / 14:08 EST

Scott Trinder: A Budding National Rally Champion.

Interview by Bill Westhead.

Recently I had a chance to catch up with Vancouver-based rally driver Scott Trinder. At age 28, Trinder is already an accomplished competitor with twelve years of international rally experience under his belt. So far, his rally career has taken him on adventures from as far away as Panama to national events across the United States and Canada.

Trinder has earned his place in the North American rally community by developing his talent through low horsepower cars. He has also attended and instructed for internationally renowned rally and race driving schools. Furthermore, he is a proven crowd favourite at events, using the entire road while aggressively sliding his car through the corners at top speed.

Throughout his career, organizers, competitors and spectators have made similar observations about him. Scott is quick—very quick, in fact. Recently, at an international rally in the United States, he won his class by over 7 minutes. Just one event later, Scott won the Mountain Trials rally in Merritt BC overall. These results are not an uncommon occurrence for Scott. He frequently wins his class and sets stage times on par with competitors in substantially more powerful cars.

It’s widely acknowledged in rallying circles that, to be a consistent driver and to finish events, a rally driver must be smooth, fast, and (most importantly) easy on the equipment. During Scott’s career he has seldom failed to finish a rally due to car breakage caused by overaggressive driver behaviour. In his words, his technique is as much a mental approach as it is a physical one.

Bill Westhead: Welcome and thank you for spending some time with me today.

Scott Trinder: No problem.

BW: Scott, how would you describe your driving style?

ST: (pauses)...I would describe it as committed.

BW: What do you mean by that?

ST: Well, I don’t hesitate – I have learned in rallying and other sports that hesitation is a very dangerous reaction. You have to go for it, to be successful at this you must understand the workings of your car and how it reacts and most importantly the workings of yourself and how you react under pressure.

BW: What do you think is the most important aspect of rally competition?

ST: The mental side is definitely the most important aspect. Understanding the car, being confident, knowing your limits and being able to quickly assess situations.

BW: What do you mean by “quickly assess situations”?

ST: Well, if it’s super foggy and slippy on the course, these conditions exist for everyone. The key is not to make a mistake, even though you may feel like you’re going too slow – everyone else faces the same challenges, so patience and control are the dominant factors, not raw speed.

BW: You say the mental side is the most important aspect. How do you prepare for an event personally?

ST: I think the key is not to worry about your competition. A good driver knows their own limits; driving to those limits without making a mistake is what gives me true satisfaction. When you’ve completed a stage knowing that you couldn’t go any faster, it will show in the stage times.

BW: Sometimes at events I’ve heard you say that you were in a zone. Can you explain this? ST: (laughs)...I can summarize this, but a full explanation would take some time.

BW: Why?

ST: Well this is, in fact, the key to rallying for me…

BW: OK, how would you summarize it then?

ST: I would first define a zone as: a level of concentration that makes you feel as if you are a passenger in the car.

BW: How do you get into a zone?

ST: Well, I was taught early on , or should I say: “told,” at the Bill Guine Rally School, that your talent is worthless unless you can control it. In order to control it, you must monitor your actions at every moment throughout a rally. My personal interpretation of this is to stay focused on being concentrated.

BW: OK, but what do you mean by that?

ST: For example, if you notice a bird fly by or a branch sticking out on the side of a tree high up, for that split second you weren’t focused on the task of concentrating only on the things that pertain to driving the stage.

BW: I see, but how does this qualify as a “zone”?

ST: At some point the level of concentration becomes so great that everything becomes surreal. All of a sudden you don’t hear the rocks pounding on the bottom of the car anymore. You stop hearing the roar of the engine. And, most alarmingly, sometimes you even don’t even hear the codriver! It’s sort of like all of these inputs merge into one and go straight through into the car. Once this happens I feel like a passenger. It’s a very strange feeling.

BW: You’ve driven a wide variety of cars in your career. One of the cars I often hear about is your old Suzuki Swift. What was the deal with that particular car?

ST: Well, for a small car the Suzuki was quite incredible. It was lightweight, nimble and very, very fast. That car actually really helped me develop as a driver.

BW: How did it help you develop?

ST: First of all, it was front wheel drive. In order to be quick in this car I had to apply certain techniques, such as left foot braking and frequent use of the handbrake. I drove that car for almost five years and the techniques I learned while competing in it are directly applicable to rallying in a much larger four-wheel drive car.

BW: You’ve also driven a few other cars over the years, would you care to list them?

ST: Sure. As I said earlier, my first rally car was the front wheel drive Suzuki Swift. From there my father and I bought an old Datsun 240Z and did a marathon rally in it from Panama to Alaska. After that I built a four-wheel drive turbo Toyota Celica GT4. Then we traded the Celica for an ex-works Toyota Corolla GTS. Nowadays I drive Patrick Richard’s first rally car, his old Subaru Impreza 2.5RS.

BW: What’s your favourite rally car and why?

ST: I think I would have to say it’s the Subaru 2.5RS. Pat and Dave Clark built the car — it’s so well balanced, the handling is just amazing.

BW: What is the fastest rally car you’ve ever driven?

ST: (grins)...In 2002 I did a condensed season with a team called Knight Motorsports based out of California. They’d built a 400+ horsepower Subaru Impreza 2.5RS Turbo and that car was extremely fast.

BW: What happened and how did you do with Knight?

ST: When I joined the team the car was in the final stages of development. Our first event was the Rim of the World ProRally in 2002. Against some of the best teams in the US we set a few 4th fastest stage times, but unfortunately the car had intermittent power problems that ended up costing us a lot of time. We ended up finishing 8th overall and it wasn’t until the Wild West ProRally in 2002 that the car was mostly sorted out. At Wild West, my co-driver Paul Westwick and I were headed for a podium finish when the car’s main power wire to the coil came out, dropping us from 4th to 8th overall within sight of the finish of the very last stage!

BW: Sounds heart wrenching...

ST: It sure was!

BW: What happened after that? Have you raced with the Knight team since that time?

ST: I totally love the entire crew and the Ryther family, but unfortunately they decided to take a break from the sport to re-evaluate their position within it.

BW: Do you think they’ll be back someday?

ST: I’m confident that they’ll be back, they’re super dedicated. I think this break will allow them to come back and surprise quite a few people.

BW: Do you think they would ever ask you to drive again?

ST: I hope so. I had a lot of fun with them all and everyone on the team was super nice and cool to be around.

BW: While you drove for Knight Motorsports in the United States in 2002 you also managed to secure the Western Canadian Rally Championship overall, and in class. Last year must’ve been a busy year for you.

ST: It sure was a busy year, for both my father, and I. We were lucky that the events in the US didn’t conflict with our local championship. Our Subaru ran flawlessly that year and its reliability was definitely a major factor in our results.

BW: You recently won the 2003 Western Canadian P4 Rally Championship again and placed 2nd overall to some strong open class competition. Unfortunately due to a mechanical failure your final result in the North American Rally Championship (which Trinder is le ading) and the Canadian National Rally P4 Championship (where he sits in 2nd place) will be in the hands of your rivals. Would you care to elaborate?

ST: I’m stoked that we were able to win the Western Canadian Rally Championship in our class again. I’m also happy with our second overall, as our main rival was in an open class car with twice the horsepower. In regards to the North American and the Canadian P4 Championships, we were supposed to compete at the Tall Pines Rally in Ontario on November 23rd to defend our position, but at the Kananaskis Rally the rear differential seized and we did not have the right parts to get it together to have the rally car on the train to Toronto the next day. It puts our team in a “wait and see” position, as our finish in these two championships will now be based on how our competitors finish.

BW: I’ve heard that it’s a tough sport in which to find sponsorship. Are you sponsored right now?

ST: Yes we are. RSport Rally is very fortunate to have a great network of companies that offer us sponsorship in their areas of expertise. Most of these sponsors have been with us since day one and, without them, we wouldn’t be where we are today. However, like most teams we’ve also been unable to secure a cash sponsor to help with entry fees and logistical costs.

BW: So, what do you have planned for 2004?

ST: Well, I’m going to sell the Production class Subaru, (it is posted in the classified section of the rallybc.com website) and will be approaching several teams for 2004.

BW: Do you think a team would hire you?

ST: I hope so! My goal is to win a National Championship overall and the only way I can attempt that financially is by driving for a team. Unfortunately, building and running an Open class car at the national level is a goal that is beyond my reach, financially speaking.

BW: I must say that you’ve certainly proven to be an intelligent, fast and consistent competitor, I wish you all the best.

ST: Thanks Bill.

BW: Thank you for your time. Scott’s team can be found on the web at:
www.rmtcontracting.com/rsport

Photos by: Doug Berger, Wayne Flynn, Chris Scurti