Walking through the service area in Rally Spain with Subaru World Rally Team Sporting Director Luis Moya is an interesting experience. You'll need to leave some time spare to arrive at your destination as you'll probably meet half of the Spanish-speaking world on the way.
As one of Spain's most famous sporting personalities and the world's most successful co-driver, he's a well-known figure.
Originally from La Coruna, Galicia, in the north west of Spain, Moya now lives in Barcelona, just over 100km from the rally's base in Salou. Moya's rallying career began in 1983, when he left his university medicine studies. "I'd completed six years of my course at college before I decided to stop. Motorsport had always been my passion and I always tried to go to Rally Portugal every year with friends as it was the closest event to my home. At 18 years old I would drive to the event to spectate, sleeping in tents to keep costs down! In 1982 one of my friends then started rallying and I went to help him out. I then realized this was all I wanted to do."
He became a pro in 1987 and went on to form the world's most famous rallying duo two years later when he joined forces with Carlos Sainz.
"Carlos was already very well known in Spain. He had to make a decision between myself and another co-driver and chose me as I spoke English. I thank my parents every day that they sent me to England for a couple of summers!" reminisces Moya. The pair became inseparable, winning two WRC championship titles in 1990 and 1992, finishing second four times and scoring 24 wins at WRC level.
Moya retired from the sport in 2003 after a 14 year career to spend more time with his family. After his retirement, however, he was just as busy as ever. Moya had been closely associated with the Rally Spain organizers early in his career and became more so when they looked at moving the rally's base for the 2005 season. "I had started helping the rally organizers early in my career in 1990. I wasn't employed to do it, but they were friends who had helped me and I wanted to return the favour. The rally before used to be split between two bases to the north and south of Catalunya in Tarragona, but new FIA guidelines at the start of the millennium required one central service park. I worked with the organizers to find a suitable base and we came up with Salou for the 2005 event. It's very easy to get to the stages, there's one base and it's very good for the media. And of course there's Port Aventura next door "
Ah yes. The PortAventura theme park, famed for its screamfest of rollercoasters, log flumes and vertical drop rides. Last year anybody going to the park at the end of October for a spot of fun, fear and frolicking was confronted with half of the WRC community queuing up for a go on the dodgems. Surreal. Even the SWRT drivers had a go - in fact, several goes - on the rollercoasters to prove who screamed the most (no one has admitted who it was, although we have our suspicions it may have been Chris Atkinson ). Moya is a big fan of the park, citing the Hurakan Condor as his favourite ride. That's the one where you're strapped into tiny seats, shot more than 100m into the air, held there for a few seconds and then dropped down to earth, leaving your stomach somewhere near a cruising Boeing 747.
Tarragona is an area Moya is passionate about. For me, Tarragona is the Spanish Tuscany, even the road surface is similar. The people are friendly, the wine is good - in fact, the local Priorat wine is one of the best in the country. Whenever you speak to Moya about Spain, his enthusiasm is overflowing.
Ask him any question about a Spanish city and he'll immediately come up with some interesting fact or figure that will cover it with a hazy, golden glow and make you want to pack your suitcase. Salou, for instance, home to thousands of holiday makers throughout the year, isn't just a package holiday destination, it's a town in a beautiful region where the roads are lined with vineyards. And there are eagles. Yes, that's right - apparently the Tarragona area is home to six pairs of endangered eagles. To protect their natural habitat, rally cars are not allowed to test in the area between January and May when the eagles are nesting. During the rally itself there will also be a strict control on helicopter movements over their nests.
The 2006 event will be the 42nd Rally Catalunya. Run on asphalt roads in the mountains around Salou, the route changed significantly in 2005 when the base moved from Lloret de Mar. However many of the special stages had been used in 2001 and 2002 with two stages, the Querol and El Montmell passes, using roads that had not been part of World Championship rallying for ten years. As a result, Moya has direct experience of the stages. "I have rallied on some of the stages. They are very good, but can get very dirty as you can cut a lot of corners and gravel gets on the stage. Between passes the organizers clean the road, but it's still very abrasive tarmac. It's a good rally, the fastest asphalt event of the season and the closest we get to a race track rally."
Events such as this one that have reverted to a classic route are a perfect way to compare old and new driving styles. How does Moya rate the current breed? "For me it's just different. You can't say that the quality of driver is better or worse - we aren't going backwards. It's just a question of evolution and just as life goes on, so must rallying. We still have lots of stars, we have Petter Solberg, most charismatic of them all, Loeb, Gronholm - all stars now and as the years go by Petter and Seb will become legends just like Carlos and Juha Kankkunen.
I don't see it as better or worse, just different."
Does he still see his old friend, Carlos? "Yes I do. We speak often on the telephone, in fact only a short time ago I was speaking to him about the Paris-Dakar rally. We have a long history together and have a very good relationship." Moya states, however, that a return to the co-driving seat is not an option. "Read my lips - no. I won't go back. I've had a good time and I've had a lot of success, but there are many other possibilities out there to try."
His role at SWRT certainly is different, but it's one he relishes. "I coach the co-drivers, liaise with the FIA and the organizers. It's easy to communicate with others as I speak languages." For the record, that's Spanish, English, French, Catalan and Italian. All fluently. Which is why is takes so long to get anywhere when you walk with Luis.
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2006
2005
