A scary look inside a rally car at 160/kmph

Ever wondered what it’s like to travel inside a full speed rally car?

Well now’s your lucky day, as we bring you the excruciating pain of every twist and turn with an inside-look video from within the cabin of Adrian Coppin’s team Castrol Edge Toyota Carolla (watch the in the video above).

Turning through tight corners at speeds of up to 100 kilometres per hour, and reaching a scary pace of 160 k’s an hour down the straight, it was a horrifying yet exciting experience at the Sydney Motorsport Park.

But for Coppin, it was a lot of fun, and it was preparation ahead of the 25th Rally Australia event, beginning on November 17 in Coffs Harbour.

Coppin's car flies around the track. Pic: D&S Photography

“You can’t be scared, because if you’re scared you shouldn’t be doing it,” Coppin says before the ride.

“Motorbikes scare the shit out of me but I can hurl my car around the forest at 180 km/h dodging trees.

“So I love what I do, and I’m one of very few people who get to do it.”

But while this writer couldn’t have been much further out of his comfort zone during the blistering lap, Coppin took to the sport of rally driving as a kid, growing up with a co-driver father in Canberra.

“It’s definitely a natural thing,” Coppin says.

“I’ve had a few different co-drivers and you’ve either got it or you don’t.

Inside the vehicle with Coppin (left). Pic: Supplied

“You’ve gotta be able to be calm and sit in that car and relax and then the rest all just comes.”

Coppin was fine tuning his skills ahead of the 2016 Kennards Hire Rally Australia, which sees some of the fastest drivers on the planet descend on the Coffs Coast in November.

“It’s a chance for all the Australian competitors to pit themselves against the world’s best,” he says.

“So it’s essentially the Wimbledon of rallying here in Australia and it’s the only occasion you can compete against the world champion.

“Now myself and my teammates get to go and compare ourselves to the world’s best and if you haven’t seen it I encourage you to get out there and check it out.”

The event is widely regarded as the most challenging series in international motorsport as it traverses 14 countries and extreme differences in terrain, road surface and weather conditions.

Millions of daily television viewers in more than 140 countries will track stars such as triple World Champion Sebastien Ogier of France, New Zealand’s Hayden Paddon, Mads Ostberg of Norway, Jari Matti Latvala of Finland and Stefan Lefebvre of France as they tackle more than 300 kms over 23 competition stages to the north and south of the Coffs Harbour event headquarters.