This interview has been published in 2014 on our previous website. But the text is still topical and actual, so we are sure it will be interesting to motorsport fans.
They say that he is a living legend and trains those who also want to become legends.
They say that he can work both with gifted drivers and with those who are considered uneducable.
They say that he can completely unfix the notions of drivers about the fast driving.
They say that his apprentices can do magic on the track as he, the Honoured Master of Sports of Russia, Evgenii Vasin, did.
We have already written how the practices of Irina Kolomeitseva are performed under command of Evgenii Vasin.
And now the coach Evgenii Vasin and his permanent co-driver, team mate and colleague Alexey Shchukin will tell about the details and nuances of sportsmen's preparation and which goals they can achieve working with a coach.
So, let's start from the very beginning. What the training of Evgenii Vasin begins with?
E.V: As in any sport. For example, a 4-years old child comes to try himself or herself in gymnastics. He watches how the complicated elements on bars, horizontal bar are done. But firstly he is taught to do the splits. And it will take time to start with all the exercises! But when he starts, at least he will do it right, he will have a technique.
The same is in motor sports. Firstly, one has to be taught to take off, then brake, turn, brake in a maneuver, and only after it – to translate it in pace notes.
A.SH: We have a completely different picture. Firstly, we start pace notes – not to change, but to invent! – and then try to follow it, then it's co-driver's, car's or team's fault, then people give us back the uniform and say: your motor sports is such a nonsense, it's clear as mud, everything is broken, I am out of money, good-bye!
E.V: And it is due to the wrong belief: I will drive as I write in pace notes. Yes, you will drive but not as you have written, but according to your skills. If you have mentioned a "one" turn it doesn't mean that you will perform it as you want to; more than likely that you will have a fall if you try.
For example, I am a newcomer driver. I want to be like Sebastien Loeb. How much time will it take to study all I need?
(Both are laughing): Your whole life!
But I want to win immediately!
E.V: Let us decide. You will have cups, too. But at first, as I've already told, you will learn how to accelerate, brake, twist the steering wheel in due manner. And this will be your victory. Then you will learn how to make the right turns. Then you will understand how the car behaves with various settings – and this is also a victory! And after you have a certain condition, it will be a rally with defined tasks. And you shouldn't overcome these tasks! And when they are accomplished, it will be you victory even with the 30th result!
And how can I define when to participate in a rally?
E.V: You can participate even immediately, the main thing is to assign the right tasks. Another issue is if it is useful without a technique. Because if you pension off the car, you will lose a year, and a year is a budget. So, if you don't define a problem correctly or just hurry over, you will invest some amount of money, obtain zero result and won't make any step forward.
At this, it's important to remember that rallies will never replace practices, and the practices will never replace the competitions.
You cannot come to a marshal on the finish of the additional leg and say: oh, I've had such a cool turn, please stop all the peloton, I will return and do it one more time. And the responsibility factor cannot be simulated on practice. You can bring marshals, put the vests on them, install the podium, provide the fans, but the driver will understand that it's not the rally but the entourage.
The rally gives the possibility to involve the responsibility factor – the understanding that you can drive only once within your skills and not beyond them (but not less than you can either!). And accomplish the defined tasks when you arrive to finish. But one cannot master a technique by participating the competitions only.
And when is the co-driver turned on?
E.V: It's better for the driver to define the crew at once, and it doesn't matter if it's an experienced co-driver or the one of your level. It's obvious that on the first practices the task is to study the basic technique of driving, and only then the sense of the track, of the pace notes, of the grades is developed, and at this stage you need a co-driver. Then the crew will be the full-valid organism where both parts understand each other without a word, feel the pace, the mood and everything the mate does.
What are the most frequent words of the coach?
E.V: "Accelerate and brake". Usually there is one of the two problems: or one should finally accelerate, or slow down, because it is a horrible scene.
And what things are more difficult to be taught?
E.V: The most difficult thing is to teach somebody to hear, it's a very complicated task. When one can do this, he is already successful. And when the person has come to a discussion club, it will be the hard work.
Is he also able to study?
E.V: Of course! Sometimes it's even interesting – if we can teach such a stubborn, we are on the right way. It is true that in this case the energy requirements are much higher. You run yourself out as if it is not the driver that has driven 100 km on the track but you that have driven 200 km.
A.SH: And the problem is not the discussion itself but that people often aren't ready to listed and to hear! A person says: thank you, I've already understood everything. And in a year: I have pensioned three more cars off, maybe I haven't heard everything right... If he had listened till the end and finished the program, he would have had a completely different effect. And in this situation he will be asked: who was your coach? Vasin? Did he teach you to hang the car on the tree?..
E.V: The right driving is when it is not the car to drive you where it wants but when you have control of it. So, the right driving is safe. One thing is when you push an accelerator all out and close your eyes. You are lucky, lucky again... sorry, not anymore. And the other is when you have told: here I want to drive more to the left, and there – more to the right, and this is the right moment to accelerate. This is the driving competence. If you are able to drive the stone round on the trajectory – it's only the question of the skills and so, the question of safety. Many people don't understand that driving skills are reliable, that's why you can drive faster.
There is one principle: don't impede the car. You sense on the steering wheel with your fingertips where the car wants to go and catch yourself thinking: it's my destination too. And you should help it a little bit. This is the harmony with the car.
Tell us who have you trained?
E.V: I am very proud that I've had a hand in many fast-driving sportsmen. I have trained Novikov, Tagirov, Lukjaniuk, Gerashchenko... Maybe I have worked with every sportsman that can drive fast, except, perhaps, Mikhail Skripnikov. For the moment Irina Kolomeitseva brings me the greatest joy. She can work.
If with many sportsmen I have to argue, to talk a lot first, Irina is the first person who left the car, closed the door and said: when do we meet next time and how should I prepare for the next training?
A.SH: And there are cases when a person exits and you don't know when he or she calls for the next time - in a week or in a year. And when he or she calls in a year, we meet and start everything from the very beginning. He has already forgot everything: I don't know this, I don't understand that. We tell him or her: when we met for the last time, I asked you to make notes. Did you make them? Yes. Open your copybook. Oh, really, that's it!
So, people should also make efforts to their progress. Even when they have already decided, paid, driven, we say: make some practice at home, here are the points to labour at... Have you driven? - No...
And they think that the great Vasin should come and give a pill. If you take it - you are already the world champion. And if it doesn't happen - that's the coach's fault!..
E.V: There is no difference what your aim is – to become the champion of the world, of Europe, of Russia... You want to do motor sports. It's not a defensive driving, this is sports and it means results! If we speak about the educability, I will make a master of sports of any driver. So you can dream about what you want but let's start the way to it!
How much time is required to make your dream come true, why practicing with a coach saves the sporting budget and why the level of sportsmanship drops – you find this information in one of the following materials.