November 27, 2024 • 6 mins
Catching up with World Rally champion CO-Driver Phil Mills who is in NZ at the moment.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is the Country Sport Breakfast with Brian Kelly on
Gold Sport.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
Last week on the show, we spoke to Peter Martin,
who's one of the organizers for the long distance International
Silver Fern Rally, which is underway in the South Island
at the moment. It's drawn some of the well the
best rally cars in the world, with some very very
good team members, including former world champion co driver Phil Mills, who,
along with Peter Soldburg, won the world championship back in
(00:28):
two thousand and three for the Subaru team. He's now
here in New Zealand, not competing but running his own
team under Viking Motorsport, and he joins us out of Well,
where are you at the moment?
Speaker 1 (00:39):
Phil? Good morning, Yeah, good morning. Yes, we're just about
to restart the first lag from Timoru. I probably said
that wrong, but you know what, like from Wales, So
we're just about to start the fifth leg from here,
and like I said, we're just getting going now in
a few minutes.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
How's the team going, because you know you yourself, along
with Peter Soldburg him many times only in the North area,
So how are you finding the roads on the South Island?
Speaker 1 (01:05):
Good? Yeah, obviously there are different characters to the Norse,
but they're still awesome. They're still the best roads in
the world. And you know the mixture this this this
is in the North verso similar to the South as well.
But you know it's it's a tough event, it's one
of the toughest that's there, but it's actually one of
the most enjoyable that's there as well. So you've got
(01:25):
the perfect blend here of the ultimate event.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
You're a team director running cars under your own Ben
and Viking Motorspoort. How many cars are you running and
what are they?
Speaker 1 (01:34):
Yeah, we're running the escorts here Ford Escort, Mattos. They
are all exactly the same cars. We've got two cars
running in the event, one for Robert Goff and one
for Botomy Grimes and also James Ford, who was leading
the event. We built that car for him as well.
So we're obviously in three covers.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
Are you're blown away by the caliber of the cars
because we have a lot of escorts obviously, but as
Master Eric Sivens as Lanciers, there's all sorts of there
there is.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
Yeah, we've got a very very good blended cars here,
and there's a lot of cars here that we don't
see in Europe, so we always like coming here. You
know that you've got some very special Datsanes and Nissans
and things like that that we never see in Europe,
So we always love coming here to see what we
class as unusual cars, you know.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
So for what are your memories of coming out here
and competing with the Sabaru World Rally team and sitting
alongside the legendary Peter Solberg.
Speaker 1 (02:30):
Yeah, well it was and I'm not just blowing smoke,
you know, but it really was one of the best
events in the world, and it was the one that
we always look forward to do you know it really
really are the best roads in the world here for
gravel rally, in the atmosphere, the people, everything, and you
drive on the crackside of the road.
Speaker 2 (02:52):
You had a wren't here you entered in two thousand
and four. I think it was you won with Hollywood,
didn't you?
Speaker 1 (02:57):
We did? We did we have? That was the ultimate.
We had quite a few podium finishes, but we actually
won in two thousand and forward. Seems an awful long
time ago now, but only good memories of New Zealand.
We never had anything but brilliant, fantastic memories.
Speaker 2 (03:09):
What was it like setting next to Peter because it
was a little bit of a show a showman when
the rally was over, wasn't he.
Speaker 1 (03:18):
I think that's an understatement. It was. I think it
was the best way to describe it is when it
was work time, it was seriously hard work, and when
it was playtime, it was seriously seriously a big playtime.
But we did work extremely hard, and you know, it
was a professional relationship and we had a great time.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
I believe that you not that long ago. I think
I might have been back in twenty nineteen. You did
the Welsh Rally in a Volkswagen Polo with Peter.
Speaker 1 (03:46):
We did that was what we called us one song.
We signed off to the world and we managed to
get a Volkswagen for the weekend and we did that
and we had an absolute ball. We giggled every stage,
we laughed, we had we had a great time. Is
something we didn't do when we were at the sharp
end of the business because it was serious, serious business
representing the motor manufacturer. So we had a ball. It
(04:08):
really was a ball, and it was very sad to
take the helmet off for the last time. But all
good things come to an eng you know.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
And before a year before that you even sat alongside
Off and Evans and the tutor course in the number.
Speaker 1 (04:20):
Yeah. He called me on a week moment but his
code driver, his cod driver was ill, actually was injured,
and he called me on the Saturday morning. And on
Sunday morning I was stood in the car parking Coska,
thinking what the hell am I doing here? But we
did it and again I had a ball. I hadn't
missed it. But it was just the most bizarre experience
(04:41):
I've ever had to be thrown in with literally no
notice at all. We went on the back of the hotel,
practice a few past notes and off we went. And
we still we still managecift overall, which was extraordinary to
Elvin to be fair.
Speaker 2 (04:54):
So Phil, Viking Motorsport, what are you doing in Wales
with the with the company.
Speaker 1 (04:59):
We do all sorts of really, we sort of specialize
in marathon events such as the Silver Fern which is
up there in the Greats. We do safari, all sorts
of long distance events. We've just done two cars for
peaking to Paris, which is a forty one day rally,
and We sort of specialize in marathon rallies, which is
what we're good at, but we will literally do anything
(05:21):
with a lot of motor racing. We're in historic touring
cars in the UK, so we've got a blend of
all sorts of things going on that we're just busy boys,
you know.
Speaker 2 (05:31):
Yeah, absolutely, How did you get into rally co driving?
Speaker 1 (05:35):
Oh that goes back an awful long way. But when
I grew when I grew up in Wales, there was
not a lot else to do, you know, but no, no,
we just grew up in a motorsport arena. If you're like,
everywhere you look it was either motorbiked or rally cars
or something going on every weekend, so it was unavoidable
to get into it somehow, you know.
Speaker 2 (05:55):
Well, Phil, it's great to have you here in New
Zealand and good luck to the Viking Motus bought team
for Silver fun for the rest of the week.
Speaker 1 (06:02):
No, that's great and thank you very much. And again,
you know, the welcome that we get from New Zealand
is it just extraordinary. It's just you know, already we're
looking to come back in two y's time.
Speaker 2 (06:12):
I look forward to it. Hey feel good luck. Thank
you so much for joining us.
Speaker 1 (06:15):
Okay, thank you, thank you.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
Philip Mills, well, lovely Welsh accent, winner of the two
thousand and three World Rally Championship as a co driver
alongside
This is the Country Sport Breakfast with Brian Kelly on
Gold Sport.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
Last week on the show, we spoke to Peter Martin,
who's one of the organizers for the long distance International
Silver Fern Rally, which is underway in the South Island
at the moment. It's drawn some of the well the
best rally cars in the world, with some very very
good team members, including former world champion co driver Phil Mills, who,
along with Peter Soldburg, won the world championship back in
(00:28):
two thousand and three for the Subaru team. He's now
here in New Zealand, not competing but running his own
team under Viking Motorsport, and he joins us out of Well,
where are you at the moment?
Speaker 1 (00:39):
Phil? Good morning, Yeah, good morning. Yes, we're just about
to restart the first lag from Timoru. I probably said
that wrong, but you know what, like from Wales, So
we're just about to start the fifth leg from here,
and like I said, we're just getting going now in
a few minutes.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
How's the team going, because you know you yourself, along
with Peter Soldburg him many times only in the North area,
So how are you finding the roads on the South Island?
Speaker 1 (01:05):
Good? Yeah, obviously there are different characters to the Norse,
but they're still awesome. They're still the best roads in
the world. And you know the mixture this this this
is in the North verso similar to the South as well.
But you know it's it's a tough event, it's one
of the toughest that's there, but it's actually one of
the most enjoyable that's there as well. So you've got
(01:25):
the perfect blend here of the ultimate event.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
You're a team director running cars under your own Ben
and Viking Motorspoort. How many cars are you running and
what are they?
Speaker 1 (01:34):
Yeah, we're running the escorts here Ford Escort, Mattos. They
are all exactly the same cars. We've got two cars
running in the event, one for Robert Goff and one
for Botomy Grimes and also James Ford, who was leading
the event. We built that car for him as well.
So we're obviously in three covers.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
Are you're blown away by the caliber of the cars
because we have a lot of escorts obviously, but as
Master Eric Sivens as Lanciers, there's all sorts of there
there is.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
Yeah, we've got a very very good blended cars here,
and there's a lot of cars here that we don't
see in Europe, so we always like coming here. You
know that you've got some very special Datsanes and Nissans
and things like that that we never see in Europe,
So we always love coming here to see what we
class as unusual cars, you know.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
So for what are your memories of coming out here
and competing with the Sabaru World Rally team and sitting
alongside the legendary Peter Solberg.
Speaker 1 (02:30):
Yeah, well it was and I'm not just blowing smoke,
you know, but it really was one of the best
events in the world, and it was the one that
we always look forward to do you know it really
really are the best roads in the world here for
gravel rally, in the atmosphere, the people, everything, and you
drive on the crackside of the road.
Speaker 2 (02:52):
You had a wren't here you entered in two thousand
and four. I think it was you won with Hollywood,
didn't you?
Speaker 1 (02:57):
We did? We did we have? That was the ultimate.
We had quite a few podium finishes, but we actually
won in two thousand and forward. Seems an awful long
time ago now, but only good memories of New Zealand.
We never had anything but brilliant, fantastic memories.
Speaker 2 (03:09):
What was it like setting next to Peter because it
was a little bit of a show a showman when
the rally was over, wasn't he.
Speaker 1 (03:18):
I think that's an understatement. It was. I think it
was the best way to describe it is when it
was work time, it was seriously hard work, and when
it was playtime, it was seriously seriously a big playtime.
But we did work extremely hard, and you know, it
was a professional relationship and we had a great time.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
I believe that you not that long ago. I think
I might have been back in twenty nineteen. You did
the Welsh Rally in a Volkswagen Polo with Peter.
Speaker 1 (03:46):
We did that was what we called us one song.
We signed off to the world and we managed to
get a Volkswagen for the weekend and we did that
and we had an absolute ball. We giggled every stage,
we laughed, we had we had a great time. Is
something we didn't do when we were at the sharp
end of the business because it was serious, serious business
representing the motor manufacturer. So we had a ball. It
(04:08):
really was a ball, and it was very sad to
take the helmet off for the last time. But all
good things come to an eng you know.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
And before a year before that you even sat alongside
Off and Evans and the tutor course in the number.
Speaker 1 (04:20):
Yeah. He called me on a week moment but his
code driver, his cod driver was ill, actually was injured,
and he called me on the Saturday morning. And on
Sunday morning I was stood in the car parking Coska,
thinking what the hell am I doing here? But we
did it and again I had a ball. I hadn't
missed it. But it was just the most bizarre experience
(04:41):
I've ever had to be thrown in with literally no
notice at all. We went on the back of the hotel,
practice a few past notes and off we went. And
we still we still managecift overall, which was extraordinary to
Elvin to be fair.
Speaker 2 (04:54):
So Phil, Viking Motorsport, what are you doing in Wales
with the with the company.
Speaker 1 (04:59):
We do all sorts of really, we sort of specialize
in marathon events such as the Silver Fern which is
up there in the Greats. We do safari, all sorts
of long distance events. We've just done two cars for
peaking to Paris, which is a forty one day rally,
and We sort of specialize in marathon rallies, which is
what we're good at, but we will literally do anything
(05:21):
with a lot of motor racing. We're in historic touring
cars in the UK, so we've got a blend of
all sorts of things going on that we're just busy boys,
you know.
Speaker 2 (05:31):
Yeah, absolutely, How did you get into rally co driving?
Speaker 1 (05:35):
Oh that goes back an awful long way. But when
I grew when I grew up in Wales, there was
not a lot else to do, you know, but no, no,
we just grew up in a motorsport arena. If you're like,
everywhere you look it was either motorbiked or rally cars
or something going on every weekend, so it was unavoidable
to get into it somehow, you know.
Speaker 2 (05:55):
Well, Phil, it's great to have you here in New
Zealand and good luck to the Viking Motus bought team
for Silver fun for the rest of the week.
Speaker 1 (06:02):
No, that's great and thank you very much. And again,
you know, the welcome that we get from New Zealand
is it just extraordinary. It's just you know, already we're
looking to come back in two y's time.
Speaker 2 (06:12):
I look forward to it. Hey feel good luck. Thank
you so much for joining us.
Speaker 1 (06:15):
Okay, thank you, thank you.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
Philip Mills, well, lovely Welsh accent, winner of the two
thousand and three World Rally Championship as a co driver
alongside
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