We continue our acquaintance with the N5 Gang 🙂
In the winter, we had a conversation with Tomas Šmagarys, more recently – with Vilmantas Padegimas, and now a conversation with one of the great workers of the N5 project – Aurimas Eidžiūnas 🙂
How did you come to the rally? Why this discipline?
I have mentioned before that rally is basically the queen of motor sports. You can also call this sport a pentathlon, because it’s not just about driving fast on the stages. It’s about teamwork, finances, partners, car, mechanics and many other things. I came to rallying through Algimantas Borilas, who initiated the development of our first Lada.
You drove Lada, Mitsubishi Lancer Evo and Ford Fiesta Proto. Why was the next car a Ford Fiesta N5?
The march through the cars was born from the desire to constantly improve. We drove Lada and competed with R2 cars and the Holland family, and after that there was nothing to compete with. We got a little bored driving not only on the stages but also fighting with our car, so we took a deep breath and bought a Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX, which was really a great car. Later, after consulting with Darius Biesevičius, we decided that maybe another step forward would be interesting, because these Mitsubishi Lancers are already very old. That’s how the Ford Fiesta Proto came into our garage. After the season, we got a very interesting offer to sell this Ford Fiesta Proto to Australia, which was another interesting challenge, both logistically and organizationally. To this day, we maintain relations with the new owners of the car.
Then the N5 came on the market in Lithuania, which is actually a great car for the national class, both in terms of cost and capabilities and competitiveness. So we jumped into the N5 adventure 🙂
So in a way, we became part of the N5 project. It’s so much fun to have good company in all of this. That is, people who are able to compete on the stages while remaining very team-oriented and with a unified approach to what happens off the course. That sense of community in the N5 class is a big part of what encourages you to contribute and help out. It’s also nice to see that our partners feel the same way. The N5 class in the Lithuanian Rally Championship will be exemplary, as the attracted partners will provide valuable prizes for the top three N5s in each event. With so many expenses involved in this sport, this is a small motivation. All this will not be limited to a handshake or a simple trophy. This is so much fun 🙂
Where does your love for American cars come from?
Three inseparable words – America, cars and Coca-Cola. Kind of a holy trinity 🙂 Maybe someone will laugh that I had a relationship with RC -Cola 🙂 Yes, it was and I hope the partnership with RC-Cola continues in one form or another.
I myself have spent a lot of time in America studying, living and learning different life lessons. I like this culture, I understand it and its possibilities and attitude. There is no dreamland out there, and to be successful there you have to work hard.
Maybe I got to know America in my childhood when my grandfather used to give me Pepsi 🙂
You mentioned that you attend the Rally da Auga not only as a racer, but also as an organizer. What ideas did you bring back from Southern Europe?
Rally da Auga was well organized. We saw that the Lithuanian organizers are more progressive and focus more on the drivers and the quality offered to them than the Spanish ones. But the inclusion of the city in the rally program, where you are driven through the streets of the old town from the time control to the service, is something amazing. At this time there is a carnival with drums, smoke and performers on stilts – just wow. The Spanish know how to create a wonderful atmosphere and emotion. They have this southern charm, although the principle works – what you can do tomorrow, do not do it today, and do not worry 🙂
How and why did you start organizing rallies? How has your approach to organizing stages changed from the first time to now?
We started organizing rallies because nothing was happening because of the quarantine and other reasons. But I wanted to drive, and as I once said – if you want to do a rally, organize it yourself 🙂
That’s how we started doing it. We started doing it, and then the partners started proposing ideas, and we got into this organizing machine, which is really exciting. When you organize competitions, you look at everything not only from the organizer’s point of view, but also from the driver’s point of view or other angles. I am prone to all kinds of adventures. Sometimes they are easier, sometimes they are more difficult. Sometimes it costs money, and sometimes it costs time, family or other things, but when you do it, you have to do it well 🙂
Not only do you drive an N5 car, but you also contribute a lot to the popularization of this class. What impressed you about the N5 LTU project?
IIf I had to name N5 in the language of programmers, it would be “open source” or “Android” – an open source program. Everything is open and can be done. N5 is not something patented by Škoda Motorsport, the FIA or other manufacturers. It’s a project that can be improved by anyone within a certain framework, and that’s a lot of fun. The whole N5 community is creative, everyone has ideas, does something, invests and consults with each other on how to improve the project further. The most important thing is that there is very healthy competition here. The whole team of drivers, co-drivers and other people is great. I am sure that after this season things will not get any worse. We are the “N5 gang.” These are people with a goal, a vision – to have fun, to drive, to get a result in an intelligent competition, without any unscheduled thoughts or other vicissitudes, of which there are very many in our Lithuanian rally. There are a lot of them in the whole motorsport federation, and at this point maybe we should stick to the real goal – to do good and entertaining motorsport.
