Watching Mikko Hirvonen, Mads Østberg, Andreas Mikkelsen and Oliver Solberg in your local woods over the years would do it. Travelling the country and washing your dad’s mate’s rally car as a toddler would further suck you in.
Pretending to be your heroes, sliding a Citroën C1 through the forest in the name of social media traction was the natural end result.
For as long as he can remember, all Sven Grube has wanted to be is a rally driver. He wanted to be one of them.
Now he is one of them.
While most will know him as a content creator, famed for his antics behind the wheel of the aforementioned C1, 22-year-old Grube is making steps to become known as a rally driver, too.
But even if this journey does not go where he intends it to, Grube has completed a lifelong ambition of competing on the event that started it all: the Cambrian Rally. Answering the phone overlooking the Llandudno seafront, where a few weeks earlier he’d started the rally, hammers home just how special this particular rally really is to him.
Grube describes being behind the wheel as "the biggest buzz in the world"
“It’s the biggest buzz in the world,” Grube grins. “There’s nothing really that comes close to that. I’m glad I did that rally, if I didn’t do any other. Because rallies have been limited up to this point, so it was nice to do that one.
“I didn’t just do a random selected one, it was one that’s always been the standout rally for me. It’s either [Rally] GB or that, and we can’t do GB anymore.”
But there is no one-and-done attitude here. As we are about to learn through the rest of our conversation, Grube’s determination to succeed knows no bounds.
First, though, it’s important to touch on how he got here. Because if you’re on TikTok and follow any car-related content (particularly in the UK), you’ve more than likely come across one of his videos.
“I first posted some random videos which are not really content, if you know what I mean?” Grube explains.
“But the first one I ever did was in the old Citroën. I did a J-turn and I did like a handbrake turn or something, something daft with a daft caption on it and it blew up overnight. So that sort of started it really.”
Suddenly he realized there was an opportunity in front of him to grow something.
I've always had a sort of feeling deep down that I am a driver, that I'm competent and good behind the wheelSven Grube
“Yeah, absolutely. You must have a niche, that is what social media is. You can’t do something that everyone else is doing – you do something that stands out compared to what everyone else’s norm is, if you like.”
But Grube is keen to stress his 150k-strong social media following is more of a mechanism he can use to benefit his rallying rather than a reason why he has now managed to compete. It doesn’t, and shouldn’t, define him.
The C1 will always remain a key part of Grube’s story and online career, which began in late 2022. But it’s the C1’s predecessor that is responsible for the Welshman – who trained as a motorsport engineer – taking the plunge into rallying.
“My dad competed in road rallying,” he says. “He did a little bit of competing, not a lot. As it is always with motorsport, money comes into it, and he was self-funded, just did it for a laugh.
“When I was born my dad’s best mate was competing in a Citroën Saxo in various BTRDA rounds in the early 2000s. So me being a two or three year old, I would go and watch in a very cold Scottish forest. I think it was a Scottish forest, that’s my memory. I couldn’t tell you what rally or what forest it was or anything like that but I remember it being a Scottish rally because I sat in a marshall’s car as I got very cold and it was a Subaru Impreza WRX, so I always remember that. That’s where the passion for Subarus came.
“I’d always go to help out in service, just pretending to clean the car and doing a very bad job of it, but doing stuff like that. And then, yeah, just spectating on every single local rally we could get to. I think that’s where it all began, really, for me.
“The noise of the cars, that’s a massive, massive thing, especially when you’re so young – that sort of planted the seed. And then yeah, here I am now.”
Grube was right on the pace on his first gravel rally, the Cambrian
Having a passion for rallying usually breeds a passion for driving, but not everyone has either the talent or the means to make that happen. Finances have indeed held Grube back from competing until this year, but he was always sure he had some potential within him.
“I’ve always had a sort of feeling deep down that I am a driver, that I’m competent and good behind the wheel,” he shares. “A lot of that comes from my massive sim background. I was part of the FIA Rally Star project in the UK and a UK finalist for that.
“So I’ve learned a lot of car control off sims, which a lot of people might say this and that about it, but sims nowadays are so good. Apart from the actual feeling through the seat, and the actual sense of speed, a lot of it does actually translate over, and there’s a lot of stuff I’ve done on the sim that I applied on the Cambrian, and it actually worked, and it was a nice way to sort of validate everything I’ve learned.”
The Cambrian was just Grube’s third rally – after two outings in a modest Mini at a single-venue in Wales and closed-road rally in Scotland – but he displayed speed good enough to win the R2 class, boosted by his meticulous preparation.
“I’m more than happy to put in the work. I absolutely love the prep side of it, I love going through the notes,” Grube adds.
“I went through the notes countless, countless times on the Cambrian. And it worked. That’s such a satisfying feeling when all that hard work pays off, and using any opportunity.
“We had a stoppage in Alwen 1 which was stage four. We were on scene to an accident, so once we knew the crew was OK we got the headsets on, went through the notes and had a proper recce of the stage.
“Everyone else in class had already done a pass through at full pace, we’d only done a quarter of the stage at full pace, and we then won the stage in the afternoon. We won all the stages in the afternoon, in class, against guys with good experience as well. But for an unfortunate notional time we could have won the class, so that’s deeply encouraging.
“But it’s stuff like that, I love that side of it. I love the prep side of it as well as the driving. So I think that’s definitely a good thing that I can take forward with me. I’m not afraid to put the work in, because it really does show in the end.”
Grube does not know how far he can go, but has a five-year plan to make it to the top class of the British Rally Championship, which will start with “a more comprehensive season” in 2025.
Grube doesn't know how far he can go, but is holding himself to a plan to make the BRC in a Rally2
“I’ve got a plan in my head of doing three Tarmac, three gravel – maybe reducing on the Tarmac side if we need to,” he says.
“There’s a plan in the pipeline, a five-year plan to go to BRC1, and I’m holding myself to that, trying to make it happen. I think if I don’t have a plan in place, then it’s quite easy to slow down.
“And I think having good results like we did on the Cambrian and showing off the start of some good pace is something to definitely try and hit the ground running with next year and use that to my advantage.”
Ambition can sometimes get mixed up with talent, but in Grube’s case it looks like both are aligning rather nicely.
“This is the dream,” he concludes. “It’s only just started really, so the hard work definitely, definitely starts now.
“But I’m dedicated and determined to make it happen.”
