Central European Rally with added bits and bobs.

[drron]

a very nice TR. pity about the knees but at least you kept going. well done.

 

[Cossie]

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Nice trip and nice report!

I'm far too old to compete these days, the body wouldn't handle it, my last rally was totally unplanned - back in the early 2000's I went to Arusha in Tanzania to do a wildlife safari - at the end of the six day wildlife safari I arrived back in Arusha to find out that a round of the Tanzanian Rally Championship was being held there the next day. That night I met some of the crews in a restaurant and one of the competitors was in a bit of a panic as his co-driver had become ill... right place... right time... right skill set... local club membership and competition licence were swiftly arranged, and in the dark I jumped into the seat to make sure that it was in a suitable place and adjust the harness etc.

It was only the next morning that I found out that this WRX was an ex-Prodrive 555 WRC car that had previously been driven by some guy named Vatanen - and that we were Car 1!

Wow, what a great story @RSD . Did you compete much here, and we want to know more details of the rally and your rally career.

I tried rallying in Canberra in the mid seventies, I wasn't very good and didn't have the budget to run a car properly. So I sold everything up, resigned from a job that I hated and bought a one way ticket to Singapore and hence a life of travel.

As an aside, I talked to one of the pilots on my Finnair flight and told him I spoke Finnish, the rattled off the names of some Finnish drivers, Ari's name of course being the first I mentioned. He just looked at me and said 'very good' without the hint of a smile.

 

[Cossie]

Very enjoyable TR and more good wishes for your knee problems.

My first thought on all those number plates was that they came off stolen cars but I assume they really came off older cars bought cheaply in Western Europe and then taken east.

Most of the plates were local, but there is quite a business buying cars in Germany, Holland etc and taking them east. It's not unusual to see trucks and vans with their original logos from German companies on the side.
Obviously vehicles do get stolen, a friend in Germany has now had his tow vehicle get stolen twice.
They were both top of the range new Toyota Land Cruiser Safari models, he thought that they would end up in Belarus or Russia.

 

[RSD]

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Wow, what a great story @RSD . Did you compete much here, and we want to know more details of the rally and your rally career.

I tried rallying in Canberra in the mid seventies, I wasn't very good and didn't have the budget to run a car properly. So I sold everything up, resigned from a job that I hated and bought a one way ticket to Singapore and hence a life of travel.

As an aside, I talked to one of the pilots on my Finnair flight and told him I spoke Finnish, the rattled off the names of some Finnish drivers, Ari's name of course being the first I mentioned. He just looked at me and said 'very good' without the hint of a smile.

Nothing spectacular, started navving when I was 16, won the local club championship the next year, then the ARC under 2000cc title the next year, then I moved overseas and once again during a chance conversation I discovered that the owner of the business that I was working at in Egypt happened to drive in the World Rally Raid championship (because he could), and then right place right skillset saw me suddenly being told with about three weeks notice that I couldn't fly home to Oz for Christmas as the boss needed me to plant my butt in the nav seat of his Pajero in Paris on Boxing Day for a 16 day leisurely drive to some place called Dakar.