Harghita Off Road Trophy 2008

The last competition of the year took place in the Harghita mountains, and was organized by the team from Siculus Off Road Club, which made sure that everything was perfect down to the last possible detail, so that the ending of the competitional year would bring nothing but happiness to those who organized and who participated.

The competition began on the 16th of October, with a common meeting point in the center of the town, where everyone had the chance to admire the cars, ATVs, Quads and Motorcycles for this last stage. Some of the most daring cars came from Hungary, and consisted of a number of tray-back or generally cut G Klasses, around three cars that were a combination between the Suzuki Vitara and the Mercedes G Klasse as well as Boros Csaba's famous Wrangler.

The car that drew the most attention, regardless of the power and look of the off road beasts, was a buggy from Hungary that benefited from independent suspensions on each wheel as well as 180 horse power to go with it.  Because of the time issues that arrised in the organizing of the 21 off road cars, the prologue was avoided and thus the cars started in the order of the sign-up sheet.

The start was given at 9 o'clock in the camp for the Open Class, and in a field nearby for the Extreme. One of the most interesting aspects of the start of the Extreme class was the fact that, following an excellent organizational decision, the cars were lined up and given the start in the same time.  Short time after the start, the competitors reached their first special stage of three, which consisted of a descent down a tight valley with huge boulders. At this stage the effort of the co-pilot was the most important, as he directed the car and driver between 1 meter high boulders. Some cars had to winch themselves out and it turned out that cars that didn't have portal axles didn't do so bad, on the contrary showed the true potential of the team.

At this point, the words of the competition's director came true, when he stated : "We do off road here, not rally-raid". After the special stage, there would be another 100 kilometers of off road, roughly in the same style. The fact that there were only three special stages was far from meaning that the rest of the track was easy.

The forest was filled with the sounds of G Klasse engines at their maximum rpm, trying to get out of mud, water or swamps. The open class was not regarded as the smaller sister or the ones that had to be protected and therefore had their own share of rocks, the same rocks that the extreme class had, which seemed to be everywhere on the tracks. Regarding the scenery, the most beautiful scapes were offered to the competitors from the Standard class, which is the one where all of the 4x4's without modifications can enter, in which this year, two girl-only teams joined of which one came second on the overall charts.

The second day, the start was given a little late, but fast enough for everyone not the have time to get bored. The delay was welcomed by the majority of the racers, providing a little more time to do the final adjustments on their vehicles and be properly prepared for another day of competition.  The Open and Extreme classes, like in the case of the Toyota Adventure Raid, had to go through each other's sections, only partially. The boulders continued to be the predominant difficulty for the day, but finally it was managed without huge losses.

Probably one of the most interesting events was provided by the team from Cluj where a round boulder started off down a slope while the copilot was still on top of it managing the winch, and continued rolling downhill for about ten meters, with the copilot carefully balancing on it.

 

Extreme class was not granted so many smiles, as they faced a new and long track with a lot of curves and checkpoints to gather. Finally everyone managed to get back to the camp, without other problems, and proceeded to enjoying an AC/DC tribute band concert, creating a unique feeling among the participants.

Sunday, the last day, saw everyone heading to the motocross slope close to the town. With well chosen tracks and a moderated difficulty, the cars offered a complete show, with broken half shafts, drive shafts, radius arms and a stubborn Suzuki which, after falling on one side and being put back by the public, tried the treacherous hill again only to fall on the same side in the same place. Luckily the team managed the third time to get up and finish, like all competitors, the race and another competition year.