Summary
Since the beginning, for three years now, both organizers and competitors, as well the ever growing number of audience have been lucky with the weather. The unpleasant, rainy season that lasted almost for a month was changed by a sunny period as soon as we had finished the contestant information panel. You can see that weather too appreciated punctuality and precise timing which is the basic element of old timer cups. Participants agreed that bright sunshine made the tournament even more unforgettable.
The second round of this year’s Oldtimer Supercup was held on 5 June 2010, Saturday. Organizers as usual provided a practise day with registration in the Sundance Park, Balatonfüred. Contestants were given the start numbers at the registration in JIMMY’s bar and right after they discovered the test field. Besides practising they had to complete a start time qualification, but instead of their own cars they did it in a Giulietta, the latest model of the 100-year-old Alfa Romeo.
This result decided the start order on the contest’s day.
Volt aki csak egy pár kört, de volt aki alaposan és órákon keresztül gyakorolta a fotocellákon való áthaladást. Utóbbiak inkább a nagy létszámú „újoncok voltak” akik most először próbálták ki a veterán autó versenyzést, de a profik is estébe nyúlóan trenírozták magukat. Az újoncok között is lelkesen gyakorló Keszey Jánosnak, Balatonalmádi polgármesterének egyedül kellett elsajátítani a technikát, mert navigátora Szedlák Attila, Litér polgármestere csak a másnapi rajtnál egészítette ki a csapatot.
There were some people who took only some rounds but others were practising for hours how to go through the photocells. The latter ones were the ‘freshmen’ who could try the old timer tournament for the first time, but the regular participants also perfected themselves until late night. Among new comers Keszey János, Mayor of Balatonalmádi had to practise the new technique alone because his navigator Szedlák Attila, Mayor of Litér was going to arrived only by the next day’s start.
Tósoki Imre’s, Mayor of Tihany hard practise was not in vain as they got the taste of the Porsche 911 – provided by the organizers – so much that they finished on a remarkable place. Not to mention that Mr. Tósoki and Bugóczi Zsolt won the freshmen’s category.
82 cars out of the entered 86 teams started off from the main square in Balatonalmádi. Unfortunately during the race the number of participants kept decreasing and this year we had to face unexpected technical problems that made some teams give up.
In the morning phase the field was seen in Tihany, Szentbékálla and Zánka where they were surprised with some jokes. P.Z. & The Zánksájn Band interpreted the That’s the way I like it funky opus that was the’ official song’ of this year’s BALATON CLASSiC.
After covering almost 110 km and completing several special and secret tasks the field arrived at JIMMY’s bar in Balatonfüred. Zámbó Attila the bar’s owner did his very best this year as well. He managed to override the last year’s fantastic hospitality. Although ‘Jimmy’ took part in the race with a new navigator his colleagues completed participants every wish. After culinary enjoyments they had opportunity to concentrate on the next phase mentally, that was made during a nice relaxation in fine environment.
The ones who could concentrate well had no problems with the afternoon phases. The 120 km left was full of challenges, new tasks but they couldn’t cause inconvenience for the leading teams at all.
The La Mans start at Veszprém AGIP petrol station didn’t cause any difficulty for even the freshmen, neither were participants confused during the task in Szentkirályszabadja. However organizers had included inexperienced challenges in the measuring. But neither the accidentally appearing aviation nor the hard tasks could cause any problems in concentration.
After covering about 230 km the field headed for Almádi. Organizers provided the freshman Gesztesi Károly with a 1967 Alfa Romeo Spider and in return Mr. Gesztesi and his navigator Tatár György completed and won the last phase with the best result, with no penalty point.
The oldest car of the field a 1936 Bentley reached the finish without any difficulty.
As usual the organizers held the dinner and awarding ceremony on the grill terrace of the name holder Hotel Ramada Balaton, where they handed over the phase -, special prizes and the challenge cup of Ramada Grand Prix. This year again it went to Erdélyi Zoltán and Erdélyi Zoltánné, Csilla, and was handed over by Mr. Wossala György, who has been the patron and supporter of the event since the beginning.
The next A BALATON CLASSiC – Ramada Grad Prix will be held on 4 June 2011.
