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 | Raid of the Champions: Hawkia-Team Sólyom in the last race of 2010 season.
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With the "Raid of the Champions" the 2010 Hungarian Cross-Country Rally Championship has finished. The Hungarian Sólyom Team (Partnerteam of marathonrally.com) tested its new "Hawkia"-car (specified Kia Sportage) at the rally but unfortunately was unable to reach the finish line. The rear left wheel of the Hawkia broke off and tore off also the brake calliper and some other minor parts.
In the past few years there were less (and less tough) offroad parts in the route of the Hungarian Cross-Country Rally Championship rounds, so on the cars the routes increasing speed developed much more than those helping to cope with mud. And at this rally even well prepared offroad cars could face problems. Even at full throttle, cars could hardly move and there were much more damages in all vehicles than usual - which affected the general atmosphere of the race.
The situation was not optimal also for the team. On Friday's special the Sólyom/Galbács crew only tested the Hawkia that was reconstructed after a roll, so the result did not matter. But it was proved that the mechanics (apart from a small mistake) did a perfect job. But on the first special of Saturday the mud tore off the rear suspension. The mechanics solved this problem, so well that on the next special the mud could not harm the suspension at all - so tore off the wheel.
Olivér Sólyom: "I am angry about the organisation. This is also a race for 4x4 vehicles but it must be realised, that in this kind of sport the racing vehicles are not small and front-rear cut trial cars. If a rally car can't find room in a corner than it can't find room and demolish one side immediately. If we have to force the cars in mud sea for kilometres long, the suspension or the engine can be damaged easily, because this is not a tractor race. Those who design tracks for such expensive racing vehicles should be much responsible."
"There was one positive thing for me in this weekend" he added. "Now the picture I would like to see when I look at the Hawkia next spring has become complete in my mind. We still experienced some deficiencies on the car that have to be solved during the winter preparation works. I think we spotted all things that have to be modified and at the moment this was the most important."
Mátyás Galbács: "I have mixed feelings. We had to withdraw due to technical problem but we drew numerous lessons from the experiences. After the first special I felt that this rally would be a pure offroad race, forcing everyone to try to survive. The second special proved my worries. These vehicles are built for speed not for struggling in the mud!"
"Thanks to our fantastic mechanics, we were able to re-start for the fourth special but the mud won against the Hawkia. Now we start with the winter reconstruction and preparation work and looking forward to the 2011 season. The team has developped a lot this year, which must have long term effects" Galbács said.
Csaba Bélteky (mechanic): "The tracks were hard offroad tracks and Hawkia's suspension didn't like that. In the deep mud the wheels only spun, had grip only seldom but then high, this led to its tearing off. This means that during the reconstruction we have to concentrate on the suspension, since with the engine power we have no problem. Olivér has already told us about his concept and that will mean an interesting sight next spring. Now we have some rest and then start with the work in a week."
2010/11/23 | 12:17 CET | ARTICLE: MR/HS/SOLYOM
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