Race Report Balkan 2018 - F. Hollender

This Balkan Off-road 2018 led us once again to cross all of Bulgaria from west to east. What a delightful feeling of freedom it brings to cross an entire country off-road! This is something that has no equivalent anywhere else and would deserve more attention and especially more competitors that this race currently has. Breslau Poland lovers, taste a bit of the Bulgarian magic and you will never return to Poland ...

It was a particularly interesting race in 2018, which gave us no respite, such was the emulation between us and the English team consisting of Jim Marsden, James Ayre and their Ultra4 race prototype of almost 700HP. We struggled, struggled, never faltered but, where power makes the difference, we had to bow. We did it with respect and without regret. However, in the last stage where the navigation was super tricky, we won the stage with almost half an hour ahead of Jim, and on a stage of only 63 km!

We are proud of our performance and ready to give it another go!

LEG 1 Saturday 15/09/18: 63km including 60 km of special stage around Borovets

No show start, we are thrown right from the first day in a 100% extreme stage with mudholes, river crossing, azimuth navigation with a series of bearings ... no progressive start, here we are right in the middle of what we were after! We win this first stage 20’ ahead of Jim Marsden, one hour ahead of Christophe Moine.

No damage on « Hommage », our car, only the breather of an axle was unhooked and the winch rope was damaged.

LEG 2 Sunday 16/09/18: 195 km including 178 km of special stage, marathon stage from Borovets to Starosel

Composed of 2 special stages, the day goes well overall.

In the first special stage, however, the shorter one, we have a moment of anguish: from the start, you have to go completely off-road to join a hilltop with trees lying in all directions, no pathes, endless climbs and descents. Something to led you to lose confidence and take risks.

The second stage is quieter, more predictable, even if talking about navigation level, it is not without difficulties!

In total, we finished second, 1 'behind Jim, 11' ahead of Christophe. And if we finish second, it's actually because of speeding...

To add to this, we have exploded a rim and the windshield, and torn off a brake hose and a wiper blade...

LEG 3 Monday 17/09/18: 114 km including 97 km of special stage around Starosel

During this stage, we will cross several times the tracks of the Cross-country category. A lot of azimuth navigation, with a series of bearings, km and km of river to drive into, but also fast sections, which we do not dislike but that allow Jim to take off. We finish the special stage 22' behind Jim, 20' ahead of Christophe.

LEG 4 Tuesday 18/09/18: 462 km including 203 km of special stage, marathon stage from Starosel to Diuny

Composed of 2 special stages, the first one long and fast, the second shorter but also fast ... Between the two, more than 200 km of liaison, that we’ll drive on the trailer. Christophe and us finish at the same time, 26 'behind Jim. Yes, the gap is widening, there is nothing to do against it, we know that we are stronger when it is tough and there are less km to drive, but...

LEG 5 Wednesday 19/09/18: 157 km including 113 km of special stage around Diuny

Very extreme stage with a lot of km of river driving, several times in the day and all very difficult, certainly too much for many crews, because only 5 crews will finish the special stage that day! And those who came back will di it with extremely important time differences.

At one point in a river, we enter a deep water hole and my 2 Terratrip are completely submerged and no longer work. Damn! In fact, we will discover later that they were still working, but no more display, only the repeaters on the driver side continue to display, what a good idea to have put these repeaters!

We also have to change the belt shortly after this deep water passage, which does not take us long, but still ...

In total, Jim is ahead of us with more than half an hour that day, but Christophe, the 3rd, arrives almost 2 hours after us!

In short, a very tough day, both for teams and cars.

LEG 6 Thursday 20/09/18: 330 km including 205 km of special stage, marathon from Diuny to Shkorpilovtsi

Another marathon stage, composed of two special stages: a first one not too long, a second longer, quite fast overall, but with a lot of tricky navigation, delicate river crossings and km of river driving.

And also an infamous mudhole at Km 110, where the clay is so hard that we are stuck in it, losing one’s shoes and even clothes (I got stuck there!), And even using a snatchblock when winching, winching becomes very difficult and delicate.

But also with unforgettable passages on mountain ridges, with the feeling of being driving on a short line between two valleys, something wonderful and truly unique.

We finish this marathon day in 2nd position, 22 'behind Jim, 34' ahead of Christophe.

LEG 7 Friday 21/09/18: 140 km including 137 km of special stage around Shkorpilovtsi

This is the last long day of the race, with extraordinary passages, places that you have to drive with sensitivity, guts and without fear, if you don’t want to crash or hurt your car. For example this extremely digged ravine to take downhill at Km75 km, with holes sometimes higher than the car itself and that you have to take crossway at the end before descending a vertical wall 3 meters high and follow up with a azimuth navigation in a riverbed. All the spirit, but also the difficulty of the Balkan Offroad is there, in this stage. Those who once thought that the Balkan Offroad was a Cross Country rally, not really difficult like Breslau Poland, please try this race!

We finish this stage in 3 hours, 1 / 4h after Jim but 1 hour 1 / 4h in front of Christophe.

LEG 8 Saturday 22/09/18: 63 km including 60 km of special stage around Shkorpilovtsi

Last stage of the race, with a finish on the beach!

It is a real extreme stage, an extreme race until the end and with navigation that is so tight, so technical, so tricky, that I did not consider sufficient my 3 usual readings of the road-book: I revised it again and again in the morning before departure and it was not useless!

Bartek Kosierek from Xrepo installs a GoPro in the car before the start, and I remember to start it 2 hours before the end of the special stage to get, among others recordings, the unique moment of the arrival on the beach.

But before that, we drive through a winding sandriver that leads to a rather narrow tunnel in the middle of nowhere within the dense forest, we drive more km into rivers and we arrive a first time on the beach for a little less than one km before returning for a 10 km loop inland - beautiful lure for those who thought they had arrived! - to finally return for good on the beach for the finish.

Nice finish, 2 km of beach and, what’s even better, in pole position all categories put together, Extreme and Cross country. A real privilege, savored to its true value!

All the more so, despite our little stop at the beginning of the beach to tie a Euro4x4parts flag on the vehicle, we arrive 28 'ahead of Jim on this small stage. And Christophe will also arrive 10 'before Jim. So we'll both line up and wait for Jim to arrive and pay tribute to his team, winner of a long and hard race, a race that Jim will officially consider the best race of his life. Coming from him, with his experience and his record, this is really a great tribute to the Balkan Offroad. I had been telling him for years "you have to come! "

Then comes the award ceremony, with a lot of beer to celebrate it ...