Martin Koloc‘s first race in twenty-five years and maiden cross-country rally only lasted a stage before he called it quits, stemming from uncertainty over the Hungarian Baja‘s safety. He hopes to actually go the full distance safely during his second rally at Baja Poland on 22–25 August.
A two-time European Truck Racing Champion who retired from driving in 1999, Koloc made his return to the driver’s seat in Hungary as a relief driver for his daughter Aliyyah, who recently underwent surgery. However, a bad omen quickly fell upon Buggyra ZM Racing when the global positioning system on his Red-Lined REVO T1+ malfunctioned.
“We had been reporting problems with navigation since the technical checks,” Koloc explained. “The GPS wasn’t working; it wasn’t giving us any data. The navigation device was not registering the points passed or the meters traveled, and in the end, we ended up doing the first stage of 120 kilometres on sight.
“They kept us in the first neutralization zone after thirty kolometres of the initial timed test for 34 minutes instead of the mandated 20 minutes. They tried to solve the issue but they didn’t. They then instructed us to continue driving on sight. We had to overtake all the cars again we had already passed.”
He managed to finish the first Selective Section eleventh overall among those registered for the Hungarian Cross-Country Rally Championship, but it was far from an experience that he’d like to relive. The lack of a proper navigation system, despite the organisers’ efforts to minimise the risk for him, made him feel he had gotten lost far too often.
The Hungarian Baja is held at Hungarian Defence Forces Bakony Combat Training Centre, which is used for armoured warfare and paratrooper exercises. Most military training zones that hold cross-country rallies, such as the Baja TT Dehesa Extremadura (on the FIA European Baja Cup like Hungary) and Baja Poland, typically feature twisty yet bumpy courses. Race winner Nani Roma also noted the route was “really challenging” with “a lot of bumps” and “right, left, narrow tracks.”
Even then, Bakony seemed like a step too far for someone without a working GPS. His fears seemed to be validated when Fidel Castillo Ruiz and Josef Radina were hospitalised after their cars rolled over in separate accidents during SS3; Castillo suffered a broken collarbone and pulmonary contusion while Radina, the co-driver of František Brutovský, fractured his vertebra.
“I understand that the organisers had problems with the track marking until the last moment due to the fact that the race was held in a military area, but it is an extremely difficult event to navigate,” Koloc continued. “There was a lot of dust in the evening when you couldn’t see at all against the sun setting. Due to the fact that we were given a non-functioning GPS, I had no idea where we were going. The navigator didn’t show any metres, totals, or bearings, and we were probably going in the opposite direction several times. That’s why we decided we didn’t want to take any more risks.”
Despite cutting his rally début short, Koloc felt the REVO T1+ performed well and is looking forward to his next start. The starts are intended to help develop the vehicle for the broader World Rally-Raid Championship and Dakar Rally, both of which Aliyyah compete in.
“The car worked well in Hungary,” he concluded. “We will evaluate all the data we have collected and also look at how the new features on the car worked. We will choose the next test programme accordingly.”