According to the previous plans, Sólyom Team closed the season in Greece, near Athens at 24 Hours Rally Raid Greece on 24-25th November. The Solyom – Galbács – HAWKIA trio had two punctures on the second special in the mist, then 6 kilometres before the finish of the special they hit a rock because of that the rim curled up on the steering knuckle. This caused the front right wheel to block immediately and because of the straining of the axles in the opposite direction, the housing of the front differential broke into two. The team had to withdraw from the race.
The rally started well despite the first special was very muddy, and the windscreen wiper of the race car broke down enroute and the windscreen became very steamy. With an enjoyable drive, the team managed to complete the 250 kilometres in the daylight. Bigger problems started on the second special. The first seventy kilometres went pretty easily and well, then the mountains became muffled in fog and visibility decreased to ten metres. Because of orientation difficulties the crew Sólyom – Galbács circled around a lot, and while looking for the right path, two tyres were cut out by the rocks. By the time they found the right way and the fog cleared away, they had passed through the hundredth kilometre and there were only six more left until the finish. At that moment in a fast section driving at high speed they hit a huge rock with the front left wheel that caused a third puncture and moreover the housing of the front differential broke. The thirty minutes available for service was unfortunately not enough for replacing the part, so Sólyom Team had to withdraw from the race.
Olivér Sólyom: “When we arrived, our Greek friends gave us from hand to hand which was very pleasing and thrilled me. The next day we started the first special in good mood but this didn’t last for long – when the engine of the windscreen wiper broke down in the big mud I became a little bit gloomy. Because of the steam and the mud we saw nothing, so we had to stop at the side of the track to repair the windscreen wiper. From then on, we also had to care about taking the muddy parts more cautiously. The special was exhausting and very difficult but we drove on breathtaking landscape, mountains and seashore. The second, night special I loved until the fog. I became quite tired after two hours of searching for the right way and changing two tyres, maybe that’s why I didn’t notice the rock on the road at the end. I am very disappointed that we had to withdraw, I wanted to drive more.”
Mátyás Galbács: “This year finally all circumstances were together to start at the 24 hour race without having any scruples. It became very clear right on the first kilometres that the weather wouldn’t be friendly to us as there was a lot of rain in the mountains before the rally. Seas of mud, slippery roads, rocks made driving harder and the marks in the roadbook didn’t show the right picture at night, at many places it was very difficult to find the right way. The cherry on the cake was the dense fog with which we couldn’t do anything. Apart from these all, I had a very good time with our Greek friends again.”
Sólyom Team considers to enter Mikulás Rally to close the season with a pleasant drive in Veszprém.
Sólyom Team’s sponsors: LaserSystems, Industrial Support, Entervill Electronics, LOCTITE, Schriffert Kereskedőház, MPM oil company, Eurol, Texaco, Ibanez, SRT, P.O. Kft., enerGOfair, Total Parts Hungary, NPS, 54321 PROduction
Sólyom Team’s media partners: Marathonrally.com, TodoTerreno.pt, Rallyraid.es, Rallyraid.net, Tetrakinisimag.gr, Rallyfan.cz, 4x4racenews.com, Formula.hu, XLsport.hu, Rallyheart.hu, RallyCafe.hu, OffroadMagazin.hu
