“You Can Lose Your Way Only Where There Are Roads”

How did you prepare for the competition?

Zoli Bálint: We knew that there would be three people in the team, but we had no information about the third person. Before the rally, István Barkó came to Hernád to meet us, then we started the preparations with the navigation training. We soon became friends in the car. Navigation was planned for two people because we knew that I would drive. My preparation is continuous, I have participated in several technical trainings. The special preparations for the Bamako Rally lasted two months, during which we were practicing long distance driving and off-road driving.

Ákos Gazdag: We have learned how to operate navigation devices. We used the traditional GPS on public roads, and we also have a notebook on which there are two programs – which include a detailed topographical map – that helped us. Of course, we used the well-tried tourist map too.

And what is the Budapest-Bamako Rally about?

Z.B.: It is a long-distance adventure tour/car race where we struggle with tasks, orientation, competitors, and time. During the race the organizers hand out a task list every day before the start. On this sheet of paper there are several coordinates and various tasks assigned to them. There are also some points without coordinates. Based on a few pieces of information, these points – usually famous sites, statues, buildings – have to be found. Moreover, they also set a daily time limit and the contestants have to complete the daily stages on time. In case the team arrives within this time limit, they are given extra points, if they exceed it with less than an hour, there are no extra points, and if the team arrives any later than that, they receive only 80 per cent of their daily score. I was driving the car, Ákos and István were navigating and operated the GPS and the notebook, and solved the exercises the organizers gave us. We benefited from our teamwork in Morocco, where basically there are no roads and you can only plan in a straight line. We were given a lot of tricky questions the answers to which were not obvious, such as one in connection with a column made of concrete. Our task was to add up the numbers we found on the column – some numbers were carved in the column and some were sprayed with paint. The trick was that the carved numbers are not on the column but in it, so we didn’t have to add them.

Was the first task on the first day difficult?

István Barkó: No, it wasn’t, but the organizers gave us a few tricky questions already on the first day.

You reported to honvedelem.hu every evening, once from a ferry port for instance. You have been to a lot of places. What was your route?

I.B.: The situation of the organizers must have been difficult, because after we got to Morocco, the team of organizers almost immediately separated. Some of them went to the finish of the stage, where according to the plans, we would have made a turn towards Mauritania. They were two days ahead of us and wrote the new route. On the first day we started to carry out the tasks near Budapest, at Biatorbágy. We drove by Lake Balaton and headed towards Slovenia, then Mantova, Italy. The next day we passed the Italian and the French Riviera and reached the Spanish border. On the third day we headed for Almeria, took the ferry at night, then arrived to Merzouga. This stage was the longest.

Á.G.: Yes, it was: the planned stage was 1,012 kilometers – we chose a bit longer route… (he laughs). On the fifth day we drove around in Merzouga because the organizers wanted to favour the participants with some rest, for the day before we drove more than a thousand kilometers – and the contestants split up – so on this day – even though it was a competition day – we had to do less kilometers. But this stage was not easy at all, we could see what driving on sand dunes means in practice.

I.B.: From here we headed for Tinerhir, then Mhamid, Assa, and Tarfaya. The rest of the distance to Agadir was divided into several stages. Since there were no hotels, we often lived a nomadic life, but living in tents did not wear me out at all because I like camping. But we could see that it was a difficult situation for many contestants.

Did you have the chance to make friends with other teams?

Z.B.: As we were getting closer to the finish of the two-week race, the contestants also learned more and more about each other every day. Many people needed the help of others, and some relied on the information of other contestants in order to carry out the tasks. Of course in the evenings, when we were relaxing, there was always an opportunity to give an account of what happened during the day, but only briefly, because we had to start in the early morning.

Á.G.: It is also true that everybody helped the others if they could. Once we also stopped to help a team, they had to be freed from a bed of gravels. It seemed impossible but we resolved it successfully.

I.B.: Nevertheless, we are talking about a race, so to some extent we are opponents for the other teams. But the leading teams were interested in each other and we talked with them more often. There were no parties into the night, for us the rally was about something else.

Á.G.: It has to be added here that if someone was faster, the others let him go. We also let a faster car pass, and fortunately, some contestants also let us overtake. We were among the front runners almost every day and we had a common objective: to carry out the tasks to the maximum extent and finish within the time limit.

Were you informed of your daily results and position?

Z.B.: We didn’t always have enough information but we knew that we were somewhere in the lead and we had to fight.

Á.G.: There was a briefing every morning, when they announced the results as well – at least as regards the previous day’s partial results.

Which was the most exciting terrain on your route?

Z.B.: As regards the driving techique, every meter of the race required tremendous concentration. The most difficult thing was that the conditions were constantly changing. One moment we had to give maximum performance on asphalt, then on dirt roads, rocky hills and mountains, and at the end of the day, in the vast sand desert.

Á.G.: The stone desert was very exhausting. When you are bumping along the road eight-ten hours a day and there are no orientation points it takes a lot of effort to navigate. But apart from this, the beauty of the mountains fascinated me and I will always remember this race.

I.B.: For me, there were plenty of ’records’ during the trip. To begin with, the sand dunes of Merzouga proved to be a big challenge and adventure, but there was a place every day that surpassed this feeling. The dry salt lake was also a great experience, just like driving on mountain paths at a speed of 10-15 kmph. We were above 2,000 meters, next to scary chasms but my photos cannot really reflect that, unfortunately.

Á.G.: We took a lot of pictures but it is true, unfortunately, the photos do not give the same impression and reflect what the three of us experienced there. We were driving at an altitude of 2,500 me