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3. A brand-new event on the Rally the Globe calendar will take us from
Belgium’s rally capital of Ypres to Istanbul.
“To the edges of the Orient”

4. 13 June to 3 July 2022
Belgium, Germany, Czech Republic, Austria, Hungary,
Romania, Bulgaria and Turkey

5. ON THE ROAD TO THE EDGES OF
THE ORIENT
Fred Gallagher & Jim Smith report on the Ypres to Istanbul Challenge Recce

6. Recce Day 1
We had already driven a route from Prague to Český Krumlov back in August 2020 so today was all
about re ning it. The weather was grey and wet as we left Prague and we soon decided the
rstregularity was far too easy and deleted it. The other sections were top class however and they,
combined with some great tests, will present a good challenge after the rest day. Our rally hotel was
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still closed so we stayed in the lovely town of Budweis where the beer, of course, was great.

7. Recce Day 2
We visited UNESCO World Heritage Site, Český Krumlov, rst thing next morning and started the
road book from the main square where our rally hotel is situated. An excellent, new, gravel section
was rst o followed by a fairly long test round a few farm buildings. Then a regularity to a remote
border crossing into Austria. This was unmanned, although it won’t be on the event, and our PCR tests
went unchecked. Austria looked as immaculate as ever even on a gloomy afternoon and another
decent regularity on super smooth roads before descending to the River Danube, which will be our
frequent companion for the next two weeks.

8. Recce Day 3
Very early on our third day the snow started to fall and didn’t really stop. Minor roads were
impossible so having found a charming co ee stop in a mountain Gasthof we descended to the plain
and entered Hungary. Immediately over the border the appearance of the towns, villages, farms,
roads and people, was totally di erent from what we had seen before. The town of Koszeg has a pretty
square and we arranged for the cars to be parked there while competitors have lunch in one of the
adjacent restaurants. Forest regularities and an intriguing gravel test took us to Sumeg and our hotel.

9. Recce Day 4
We awoke to a cloudless blue sky and bitterly cold temperatures. The previous afternoon we had
visited a tremendous permanent race circuit and tried to rent it for a test at the end of Day 9. This was
impossible but an agreement was reached to open Day 10 with it so we retraced our steps a little to
integrate it into the route. It promises to be a busy morning with the circuit, a Rallycross track and a
testing gravel regularity before a café lunch overlooking Lake Balaton. After lunch we are in the Great
Hungarian Plain where, as expected, the countryside is at, and the roads are straight. Just outside
the city of Pecs, thanks to our friends in the local motor club, we hope to have a short hill climb
followed by a twisty, and wonderfully hilly, regularity. Pecs, pronounced “Pech”, was founded by the
Romans and is full of wonderful architecture. We had planned for the rally to carry on to Szeged but
Pecs was so delightful we decided to end the day there. We will be split between two hotels, one very
grand but a bit faded, the other modern and bright. Both are a very short walk from the main square
where we hope to park our cars overnight.

10. Recce Day 5
A short way out of town we found a long, twisty regularity before going back down to the plain,where
everything was shrouded in fog. We stopped in Baja, again on the Danube. This city is known to Mark
Appleton and me as it was a stop on John Brown’s 1998 London to Cape Town Rally. We stopped at our
original choice for the rally, the Novotel in Szeged, and by this time snow was falling heavily,
everything was shrouded in fog and the maps were out to help stitch the new plan together.

11. Recce Day 6
From Szeged it was a short run to the border with Romania where once we had our COVID vaccination
certi cates scanned we were quickly on our way. Our original plan was for the rally to do a test or two
near the city of Arad and then sleep in Timisoara. The latter city turned out to be surrounded by miles of industrial
warehouses and having seen a decent looking hotel in Arad plans were changed yet again.

12. Recce Day 7
Jim and I had two nights in Arad to let me catch up on route notes, maps and future plans. We had got
into Romania, which already felt like a victory, and in the evening found a very pleasant pub attached
to a micro-brewery with decent food and no goulash to be seen. Bliss!

13. Recce Day 8
Back in Arad, where the streets were treacherous with ice, we searched for a city o cial to help
arrange things in the area. I was sent from o ce to o ce and saw levels of bureaucracy that I thought
had disappeared with the fall of communism. Finally, after 90 minutes of queues and disinterested
shrugs I found a charming multilingual woman who worked directly for the mayor. After a tour of the
rather grand City Hall, we were o on our way through snow covered roads happy in the knowledge
that Arad would work for us. The afternoon got better and better; a tremendous, long section through
a forest was followed by an amazing hunting lodge in the middle of nowhere. There was lots of
enticing gravel but with daylight fading fast thanks to the time lost in the morning we reluctantly gave
up and headed for our very welcoming hotel in Sibiu.

14. Recce Day 9
With everything under a thick covering of snow we headed o to cover the end of Rally Day 12 in
reverse before returning to make the road book notes. The snow got increasingly deeper and just as
we were considering a U-turn we got stuck, and properly so. It was minus nine degrees and it took a
full hour before we nally got some traction from a wooden pole wedged under the front right wheel.
Finally free, we turned around, contemplated a warming brandy, but decided the mountainous
section of Rally Day 13 could be explored. And what a section it was. The Transalpina is Romania’s
highest road, built by the military in 1938 and opened to tra c in 2012, although for safety reasons it is
still closed from 18h00 to 08h00 each night. Views were spectacular and we discovered a couple of
hefty gravel regularity sections to keep the competitive level high.

15. Recce Day 10
Today we descended from the mountains and onto the plain heading for the capital, Bucharest, but
not before discovering some interesting back roads and a couple of test venues. Our arrival in
Bucharest was surprisingly simple and the luxury of the JW Marriott hotel was much appreciated
after some hard days on the road.