Sunday 1 December 2013

A Few Words on Communist Cars

You paid your advance to the official national dealer. You even slipped extra bills in there to get you a bit more forward on the waiting list and to make sure you are getting the make, type and colour of car you asked for. All you have to do now is to wait for five years.

Let me put this forward: I was born and raised in a dictatorship in my early years of childhood. I type this in as a reminder upon reading today's news that Soviet Union mk2 has come ever closer to manifestation. But before the story could get a darker twist, let us get on a more idle level of pondering and plunge ourselves into a bit more pleasing topic: cars. Communist car, that is.

I remember clearly as day standing outside no. 77 at the edge of the crowd, holding my mother's hand as a six year-old, looking at a police motorcycle and the German shepherd dog sitting next to some giant-looking police officers. I had no idea at the time but I was part of history happening at large. It was October, 23rd and we were listening to speeches at the very first free commemoration of the Hungarian Revolution of 1956, outside Imre Nagy's birthplace, one of the key figures - and martyr - of the revolt, marking the occasion dropping the affix "People's" from the front of "Republic of Hungary".

Although I have had vague memories of preceding times, the physical evidences of past history still surrounded us as a memento of times, and to an extent they still do - most importantly in the minds of people.

One of those evidences I grew an extensive affection to in general were cars. Cars  that were represented by about ten regular makes and about fifteen types altogether, serving as the only consumer choices ranging territorially from the middle of today's Germany to the Pacific Ocean. Lada, Moskvitch, Skoda, Trabant, Wartburg, Polski, Yugo, Dacia and some oddball and rare makes and types that were either available to government officials only or types that no one ever bothered to buy, they were so bad - even by contemporary standards.

Thursday 21 November 2013

Do You Have Patience to Watch 90-min. Vintage Racing & Gibberish?

If your answer is yes, then do click, but I warn you: there are more than one Communist cars showing up in this movie.

Hungary's 1981 racing documentary, titled "Autóversenyzők" (i.e. "Race Car Drivers") is somewhat of a cult flick among motoring enthusiasts for more than one reason: it has proper racing and rallying footage from an era where there weren't cameras lying around by the hundreds to cover an event, but mostly because it features cars that are getting even rarer each day passing - even in countries of the ex-Eastern Block - that make one part of ex-Westerners go yawning, the rest of them glued to their screens. The movie is - of course - in Hungarian, but I will give you some description to all the commentary that is provided by either the narrator or the racers themselves. Okay, buckle up, nine-piece playlist.

Wednesday 13 November 2013

Memories of the 2012 #WRC @WalesRallyGB

Legends performing in a historical challenge on the land of myths. Surely, a good reason for one to plunge himself into the misty green.

It was sometime in the afternoon. Quite sunny for a change as I recall. I opened the door to let the dogs out for a snippet of fresh air, but they chose to get lazy and lie scattered on the floor - after all the big walk was due to commence a few hours later. I went outside to enjoy - much to my own surprise - the sunshine I had not valued at all before, as we had plenty of it on the continent, and Bristol, UK was short of such feature. I was pondering whether I should get my second fixture of coffee for the day when it struck me: it could be through the pipeline. I went back for the mailbox key and the notifier. I didn't hear the postman coming since we had the bell broken for a few days, but right in the nearest post office it indeed there was my two tickets to the Welsh edition of the 2012 World Rally Championship season.

Thursday 7 November 2013

The Controversial and Glorious Beginnings of Grand Prix Racing

One might think racing, especially Formula One racing has come a long way since its beginnings, but history tells otherwise. This is the story of the events leading up to the first French Grand Prix - the grandfather of all F1 races and how people and politics have not changed since.

Doughnuts. Burnouts. A spinning race car. Thick treadmarks on the asphalt. A relentless scream of eight cylinders by Renault and of an international crowd just absolutely losing it. Sebastian Vettel stopped his car in the middle of the front stretch of the Buddh International Circuit in India - embraced by a massive cloud of tyre-smoke, super-stardom and four gold-pieces - being immortalized and crystallized in history as one of the all-time greats in a technical sport that happens to be one of the most popular one of all the sports around the planet. He got out of his car, threw his fists in the air as if claiming "I am the master of the Galaxy". He was, in fact, even if just for a few moments. An undisputable master of... some sort the least. He then turned back to his vehicle and bowed down in front of it - the craft of composite materials and solutions that helped him to reach the final frontiers of driverhood where only just a handful of people have gone before. As the cloud settled and the man stood tall was it clear that it was history happening. Live. History, whose pages started to fill multiple ages before, in another place. Where mankind was taking another unfamiliar, roaring step into the unknown with no professionals, just fearless daredevils with beautiful minds.

Monday 20 May 2013

Grand Legacy movie

So here the movie that I've worked on in the past weeks in my free time. Not much polished, got some errors and flaws in there, but I hope you enjoy it.

The beginning of Grand Prix racing and IndyCar:




Thursday 16 May 2013

Mille Miglia 2013 - (a clumsy version of following it) LIVE #millemiglia

Twitter live feed and webcams to follow below, just to see what beautiful landscapes Mille Miglia runs through: