CT photo exhibition

This year we are finished 10′th event under the name -Croatia Trophy. That was the reason for a little photo exhibition of photos taken by Damir Pildek ( Fotic).

Stage Eight – the finale

As always towards the final stages of the Croatia Trophy, the leaderboard is well stretched out. This doesn’t of course mean much. This event is so tough on cars and people you never know what’s going to happen until the last second of the competition. The favourites at the top are looking at each other out of the sides of their eyes like race horses ready for the off. I think I saw one or two of them even pawing at the ground and making peculiar neighing noises at breakfast but that might possibly have been my imagination.

It’s all a question now of making it through without something breaking either in the car or the people. Somehow, people you really think are going to make it onto the podium only seldom do so in Trophy events. Duct tape, baling wire, shoelaces and bits of old winches hold together many of the remaining vehicles in the competition. Vehicles which were immaculate showpieces a week ago now look like something you might see in Junkyard Wars. Take an immaculate 50,000 Euro show car, give it to a gang of delinquent teenagers for a week and it would still be in better condition than some of these vehicles. But they keep plugging on. Earlier today I was watching a car reversing fast up a steep ascent and through a long ravine because his rear winch was the only one still working. How he thought he was going to tackle the remaining forty kilometres of the stage I have no idea.

And they’re off. Stage Eight, the final stage of the Croatia Trophy is underway. It’s a brutal fight to the finish. Mud again, of course, in infinite variety. Mud in glistening, dark, oily rivers. Mud that clings to you in lumps the size of a loaf of bread. Mud that levels the field and enables long, slow overtaking using winches and a different path through the swamps. Mud that turns all the cars and the competitors exactly the same colour and forces marshals to wipe off the numbers to check vehicles through their checkpoints.

And then the finale – the cleansing crossing of the river Glena to the finish line. Colours not seen for days magically appear on the cars again. Sponsors’ stickers suddenly start to advertise again, all just in time for the lines of photographers at the finish line. Cars emerge from the Glina in a burst of spray and applause. Tired smiles and stinging backslaps are followed by excited chatter and extravagant hand gestures as competitors re-live the stage and tell their stories.

And that’s it, ladies and gentlemen – enough stories from me, your humble Croatia Trophy blogger. I hope I may just have brought this unique and fascinating event alive in your imaginion through my words. See you next year for Croatia Trophy 2011…

Carl Reuter

FINAL ORDER FOR CROATIA TROPHY 2010