Barum Czech Rally Zlín 

Star Rally Historic getting stronger

1. 7. 2014 - Jakub Hofbauer, press centre BCRZ

Barum Czech Rally Zlín is a race with very rich tradition - after all it's currently in the fifth decade of its history. For many years this heritage has been remarked by additional rally for historical cars which used to compete on Barum rally routes in the past. Star Rally Historic also gains year by year the spirit of tradition as there will be in 2014 the serial number 7 before its name.

While in the first years it was mainly an attraction for spectators, who watched the demonstration drive of classic rally cars, this year for already second time the Star Rally Historic will go on as the fully-fledged rally with the time measuring. This change was applied for the first time in 2013, when the organizers from AK Barum club decided to hear out the competitors' wishes. And as the previous year showed, this novelty was a positive step forward. The rally could welcome the elite group of Czech historic motorsport drivers including Jiří Navrátil with his Ford Sierra RS Coswort or Lubomír Tenkl with the BMW M3, who wanted to outshine local Jaroslav Vančík driving his Lada VFTS. Competition of these three drivers brought to the rally a lot of action and spice as they were battling up to the very last meter of the ultimate special stage. The sixth edition of the Star Rally Historic was finally won by Jaroslav Vančík in front of second Lubomír Tenkl, Jiří Navrátil finished because of 10 seconds penalty as the third.

Organizers of the Star Rally Historic hope that in 2014 the competition will be even stronger. Up to now contacts with various teams and drivers led the organization committee to enlarge the route capacity. "Historic cars are getting more and more popular both for the spectators and the drivers. This interest induced us to provide more space for the historic cars in the general Barum rally programme, so we could increase the number of accepted cars in the Star Rally Historic from forty to sixty," says Zdeněk Bělák, the member of the Star Rally Historic organization committee.

Like in 2013 also this year the starting field will be divided into two basic groups. The first one will run with time measuring as the classic rally and the second will be organised as the rally legend demonstration drive. As showed in previous year, this splitting can assure a big diversity in the participating car park. "In the measured group there are little bit tougher requirements like HTP passport of each car," explains Mr. Bělák. "On the other side in the rally legend group the regulations are much more benevolent so the rally can be entered by crews, who don't have competition licenses or their cars don't fully match the homologation. Thanks to this the spectators can see cars, which normally couldn't enter ordinary rally."

Like in the past the organizers' team is negotiates with foreign participants about their possible start in Zlín. These crews regularly bring to the Star Rally Historic the most classical rally cars by Porsche, Lancia, Audi and other manufacturers. It was in 2013 when Zlín for the first time in the history could welcome the legendary Gr. B Lancia 037 Rally. But there left many other iconic cars to come to Zlín so the organization team don't rest on its laurels. But searching and managing such cars for the rally costs the organizers a big effort. "Star Rally Historic is still mainly an additional race to the main Barum Czech Rally Zlín competition, therefore its funding is little bit limited. Still every year we provide some indirect support to the competitors like accommodation for example. Of course, every one of us wishes to see the legendary Stratos in the Pindula stage, but it's mainly about the negotiations which already run several months now. But we hope we again manage up some attractive cars for the seventh edition of the Star Rally Historic," says Bělák.

VII Star Rally Historic will follow the schemes from the previous years. The competition part will kick off on Friday 29 August in the streets of Zlín on the super special stage with unique spectators' atmosphere. On Saturday 30 August the main action will take place on the special stage Slušovice, which will be – same as in 2012 – organised like the semi-circuit stage. Competitors will go through this stage two times, these passages will be filled up with three classical and legendary special stages around Zlín – Maják, Troják and Semetín. The overall length of the stages is 84.76 km, the start as well as the finish of the rally will be placed in Náměstí Míru square in Zlín.