Central European Rally
The WRC Central European Rally 2023 was held from 26 to 29 October 2023. It was introduced to the WRC World Rally Championship this year and it was the first edition of the rally beyond borders as round of the WRC calendar.
It was held in 3 different countries, Czech Republic, Austria and Germany. Ceremonial Start at Hradčany Square in Prague and SS1 taking place on Thursday and Finish Podium on Sunday afternoon in Passau Germany. It was 310km of racing on 18 stages and 1380km of road section
Last day of Central European Rally started early, again. Good thing was that we were not that far from Passauer Land, stage that we picked for that day. And we managed to not get lost, miracle i know.
Parking spot for this spectator spot was quite a distance, and it was Sunday so we were lucky to even find a spot, as it was full. Another thing i learned on this trip is that Peak Design Travel Backpack is nice for travel, but not great as an all day long on your back walking through fields bag. It is just too big, and even if you pack it light it still has weight. And usually because there is room you don't pack it really light.
We were at a start line and it was packed with people. Interesting thing here was that you could actually watch the car from the spot in the photo below and then "run" up the hill (photo above) and catch it again. That is kinda rare on a rally stage.
Landscapes were amazing. Here you can see people coming and going to the parking lot. That is probably less than half of the road to the parking. And it is quite nice to walk, when you are not in a hurry :)
After some discussion of where to go next, and getting stuck in traffic (i think the street we were in never seen that amount of cars) we decided to go to the finish line.
When we got there it felt like a bad decision. As the spectators zone was starting after the finish line, where cars were already slowing down. So no fast paced action there. But at the end it was a good choice because Hive Rally Car had some problems with the car and was not able to go full speed on the last run.
After that it was again a race with racing cars to get to Passau on the finishing ceremony. We were lucky with parking as the parking place said there is 1 free parking spot. The place was crowded and the ambient was great.
Only photo of Passau i managed to take. It looks like a beautiful city, but we managed to see it mostly from our car.
Check out the Official Hive Aftermovie from Central European Rally
Vlog from our trip, some racing footage and interviews with the racing crew
If you missed Part 1 and Part 2
