Big Shock! Racing team is celebrating another success – a victory in the truck category of the Baja Aragon rally. The driver Martin Macik, navigator Frantisek Tomasek, and mechanic David Svanda, the crew competing with a truck built in the team workshops, led the race from the very start of the first stage up until the final finish line. But it was not an easy win. After a couple of rather slow months, it was a test of the crew’s fitness and endurance – changing tires, driving on rocks and all that in scorching hot weather. The demanding, hot and rocky track, similar to the terrain in Saudi Arabia, was also the perfect testing place for Macik’s truck’s new chassis modifications.
Charles set the pace
Baja Aragon is one of Big Shock! Racing team’s favourite races. This year, there was solid competition, in addition to the Dutch van den Heuvel, there was also the De Rooy team, the Czech Fesh Fesh team or the best local Spanish drivers. Martin Macik came to defend his victory from 2019 – and he certainly did. His yellow truck Charles was the fastest at the finish of Friday’s first special stage. The hot, dusty and rocky track of the first stage measured 177 kilometres and the Czech crew managed to finish it in two hours and forty-five minutes.
“We had a good time. I went easy on Charles for the first thirty kilometres. As we expected, the track was very narrow for trucks, we kept grazing trees from both sides. At the same time, it was hot, around 37 degrees in the mountains. But the car withstood both the high speed and temperature. The tires suffered the most, they completely tore in the finish. Only one tire was pierced by a stone on the track, we replaced it in about four minutes. After that, we drove rally-style all the way to the finish. It’s a great accomplishment. We are the first with a lead of about nine minutes,”
Martin Macik said at the finish of the first stage of the Spanish race, just before he handed over his truck to the mechanics. They did not end the servicing until after midnight.
The battle of tires continues
Before Saturday’s start, the crew of the Big Shock! Racing team considered strategizing and freer pace they could afford thanks to getting in the lead on Friday. In the end, however, the desire to race and the need to push Charles to his limits prevailed. Saturday’s part of the race had two stages, 151 and 212 kilometres respectively. After the first of Saturday’s stages, Martin Macik was second in the finish behind Maurik van den Heuvel, who drove a truck with a chassis developed and built by Martin Macik, Sr. in Sedlčany. But in the overall evaluation, Macik’s crew was in the lead.
“We punctured a tire at about the 35th kilometre, which held us back slightly, although we changed it at the neutralization. The track did not disappoint again, it was demanding, technical, narrow, and rocky. The race is a lot about tires. They heat up to temperatures around 120 degrees and must withstand extreme conditions. But the terrain was beautiful – rugged, with canyons, riverbeds, it even lead under a bridge, where it was very narrow. Nevertheless, Charles did incredibly well,” Macik concluded.
The trophy goes to the Czech Republic, to Sedlčany, to Big Shock! Racing workshop
Macik entered the final, longest stage with a lead of about 6 minutes. It was obvious that the race could be decided by one punctured tire. But the crew of the Big Shock! Racing team managed to stay in the lead.
“After hall the improvements we have made over the last six months, I am satisfied with Charles’ performance on the track. We were anxiously waiting how the new chassis would do, and now I can say with confidence that it was a step in the right direction,”
the team boss Martin Macik, Sr., who is behind the development of team specials, said.
“The race was great, we won! The local fans were also incredible. I managed to get a closer look at the navigation, which has its specifics in Spain,”
the navigator Frantisek Tomasek added. The weekend was very demanding on the crew also physically.
They had sore backs from the track, their heads were spinning and they felt nauseous from the heat after reaching the finish line. It was all worth it, however, as they get to take the first-place trophy back home with them.
Further plans? Going to Přerov to see fans
There will not be much time for rest after returning from Baja Aragon, however. The whole team will go to the Přerov Gorge to meet the fans at the ‘Obsessed with Dakar’ event on Saturday, July 31.
A film documentary from the 2021 Dakar and behind-the-scenes experiences from the legendary long-distance race await the audience. A big advantage of meeting in the open air will also be the opportunity to see the racing specials – Charles and Francis – in action, as well as all the accompanying vehicles.
Those who do not have time to visit ‘Obsessed with Dakar’ in Přerov can experience the event on August 21 in Sedlčany.
Source Big Shock Racing
