Baja Szczecinek 2020: Finger on the pulse

„May you live in interesting times,” so says the old Chinese curse. There’s no denying that we’re having such interesting times now, as practically the whole world is going crazy because of coronavirus, which, nota bene, came from China. Coronavirus affected also the world of rallies, including Polish ones. One of them has already been cancelled and another has been postponed. Also, organizers of Baja Szczecinek, planned for 5th-6th June, aren’t sure that coronavirus will go away until then, but they keep a finger on the pulse. The rally is prepared, waiting only for the green light. 

Preparations for every edition of Baja Szczecinek start practically at the very moment when competitors leave the service park. Organizers have to analyze the rally, draw conclusions, start planning. The main element of these preparations is, of course, preparation of the route itself. It’s not as easy process as it may seem. And it can’t be done on the basis of Google Maps or similar tools. You just have to go there. Organizers of Baja Szczecinek, Andrzej Derengowski and Grzegorz Wasilewski, look after “their” terrain and set the stages out personally.

Preparing the route is not an easy task, because it can’t be done once – you have to regularly appear on the polygons, as the forest changes, roads change. Briefly – you have to keep your finger on the pulse. The first “meeting” with the track sometimes is a bit “shocking” – as you can see in the pictures, how it may look before the start of work. 

You have to go around it all, see it and think over. Only then you can get to preparing special stages themselves. And here there is another dose of serious work, effects of which can be seen in photos below. Andrzej and Grzegorz do this work personally too.

In the meantime, you also have to prepare the roadbook, also keeping in mind that terrain changes constantly, so the roadbook itself needs to be checked several times, and sometimes it requires corrections, which have to be agreed upon every time they’re made. Repeat all, again and again, for a couple of months, until the rally, to make sure that no competitor will be surprised by anything on the track. Here Andrzej and Grzegorz also keep a finger on the pulse all the time – they’re only waiting for the pandemic to stop, for the date to be confirmed (or a new date to be set, if needed) and for good weather, which will let them make another inspection of stages and final touches. Yes, we are ready!

Text: Official press release of Baja Szczecinek 
Translation: Anna Michalska, Rita Kónya