Last inhalation of dust before the closure of the "To the Negev" rally - Walla! vehicle

2020-09-17T16:35:15.348Z

52 competitors jumped into a two-day race and about 300 demanding kilometers in dunes, rocks and highways. Despite the corona's limitations, it was a polished and fine event that strengthened confidence in the resilience of motor sports in Israel.

vehicle
Motorsport

Last inhalation of dust before the closure of the "El Hanegev" rally

52 competitors jumped into a two-day race and about 300 demanding kilometers in dunes, rocks and highways.

Despite the corona's limitations, it was a polished and fine event that strengthened confidence in the resilience of motor sports in Israel.

(Promoted Content)

The leading chefs in Israel will teach you to cook - at home

In collaboration with Foody

To the full article

Tal Weinberg and Nitzan Bustan opened the orange wasp burners, and were the fastest with GPS and four wheels

Over the years, the motor sports scene has improved beyond recognition - race cars have improved to professional levels, SBSs have taken over the arena, sports have become strictly legal.

So are the rules and the tools, but the people have not changed at all - even today I met in the parking lot the same ardent eyes I saw in the 'zealots' rally 'decades ago, the same determination we met in the international' Pharaohs 'rally', the same competitiveness that turns into reservists The stopwatch.

Young competitors are also starting to appear on two and four wheels, a welcome and refreshing addition.

Ziv Carmi hovered over the dunes, achieving record times for GPS navigators

Road story or GPS?

One of the results of technological advancement is the struggle between navigation methods.

Rally navigation has always been carried out with the help of a "road story" that leads the competitors step by step, in an unknown way.

Navigating with a difficult and challenging road book, attaches immense importance to navigator abilities.

The road book especially challenges the bikers who must keep one eye on the trail, another eye on the road story.

The story of the road is printed on a roll of paper, the navigator marks important points in color.

It is a challenging and difficult navigation (Photo: Tali Erel)

In the classic European racing world, rally-riding is conducted through a guidebook, with GPS devices installed in the vehicle for control or safety purposes only.

The Americans still use GPS and we navigate both methods - which creates two separate races, as part of one event.

Challenge-seeking teams and those that compete abroad as well, stick to navigation in a road story - this allows them to participate in international leagues and places a great responsibility on the navigators and organizers, who must produce a very accurate and detailed road book.

The 'side-by-side' vehicles are relatively accessible, allowing new drivers to join the motor arena

Beside them are the GPS navigation enthusiasts;

Electronic navigation is easier and safer, allowing drivers to give in to gas without fear of navigation mistakes (which also occur with GPS, but less so).

The navigation routes in the two methods are slightly different, to avoid a situation where a competitor will track a story after a GPS competitor;

Yes, here too the system needs to be protected from combinators ... It is precisely the Israeli motorcyclists who navigate early with a road story, followed by the other categories.

Shai on the right, Dan in the center, Gidi on the left - a dynasty of crazy talkers, who dedicate themselves to organizing a motor sport event (Photo: Eli Revivo)

family business

If the name "Katanov" reminds you of something in the depths of history, you are not wrong.

The organizer of the event is the son of Gidi Katanov, who organized off-road racing in the 1990s - at the time it was illegal to compete in Israel, so he called the events a "non-competitive navigation trip".

In those years, Raz Heiman and Aviv Kadshai rode motorcycles, some of the current competitors had not yet been born, but Dan had already absorbed the racing atmosphere on board the family 'Chevrolet' Franklin ', a huge and clumsy space frigate.

Even today, Gidi marks the road books, helping his son organize the races.

The second daughter, Shai, handles administration and marketing, cultivates relationships with the authorities, etc.

Family support and connection are critical to the success of the races because it is a complex operation with lethal involvement of authorities, attorneys, military, PA, and other factors that confirm the race and track.

The terrain conditions were varied and challenging.

In the background, Triton the press we have brought so far

Give in gas

And after all the preparations, approvals, cancellations, preparation of the race cars and a quiet desert night, the 52 competitors lined up on the starting line.

The first day track included three 240-kilometer cumulative stages;

During the day the third stage was canceled, due to the intense heat.

Most competitors are well acquainted with the race area which included crane and shunra sands, dunes, bumpy trails, and upright cliffs.

Everyone knows the area but navigation is very difficult due to the multiplicity of trails and the lack of prominent landmarks - except for the solar station tower that shines in the distance, like that huge torch.

The first competitors finished the first day after about two and a half hours, and returned to the desert ship khan.

The mechanics stormed the battered vessels, urgent couriers were sent north to fetch axles and tires, others entered for a light siesta, dinner and sleep in a tent or air-conditioned cabin.

The second day route included two laps of a cumulative length of 140 miles.

"There's a pile of guys on the dune."

Between the ranking sections, everyone is embracing and good friends (Photo: Tali Erel)

The eagles took off at dawn

Every war has small systems made up of personal battles, which are the energy that pushes us to reach great achievements.

One of the competitors I was happy to meet was Dror Cohen, a racing driver and former Air Force pilot, confined to a wheelchair.

Dror is a stubborn guy accustomed to dealing with crises;

In 2008, Dror jumped into the Paris-Dakar Rally, equipped with a Silverado race built by Edo Cohen, two aid workers and a great willingness to devour Africa.

Dakar 2008 was canceled the day before the launch (due to al-Qaeda threats), a historic and traumatic event for participants and organizers, who had to endure huge mental anguish, and very large financial losses.

Following that cancellation, Dakar was transferred to South America.

Dror Cohen referred to the race as a formation workshop ahead of his expected departure for the Morocco Rally

Dror returned to Israel and participated in several races, but in 2010 he disabled the race car.

And here today I meet him next to a Maverick X3 prepared for battle, equipped with a system for driving with only two hands.

"This unique mechanism is so fast and intuitive" Dror enthuses after the race;

"The steering is faster and shorter than that of a standard Maverick, and the gas and braking levers are very comfortable to use."

It was the first race of Dror and Avi as a team, a fantastic training workshop for them and their sponsors (IDF Disabled Organization, Purple Direct Rehabilitation, MNM Everything for Industry). As those planning to go to the Morocco Rally next year (they have already registered for Morocco 2020, But the event was canceled due to the corona crisis) they navigated through the road book, chatted quite a bit, but reached the destination.What fun to see the sticking to the mission, and the fire in the eyes.

The heavy Advocate motorcycles had a hard time crossing the swampy dunes;

Nir Bakai did not give up, and reached the top of the category podium (Photo: Naftali Tseng)

And the winner is...

Difficult and tiring were the driving and navigation, the falls of the bikers, swans and malfunctions in the 4X4 vehicles, but at the end of the day there is a podium;

To be honest, two podiums, one of road story navigators, and the other of GPS navigators.

The first place among the road story navigators goes to Raz Heiman and Hillel Segal, who finished the two days of the race in a record time of 4:28:14 hours.

Raz and Hillel's 'yellow' is not as fast as the dusters and motorcycles, but Hillel's teamwork and eloquent navigation led them to fast time in all teams.

Roni Fishman and Kfir Niri finished with the Maverick in 4:44:28.

The fastest biker with a road story was Fellow Fields who finished the track in 4:49:43 hours.

In the group of GPS navigators, the fastest was Ziv Carmi with a KTM motorcycle, who finished the route in 3:31:50 hours.

Tal Weinberg's Tropical Track had no competitors, and he devoured the track at 3:35:35.

Nadav Logsi was the fastest senior among motorcycles;

With a time of 4:48:24 he proved that even veterans, there is more to say.

The full rally results can be seen here.

Table of final results of the race

The weird chicken in the race was Michael Chen’s offense vehicle that was fought, and broken, and repaired, and broken again.

He will return (Photo: Alex Kornichuk)

The Israeli Rally-Ride Association and Dan Katanov are preparing to launch another race on December 25-26, get the tools ready!

The aim is to continue to increase the number of participants, among other things with the help of regulations that will make it easier for owners of sprinklers and RZRs to adapt their vehicles to the race's safety regulations.

The tireless Eli Shachar took on this task and the big dream is to hold an annual international rally in Israel, a task that is certainly possible (we have already done it, in 2019).

The Triton "Pro" gave us cool territory, even in 40-degree heat

The press carriage

For the sake of rally coverage, we added a Mitsubishi Triton with the 'Pro' terrain kit.

Over the years I have learned that a 4X4 pickup is the best assistance vehicle to cover a desert race: it is fast and agile, passable, the open box allows you to transport equipment and position yourself in a comfortable photo position.

The improved Triton drove us on the road with great ease and in the field he was agile, passable, and sturdy.

The Triton swallowed trails lightly, crawled in a technical passage we stumbled upon after blabbering on, and hovered over the hot dunes with 20PSI in off-road tires.

The 'Pro' improvement kit not only improves the quality of off-road and road travel, it is also more resistant to tire damage and underbody bumps.

Pleasure of a car.

Weinberg flies in the dunes (Photo: Eli Revivo)

The most advanced is the most lucrative

Compulsory insurance starting at NIS 54 per month

By the insurance company WE SURE

Purchase >>

Thanks and besieged

I am grateful to Colmobil for lending the van, and additional thanks go to those who contributed to the successful existence of the El Hanegev Rally: Dan Service Center, Ayalim, Ofarim on Wheels, DLB Motosport KTM, the Israel Automobile and Karting Association, the Israel Motor Sports Association , Rally Ride Association.

Additional thanks to Raz Heiman, Eli Shachar, Gil Goldbaum, Orit Kahtan, Ramat Negev Regional Council, Khan Shipat Hamidbar, the Katanov family for generations, Major General Maayan Arten of the Dimona Police, Southern Command Coordinator. See you on December 24, Inshala.

Share on Facebook
Share on WhatsApp
Share on general
Share on general
Share on Twitter
Share on Email

0 comments

Source: walla

All tech articles on 2020-09-17