Day 5 | 04.05.2016: Caught in a Turkish dilemma

You couldn’t see much, because the rain and the darkness obscured the view. But what you could see was moving. And that is quite remarkable, because being moved is not necessarily a feeling you expect in such a moment. In a moment that could have ended badly. But this time it was different. When we were on our way to Istanbul on Wednesday at around 10:30 pm, one of our cars (Vroni) crashed into the vehicle ahead, which was driven by a Turkish man who abruptly changed lanes without signalling. The rear of the other car was smashed, the front of our car crushed on one side, smoke rising from the bonnet. Our teammates had immediately checked on the passengers in our accident vehicle. Nothing had happened. Fortunately! After a few minutes our driver got out. But before he looked at the accident scene, he checked on the other driver, the Turkish man, to make sure he was unharmed. And to apologise to him. The police took about 1.5 hours to arrive. A long time when it’s cold and wet and you’re getting tired. Taking the accident report through the Turkish police was difficult. Especially since the Turkish driver claimed that not he, but a colleague who had since joined them, was the driver. We tried to explain the facts to the police officers. It would have been almost impossible if they hadn’t let us use their phone with Google Translate. Even then, it wasn’t easy. The report then brought certainty: the Turkish man had a blood alcohol level of around 0.90 per mille, our driver naturally 0.00. The matter appears to be closed.

This incident was the moment when the journey lost some of its carefree spirit. One can regret that, and it cannot be ruled out that this somewhat changed the starting position within our team. But this assessment is incomplete and unfair. Because it was also the moment that showed how close our team stands together in difficult situations. The Team Judo goes Orient sometimes presents itself in the best of form precisely because it is a team of friends. And because it functions better than the other teams, at least in extraordinary situations. Strictly speaking, not a novelty. Impressive all the same.

And so it was on Thursday, the day after the accident, after a cold, uncomfortable and short night. The team had very little time to repair the car. And when we finally didn’t know how to proceed, Turkish workers appeared who offered us their help. They towed us to a garage and repaired our car. Only interrupted by tea and photo breaks.

If the other rally teams want to preserve any chance against us, they have to use the one advantage left to them: Team Judo goes Orient consists of six people, and they — the remaining teams — are numerous, around 150 people.

Stories like these are part of everyday life on the Allgäu-Orient Rallye — and yet one can only hope they remain a marginal event that, this time, had a good ending.