Team85

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Allgäu-Orient Rally · 2016

Judo goes Orient 2016

6 mates · 3 cars · 1 goal

Where it all started: Team #85's first Allgäu-Orient Rally. Four weeks, right across Eastern Europe and Turkey all the way to Georgia — with scrapyard cars, an appetite for adventure and aid supplies in the boot.

Team #85 in 2016 — six judokas in the dojo

At a glance

  • ≈ 5,700 km Distance
  • 4 weeks on the road
  • 3 cars 6 mates
  • 4th place · 74 teams

The route

Oberstaufen DE · Start Bllice AL · Aid project Plovdiv BG · Aid project Istanbul TR · Waypoint Giresun TR · Waypoint Tiflis GE · Waypoint Sivas TR · Waypoint Dalyan TR · Finish Map: Natural Earth
Start / Finish Aid project Waypoint
From Oberstaufen across the Balkans and Turkey out to Georgia (Tbilisi) — then back across Anatolia to the Mediterranean, finishing at the awards in Dalyan. Aid supplies for Albania and Bulgaria in the boot.

The adventure

Six mates, three scrapyard cars and one idea: head towards the Orient with no motorways and no hotels. The Allgäu-Orient Rally took Team #85 from Wohlen through the Balkans and Turkey all the way to Georgia — with tricky special stages like wheelbarrow courses, orange-picking and tracking down village elders.

The crew

Six judo mates from the Freiamt: Roger Hofer (team captain & donations), Andreas Schmid (website & IT), Roland Briner (route & visas), Benjamin Wey (finance), Fabian Koch (communications) and Rafael Zimmermann (tech). A team on the judo mat — and together in a scrapyard car towards the Orient.

The cars

Three scrapyard cars — two BMWs (a 523i Touring and a 520i) and a VW Passat — prepped by hand and lovingly named, most of all “Wilma” in Swiss-flag red and hi-vis colours. Along the way the team wrenched, patched and improvised with whatever tools were on board.

The aid projects

More than a race: the centrepiece was the primary school in the mountain village of Bllice (Dibra district, Albania) — with a leaking roof, missing windows and toilets without running water. The municipality of Zumikon funded around CHF 75,000 for its renovation through the “International ProjectAid” foundation; Team #85 carried school materials all the way from Oberstaufen. Plus aid supplies for an orphanage in Bulgaria. The foundation for everything that followed.

Gallery

The team practising judo in a field during the 2016 rally
The rally car “Wilma” in the snow, wrapped in the Swiss flag and start number
A rally BMW fording a river

The 2016 rally film

Sponsors & supporters

A big thank-you to everyone who made the first rally in 2016 possible.

Sponsors

  • Andalusia, Mellingen
  • Bächer Werbetechnik
  • BRS Brügger Repservice
  • Burkard Optik
  • Drehorgelmusik vom Feinsten
  • Frohsinn-Pub Mägenwil
  • Gehri AG
  • Spritzwerk Hallauer, Tägerig
  • Hallwag Kümmerly+Frey AG
  • handyshop-swiss.ch
  • Heimgartner Fahnen AG
  • Lastech
  • Loge «Zur Brudertreue», Aargau
  • Lüthy Balmer Stocker
  • Meiles Druck & Rüstwerk AG
  • Optik vom Fischmärt
  • Otto's
  • Richard Huber AG – Rosen Huber
  • Sämis Veloshop, Villmergen
  • Sportco
  • Sportgarage Spuler
  • Strebel Lohnunternehmen
  • Treuhand Vanek
  • WissmannWerbung

Individual supporters

Waltraud Schaub, Monika Felix, Vera Viel, Armin Huber, Sofia Jokl, Werner Graber, Gabriel Grossklaus, Häse & Cony Mittelholzer, Roger & Christine Lanz, Eric Keller, lynx, Rouslan Partyka, Roger Hofer, Tobias Hostettler, Simon Rosenberg, Jogi Künstner, Marco Beck, Andreas Schmid

The story continues

Judo goes Orient became Team85. Same crew, same spirit — now heading for the Baltic Sea Circle.

See the current rally → See the 2021 rally →