Realizing a dream
Krzysztof Hołowczyc had nursed a burning ambition to become a professional rally driver from the moment he first discovered the thrill of the race at an early age. However, realizing this goal was not easy in Poland in the difficult era of the early 1980s. At one stage the future European champion had to drive a taxi simply in order to get a vital additional fuel ration to help his career. But he was determined: "In my first rally [1984 Kormoran Rally] I drove like crazy, I had no experience, but I had passion and ambition."
Trying times
Lack of funds was a clear hindrance and only in the early 1990s did the situation change with the entrance of big concerns to Poland. Hołowczyc first joined the Toyota Motor Poland team, before nailing his colors to the mast of the Stomil Olsztyn Motor Rally Team.
In 1995 he achieved second place in the European Rally Championship, a year later he became the first Pole in 20 years to win the Polish Rally and in 1997 he became the European Rally Champion driving a Subaru Impreza with Maciej Wisławski as his co-driver. After this spectacular success, he decided to take part in the World Rally Championship series. His seventh place in the Argentina Rally in 1998 is the best-ever performance by a Polish driver in the WRC.
Dakar detour
Devoting the next few years to rallying in Poland, Hołowczyc made an unexpected move and joined the Orlen Team and took part in the 2005 Dakar Rally. What's more he managed to finish the grueling race - ranked 60th overall in the general standings.
"I had considered the Dakar Rally to be an event for retired drivers. However, it is a great challenge, it's like the Himalayas for a mountaineer. It was the greatest adventure of my life," he admits.
Clear vision
And it seems the adrenaline that goes with the rally is addictive. "The next day after the rally you hate it, but a month later the desert starts to call you and you miss it," Hołowczyc explains, adding that cross-country rallies are a natural continuation of an experienced driver's career. Although he states that traditional rallies seem like short sprints in comparison to the Dakar, Hołowczyc said that he would like to take part in flat WRC rallies as well.
Another of Poland's racing heroes, Rafał Marton, who as Łukasz Komornicki's co-driver came fifth in the 2003 cross-country rally championships and 14th in the 2004 Dakar, used a similar comparison when talking about cross country and traditional rallies. "It is like comparing a 100 meter sprint and a marathon. The first one is all about speed, while the marathon runner must think, calculate, save his strength and energy and must have good tactics and plenty of experience.
One-time trip
"There are much more factors in cross country rallies than in the flat ones that determine the success," he said.
What's more, while in World Rally Championship the routes are the same every year, they are hardly ever repeated in cross-country rallies. As Marton says: "We only have GPS points which are our guides. The organizers set a 'corridor' based on GPS points, inside of which the car has to move, but the distance between them is up to the co-driver's interpretation."
Uphill struggle
Considering the fact that the rally book for each stage is given to the crew the evening before the stage and the co-driver has only few hours to determine the route and check the maps, a good and experienced navigator is essential to cross the finishing line in the first place.
Although the vast spaces of a desert might seem like a co-driver's nightmare, Marton said that it's much easier to get lost in the mountains. "The mountains are most dangerous when it comes to navigational traps. The desert offers you almost unlimited number of opportunities to correct your errors. But in the mountains if you end up in a dead end or come across an impassable canyon, one has no chance to quickly correct this error, but has to come back to the last correct place on the route, which may be dozens of kilometers away," Marton explained.
Marton actually didn't plan a career as a co-driver. He started as a mechanic, having worked for both Hołowczyc and Leszek Kuzaj. When working for Łukasz Komornicki, he occasionally practiced with him as a co-driver and their co-operation was so good that Komornicki offered him a place in the right front seat.
Front seat
His years of experience as a mechanic certainly didn't harm his career as a co-pilot. On the contrary, in cross-country races it is almost a rule that navigators must have some kind of mechanical background. "Most leading drivers choose co-drivers, who in case of a minor malfunction would be able to fix it without the need of the service truck," he said.
Last year's Paris-Dakar Rally result is testament to the successful team work between Marton and Komornicki. They were ranked in eigth and ninth place for a long time, before a technical defect made them slide down the rankings, but they managed to climb back and finish the race in a creditable position. It was an even bigger success considering the fact that their two previous starts they failed to finish the grueling trial. "Only on our third Dakar we drove with some comfort, the first two rallies were all about learning," he revealed.
Mean machine
Marton emphasizes that neither the time spent in the car, nor the long distances have ever been a problem for him. "We [with Łukasz Komornicki] have always repeated that our biggest problem is the technical imperfection of our vehicles. Technical difficulties made us withdraw from the rally in 2002 and 2003," he said.
Hołowczyc's impressions are similar. "I don't mind sleeping two, three hours a day, the worst things are the ones that you don't have any effect on. We ran out of fuel, because the car used up twice as much gas due to extremely hard conditions. We couldn't do anything about it and were stuck for a whole night in the middle of the desert," he recalls. But he quickly added, "crossing the finish line at the Lac Rose near Dakar compensates all the difficulties."
Up in smoke
With regard to potential development of the sport in Poland, both Marton and Hołowczyc see the lack of money and media interest as the main hindrances. "Sponsors are not keen on financing events which don't get much TV coverage," Hołowczyc said.
He also complains that there is no system for supporting young and talented drivers in Poland. Marton points to another bugbear - in the rally boom of the late 1990s most of the money came from alcohol and tobacco producers. But the ban on cigarette and alcohol advertising meant the end of big money in the rally business. And without money it is hard to compete against the world's best.
Cost of the ride
"Our car cost between EUR 300,000 and EUR 400,000 (zł.1.3-1.7mln), while the best driver's cars are worth more than EUR 2 (zł.8.6) million. Our performance in the rally was a constant compromise between the need for speed and the awareness of the vehicles limits," he says.
Hołowczyc has similar memories from his starts in the traditional WRC races. "Racing the best teams in the WRC was almost impossible, their budget were in the area of tens of millions of US dollars, ours was around two million. Despite this we made it to the top ten a few times" he said.
Trying times
Lack of funds was a clear hindrance and only in the early 1990s did the situation change with the entrance of big concerns to Poland. Hołowczyc first joined the Toyota Motor Poland team, before nailing his colors to the mast of the Stomil Olsztyn Motor Rally Team.
In 1995 he achieved second place in the European Rally Championship, a year later he became the first Pole in 20 years to win the Polish Rally and in 1997 he became the European Rally Champion driving a Subaru Impreza with Maciej Wisławski as his co-driver. After this spectacular success, he decided to take part in the World Rally Championship series. His seventh place in the Argentina Rally in 1998 is the best-ever performance by a Polish driver in the WRC.
Dakar detour
Devoting the next few years to rallying in Poland, Hołowczyc made an unexpected move and joined the Orlen Team and took part in the 2005 Dakar Rally. What's more he managed to finish the grueling race - ranked 60th overall in the general standings.
"I had considered the Dakar Rally to be an event for retired drivers. However, it is a great challenge, it's like the Himalayas for a mountaineer. It was the greatest adventure of my life," he admits.
Clear vision
And it seems the adrenaline that goes with the rally is addictive. "The next day after the rally you hate it, but a month later the desert starts to call you and you miss it," Hołowczyc explains, adding that cross-country rallies are a natural continuation of an experienced driver's career. Although he states that traditional rallies seem like short sprints in comparison to the Dakar, Hołowczyc said that he would like to take part in flat WRC rallies as well.
Another of Poland's racing heroes, Rafał Marton, who as Łukasz Komornicki's co-driver came fifth in the 2003 cross-country rally championships and 14th in the 2004 Dakar, used a similar comparison when talking about cross country and traditional rallies. "It is like comparing a 100 meter sprint and a marathon. The first one is all about speed, while the marathon runner must think, calculate, save his strength and energy and must have good tactics and plenty of experience.
One-time trip
"There are much more factors in cross country rallies than in the flat ones that determine the success," he said.
What's more, while in World Rally Championship the routes are the same every year, they are hardly ever repeated in cross-country rallies. As Marton says: "We only have GPS points which are our guides. The organizers set a 'corridor' based on GPS points, inside of which the car has to move, but the distance between them is up to the co-driver's interpretation."
Uphill struggle
Considering the fact that the rally book for each stage is given to the crew the evening before the stage and the co-driver has only few hours to determine the route and check the maps, a good and experienced navigator is essential to cross the finishing line in the first place.
Although the vast spaces of a desert might seem like a co-driver's nightmare, Marton said that it's much easier to get lost in the mountains. "The mountains are most dangerous when it comes to navigational traps. The desert offers you almost unlimited number of opportunities to correct your errors. But in the mountains if you end up in a dead end or come across an impassable canyon, one has no chance to quickly correct this error, but has to come back to the last correct place on the route, which may be dozens of kilometers away," Marton explained.
Marton actually didn't plan a career as a co-driver. He started as a mechanic, having worked for both Hołowczyc and Leszek Kuzaj. When working for Łukasz Komornicki, he occasionally practiced with him as a co-driver and their co-operation was so good that Komornicki offered him a place in the right front seat.
Front seat
His years of experience as a mechanic certainly didn't harm his career as a co-pilot. On the contrary, in cross-country races it is almost a rule that navigators must have some kind of mechanical background. "Most leading drivers choose co-drivers, who in case of a minor malfunction would be able to fix it without the need of the service truck," he said.
Last year's Paris-Dakar Rally result is testament to the successful team work between Marton and Komornicki. They were ranked in eigth and ninth place for a long time, before a technical defect made them slide down the rankings, but they managed to climb back and finish the race in a creditable position. It was an even bigger success considering the fact that their two previous starts they failed to finish the grueling trial. "Only on our third Dakar we drove with some comfort, the first two rallies were all about learning," he revealed.
Mean machine
Marton emphasizes that neither the time spent in the car, nor the long distances have ever been a problem for him. "We [with Łukasz Komornicki] have always repeated that our biggest problem is the technical imperfection of our vehicles. Technical difficulties made us withdraw from the rally in 2002 and 2003," he said.
Hołowczyc's impressions are similar. "I don't mind sleeping two, three hours a day, the worst things are the ones that you don't have any effect on. We ran out of fuel, because the car used up twice as much gas due to extremely hard conditions. We couldn't do anything about it and were stuck for a whole night in the middle of the desert," he recalls. But he quickly added, "crossing the finish line at the Lac Rose near Dakar compensates all the difficulties."
Up in smoke
With regard to potential development of the sport in Poland, both Marton and Hołowczyc see the lack of money and media interest as the main hindrances. "Sponsors are not keen on financing events which don't get much TV coverage," Hołowczyc said.
He also complains that there is no system for supporting young and talented drivers in Poland. Marton points to another bugbear - in the rally boom of the late 1990s most of the money came from alcohol and tobacco producers. But the ban on cigarette and alcohol advertising meant the end of big money in the rally business. And without money it is hard to compete against the world's best.
Cost of the ride
"Our car cost between EUR 300,000 and EUR 400,000 (zł.1.3-1.7mln), while the best driver's cars are worth more than EUR 2 (zł.8.6) million. Our performance in the rally was a constant compromise between the need for speed and the awareness of the vehicles limits," he says.
Hołowczyc has similar memories from his starts in the traditional WRC races. "Racing the best teams in the WRC was almost impossible, their budget were in the area of tens of millions of US dollars, ours was around two million. Despite this we made it to the top ten a few times" he said.
