As we’ve already been accustomed, the end of the summer brought a new and improved edition of the Suzuki Festival in the heart of Transylvania. To prove that size does not necessarily matter, 28 Suzuki trucks sporting various modifications (from almost standard Jimnyes to a tray back Vitara with Volvo portals and an impressive vacuum – cleaner - hose – type snorkel). Next to the 28 trucks that gave the festival’s name, the start of the competition also welcomed 10 other vehicles of different other origins (Toyotas, G Klasses and Defenders).
The weekend festival was thought up in order to celebrate the love for one particular brand as well as off road entertainment in general, and was strategically placed in the center of Romania, at the inner base of the Fagaras Mountains. This location was chosen because it would be closest to all corners of the land, as well as its stunning scenery and challenging off road tracks.
The plan was to host two days of racing, one of actual tracks – forest and mountains – and the second, a much more spectator-friendly event, was to be a trial section which would allow Suzuki lovers to show their skills and their car’s abilities in front of an audience, but also to have the chance to observe how other trucks performed.
The first day presented the competitors with a 70 kilometers carefully selected at the base of the Fagaras Mountains, not to difficult but taking the cars and their owners on the most impressive landscape available in the area. As it’s the case with these events, a roll over was inevitable, accompanied by other less serious events. The end of the day reserved yet another surprise, with a rather difficult special stage where everyone had to show what man and machine were capable to achieve together.
The second day, being a weekend, was shorter and begun later on in the day. The Suzuki owners got their trucks out in the lazy afternoon air and carefully went through the special stage prepared for both Open and Extreme classes. Throughout the stage, the public was constantly “on the edge of their seats” as it were – the cars performing impressive moves, available only in the Suzuki class, as someone would say. The prize giving ceremony at the end left a few people surprised, with new and inventive prizes such as “I want to, but I can’t” awarded for a team that tried to do the tracks two times and didn’t manage to finish, as well as mentioning the third place in Open class – occupied by the most elderly racer around, 61. Everyone went on their merry way later on in the evening, after a weekend of doing what they do best and hoping for an even better edition of the Suzuki Festival, in 2010
