Soběšice – reportage by Vladimír Havránek from 1977

Joseph Mamula

BEHIND THE WHEEL

Brno–Sobesice

Written by Vladimir Havranek

Thanks to the dedicated organizers from the Veteran Automotoklub Brno-Královo Pole in Svazarmov for having commemorated one of the famous milestones of Moravian motor sports for several years in a row, which is indelibly written in the history of all Czechoslovak motoring, the motorcycle and car hillclimb race on the historic Brno–Soběšice track.

More than half a century separates us from the first year (May 4, 1924), and yet the 9th meeting of historic motor vehicles held last Saturday reminded us of the six years of this important international motoring event, as if we had only attended it last year. This is especially because the Brno motoring historians brought to the start this year also the former direct participant in the race and factory driver of the Brno Zbrojovka company J. Mamula, winner of the eleven hundred in the 1000 Czechoslovak miles race in 1934.

The starting field of 28 motorcycles from 1927 to 1942 and 32 cars from 1928 to 1949 also testifies to the care that the organizers paid to the organization of the commemorative ride. Among the cars, the attention was drawn to the excellently renovated Brno "Zetka", one of which came all the way from Sopron, Hungary, next to the cute BMW Dixi carts, the English MG sports coupe, the sports Tatra 57, the unique Tatra 49 tricycle and the winning Minor car from the endurance 24-hour race at Le Mans in France in 1949. Of course, there were also small and large Aero cars, Prag cars and Škoda cars - Laurin and Klement. Motorcycle brands Praga BD, Rudge Ulster, Calthorpe, Sunbeam, Indian, BSA, Jawa Robot, Ariel, ČZ, Zündapp, Moto Guzzl and Harley Davidson complemented this technical museum, whose journey from Brno to Soběšice was greeted by a large enthusiastic audience – despite the rain.

This year's Brno veterans' meeting was part of the Czechoslovak qualifying championship, whose classification system evaluated the regularity of the ride on a 3292 m long track with a height difference of 146.3 m and also technical criteria, such as year of manufacture, engine displacement, etc. From these aspects, the motorcycles were divided into two and the cars into four classification groups. Of the Brno motoring historians, Navrátil on a 1934 Moto Guzzi took fourth place in the first group and Slavíček on a 1932 Calthorpe took second place, Sušil on a 1937 Zündapp took third place and Čermák on a 1929 Sunbeam took fourth place in the second group of motorcycles. In cars, Dyk finished fourth on a BMW-Dixi 1934, third on a Tatra 52, fourth on a Škoda Laurin and Klement 1928, second on a Matějíčková on an Aern 30, first on a Z-18 1933, second on a Procházka Austro-Daimler 1930 and third on a Klíma Z-5-Expres 1936 in their respective groups.

The procession of all participating vehicles through the city and the grounds of the 14th International Fair attracted well-deserved attention everywhere and was a pleasant end to another successful commemorative ride for one of our distinguished races from the 1920s.