Ge'n'ç Talents

Every ageing driver who thinks of themselves as quick has said it at least once. Though not to the same extent as our revered elders, the poison got into my veins after watching the Bosphorus Rally in 1990. When you love something very much, making sacrifices to get it doesn't feel hard. And while making those sacrifices, you can end up arriving late. As late-blooming wannabe talents, on the start line of one rally my co-driver Yavuz Harani and I listened to "Wasted Years" over the intercom, nodding to our lost years before heading into the stage.

Plenty of training courses and seminars have been held to date. I think I attended almost all of those held over the last 15-20 years... There were many events: the İSOK Renç Koçibey seminar in a Ford KA, where we wrecked Volkan (Işık)'s Palios; the Fiesta Cup selections, where we were coached by the heroes of our youth; the one where we got to know Team Active and Ertan. Most of them ended with a prize. Speaking of prizes, the event where I backed Turkey's first Internet Rally Championship with the Rallivideo team and co-drove for winner Necmi Hasbudak was one of the most seriously rewarding ones. But, as someone who has been involved in most of them, I have to say frankly that none of them came close to the level of TOSFED Is Looking for a Star. First of all, the federation itself is the organiser. Until now, these things happened thanks to the sacrifice of clubs or former competitors who loved the sport dearly. The federation has finally remembered its core duty and, instead of holding events in palaces, has taken a step towards finding young competitors from every corner of the country. Until now, under the pretext of "promoting the sport", we hosted the most expensive circuses in the world. But not even a leaf of that wind was left for the sport. Even the circuit that remains has become a subject of controversy today. Since many people have written about it, I won't go into that topic, but from what I can see, the federation, competitors and teams have become one body on this problem. I think the 2018 season will bring pleasant surprises for everyone.

As for Tofaş Fiat, which supplied the cars used in the project, it is providing both financial and moral support. But in my view the most important thing is that they are taking the development of motorsport versions of the Egea seriously. You can feel it just by looking at the details of the car. The underlying hardware, such as the roll-cage, body kit and main wiring, is of a standard that befits a team like Tofaş Fiat, which has designed and built an S1600. But there are one or two other details that caught my attention, such as the spacer used on the car carrying a printed logo and size information, at factory-part level... Even the car's mounting points had details different from the road version. If it is planned properly (and before this event the cars did a road show, visiting 3-4 cities), it looks like an Egea owner could go to a Fiat service centre and buy a kit for their own car. That is very important, because this sport needs to reach and touch the public. Tofaş is a very important brand. If someone is going to lead this, that brand should be "Tofaşk". However, I do have one humble criticism. In this part of the world, when people say modified, everyone has an Abarth on their lips. Just as we all say "selpak" instead of tissue, Tofaş holds an Abarth brand as valuable as Selpak. Moreover, Fiat now uses the Fiat and Abarth logos side by side in all its worldwide operations. But not here. Perhaps the Italians chose this because, once the Abarth name is involved, they want to own it themselves. Koray (Kafkas) was very busy during the event, so we had no chance to discuss or chat about this. As a footnote, I wish they had run the Linea Cup years ago when there were rumours the team would close down. Of course, the internal dynamics work very differently, and not everything is as it looks from the outside, but as a motorsport fan it pained me to see those beloved Fiat Coupés disappear and Sandstrom go to a museum. It is a relief to see them back, and in the sport thanks to quick drivers like Fatih (Kara) and Yiğit (Timur).

This season the Turkish Championship is without Ford. Instead of winning a title in Turkey every year and handing the trophy to the manufacturer, Serdar (Bostancı) went off to the wolves' den with Murat and Buğra. Even though the ERC organisers changed a rule they had announced before the season at the first event to suit themselves, we are leading the teams' standings. I hope Serdar will bring that trophy back here at the end of the season too.

But what has dampened our spirits this season wasn't just what Orhan (Avcıoğlu) went through. The chain of events that began at the Aegean Rally, when Yağız / Bahadır missed a lap in the SSS in front of everyone, grew enormously and turned into a tension that nobody wanted. As Orhan said in one conversation, I hope that whoever becomes champion at the end of the season, that incident will not be a factor.

The point of all these words is that the phrase ge"n"ç talent should be said not only about the competitors, but also about president Serkan Yazıcı. Of course there are shortcomings; some people are happy, some are unhappy. But I can see and I know that what hasn't been done in this sport until now is being attempted, however late. But it won't happen overnight. It isn't easy to break the image in people's eyes of motorsport as an unreachable rich person's hobby, and so on...

On this occasion I want to make a call to everyone: go to your own city's club. Take ownership of that club. Except for a handful of clubs, for years clubs were seen as vote depots for the fuss of the general assembly. Those who became club officials clung to their seats and used the clubs for their own ends.

Are you complaining about the organisation of a race?
Go to the club and take ownership. Do a better job yourselves.
Typing on a keyboard is easy.
Go and put your hand under the stone, if you love it so much.
It's not ge"n"ç for anything...