On a hill, on the edge of the pueblo there are two serpentine and undulating dirt race courses. The lower track is for motorcycles. It’s narrower and steeper and has large jumps. The upper track is for cars. Rally cars.
I have always had a certain awareness of the sport though my knowledge about rally cars is virtually non-existent. Of course, I might stop while flipping channels on the television and watch a few minutes of racing if it was on — in the days when I had a television that did anything other than streaming. But here in Alozaina, rally racing and motocross is a big deal with locals competing in regular races and tournaments.
The cars that people use generally are small modified road-going cars. Cars like the Peugeot 208 and Renault Clio. Outliers included an Audi TT, an 80’s BMW 3 series, and franken-car buggies that were brewed at home and finished in flat panels of sheet metal. Nearly all the cars were heavily modified from stock. Interiors out ripped, typically with only a driver seat and controls left along with roll cages that were foreboding when seen through the lens of the speed and course the cars would run on. Thankfully I didn’t witness any accidents.
The race day was a Saturday in early March, 2024 and I didn’t expect to stay long; I had a pretty full docket that included some deep spring cleaning, home repairs, and grocery shopping. My short stop turned into an hour and a half as I wandered the pit area and watched the cars run their laps. It was thrilling to watch. Not the least was the obvious love these drivers had for their machines. I left when my camera ran out of power.
I’ll go back, and next time I will make sure to bring extra batteries and probably a folding chair!