One of the oldest automobile competitions in Slovakia, RALLY KOŠICE, will celebrate its fiftieth anniversary this summer. It was founded in 1971 and in the previous years it went through a difficult but successful path to prominence. Auto Klub Košice has been at its birth since the first year until today.
Motoring had very strong roots in the east of Slovakia, as evidenced by a look at the history of the twenties and thirties of the last century. Let's look in the archive and look at the predecessors of the Košice rally. The former Autoclub Košice organized a number of motoring events such as the Reliability drive to the High Tatras and back, the hill climb race on the Košické Oľsany - Košice track, the race on the flat track in Barca near Košice, the 24-hour long-distance drive through Slovakia called the Slovak Eighth or the Reliability Drive through Czechoslovakia.
According to the Kaschauer Zeitung, the first automobile appeared in Košice on October 9, 1900. The report "The first automobile in Košice" reports on the journey of Count Gejza Andrássy from Sečovce to Košice, which took 1.5 hours. At the beginning of the 20s of the last century, the organization of motoring events on a national scale was hindered by the regulation banning the free sale of gasoline and the legal restriction on private driving by cars, which was valid until March 1921. The oldest organized motoring associations in Slovakia were the Bratislava Autoklub and Autoclub Košice, founded in 1927. The founding document as well as the club's statutes have not been preserved, but based on the report from April 1928, the year of its foundation is known, as well as the chairman, who was the lawyer Dr. József Farkas.
By April 1928, Autoclub Košice had a base of 180 members. The meeting rooms of the club were located on Kováčská street. The activity included the organization of sports car events, competitions of elegance, but also legal assistance to motorists or involvement in matters of technical maintenance of roads and traffic signs, and, for example, publishing car maps or car tourist guides. The impact of the economic crisis, which largely dampened the club's activities and subsequent political events after 1938, had a marked impact on its further activity.
The first major motoring event by which Autoclub Košice became known to the public was the first year of the Reliable drive to the High Tatras and back. The reliability drive was held at the turn of June and July 1928 for the purpose of "promoting motoring and motorcycling in eastern Slovakia". The 265 km long route led through Košice, Prešov, Spišské Podhradie, Levoča, Poprad, Tatranská Lomnica, Kežmarok, Spišská Nová Ves, Krompachy and Margecany with the destination in Košice in front of the Schalkház hotel. Autoclub Košice organized two more years of this competition, but with changes of the route.
ACK (Autoclub Košice) made a significant contribution to the development of motor sports in Slovakia with hill climb races on the Košické Oľšany - Košice track. The first year of the race was held in September 1930. It was run on a short track with a length of only 4.275 kilometers. It was the first speed race in Slovakia and 22 drivers took part in it. It also holds the primacy in organizing races on the flat track in Barca near Košice. The speedway in Barca was the first official racing track in Slovakia. The so-called The "Košice Speedway" has become a traditional event for ACK since 1931. ACK thus declared the legitimacy of its operation. The magazine Slovenský motorsport drew attention to the first race organized on June 14, 1931 as follows: "On Sunday, the Košice auto club will organize a club car and motorcycle race on a flat track at the racetrack in Barca near Košice, which is oval and 2,200 m long. It is the first race of this kind in Slovakia."
However, an important contribution to the nascent motor sport in Slovakia was the Slovak Eighth, a 24-hour long-distance drive through Slovakia. The connecting points of the line were Bratislava and Košice. A maximum deviation of 30 minutes was set for the time limit of 24 hours, while the drive was to last continuously except for refueling. The race was held on May 15 and 16, 1932, and the total length of the route was 1 015 km. The magazine Slovenský motorsport wrote about the event: "There were many concerns about the success of the event. Difficult time, the first year of such a big competition, etc. It turned out, however, that Slovak clubs have in the Czech Republic motor sport has a very good reputation. At the end of the deadlines, entries were pouring in. The number of entries reached an unexpected height of 60. Only 49 participants started, but even that was a great number for the first year of an unknown competition. The overall result of the first "Slovak Eighth" was surprising. The organizers heard only words of the highest praise. The Slovak clubs that organized this event out of love for sport and for the Slovak country can be satisfied with the work done." After the success of the first year of the Slovak Eight, the organizers had the ambition to organize a second year as well, but due to the lack of interested parties, it was probably not held due to the impact of the economic crisis .
Another important event, in the organization of which Autoclub Košice also helped, was the Reliability Ride in Czechoslovakia (May 24-28, 1933). The great importance of the event is evidenced by the fact that its organization was ensured by 18 car clubs united in the so-called Czechoslovak Automobile Union, which represented a counterweight to the older AKRČs. The race was divided into five stages, with the fourth stage leading from Zlín to Košice and the fifth stage from Košice to Bratislava. The Autoclub Košice newsletter reported on the progress of the East Slovak stage: "The route led through Slovakia through the most difficult sections and, as for our immediate surroundings, on May 27th, towards Košice between Rožňava and Turňa through the so-called serpentines Uzke skaly, on May 28 around one o'clock in the morning through the switchbacks "thank God" and Branisko, which put the dexterity of the competitors and the performance of the machines to a tough test." Autoclub Košice also organized several events called "motoskijöring", where the skier was pulled by a powerful motorcycle. This race was held for the first time in February 1929 in Čermel near Košice. During the 1930s, competitions in "motoskijöring" became a regular event of Autoclub Košice. The only condition was favorable weather conditions.
The demise of Autoclub Košice came at the beginning of the Second World War, and after a more than thirty-year hiatus, Auto Klub Košice was established in 1970 as the ZO Zväzarm at VSŽ Košice. Most of its members were employees of VSŽ Košice, and in the first years the activity of the car club was closely connected with this factory. A year later, the 1st edition of Rallye VSŽ started and a new chapter of motoring in Košice began to be written.
We will provide further news service within the framework of the 50. Garrett RALLY KOŠICE 2024 in the following press releases. They will be published gradually on the official website kosice.rallye.sk and on the Facebook profile.
Source of the press release: Archives of the city of Košice, fund of the Košice Municipality (1923 – 1938).
V Košiciach 14. mája 2024
Roman ORDELT
tlačový tajomník
50. Garrett RALLY KOŠICE