Rally Trips

69. Rallye des Ardennes 2023

1. April 2023, Dinant

It was my first rally that i photographed and my first time using color photo film (don’t judge me to much). I used ______ camera and ______ photo film. I hope you like the results.

We came to Dinant by train and got sweped away by it's charm. Such a nice little town. As we were walking through the town rally cars were just comming by and that really got the blood pumping. I keep speaking of "we" but I didn't told you who I came with. It was my own lovely lady (totally a song reference) who suggested this trip. We were actually supposed to go to Visual Art Rally but it was cancelled. Anyways on our way to get rally tickets we stumbled at the garage and I got the oppertunity to use my camera.

In the first picture I came too close to a car (I learned my lesson) but I still like it. It was my first time seeing the BMW E30 and the Porsche 911 rally car. For me this was pure joy, it was this rally that really sparked my passion and I dare to say that it was this very moment this BMW and Porsche that started the craze. The Porsche sounded amazing, I stil get gusebumps thinking about it. Pure joy.

When we found a place fir the ticket pickup we were amazed to see that there was an organized event, drivers and co-drivers were signing posters. I quickly grabbed one form me and one for my brother(who wasn't here but I knew he would like to have it) and went to the drivers. Oh I felt like such a child there. On display, there were also miniature models of cars in action. I was amazed by craftmanship of the scenes as I am also into model making.

The morning at the start of the rally was rainy and damp as you can see on the photos, but that didn't stopped us. We woke up early and headed to our first stage Fond de Lesse In the town called Dréhance. This was closest to the RBnB we were staying at and would take us the least amount of time as we were traveling on foot (another aspect of this rally I so fondly remember). I was so excited as by this point I haven't attended a rally for almost a year. We found some beautiful spots and this are the results.

After lunch we decided to go to the same stage but this time we would choose a different spot of course. So we came at the very start of the stage and waited for the start. This run took a bit longer as there was accident on the stage (tankfully everyone was OK and the stage continued) and it continued into the night.

And so the rally was over. We headed back to town and attended a ceremony for a bit. But as we were exhausted we quickly went to our room to rest for the trip home tomorrow.

A beautiful rally and a beautiful town I would recommend everyone to visit and attend the rally. I planned to return this year but was unfortunately unable. This rally started it all for me and I will cherish this day and wait for the return! Rally On!