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Neverending Story

By Anne Heisler
Duisburg, Germany

It started as the Transsylvania Trophy, but Dracula is no longer involved. The Autoklub "92" Zagreb has taken over.
Croatia is a wonderful part of the world, famous for the sunshine and the deep blue sea. What we saw most were the clear rivers, white rocks and wide forests. The tracks where wood is cut are ideal for off-road driving.
Teams from many European nations gathered in a camp south of Zagreb, near Karlovac. All vehicles were well prepared for the special event, with diff lockers in front and rear axle, snorkels, front underbody guards, roll bars, bull bars and front and rear mount electric winches.

At the Trophy, nothing goes without a winch, although some participants blamed the good weather for too dry, too easy tracks. However, nobody found it too easy to descend a steep slope of fine gravel, where a full function of the rear winch was badly needed.

Of course, the winches are compared and tested again and again. For the towing service at the Trophy, a Ramsey DC 200 has become a tradition. This year, it was mounted on a Chevy pickup, a former Army vehicle driven by Markus Ritter of Germany.

A Platinum 9500 performed for one of the organizers, Herbert Pötl of Austria, on his G wagon. Another G wagon had a Platinum 9000, which proved to be strong enough to wind the vehicle up the Croatian mountains.
The competition is a winching event from the start to the finish line and competitors fight hard for the first rank. The Trophy requires a special spirit of fairness, so Ramsey donated a Fair Play Award. We are very happy to say that many teams deserved it, but this year, the Dutch team Sjaak Bakker and Martôn Tuinbeek won the award, a Platinum 9000 winch.