SK, Orava – Hrustinska Prevodovka

We decided to visit the town of Hrustin on the first Sunday morning in August. This time it wasn’t to explore this historic town, but to see an unusual event, the Hrustinska Prevodovka. Weather was good (perhaps too much) and after we parked our car in the town center, i.e. near the church, we set out to have new experiences. the trail to the evenet was marked with arrows, it was easy to realize we are getting near by growing number of parked cars. About ten minutes later we arrived at the place, an old quarry above the town. As we had learned later, the positive consequence of the event was eradication of local trash dump to what the quarry had transformed. we wish also other Slovakian towns followed this example.

We came and we saw ...
Before we enter the quarry we would like to tell you more about this event. This year, it was the second year of this event focusing on off-road cars maniacs and home-made tractors . Placing this event in beautiful nature made it many fans in its short existence, this year there came more than 3000 people.

After paying a symbolic fee to support local organizers we moved across a small hill and saw beautiful open quarry. Racing circuits were bounded with belts and ready for the competition. on the side there was a podium made of a truck where was music. Left of the podium there was a goulash station and stalls with liquid refreshments. we even encountered a stall selling earrings and other jewels. Especially women and girls were fond of this. Soon thrum of the first tractor caught our attention which returned to the most important thing of this day – the race. the moderator enhanced our experience, he asked people to be careful and maintain distance from the tapes; at the same time he was talking about final times of the contestants. it was really excitingL. After cars replaced tractors, our joy was even greater. Mud from the track got some visitors dirty, and races on rock cliffs of the quarry were breathtaking. Tense atmosphere and admiration of drivers’ skills made people to give many applauses to the contesting.

Attractions around
Two hours of unusual viewer’s experience we went to explore the vicinity. Across the quarry on a grassy compound there were beautiful off-road cars and their owners were proudly standing next to them, nearby were also bikes. but not just ordinary ones! the pieces we saw were veterans of the times long gone. on the elevated area we saw a helicopter taking off, initially it was an attraction of this event. it offered visitors not only a look from above but also an overview of the racing circuit and hilly and beautiful region of Orava. During our descend from “the hill with great machines” we noticed horses. for a symbolic price you could enjoy a view from the saddle on beautiful, shiny animals with long manes. Especially children loved this. we resisted the temptation and just admired their glory.

Full of impressions we went home going through myriads of still incoming people. Because we had a camera with us you can enjoy the best of what we have seen in our photogallery.

Text and photo: Oskár Mažgút