The 1934 Auto Rally “Yerevan-Gorky-Yerevan” (Part 2)

Over 150 people, among whom there were representatives of various professions, came to welcome the convoy in the district of Kanaker. According to comrade Smolin’s statement, the cars crossed the distance of around 3283 kilometers without a single failure. Smolin also noted the comparatively good condition of the roads in Armenia and the complete absence of any traffic signs on those roads. Already on 26 January, the local press reported on the departure of the convoy consisting of one Ford A Standart Phaeton and its two soviet copies GAZ-A from Yerevan.

The participants of the rally had yet to visit the cities of Haghpat, Ashtarak, Amamlu, Leninakan, Xsldoc, Akhalkalaki, Batum, Samtredi, Zugdidi, Ochamchire, Sukhumi, Novorossiysk, Krasnodar, Rostov, Kharkov, Moscow, Gorky, which was about 3500 kilometers. In the photo is depicted the main driver of the rally and head Smolin. Among Similar motor races, the most interesting is the one that took place in 1967. Its distinguishing feature was that it involved only vintage cars. The rally started in Paris, after which it had to go to Moscow, Ankara and return again to Paris. As you might guess, the rout from Moscow to Ankara laid through Yerevan, where the cars stopped for a few days. Four French journalists, Klein, Violette, Lombard and Remy travelled an enormous distance on a 1907 Renault and 1910 Delaunay-Belleville shocking the locals with the excellent condition of the cars. In modern Armenia, the appearance of representatives of the international car competitions is no longer a rareness.

The 1934 Auto Rally “Yerevan-Gorky-Yerevan” (Part 1)

It is well known that after its invention, the car did not immediately gained widespread acceptance among the population. For boosting the popularity of vehicles at the down of the automotive industry, various competitions and races were organized, in order to show all the possibilities and advantages of the self-propelled carriages. Horse-drawn carriages, however, refused to back down on their positions for a long time, particularly in backward countries, among which was undoubtedly Armenia. Until the 1920’s, the number of cars in Yerevan could be counted on the fingers of two hands. As for busses for intracity travel, they did not exist at all.

For the popularization of motor transport in the USSR, it was decided to organize campaign rallies. There must have been dozens of such rallies in the history of Armenia, but, unfortunately, we have information only on few of them. One of them, for example, took place in 1934. The data about it is thoroughly presented in the local press, more precisely, in The Yerevan Worker (No. 61 of 17 July 1934). The race Yerevan-Gorky-Yerevan started on 6 July and had a total distance of 6500 kilometers. The route laid through the cities of Moscow, Tbilisi, Yerevan, Batumi, Novorossiysk and Gorky. The event was organized by the Gorky Proletarian Sports Society "Dynamo". The convoy was comprised of 3 vehicles: 1 Ford and 2 cars of the Gorky automobile plant production. During the race, the organizers tried to find out how durable, compared with the American counterpart, the latters were. Further, from the same press, we learnt that the rally participants arrived in Yerevan on 22 July at 18:00 local time.
To be continued…