9 Thousand Kilometers on Motor Scooters Across Central Asia

Every enterprise has its own history, but often it is not fully recorded or is not reflected at all in archival documents, and some events of past years have to be recreated 'bit by bit' — from museum materials, old newspaper clippings, photographs, and participants' recollections, especially when these are events of long-ago days. I present to your attention a short account of the All-Union motor rally of 1978 across Central Asia on Vyatka-3 'Elektron' motor scooters, dedicated to the 60th anniversary of the Komsomol and organized by the Vyatskie Polyany Machine-Building Plant.

Route of the rally

The motor rally, covering a distance of 9 thousand kilometers, ran through the republics of Central Asia, the Caucasus, Krasnodar Krai, Ukraine, Moldova and a number of regions of the European part of the RSFSR on the route: Alma-Ata (now Almaty) — Frunze (now Bishkek) — Tashkent — Leninabad (now Khujand) — Ashgabat — Baku — Krasnodar — Donetsk — Nikolaev — Odessa — Kishinev — Kiev — Moscow — Vyatskiye Polyany. The rally was led at that time by B. P. Barshinov, foreman of the mechanical section of one of the plant's shops.

The lineup of 12 motor scooter riders included mostly young production leaders as a form of encouragement. Two young women also took part in the rally. In total the team numbered 15 people. The team was accompanied by a propaganda bus and a cargo truck. Also in the column was a Moskvich rally car from Izhevsk with a correspondent from the magazine 'Za Rulem.' The head of the plant film studio 'Evrika', Posokhin O. B. (who was also the director and cameraman), filmed the journey.

The team arrived in Alma-Ata by train (the motor scooters were in the luggage car). The bus and cars arrived under their own power. The participants were hospitably received by the Central Committee of DOSAAF of the Kazakh SSR, whose driving school opened its gates to our vehicles. They spent 3 days in Alma-Ata. They visited the high-altitude open-air Medeo ice rink. At that time it was one of the two best high-mountain rinks in the world. A meeting with motorsport and technology fans was held on the square in front of the Central Stadium and the Palace of Sports of the Kazakh SSR. The meeting featured a technical quiz and a 'good services bureau,' where the plant mechanics carried out free maintenance and repairs on 'Elektron' motor scooters belonging to Almaty residents.

The start from Alma-Ata was given on March 26; the first kilometers of the road were smooth and they proceeded without any obstacles. They overcame the Korday pass, about which many had spoken, prophesying its impassability. The elevation gain on this section of the route is almost 500 m. However, those fears proved groundless; even the unrun-in machines handled this section excellently. In Frunze (Bishkek) they met with representatives of the Central Committee of the Komsomol of Kirghizia; in Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan, they demonstrated precision riding on motor scooters, provided free maintenance and repairs of scooters, and offered technical consultations.

Along the way, during stops and rests, they met local residents, and such encounters were frequent. In populated areas they were escorted by the State Traffic Inspectorate in cars or on motorcycles. On the route they visited the Republic of Tajikistan, the city of Leninabad (Khujand); on the way to Samarkand they passed through the Nuratau mountain gorge and left their autographs on a rock. The Gates of Tamerlane — so they call the narrow corridor that begins between two huge slate cliffs and stretches for several kilometers. It seems as if the mountains have parted to allow the river and two roads — the automobile and the railway — to run parallel. In ancient times this was the only route from Samarkand to the wild nomadic steppes of Kazakhstan.

They stopped in Samarkand and Bukhara, visiting sights including the Tillya-Kori Madrasa on Registan Square in Samarkand and the famous bazaar in Bukhara. Everywhere the factory workers were greeted with bread and salt, often with music and dancing, and were given gifts. On the way to Mary (Turkmenistan) they crossed the Amu Darya River by ferry. They traversed the Karakum Desert (Black Sand) — bare plains with saxaul trees. And in small oases — red fields of blooming poppies. About 100 km after Ashgabat they visited the Baharden Cave with its underground lake and swam in it. The water temperature is from 33 to 38 degrees Celsius year-round. After that came the longest single-day run to Krasnovodsk (now Turkmenbashi).

From Krasnovodsk they crossed by ferry to the other side of the Caspian Sea to Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan. In Baku there were also excursions and meetings. Many residents were surprised and admired the courage of our athletes. Next was the road through Dagestan, Kabardino-Balkaria, the south of Russia, Ukraine and the European part of the USSR. The Miners' Song Festival held in the city of Donetsk remained long in the memory of the athletes. Between performances, the miners greeted our team.

The meetings were hospitable and friendly wherever the participants of the motor rally arrived. B. Sinelnikov, a correspondent for the magazine 'Za Rulem' who was invited on the rally and rode with the participants through the Central Asian part of the route, wrote about the rally in his article: 'Traveling by motor scooter, moving at a relatively low speed (every cloud has a silver lining!), not only tires the rider less, but also allows one to feel nature more sharply, to better see and remember everything encountered on the way. I was once again convinced of this, discovering many of the most beautiful places, each view of which brings joy and lifts the spirits.'

The further road to Moscow presented no difficulties; the route was familiar to participants of previous rallies. In Moscow they visited Red Square and took photographs against the backdrop of the Kremlin and St. Basil's Cathedral. From Moscow came the long-awaited journey home: nine thousand kilometers in 45 days, overcoming mountain passes, hurricane winds, rain and slush — the rally participants, representatives of various factory professions, covered the distance and arrived in their hometown on May 16. This motor rally on Vyatka motor scooters was the last in the Soviet history of the plant.

Based on materials from the collections of the 'Molot' factory history museum, using recollections and personal archives of rally participants, 2024.