Winter Trial 2027 route check

Winter Trial 2027 Recce Report!

After an early flight into Prague for Iain and an early hotel meeting for Timo, it was straight onto the road to see if we could turn our ambitious plans for next year’s event into reality.

It should be a fitting 25th anniversary edition, with 34 regularities, at least 10 tests, 4 TC sections and 3 Navigation sections planned for you. We can’t wait to see you in Prague in January.

Keep reeding to find out more!

Six days, January 31 – February 5, 2027
Location: in the cold.

Hello Paddock,

We knew it would not be easy to set up a Leg 0 close to the city, but we found something near the Tripmeter Check Route for a short practice regularity so that crews can ‘blow away the cobwebs’ since the last event and make sure the Rallycheck app is working ok.

Leg 1 – Prague Hilton – Cesky Krumlov
The first day should include four regularities, a navigation section and two tests as we head South from the Czech capital. The run out of the city will be quiet on a Sunday morning and takes us to a test, TC and the first regularity in quick succession. The second regularity then leads us to lunch, followed by a test at a new venue to us and the first navigation section of the event. From the afternoon coffee stop West of Ceske Budejovice, the final run South via two more regularities takes us to Cesky Krumlov, the UNESCO World Heritage Site that we have visited for the Trial supper at the brewery many times since we first came here in 2007. It is fantastic that we can actually spend the night here right in the heart of the town and you will get to see it in daylight on the morning of day two.

Leg 2 – Cesky Krumlov – Leoben

Day 2 not only gives us the chance to see the city in daylight, but also the beautiful countryside of the South Bohemia region, which Trial crews have explored in the dark many times. There will be two regularities and morning coffee in Czechia before we head into Austria for the first time. Two more regularities traverse Upper Austria to a spectacular lunch overlooking the Danube, followed by a test at one of our favourite OAMTC Driver Training Areas.

The afternoon is a little less intense as we pass through the Ötscher region at the western edge of the Alps, with two regularities (three for Trial crews) on the way to Leoben.

Leg 3 (and 4 for Trial) – Leoben – Maribor

After a couple of lucky breaks on leg 2 when we found closures for road works but were still able to pass through, we anticipated some closures for a different reason at the start of leg 3. We were passing very close to the Red Bull Ring and this was the Thursday before the Austrian Grand Prix –all the camp sites and car parks were quickly filling up with Dutch Verstappen fans…so maybe being in a Dutch registered car helped! The roads should be much quieter when you drive the first regularity on day 3 in February…

It will be another action-packed morning with four regularities and at least one test. After lunch there will be another test, the second navigation section and two more regularities. The last one took us some extra work as our first planned route had a restriction permitting Austrian and Slovenian cars only at the border crossing. We guessed that meant we were not welcome, so we found you a different place to cross instead – we hope you will all find it… Whether you do or not, it is only a short run to the hotel in Maribor.

Looking at the map before our recce, I could not remember the roads of Leg 4, the first Trial evening section, but once we started driving them I remembered them from 2023. What a fantastic area south west of Maribor, some great sections and we think we found some roads we have not used before. Plus there are some more left over that we will use at the start of leg 5 the next morning.

Leg 5 Maribor – Zagreb

Three regularities and two tests take us to lunch at Rimske Toplice, which should be familiar to those who did the 2023 event, as we spent two nights there. After lunch the route turns east, with a further regularity before we enter Croatia for the first time on Winter Trial. Our luck with road closures finally ran out on our way to Zagreb. This time there was no chance of us getting through, unless we waited 6 hours for the National Championship Hillclimb to finish for the day! So we had found our final regularity, but we have to wait until the next recce trip to drive it and choose the best timing points to test you.

The highlight of our visit to Zagreb was the Mini Autodrom Ayrton Senna, sadly it was a little too tight for us to use for a test, as it is for radio controlled cars. The one we saw was certainly flying.

Leg 6 (and 7 for Trial) Zagreb – Bled

It was always part of our recce plan to do some exploring for the start of leg 6 in Croatia. We knew that there were a few rally stages in the Žumberak and Samobor Mountains, but that is no guarantee that they will make good regularity sections. We had the usual experiences, roads that looked good on the map turning into tracks too rough for us to use or being closed to traffic, too steep, too fast, too many villages. The end result was a 20 km section which provides an interesting start to the longest day of the rally for all classes.

Club and Challenge will drive just under 400 km today, taking in five regularities, a test and the final navigation section, while an additional regularity and the final evening loop takes the Trial distance to around 520 km. We received a warm welcome at the test venue that Trial crews will visit at the start of evening section, sadly the nearby café that we used on our last visit closed six years ago, so there will be a new supper halt venue for us.

With most of the last full day being in Slovenia, some of it will be familiar territory for the regular competitors, but we have put together a great mix of old favourites and new roads, some tarmac and some gravel, which will provide a great challenge and mean you will certainly have earned your beer by the time you reach Bled!

Leg 8 and Finish Bled – Saalfelden

Having driven the full width of Slovenia on legs 6 and 7, We escape quickly on leg 8 as we have some distance to cover to reach the finish. We strongly recommend If you haven’t already to buy your motorway e-vignette before you cross the border back into Austria, where the authorities will be watching you closely… the run out takes us to coffee in reportedly one of the oldest villages in Austria, where we met some British bikers on a different kind of rally – hopping around Europe for a month on their Gold Wing motorcycles, all of them towing a trailer behind.

From there we take in some great roads that are more fun to drive than the motorway and allow you to appreciate the alpine scenery as much if not more. With just one regularity and two tests on the final morning, there could still be plenty to play for if the results are close, but one thing is for sure, it will be a spectacular finish for the event at Brandlhof.

It should be a fitting 25th anniversary edition, with 34 regularities, at least 10 tests, 4 TC sections and 3 Navigation sections planned for you. We can’t wait to see you in Prague in January.

If you have not signed up yet, now is the time to do so. There are only ten spaces left available because as usual, the smallest hotel dictates the number of entries we can take!