Two professional racing drivers have banded together to provide Hungarian children, who have lost a parent during the coronavirus pandemic, with an exhilarating holiday experience.
Hungary’s Speedy Motorsport Association is offering car races for the over-18s and free driving lessons on a professional car race simulation in Budapest, in the hopes speed and adrenaline will help the children forget their loss for some time.
The association teamed up with one of the country’s largest pizza chains to organise the event.
The pizzeria also donated €3,000 to the Regőczi Foundation, which helps COVID-19 orphans.
“We can drive with the little ones slowly when we are not competing, but the over-18s can race against each other. In the tent, anybody can try a professional car race simulator. All the kids love it. In addition, of course, we’re constantly baking pizzas and bringing them hot tea. The atmosphere and the racing itself are both very exciting,” organiser and driver Norbert Horváth told Euronews.
The young Zoltán Szatványi has always loved cars, and his dream was to become a driver.
Szatványi lost his father a year ago, shortly after undergoing a lung transplant.
“The most exciting thing is that I could sit next to a professional driver on a world-famous track. I literally couldn’t speak because of the speed,” Szatványi said.
After the race, the children were able to get into a roaring Ferrari racing car while professional drivers took them for a little tyre-burning session on the surrounding roads.
“We were up to 130 km/h in no time. I loved the whole thing!” one of the children said.
Those over the age of 18 were able to enter the official competition, in which they had the opportunity to compete in speed races for the association’s famous ‘New Year’s Eve Rally’.
Two years after the pandemic began, Hungarian children who suffered the loss of a relative can now enjoy driving racing cars to forget the hardship of COVID-19.
