Tehran Café Racer Ramin Salehkhou, blogs about the VW Beetle Club’s rally to the ancient city famous for growing and exporting flowers.
One of the most enthusiastic auto clubs in Iran is the VW Beetle Club, run by Dr. Emad Radmanesh, an English professor and one of the first members of the Tehran Café Racers. He and his team organized their first rally, a two-day, 220-mile event from Tehran to Mahallat. Mahallat is located close to the center of Iran and was home to the first Iranian to become a U.S. citizen. On the second day in Mahallat, participants, below, were surprised by an early morning dusting of snow!
The traffic Police in Tehran were blown away when they saw the number of Beetles on the starting line and decided to escort the participants, below, two-thirds of the way to the destination hotel on the first day of the rally! At the start, Mr. Kia Borhan, a famous Iranian rally driver and manager of the Azadi Speedway, held a copy of the Holy Quran in his hand, below, as he waved each car off. This is the traditional way of starting competitive automotive events to insure that the cars have safe passage.
Mechanic Hamid Hamzelouie, a local VW guru who monitored the rally route from his parts-stocked VW bus, below, supplied additional insurance! All who started, a total of 30 VWs, finished the club’s first long distance event.
For more information about enthusiast automotive events in Iran and the Tehran Café Racers, please visit, http://www.sarasotacaferacers.com/community.html and contact Ramin Salehkhou.