Zoltán "Cigány" VargaCigány is Hungarian for "Gypsy" (born March 11, 1964 in

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

) is a Hungarian

rally Rally or rallye may refer to: Gatherings * Demonstration (political), a political rally, a political demonstration of support or protest, march, or parade * Pep rally, an event held at a United States school or college sporting event Sports ...

driver, known for his storytelling, jokes and good humour.

Early life

His father was an engineer in the Weapon and Gas Appliance Factory, but died in a

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

match at only 63 years old. As Varga has stated in several interviews, he was not a good child, but he became a pioneer and got He finished a pioneer course and got a very good score. He has been interested in rally racing since the age of 14. Varga was often truant in his youth due to his enthusiasm in racing. He would buy

matchbox Phillumeny (also known as phillumenism) is the hobby of collecting different match-related items: matchboxes, matchbox labels, matchbooks, matchcovers, matchsafes, etc. Matchbox A matchbox is a box made of cardboard or thin wood and designed ...

es, such as a

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or a

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and revamp some of them into rally racing cars. He became disinterested in schooling as rally racing season approached, and was known to cause trouble for his teachers during this time. It was a milestone in his life when he decided to transform his Lada into a racing car, marking the transition from aspiring racer to an actual racer.

Rally career

His rally career began in 1982, when he took part in the Mátra Cup. On his first competition, he raced with a driving licence which had been soaked in cacao. On his fourth race, Varga had a great accident and because of it he got into a car magazine. In the beginning of his early career, he had 23 total cars with a few crushes. László Pénzes became his navigator between 1984–1994. At the same time he wrote down a contract so he could race in Rally3, and one year later he became a Rally2 driver at the Hungarocamion. As a Rally2 driver, Zoltán Varga and his navigator lined up in the Autumn 1984. In 2002, he bought a new car: a

BMW E30 M3 The BMW M3 is a high-performance version of the BMW 3 Series, developed by BMW's in-house motorsport division, BMW M GmbH. M3 models have been produced for every generation of 3 Series since the E30 M3 was introduced in 1986. The initial model ...

racing car. It was a big step for him, because he did not have enough money to buy a

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. He spent a lot of money redesigning his BMW, revamping it into a powerful vehicle with a , engine, a 6-gear shift and a large differential. In 2000, he hired a new navigator by the name of Ferenc Sand. He has won several awards. In 2003, 2004 and 2005 he won several prizes featured on ''Www.rally.hu''. Today, he races in Italy.

Awards

Notes

References

;Footnotes ;Bibliography *

External links

Raly.hu
an interview with Varga
Duen.hu
2006 interview with Varga before the Danube rally {{DEFAULTSORT:Varga, Zoltan (Cigany) Living people 1964 births Hungarian rally drivers