2010 December MotorSport Magyarországon magazin

Essen Motor Show 2010, KONI: Hamilton, Button, Bánkuti

It was a great honour for Gábor Bánkuti eight time Hungarian rallycross champion and his team, the Bánkuti MotorSport that its Peugeot 206 racing car could be admired by the visitors of the 2010 Essen Motor Show at the booth of company KONI on an 80x60 cm poster.

One of the most highly ranked, or probably the number one tuning exhibition of Europe is organized each year in the beginning of December in Essen in Germany. The exhibition of this year was the 43rd Essen Motor Show, on which practically all the significant car manufacturers of the world represented themselves. In addition to street tuning, most of the championship car part manufacturers and championship series are also present at this highly ranked muster. The decisive suppliers of the specific fields were also represented, for example from the area of undercarriages KONI also was present with a very imposing booth. The manufacturers, vendors - due to understandable reasons - primarily appeared in the pavilions with their domestic partners, competitors, racing cars that are supported by them, since in Germany they are known the most. For this reason it is an especially great honour for Bánkuti MotorSport that - through their co-operation started with the Kárászy Company started in year 2009 - their Peugeot 206 that has also participated in rallycross European championship races could be also present at this prestigious event at the booth of KONI, even if only in the form of a large size photo. The world-famous exhibition - which was open to the visitors between November 27 and December 5 this year - was visited altogether by 304 thousand motorsport fanatics of more than 30 countries. This many people could admire on this photo at the booth of KONI the uniquely built rallycross car of Bánkuti MotorSport, immediately next to the photo of MP4-25, the 2010 racing car of the two F1 world champions of McLaren, of Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button. KONI has been delivering shock absorbers to Formula 1 since 1958, and it has done so as the partner of the Vodafone McLaren-Mercedes team since 2007. The company got into contact with rallycross this year, through the team of Bánkuti MotorSport. In the beginning of 2010 - as the first one in the world - the rallycross racing team of Gábor Bánkuti eight time Hungarian champion started the development of three-way premium quality shock absorbers especially for rallycross and rally sports with the exclusive representative of KONI in Hungary that is with the Kárászy Company lead by the idea raising István Kárász. The results brought a significant success for KONI as well, which they have also presented at their booth erected at the Essen Motor Show. Moreover, the photo of the racing car of Gábor Bánkuti was also included in the 2011 world calendar of KONI - among a very illustrious group. During the past seven years this was the first occasion that an exhibition object related to Hungary could be also seen at the Essen Motor Show, and this was the result of the efficient co-operation of Bánkuti MotorSport and the Kárászy Company - and of course of KONI.

„We are grateful to KONI for having offered us this great honour. And of course we highly appreciate the work of István Kárász owner and András Szalai development engineer, which allowed us to compete with so excellent shock absorbers against the best of Europe."

„We wish to express our gratitude hereby also for the co-operation of year 2010 to all the supporters of our team. Our success is their success as well."- said senior Gábor Bánkuti team leader upon hearing with surprise and pleasure the news of the photo of their Peugeot racing car being displayed.