For half a century – so many representatives of the Samsonas family Vytautas, Martynas, Kajus raced cars in Lithuania in one discipline or another under the name Samsonas. Later, “Samsonas” also appeared in the names of competitions held in Lithuania and Northern Ireland. How did it all start?
The old days, which date back to 1974, can only be revived with memories and stories. A lot of water has flowed in these fifty years, but part of the story remains of how Martynas Samsonas’ father Vytautas started his era of sports cars, which is being continued by the third generation. Martynas Samsonas shared his memories of how it all began:
“As far as I know, my father started racing in 1974 when he joined VISI (Vilnius Institute of Construction Engineering), so this year marks the fiftieth anniversary of the autosport under the Samsonas name. There was a club that took part in the single-seater Formula circuit races, producing and developing them. They did that for four years, and in 1978, when I was born, my father quit the sport. After he moved from Švenčionėliai to Utena in 1983, motorsport returned. Until Lithuania’s separation from the Soviet Union, the main activity took place in the repair workshop in Utena, where the “Utena RMG Autocross Club” was based. At that time, buggies, trucks, “crocodiles” and regular cars raced there. A number of Lithuanian and international champions were trained in this club. Later there was a break, as the factories closed down, and in 1995 we returned to autocross, where my cousin raced. From 1983 to 1995 I was near him and drove go-karts intensively, and we took part in some other competitions with go-karts and other cars. 1995-1997 was the good time of autocross, which lasted until 2003. We won many competitions and championships, both in Lithuania and in the Baltic States. At the end of this era, we switched to rallying, and then the modern history that everyone already knows continued. During these 50 years, we worked with gearboxes for 27 years
Since 2015, the Samsonas name has been seen not only on the side windows of sports cars, but also on the logos of rally competitions held in Lithuania and Northern Ireland. Samsonas was a name partner in the “Utena”, “Rokiškis”, “Juodupė”, “Fivemiletown” and “Around 7 Lakes” rallies. Martynas Samsonas tells us how it all began:
Talking about Samsonas’ name in the rallies, as always, everything happened the othery way around. You love and care about this sport and want to do something good, maybe in a different way, to make a challenge. 2015 was about doing a rally and doing it well. We had already done and achieved a bit in rallying at that point, and in 2015 the local club “Mgear”, led by Gytis Barkauskas, wanted to do the main Lithuanian rally championship event because they had previously organized the lower league rallies. As we are all from Utena, we started talking to each other, my father and I talked to each other and decided not to just do it, but to make it really spectacular. We really put on a strong event with lots of participants from all over the world. It was probably the most colorful rally in terms of participants and cars. Later, for political reasons, it was no longer possible to continue this event, but we started to work with other organizers. We gained experience and returned to Utena. There was also a collaboration with the Bushwacker and Fivemiletown rallies, as they are organized by the same organiser from Northern Ireland, the Omagh Motor Club. They work closely with the Irish representative of Samsonas Motorsport, EuroM Sport, so it’s a joint project with them. We contribute less there, we do not get involved in organizational matters, we are more of a name partner and we provide prizes.
We invite you to pre-order “Samsonas Rally Utena 2024” rally passes on the Bilietai.lt platform. Ticket price – 15 Euros. The event is free for children under 12 years. old.
