Periodeia Jesiriya

The Periodeia Visia (: Tour around Visia) is a bi-yearly open-road race around the island of Visia, Mursland. First established in 1951, the race is not like the traditional fixed-distance races whose winner is determined by minimum time: the Periodeia Visia is won by the car that covers.

The track is between 240 and 270 km long (depending on the edition), making it arguably the longest race track in Mursland. It is also the oldest racing event still taking place in Mursland.

History
The race started in 1951. It was created as a spoof race by sports-presentor Cyrus Floros with the idea of having the racers drive for very long, as he always joked on his broadcasts about how faster and better the race were, the faster the race would end. A long track was set out on the large island and Duurzhavi Visia in the south of nation, were the racers would drive on the large streets along the coast and beautiful cities. It was supposed to only be attended by a few well-known Mursian drivers for a single TV show. However, when the news got out, many other drivers requested to attend as well, and thus a formal race was set up. 12 racers would start with small intervals in the city of Psarcha, and drive for exactly 8 hours; the car that travel the furthest would win. Ignat Goranou became the winner, and the show was a great success.

With its broadcasting success, it was proposed to organize it again. However, it would later be postponed to 1953 due to the organisation Institut Periodeia Visia encountering many miscommunications. The negotiation regarding traffic around the race, the planning of the exact route, and solving issue which came up on the previous edition had caused too many delays.

The 1953 race would set out to become a proper race. The new track would loop around the island, making it truly a "Tour around Visia". Many facilities lacking in the first race were added as well, consisting of: two specially constructed working places for maintenance during the race, refurbishing of various stretches of road, improved road signs, professional along various parts of the track, among various other things. The race was highly popular, both nationally but also internationally.

Interestingly, the 1954 encountered various organisational problems yet again. It was rumoured that the race would not continue. Newspaper Vest joked that a yearly race would never be achievable in Visia, to which Cyrus responded "then we will do it every other year." And such it was decided to make it bi-yearly. The third edition would take place in 1955. The race was opened to international racers this year as well.

In succeeding editions, the popularity of the event would rise to circles even outside the regular racing audience. This is thanks to, besides having many well known race drivers compete, also having various celebrities and locals compete. This was partly done to give a reference for the audience how demanding the race was on its drivers, but also done as a form of entrainment. Well known is Kristian Tvet, participating from 1963 to 1979, who would mount speakers on his car to give live commentary on his own driving.

In 1961 it was decided to extend the race from 8 hours to 12 hours, to make it a proper test of vehicle performance as well. The race would start on the 21st of March, because on that date. An alternative was 21st of September, as that day too has exactly 12 hours, but it was determined that too many tourist would still be taking holiday on the island, which would compete too much with hotel rooms on the islands.

The 1977 edition was ended early because of a deadly accident a few minutes after the start in Psarcha, costing the live of a driver and 2 technicians, as well as wounding 20 other people. The car of driver Paschalis Antonis had a brake failure in the third corner, which caused the car to ram one of the buildings full speed. The organisers and racers unanimously decided to stop the race early out of respect for the affected, as well as obstruct emergency services as less as possible. A monument is raised on the city square, remembering the event and the legacy of Paschalis. The track would be adjusted to ensure the cars would never have to turn in a corner within settlements, but rather on T-sections to prevent further incidents from happening. The start would also be moved to accommodate the new route.

Since 2001 an additional "race" is organized a day before the race for cars build before 1970. The event does not have as high stakes as the original, as the cars are deemed too precious to actually race in, and only lasts a single lap around the circuit. The participants will only actually race for set sections in front of the audience, to simulate the experience from back then. A bleacher ticket for the real race also provides free access to the bleachers for this event, and many fans will attend. The 2019 edition had a total of 52 cars, of which 23 participated in the original race back then.