ADAC Eifel Rallye Festival 2018 –
Celebrating the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb

As is traditional, the ADAC Eifel Rallye Festival held in Daun/Germany from July 19-21 2018 runs each year with a different theme. In the past, the famous demonstration event has already celebrated the ‘Safari Rally’, ’30 Years of Group B’ and ‘Six Decades of Rallying’. For 2018, it has been decided to dedicate the event to the legendary Pikes Peak International Hill Climb in the US. At the ‘Race to the Clouds’, held in the Rocky Mountains, the competitors have to tackle 19.99 km and 156 corners before they reach the summit of Pikes Peak at an altitude of 4,301 m.

Back in the 1980s, the mountain road was entirely gravel and it played a very special role for rallying. “Pikes Peak became the new home for some of the Group B cars that were banned from the WRC”, recollects Reinhard Klein. He is the head of Slowly Sideways,the group of rally car collectors that makes up most of the one hundred and fifty cars entered in the Festival, and he has visited the ‘Race to the Clouds’ as a photographer. “At Pikes Peak, the Group B cars from Audi, Peugeot, Ford, Lancia and Austin Rover were run in their most extreme form and that is exactly how we will see them in the Eifel. Of course, for the Pikes Peak cars entered in the Festival, the same strict rules apply in terms of originality as for all other vehicles taking part in our event.” At the Eifel Rallye Festival, the hill-climb racers will make up a special ‘Pikes Peak Parade’ and will tackle two different stages. On Friday evening, they will drive the ‘proWIN Hilgerath’ stage. On Saturday, they will have a go at the second pass through the ‘Risselberg’ stage which itself is a former hill-climb track.

While entries for the ‘normal’ Eifel Rallye Festival only open today, many of the cars taking part in the Pikes Peak Parade are already confirmed. Audi Tradition will open its museum and bring two original works cars to Daun.These are the1985-winning Audi Sport Quattro and the 1987-winning Audi Sport Quattro S1 E2 ‘Pikes Peak’. While Harald Demuth will take the wheel of the Sport Quattro, the 600 bhp supercar from 1987 will, according to what is known at present, be driven by the man himself, Walter Röhrl. A third winning Audi will join the fray. This will be entered by private collector Wolf-Dieter Ihle and it will also be piloted by its original driver, in this case, John Buffum, who won Pikes Peak twice.

Audi has a unique record at the Race to the Clouds winning the event six times in a row from 1982 to 1987 with three different types of cars: Audi Quattro A2, Audi Sport Quattro and Audi Sport Quattro S1 E2 ‘Pikes Peak’. All these unique cars will be re-united at the 2018 Eifel Rallye Festival.

One of Audi’s main rivals in Colorado from those days will do its first kilometres since the 1986 Pikes Peak hill-climb. Wolf-Dieter Ihle has recently purchased the twin-engined VW Golf which entered the race in 1985 and 1986. This very special car will shake off the Colorado dust, some of which can still be found inside, and it will also be driven by its original driver, former European Rally Champion Jochi Kleint.

While these cars are still in their original specification, the three Peugeot 205 T16s that were used at Pikes Peak in 1987 have changed their shape radically over the years. Two of them were converted to 405 T16s, while the third one has been used in Rallycross. But now, after thirty years, this gap will be filled by Austrian Peugeot collector Erich Müller who is just completing a replica of the ‘missing’ 1987 Pikes Peak Peugeot 205 T16.

Another Group B car will make its way from the UK to Daun. Mark Rennison, who tackled the US hill-climb in a modified Ford RS200 right up until 2014, will bring this car to Daun. The whole project was initiated by John Wheeler, the ‘father’ of the RS200 and a regular participant himself in the Eifel Rallye Festival.

“We are really impressed by and proud of the Pikes Peak entries we have received so far. But we are still in talks with further teams and there is a good chance that we can welcome some more precious cars that competed there”, says Otmar Anschütz, Chief Organiser of the Eifel Rallye Festival and President of the MSC Daun.

Double World Champion Walter Röhrl, who was the first driver ever to reach the summit in less than eleven minutes, sees two reasons for his 1987 success at Pikes Peak. “The Audi engineers had understood quickly that with a four-wheel drive car, downforce, i.e. wings, are necessary even on gravel.” After seeing the times of the ‘winged’ Quattro in practice, Peugeot hastily added new wings to its 205 T16 but still they could not beat Audi and Röhrl that year. A fact, which was also down to Röhrl’s meticulous preparation. “Together with my wife Monika, I drove up the mountain eight times and made my own pace notes. Then I gave each of the 156 corners a specific name and learnt all of them by heart. In contrast to some of my rivals, I knew where I was all the time.” Röhrl is especially delighted that his 1987 winning car is still running today. “It is great to see that Audi takes this unique Audi out of its museum and shows it in action to the audience.”

More information on: www.eifel-rallye-festival.de

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ADAC Eifel Rallye Festival 2017 – Ford Twins, Rare Species & World Debuts

In 2016, Audi Tradition was responsible for a true world premiere at the ADAC Eifel Rallye Festival held in Daun and the surrounding Vulkaneifel region. Thirty years after it was built, Audi’s Group S prototype was driven publicly for the very first time and at its wheel was none other than Walter Röhrl. It took part in the so-called “Festival Parade” that tackles only two of the total of eight stages of the demonstration event.

Festival Parade: Toyota debut & Ford twins

Now, Toyota is following suit with a double debut. Firstly, one of the Toyota Group S prototypes based on the MR-2 and called the 222D will take part in this year’s Festival Parade. For chassis 8, owned by Ernst Kopp, it will be the very first rally participation. So far, the mid-engined “Black Beast” was only tested privately by Björn Waldegård in 1986 and later seen on static display.

It will be joined by a completely unknown Toyota that has not even been seen in public. In the 1990s, Toyota Team Europe built two prototypes called “Ideal Successor” or “IS” to follow in the footsteps of the Group A Celicas. The IS-1 was based on the Celica ST185 and will be on static display in the Rally Mile. But IS-2, that was based on the Corolla, will make its maiden trip in front of the public with its owner John Day at the wheel.

It does not stop there as the Festival Parade has even more highlights to offer. Stig Blomqvist and Kalle Grundel will both be reunited with their original Ford RS200 “twins” from the 1986 RAC Rally. Safari Rally legend Mike Kirkland will, like in 2015, take the wheel of “his” Nissan 240RS from the 1983 Safari. Matthieu Tak will bring an Alfa Romeo 75 Turbo Evoluzione IMSA which is a hybrid between a race and a rally car from the 1989 Giro d’Italia. And Brian Betteridge will take part in his Ford Escort RS1700T to show how Group B might have looked like if Ford had homologated this prototype.

It is exactly this kind of machinery for which the Festival Parade was created in 2015. It is the home for cars which are either too fragile or too valuable for a full weekend of rallying over more than 100 kms of stages – or perhaps they cannot get approval to be driven on the open road. Thanks to the Parade, they can tackle two stages, the SS “ProWin Hilgerath” on Friday night and the “Kelberger Land” on Saturday.

“As you can see, we will have a great and extremely varied entry in this year’s Eifel Rallye Festival which will get even more diverse thanks to our theme ‘Six Decades of Rallying’. I am sure that everyone will find his favourite rally car in Daun”, says chief organiser Otmar Anschütz. The full entry list of the demonstration event will be revealed on July 1st, 2017.

Festival Exhibition: Safari winners, Pikes Peak monsters and more

In 1972, Hannu Mikkola and Gunnar Palm became the first rally crew from outside East Africa to win the Safari Rally. Their car, a Ford Escort RS1600, has been conserved in such a genuine condition that it was recently granted a Concours d’Elegance prize at the famous Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este. Even the engine seal from the 1972 Safari scrutineering is still intact. Considering this level of originality, it is a great honour that owner Claude Nahum will be sending this car to Daun and only logical that it does not tackle the demonstration stages. While the Safari-winning car can rest on its laurels, its former crew will take the wheel of another Escort RS1600 works car – the one that was driven by the late Timo Mäkinen at the 1972 RAC Rally that is also from Nahum’s collection.

But the Safari-winning Escort is not the only precious exhibit in Daun. Christoph Schild will put on display the original twin-engined VW Golf from the 1986 Race to the Clouds at Pikes Peak. Two further exhibits coming from Hyundai are a Hyundai Accent WRC and a Coupé Kit Car, the car which was vice-champion in the F2 World Rally Championship of 1999.

Ride of a lifetime: Win a co-drive with Hyundai drivers Neuville and Schwarz

Rally fans visiting the Eifel Rallye Festival have no less than two chances to win a “Ride of their Lifetime” on the shakedown stage during Thursday, July 20th. In cooperation with Hyundai, the organisers will offer one co-drive with Thierry Neuville in the Hyundai i20 WRC and one with Armin Schwarz in a 2003 Hyundai Accent WRC.

“We wanted to give the ordinary rally fan a fair chance to win the co-drive, thus we decided to raffle both rides” says Festival Manager Tim Becker. “For only €5.0, everyone has the chance to win the co-drive alongside Thierry Neuville. Of course, anyone can buy more than one ticket to increase his or her chances.” The amount raised by the raffle will be donated to a local organisation aimed at helping young people in the region and called “Verein zur Förderung der Jugendarbeit im Landkreis Vulkaneifel. e.V.” All details of the raffle can be found here: www.mitfahrt.eifel-rallye-festival.de

The chance for a co-drive with Armin Schwarz is completely free of charge. The ride with the 1996 European Rally Champion in his original Hyundai Accent from the 2003 Monte Carlo Rally will be raffled on the event’s official Facebook page www.facebook.com/EifelRallyeFestival2017. Both raffles will end on June 30th at 23:59 hrs.

Order now: pre-sale for tickets and programmes still running

Up until July 7th, spectators who are keen to visit the Eifel Rallye Festival can obtain their tickets and programmes from the official online shop no matter in what European country they are living. While visiting the ‘Rally Mile’ in the heart of Daun is free of charge, there are various admission tickets needed for those who would like to see the action on the special stages. The range offered goes from one-day tickets right up to full weekend tickets.
The pre-sale of tickets and programmes is open until July 07, 2017 from http://www.eifel-rallye-festival.de/en/rallye-shop.html.

Important information for all media representatives:
Accreditation for the 2017 Eifel Rallye Festival is now open. More information can be found here: http://eifel-rallye-festival.de/en/Accreditation-Info.html

Eifel Rallye Festival – Time Table

Thursday, 20.07.2017
15:00 – 19:00 hrs Shakedown at the ‘Mantaloch’ in Brück
from 20:30 hrs Welcome Evening in the Rally Mile, Open Air Cinema with film-maker Helmut Deimel

Friday, 21.07.2017
From 08:00 hrs Scrutineering in the Rally Mile
11:00 – 12:00 hrs Autograph Session with the VIP drivers
From 14:20 hrs Hyundai Super Stage with jump, water splash and gravel action
From 19.30 hrs prowin Spectator Stage in Sarmersbach at night Including the ‘Festival Parade’

Saturday, 22.07.2017
08:30 – 17:00 hrs Tarmac Stages in the Vulkaneifel region, inbetween Rally Mile in Daun with various attractions
From 19:00 hrs Rally Party & Prize Giving

More information on: www.eifel-rallye-festival.de

Visit us: http://www.facebook.com/EifelRallyeFestival2017

Use our hashtag: #EifelRallyeFestival

ADAC Eifel Rallye Festival 2017 presents: Six Decades of Rallying

The organisers of the Eifel Rallye Festival, a unique demonstration event for historic rally cars that will be held between July 20th & 22nd, have announced the theme of their 2017 edition. It will celebrate ‘Six Decades of Rallying’ with cars and drivers representing all decades from the 1960s right up until today. This journey in time will begin with a Mercedes 300 SE fintail (Acropolis 1963), a Ford Falcon (Monte Carlo 1964) and a Wartburg 312 (Acropolis 1966) and, passing through the intervening decades, will end with a modern Hyundai i20 WRC driven by Thierry Neuville. Of course, the Festival will, in completing the journey, also feature cars from all the other categories such as Group 4, Group B, Group A and early two-litre WRC cars.

Apart from the cars coming from six decades, the Festival will also welcome their crews. Gunnar Palm, who has just turned eighty already won the 1963 Monte Carlo as co-driver to Erik Carlsson, and will represent the 1960s while he could also have a hand in the 1970s when he won the London-Mexico and East African Safari with Hannu Mikkola. Mikkola himself might lay claim to the 1980s as he was World Rally Champion with Audi in 1983, but he made his name in the 1970s by winning events as diverse as the London-Mexico, the East African Safari, the 1000 Lakes and the RAC Rally. While Mikkola represents the 1970s, it was the 1980s when Kalle Grundel became German Rally Champion in 1985 in a Peugeot 205 T16 and then a WRC works driver with Ford in an RS200. The 1990s were the heyday of Armin Schwarz’s career who drove for Toyota winning the WRC Catalunya Rally in 1991 and being crowned European Rally Champion in 1996. The first decade of the twenty-first century is represented by Matthias Kahle who won five of his seven German Championship titles in this time-frame driving for Skoda most of the time. And today’s rally scene is, of course, represented by current vice World Champion Thierry Neuville.

Apart from those six drivers, the Eifel Rallye Festival will also have one very special person present who won rallies in all of those six decades. Stig Blomqvist started his amazing winning streak in the 1960s in local rallies in Sweden. He then won the Swedish Rally seven times between 1971 and 1984, the same year that he was crowned World Rally Champion, and was victorious most recently on the 2015 East African Safari Classic Rally.

“The ‘Six Decades of Rallying’ will not only come alive on the rally stages since it will also be the theme for the ‘Welcome Evening’ on Thursday night”, says Chief Organiser, Otmar Anschütz. “Our VIP drivers representing the six decades will share their stories from their time in rallying.” All this will be illustrated with short video clips made by well-known Austrian film-maker Helmut Deimel. The Rally Mile in Daun will certainly be bustling with drivers and spectators on Thursday night especially since the entry list is nearly full already. “We have already received more than 120 entries of our maximum of 140 and when you look at the entries, you can see that the Eifel Rallye Festival is becoming more and more international”, says Reinhard Klein the man in charge of the Slowly Sideways group.

This large field of historic cars will be led round by Thierry Neuville in his Hyundai i20 WRC zero-car. This will not be his first visit to Daun for the 28-year-old Belgian who was born in St. Vith – just an hour’s drive away from Daun. “I have visited the Festival a couple of times especially when my friends were driving there. It has a great atmosphere, nice stages and good spectator areas.” To see the precious historic cars and their drivers in action makes Neuville smile: “Probably not all the drivers are the best in the world but this gives you more time to see the cars in action.” The current vice World Champion is especially fond of the Group B cars. “I would like to try them once to see how the handling is compared to our WRC cars of today.”

For his first outing as a driver in the Eifel Rallye Festival, Neuville promises that: “I am coming to make a good show.” The Belgian will host some guest co-drivers during the Shakedown on Thursday and try to make his Hyundai i20 WRC fly on the Hyundai Super Stage on Friday afternoon. His last stage will be the Prowin Spectator Stage on Friday night before Neuville will have to leave the event thanks to other commitments.

Order now: pre-sale for tickets and programmes has started
Spectators who are keen to visit the Eifel Rallye Festival can obtain their tickets and programmes from the official online shop no matter in what European country they are living. While visiting the ‘Rally Mile’ in the heart of Daun is free of charge, there are various admission tickets needed for those who like to see the action on the special stages. The range offered goes from one-day tickets right up to full weekend tickets.

The pre-sale of tickets and programmes is open until July 07, 2017 from http://www.eifel-rallye-festival.de/en/rallye-shop.html.

Eifel Rallye Festival – Time Table

Thursday, 20.07.2017
15:00 – 19:00 hrs Shakedown at the ‘Mantaloch’ in Brück
from 20:30 hrs Welcome Evening in the Rally Mile, Open Air Cinema with film-maker Helmut Deimel

Friday, 21.07.2017
From 08:00 hrs Scrutineering in the Rally Mile
11:00 – 12:00 hrs Autograph Session with the VIP drivers
From 14:20 hrs Hyundai Super Stage with jump, water splash and gravel action
From 19.30 hrs prowin Spectator Stage in Sarmersbach at night Including the ‘Festival Parade’

Saturday, 22.07.2017
08:30 – 17:00 hrs Tarmac Stages in the Vulkaneifel region, inbetween Rally Mile in Daun with various attractions
From 19:00 hrs Rally Party & Prize Giving

More information on: www.eifel-rallye-festival.de

Visit us: http://www.facebook.com/EifelRallyeFestival2017

Use our hashtag: #EifelRallyeFestival