The organisers of the ADAC Eifel Rallye Festival are proud to announce both the date and theme for their 2016 event. The sixth edition of the demonstration event for historic rally cars will take place from July 21st to 23rd, 2016, in and around the town of Daun located in the beautiful Vulkaneifel region just south of the world-famous Nürburgring. In 2016, the three-day event will celebrate the greatest era in the history of rallying, the days of the Group B supercars that ended thirty years ago at the end of 1986.

In order to bring back that unforgotten era, the organisers of the Festival have set themselves ambitious goals. "Our aim is to bring as many different Group B cars as possible to the Eifel", says Reinhard Klein, head of "Slowly Sideways" - the  group of rally car owners that makes up nearly the whole entry list of the event. But that's not all. "Hopefully we can also show our audience a big collection of Group S prototypes." Group S was a formula that never became reality in the WRC. It was supposed to succeed Group B as the highest class in world rallying from 1988 onwards, but after several tragic accidents in the first half of the 1986 WRC season, both classes were banished from international competition and replaced by Group A for 1987.

Apart from its theme, the 2016 Eifel Rallye Festival will also include some other new features, as Peter Schlömer, President of the MSC Daun and chief organiser of the event, explains. "This year, we have introduced a completely new demonstration stage into the Festival programme. In addition, I can promise you that there will also be some new highlights in 2016. I do not like to say too much right now, but I am sure fans and drivers will be pleased with these surprises."

Walter Röhrl, World Rally Champion in 1980 and 1982 and patron of the Eifel Rallye Festival since 2011, says: "This year, four World Champion drivers and Sandro Munari in his Lancia Stratos have entertained the spectators. Now I am looking forward to the next edition." His former co-driver Christian Geistdörfer, who is now part of the Eifel Rallye Festival organising team, adds to this: "Our aim for 2016 is also to have some of the important drivers of the Group B era in their former cars in the Eifel."

Eifel Rallye Festival nominated for "Motorsport Event of the Year" award

For the second year running, the Eifel Rallye Festival is one of the finalists of the "International Historic Motoring Awards". As in the previous year, the Festival is the only rally event nominated in the category "Motorsport Event of the Year". In the finals, it will compete against some of the greatest international historic motor sport events that include the "Classic 24 Daytona" in the US, the "Phillip Island Classic Festival of Motorsport" in Australia, the "Historic Grand Prix Zandvoort" and the "Silverstone Classic". The winner will be announced during the awards gala in London on November 19th.

The "International Historic Motoring Awards" were founded in 2011 and now comprise twelve different categories. The "Motorsport Event of the Year" category is for historic motorsport events anywhere in the world, from race meetings to trials and non-timed road or off-road rallies. The judges will be looking for a memorable event, not just a spectacular individual race within a meeting or stage within a rally. The jury is made up of panel of well-known experts including former race drivers Derek Bell and Jochen Mass.

Eifel Rallye Festival 2015 DVD

Anyone who wants to relive the unique atmosphere of the 2015 Eifel Rallye Festival and watch the event from different perspectives can do so by getting the DVD. It features great action scenes, spectacular on-board footage and interesting interviews. This comprehensive review of the 2015 event focuses on the theme of "originality" and contains extended footage of some of the more spectacular original rally cars and details of their individual histories. Furthermore, it features the drivers who had also driven these cars in period such as Walter Röhrl, Sandro Munari, Hannu Mikkola, Stig Blomqvist and Timo Salonen. Running time of the main feature is about fifty minutes but there is bonus coverage that includes footage of all the cars entered. The DVD can be pre-ordered now for € 19.95 from www.rallywebshop.com. The first DVDs will probably be delivered by the beginning of November.