News

The historic journey continues since the next ADAC Eifel Rallye Festival will once again take place in and around Daun in the Vulkaneifel from July 24th to the 26th, 2025. Over one hundred and sixty original or faithfully reproduced rally cars from the history of this fascinating sport will once again delight tens of thousands of fans who will be watching the largest rally museum on wheels. “What started as an idea in 2012 has now become an important part of safeguarding the history of rallying.” says Reinhard Klein happily, “Our participants are realising more and more how important it is to preserve their cars true to the originals.



The winners of the 2024 photo competition have been announced. We would like to thank for the many photos submitted. The winners have been notified in the meantime and will all receive a fan package 2025 (2 weekend tickets, 1 program booklet, 1 voucher for the welcome evening, 1 baseball cap, 1 complete set of autograph cards and 2 event stickers). The winning photo 2024 was “shot” by Jiri Fiser (Czech Republic). Congratulations to him!

 



The twelfth edition of the ADAC Eifel Rallye Festival (August 15th to 17th, 2024) is now history. It was another weekend on which the largest rolling rally museum of over one hundred and sixty cars from rally history brought the Volcanic Eifel around Daun to life. Tens of thousands of enthusiastic fans from all over Europe celebrated alongside the crews. The atmosphere was fantastic, with participants and fans beaming in the sunshine. As the head of Slowly Sideways, Reinhard Klein (Cologne), is responsible for putting together the entry list. He draws a positive conclusion from this weekend: “With this twelfth edition of our Festival, we have taken another big step towards modernisation.



Excitement is building ahead of the twelfth edition of the Eifel Rallye Festival to be held from August 15th/17th, 2024. Indeed, the entire Volcanic Eifel region around Daun is already in a state of rally fever. The region will once again host the world's largest rolling rally museum with over one hundred and sixty original or faithfully reproduced cars from the history of rallying. Thorsten Krämer, Mayor of the Shakedown Centre in Bodenbach, puts it in a nutshell: "The local community of Bodenbach warmly welcomes the international field of participants and fans from all over Europe".



TOYOTA GAZOO Racing Europe (TGR-E) will open the doors of its Motorsports Museum based in Cologne, Germany, especially for fans and participants of the Eifel Rallye Festival. On Wednesday, 14 August, TGR-E offers guided 90-minute tours at 14.00 and 16.00 hrs. The tours will be hosted by experienced employees who have been part of Toyota’s WRC history and can tell personal stories from the past.



In addition to the 164 vehicles/teams presented, we would also like to pay the necessary respect to the support vehicles and their crews by publishing a photo of each.en.

 



Photo competition 2024

With 93 participants from 8 nations, the 2023 photo competition was once again a great success. This was an obligation for the organizer of the Eifel Rallye Festival to continue this competition for the 12th edition of the festival. The conditions of participation and the registration form are now available at https://www.eifel-rallye-festival.de/en/Photo_Contest.html As in previous years, the prizes will be provided by the RallyWebShop (www.rallywebshop.com). Many thanks for this.

We wish all participants every success.

The photographers of the Eifel Rallye Festival - Klaus Portsch

Die Olympia Rallye 1972 war beim 72 Jahre alten Berliner Klaus Portsch der Auslöser. Die Eindrücke von der größten Rallyeveranstaltung, die es jemals in Deutschland gegeben hat, blieben bis heute bei ihm haften, der Rallye-Virus war eingepflanzt. Es folgte der Eintritt in den RTC Northeim mit intensiven motorsportlichen Aktivitäten. Nach seiner Übersiedlung in die Hauptstadt gründete er zusammen mit Alfred Gorny den Rallye-Sport-Info-Dienst, trat 2001 der Privaten Renngemeinschaft Spandau bei und entdeckte im Laufe der Zeit seine Liebe zur Fotografie. Daraus wurde eine Leidenschaft, die ihn auch heute noch an viele Rallyestrecken treibt.



The photographers of the Eifel Rallye Festival - Frank Biller

Frank Biller is not “hereditarily predisposed”. After obtaining his driving license, he followed a few races on the Nürburgring-Nordschleife and also started taking photos. The 66-year-old from Wuppertal really got going in 1982 with the first Rallye Deutschland (“that's when I got infected”). In 1999, together with Reinhard Klein, he was at the WRC round in Spain and saw the first victory for Citroën by Philippe Bugalski. According to Biller, this answered several questions at once: The one about his role model as a photographer and the one about his event highlight.
The man from the suspension railroad city also hopes that rallying will stay with us for a long time to come.



The photographers of the Eifel Rallye Festival - Kerstin Dewes

Kerstin Dewes was inspired by her rally-driving father, completed a co-driver's course, was active as a marshal, timekeeper and always again as a co-driver. Eventually she got into photography. She also names Achim Diesler (†) as a role model (“he mainly taught me photography”).
As a photographer, she names the 2013 Wikinger (Snow-)Rally, the German WRC rounds and, of course, the Eifel Rallye Festival every year as highlights, and as a spectator, definitely the Azores Rally. ("WP Sete Cidades, on the volcanic crater, when the ground shakes with every car, at the same time this breathtaking backdrop with the Atlantic Ocean and volcanic lake, the atmosphere and the mentality of the Portuguese. A really big party").
She is particularly looking forward to the participation of “Bosse” (Marcus Grönholm) as another personal highlight.



The photographers of the Eifel Rallye Festival - Sascha Dörrenbächer

Sascha Dörrenbächer - almost every team in Germany knows him. The convinced Saarlander came to rallying in 1992 through his father. Dörrenbächer senior shot video films until 1999 and is the namesake of the “Mantaloch”. The 47-year-old from Hüttigweiler names two people as his role models: Firstly, WRC photographer Reinhard Klein and secondly, Achim Diesler, who died in spring 2024, who accompanied the DRM for many years and from whom he learned a lot. Sascha cites his work as an organizer photographer for the DRM as well as the ADAC Rallye Deutschland, Central European Rally and, of course, the Eifel Rallye Festival as his personal highlights. It is important to him that the most beautiful type of motorsport for him continues to exist for a long time to come!

The photographers of the Eifel Rallye Festival

A major event like the Eifel Rallye Festival naturally thrives on pictures. Photos for the print media, press releases and our own publications. Often enough, these photos just say ‘McKlein’ or ‘RBHahn’. Who is behind them? Well, they are great, committed people who are more than just good photographers. We will be introducing our ERF photo team over the next few days.

Preparations for the twelfth edition of the Eifel Rallye Festival are now in full swing. Participants, fans and the organisers are all looking forward to the weekend of August 15th/17th 2024. The Festival traditionally begins with a shakedown for the rally cars and their crews which will once again be held around Bodenbach on Thursday from 3:00pm onwards. The Festival’s Welcome Evening on Daun's Laurentiusplatz just adjacent to the Rally Mile and which starts from 8.30pm is an event that has achieved cult status.



"The starting field will be very colourful and diverse," is how Reinhard Klein (Cologne) describes the entry list for the 12th edition of the Eifel Rallye Festival. When from August 15th to 17th over one hundred and fifty contemporary witnesses to rally history transform the Volcanic Eifel around Daun into the largest rally museum on wheels, fans will experience an impressive cross-section of the sport's history. "There will be just over a handful of vehicle types that are represented twice. From A for Alfa Romeo or Alpine to Citroën, DAF, Hyundai, MG, Peugeot, Rover and VW, almost every manufacturer that has ever been active in rallying will be represented.



"The starting field will be very colourful and diverse," is how Reinhard Klein (Cologne) describes the entry list for the 12th edition of the Eifel Rallye Festival. When from August 15th to 17th over one hundred and fifty contemporary witnesses to rally history transform the Volcanic Eifel around Daun into the largest rally museum on wheels, fans will experience an impressive cross-section of the sport's history. "There will be just over a handful of vehicle types that are represented twice. From A for Alfa Romeo or Alpine to Citroën, DAF, Hyundai, MG, Peugeot, Rover and VW, almost every manufacturer that has ever been active in rallying will be represented.




UpBack