• After entry list was open for just 100 hours, there were already 127 entries
• Double World Champion, Marcus Grönholm, to visit the Festival
• Winter meeting of Slowly Sideways at the Bremen Classic MotorshowA Festival.

The rush to enter the 12th edition of the ADAC Eifel Rallye Festival that is to be held between August 15th and 17th 2024 around Daun in the Volcanic Eifel is, once more, simply amazing. There were eighty-nine entries within the first 24 hours, and after 100 hours there were already one hundred and twenty-seven registrations for this Festival, the largest “mobile rally museum”. This year's motto for the Festival is "Rally Cars from A to Z" and this seems to be particularly inspiring for the participants. "It is clear that we will have a very diverse field of starters. There are already some exotic rally cars on the list. But of course we are looking forward to receiving more entries from the colourful world of rally sport," says Reinhard Klein (Cologne). Klein is both the head of Slowly Sideways, the Europe-wide association of owners of historic rally cars, and is the member of the Festival’s organising team responsible for the selection of the final entry list. He says that it is "our declared aim this year is to present the fans with an unprecedented variety from the history of rallying."

'Bosse' comes to the Vulkaneifel
Double World Rally Champion, Marcus Grönholm is known as 'Bosse' in his Scandinavian homeland. As a so-called Finnish Swede, he is a true Scandinavian. It is also fitting that his first WRC start took place at his home round in Finland in 1989 and that he last contested a WRC rally in Sweden in 2010. In addition to his two WRC titles, that were gained in 2000 and 2002 driving a Peugeot 206 WRC, he has driven for almost all the top teams on the rally scene during his one hundred and fifty-two WRC appearances. He won all thirty of his WRC victories with co-driver and brother-in-law Timo Rautiainen and ranks as the best 'non-Frenchman' behind the two Sebastiéns (Loeb and Ogier) with third place on the all-time WRC list of winners. "I've heard a lot about this Festival. I'm glad that I can be there this time," says Grönholm, who is looking forward to his journey into the history of rallying. "We're really looking forward to 'Magic Marcus' taking part," said a beaming Otmar Anschütz, head of organisation in the MSC Daun that runs the Festival. "We are currently still holding promising talks with other top drivers from rallying history about their participation. The fans can look forward, not just to a very diverse field of starters, but also to one or two surprises."

Slowly’s winter meeting in Bremen
What do the owners of historic rally cars do on the long winter weekends when their blue-blooded sports equipment is in hibernation? The Slowly Sideways team also organises an annual winter get-together. This time it took place as part of the Classic Motorshow in Bremen in the first week of February. Some participants brought their vehicles that adorned the Slowly stand in the show and were thus an eye-catcher for fans and exhibitors. Away from the daily hustle and bustle of the trade fair, the almost fifty 'Slowlys' met up in the evenings for a cosy get-together. Thomas and Manuela Griesche's Opel Ascona 400 was one of those rally cars on display. He summarised the weekend as follows: "The winter meeting is a great opportunity to meet many of our group outside of an actual event. There are lots of 'petrol talks' and constructive exchanges. Simply a nice break from the rally-free time."

Eifel Rally Festival 2011-2022 – The definitive book.
If you want to bridge the time until the next Festival in an entertaining way, you can do so with the official book about the first ten editions of the Eifel Rallye Festival: The highlights of each year are described on more than three hundred pages. There are rally cars that have never been seen since they last competed. In addition, there is a unique cross-section of rally history with the classics from Mini and Volvo PV544, to Group 4 legends like the Stratos and Ascona 400, then the unforgettable Group B monsters, the stars of Group A from Lancia to Subaru and finally the spectacular World Rally Cars. The book’s bilingual text (German and English) and the many photos are completed by numerous tables and overviews of starters and rally cars. The Festival’s long-time patron, Walter Röhrl, summarises his impressions of the Festival in a foreword. Here is the ordering link to obtain copies of this remarkable book from the RallyWebShop:
https://www.rallyandracing.com/mcklein-store/buecher/eifel-rallye-festival-2011-2022-das-offizielle-buch?c=1194