News

Eifel Rallye Festival is ready to go

(c) Rallyebüro Jürgen Hahn

Christian Geistdörfer who is responsible for the marketing of the Eifel Rallye Festival: "We are delighted that the most important German car maker is now involved in our event through its subsidiary company, Autostadt. The aim of the Autostadt is identical to ours: to bring automobile history back to life." Even the theme of the Eifel Rallye Festival, "40 years of the WRC", will be picked up by the Autostadt with a special exhibition starting this autumn. The exhibition will include some of the Slowly Sideways cars that will be seen in action on the demonstration stages in the Vulkaneifel region over the weekend.

It is these cars that will turn the quiet region south of the Nürburgring into a mecca for all fans of historic rally car on the last weekend of July. One hundred and sixty-five cars from five decades of rallying will come to the 2013 ADAC Eifel Rallye Festival and probably attract around 40,000 spectators. The event will mark a new record for Slowly Sideways with 75 different types of cars from 33 manufacturers.

The field will once again be headed by fifteen "Youngtimer" cars that do not have to comply with the strict Slowly Sideways regulations. These cars differ from the rest due to their start numbers V1 to V15 and can provide spectacular action on the stages.

The "main field" will be headed by World Rally Champions, Walter Röhrl (#1) and Björn Waldegård (#2) with many other international top drivers following in their footsteps. Among these are:_

  • Harri Toivonen:
    Harri is part of the famous Toivonen rally family. His father Pauli was European Rally Champion in 1968, while his brother Henri died tragically on the 1986 Tour de Corse. At that time, Harri was a works driver for Austin Rover driving an MG Metro 6R4. From 1990 onwards, Toivonen concentrated on sports car races. On the Eifel Rallye Festival he will be driving an Opel Manta 400.
  • Robert Droogmans:
    Robert Droogmans is one of the most successful drivers from rally-mad Belgium. Droogmans won his national championship in 1986, 1987 and 1988 and was crowned European Champion in 1990 at the wheel of a Lancia Delta. In Daun, Droogmans will be reunited with his original car from the Belgian Championship of 1981, a Ford Escort RS1800.
  • Matthias Kahle
    With forty-one victories and seven championship titles - Matthias Kahle is the most successful driver in the history of the German Rally Championship. The Škoda works driver was also the last one to win the former Eifel-Rallye when it catered for modern cars. But he is also successful in desert rallies such as the Rally Dakar where he won the buggy class in both 2010 and 2012.

In addition, the Eifel Rallye Festival will welcome Harald Demuth, Simo Lampinen, Yves Loubet, Philippe Gache, Susanne Kottulinsky, Niki Schelle and Egon Culmbacher to this year's event.

 

© Rallyebüro Hahn © Rallyebüro Hahn © Rallyebüro Hahn
     

 

The Eifel Rallye Festival has not only become a popular "playground" for famous rally drivers, it also attracts many exotic rally cars such as two very rare Citroën prototypes coming from France, a DS Proto and an SM Proto. Both have been built in very limited numbers and will appear in the Daun as replicas. Another very interesting car participating in the event is one of the original Peugeot 405 T16 Grand Raids that have won the Paris-Dakar Rally in the 1980s. It will be interesting to see this desert car on small tarmac roads.

Probably the biggest attraction is as usual the famous Group B supercars of which thirty-one will be present in Daun. Cars like the Lancia 037 Rally, Audi Sport Quattro, Ford RS200 and Peugeot 205 T16 created a boom for the whole sport in the 1980s. Today these beasts are still banned from direct competition but, since the Eifel Rallye Festival is a non-competition event without any form of time-keeping, they can be seen in action here.

Co-driver with Walter Röhrl brings 1.571,99 Euro
The auction of a co-drive with double World Champion Walter Röhrl in a Porsche 911 SC was highly successful. The highest bidder paid out €1.571,99 for a co-drive over the new shakedown stage "Mantaloch" (6.5km). The entire proceeds of the auction will be credited to a school project in Daun that is aimed at turning "the schoolyard into a place for experiences and discoveries".

Wanted, part 1: The greatest car of the Eifel Rallye Festival
Which car is your favourite? Is it the amazing Lancia Stratos, the revolutionary Audi Quattro or the classic Mini Cooper? With our new and free smartphone app you can grade every car taking part in the event and thus have your share in deciding which car will be chosen as the top car at the Eifel Rallye Festival 2013. All participants of the voting will be included in a raffle for attractive prizes such as a co-drive on the shakedown of the 2014 Eifel Rallye Festival.

The Eifel Rallye Festival App will be available for iOS, Google Android and Windows Phone and it will not be available until July 22nd, 2013 when the voting will start.

Wanted, part 2: The best pictures of the 2013 Eifel Rallye Festival
After being held with great success for the previous two years, there will again be a photographic competition hosted by the Eifel Rallye Festival in which prizes will be awarded to the best pictures of the event. The well-known and renowned WRC photographer, Reinhard Klein, will himself choose his favourite pictures from amongst all those submitted. And there will again be a special prize for the most inventive image. The winner of the photographic competition can also win a co-drive on the 2014 shakedown stage.


Eifel Rallye Festival - schedule

Thursday, 25.07.2013
16:00 - 20:00     New shakedown at the ‚Mantaloch' in Brück
from 20:00         Open Air Cinema with famous film-maker Helmut Deimel

Friday, 26.07.2013
09:00 - 13:00     Scrutineering, Rally Mile, Daun
10:00 - 12:00     Autograph session with Walter Röhrl and all other star drivers at the auditorium in Daun
from 14:30     All-gravel Bosch Super Stage with water splash, jump and sideways action
from 19.00         Tarmac night stage in Sarmersbach

Saturday, 27.07.2013
08:00 - 17:00     Tarmac stages in the Vulkaneifel plus many attractions on the Rally Mile in Daun
from 19:00         Rally Party in Daun

Two further points of interest:

For anyone contemplating a trip to the Eifel Rallye Festival, they should contact the Tourist-Information Daun where there are English-speaking staff:
Tel.: +49 (0) 6592 / 95 13 0
E-mail: touristinfo@daun.de
Web site: www.tourismus.daun.de