The run on the 20th Ennstal-Classic (11th – 14th of July) has exceeded all expectations.

360 registrations forced the organization to expand the starting field to 230 places coming from 18 different countries. 52 different car brands painted a picture of the car-history from 1917 to 1972. The oldest car has been an American La France from 1917 with 14.5 litres a true capacity monster generating 140 HP. The most expensive car was a Ferrari 250 SWB Competition Berlinetta with racing history from 1960 – worth between 5 and 7 million dollars. With 23 cars Jaguar was the second largest shareholder in the starting field, Beaten by Porsche with 35, BMW with 19 and Ferrari and Mercedes-Benz with 18 cars each followed. Many Brand names that have long been forgotten have participated: Denzel, Alvis, Arnolt-Bristol, Iso, Allard, Osca-Maserati, Riley, AC Ace, Italia, Railton, Siata, Indra and Veritas.

As the cars being the real stars of this event there also have been many race stars form previous and current years participating on the full rally event: two-times Rally World Champion Walter Röhrl on a Porsche 356 Speedster. He actually won the first Ennstal-Classic in 1993 as well as the fifth in 1997. Rauno Aaltonen was driving a Mini Cooper S, Franz Wittman a Porsche 911, Dieter Quester a BMW 328 and Christian Geistdörfer an OPEL Commodore Coupe.

On the concluding CHOPARD Grand Prix in Gröbming on day three, Saturday, was an aggregation of motor sport stars and race cars: F1 champion Nigel Mansell, former Le Mans winner Hans Hermann, Charles, Earl of March, 5-times Le Mans winner Derek Bell, Ex F1 driver Jo Vonlanthan and many others piloting Porsche 917, Porsche 908/3, Porsche 956, Porsche 718 Spyder, Mercedes Benz 300 SLR, Mercedes Benz 300 SL Prototype, Wolf F1 WR8/9, Red Bull NASCAR Toyota Camry, Ferrari 500 F2 (with such a car Alberto Ascari won the World Championship in 1951 and 1952) and more.

But Ennstal Classic is not only about motorsport stars, it is mainly about driving the Classic Cars ‘through the last paradise’. They still exist: the last light traffic streets of the Alp-regions. Driving like 50 years ago is what it is all about. Where do the participants of the Ennstal-Classic find the last paradise? They do on the beautiful Alp roads as well as on the enchanted passes either driven in the early morning – to gain the strength for the 12-hour Orange Marathon, or in the evening when the finish is near. It is also the enthusiastic spectators in the villages along the route that hand over their love to the participants. Adventure is constantly aboard: when the region becomes lonelier and the headlights are turned on. When the hundredth speed on the stop watch, the eyes of the co-driver stick to the road book, those of the driver to the oil-pressure gauge. When thunderstorms arise and try to displace the participants from paradise. It is the mixture: paradise times, sporty challenge times, adventure equals a product charged with emotions – an event that has become cult – the Ennstal-Classic.

First time this year our club together with Jaguar Austria sponsored a dedicated Jaguar trophy for the best classified Jaguar team. The rally started with a hill climb to the Stoderzinken to hit a target time. In the evening after about 400 km day one ended with three Jaguar teams classified under the first six, all six within 62/100 hundredths, so all pretty close. Day two with the 500 km ORANGE Marathon promised to be thrilling. The lead changed couple times during the day and at the end the first three teams again were all within 56/100 hundredths. Day three with the CHOPARD Grand Prix had to bring the decision. At the end team Helmut Schramke and Peter Umfahrer driving Jaguar XK 150 DHC could make the change and stepped forward from position three to position one keeping the second Karsten and Monika Wohlenberg from Germany driving Mercedes Benz 230 SL Pagode 5/100 hundredths behind. On position three the team Christian Mitterdorfer and Isabella Barth driving Jaguar E-Type S1 OTS followed 34/100 hundredths. On position five the German team Wolfgang and Barbara Stegemann driving Jaguar XK 120 OTS, on position seven the team Walter Kristen and Werner Gassner driving Jaguar E-Type S1 OTS and finally the team Florian and Dieter Böhmdorfer driving Jaguar Mk II completed a big success for Jaguar – five Jaguar teams under the TOP 10.

Therefore the winner of the first Jaguar Trophy at Ennstal classic was the team Helmut Schramke and Peter Umfahrer driving Jaguar XK 150 DHC – Congratulations! Next year we will sponsor again the Jaguar Trophy at the Ennstal Classic to celebrate the best classified Jaguar team.

Further information under www.ennstal-classic.at

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