At the shakedown of the Eifel Rallye Festival you can bid for a ride with Bruno Thiry in an original VW Golf GTI 16V. The vehicle is provided by the owner Wolf-Dieter for this purpose.

The VW Golf GTI 16V was homologated on March 1st, 1986 with Nr. A-5295 in group A. This specific Golf II was constructed by VW motorsport and was first registered after individual approval by TÜV Hanover on February 23rd, 1988 with license plate WOB-AW 987. This is the car of Lars-Erik Torph / Björn Cederberg with entrant Volkswagen Motorsport for the East African Safari Rally in Kenya from April 30th until May 4th, 1988. Unfortunately, the team with starting nr 5 had to retire after an early lead due to a collision with a cow after control point 18.

Later this year the car was sold to Dr. Helmuth Czekal in Austria and in September 1988 registered with license plate O.102.014. The team Raimund Baumschlager / Andreas Wolf achieved on the first outing in the Kärnten-Rallye 3rd overall. 3 weeks later they had a big success on the WRC Rallye San Remo with 8th overall and winning the promotion class. The rest of the season 1988 and the full 1989 season was the car successful on track with Raimund Baumschlager in the ERC and the Austrian Rallye Championship, among overall wins in 1989 in the Rallye Bohemia (ERC) and the Kärnten-Rallye. At the end of this year Raimund Baumschlager was runner-up in the Austrian Rally Championship. In 2 WRC events (Rally Portugal and Acropolis Rally) the car retired. In 1990 the car was used only once for competition: In Rallye Niederösterreich it was placed 2nd. The rest of this year it was the recce car of Mr. Baumschlager.

1991 the car was sold to Wilfried Wiedner and registered with IL2-TDE in Austria. He drove with co-driver Stefan Eichhorner very consistent in the Austrian Rally Championship, so they were eventually runner-up.

Later the car was sold to Kirchdorfer Beteiligungs GmbH and Günter Rausch, who drove rarely with the car. The next owner, Michael Friesacher, didn’t drive the car at all. In November 2008 the car was sold to Christoph Weber in Vienna, Austria. He restored the car completely, registered it with W.XKXYV7 and won for the car in 2009 the 1st title as Austrian Historic Rally Champion. In 2010 he achieved runner-up in the Austrian Rallye Challenge. The car was acquired by the current owner in 2012.

2013 Kevin Abbring drove the car for the Legend Boucles de Spa in Belgium but he retired with gearbox failure. His next attempt in 2014 on the same event ended prematurely by accident.

Technical specifications
Chassis: Reinforced VW Motorsport chassis
Roll bar: Matter
Engine: 4-cylinder 4 valve
Cubic capacity: 1.781 cc
Power Output: 148 kW (201 BHP) at 7.900 U/min.
Injection: Bosch K-Jetronic
Max. Torque: 210 Nm at 6.000 rpm
Catalytic converter: Unregulated two-way
Power transmission: Front wheel drive
Kerb weight: 960 kg empty = minimum weight according to Gr. A

The ride in the shakedown will take place on Thursday, 27.07.20223 between 3pm and 7pm and will be auctioned off to the highest bidder on eBay. The profit will not only go to a good cause, the amount will even be doubled by vehicle owner Wolf-Dieter Ihle. The "nestwärme e.V. Germany" in Trier. (https://nestwaerme.de) can therefore look forward to a double windfall.

The auction starts on 01 July at 6 p.m. and ends at 6 p.m. on 06 July 2023.

Auction number: 385716985822

Link to the auction ( 01 July at 6 p.m): https://www.ebay.de/itm/385716985822

The highest bidder will be informed by the responsible persons of the Eifel Rally Festival about the acceptance of the bid and the procedure during the shakedown.

The co-driver is obliged to wear a helmet and clothing that comply with the current FIA or DMSB standard during the ride. Both will be provided by the organiser of the Eifel Rally Festival. In addition, the co-driver must complete and sign a liability waiver before the ride. In the case of minors, the liability waiver must be signed by a parent or guardian.

A prerequisite for the passenger ride is that the passenger can properly sit in the passenger seat and wear a seat belt!