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Permanent guests at the Eifel Rally Festival - Fred Walter

For Fred Walter, the Eifel in July has been a fixed part of his annual programme since 2002. The fan of the Lehwald stage has a particularly newsworthy event: "That was in 2018, when we had driver Jayant Shah and co-driver Aslam Khan - the original crew of my ex-Safari Nissan 240RS at the 1983 East African Safari Rally - as guests and the two of them drove your ex-car again on some special stages. I'm still pleased that it worked out back then." But the Lancia driver is also full of personal highlights: "Last year, Simo Lampinen was my co-driver on some special stages - his original Alitalia works car from the 1975 Acropolis Rally. From the moment he felt reasonably safe in the car, he filmed practically everything with his mobile phone and made very funny comments. We had a lot of fun, talked a lot and laughed a lot - Simo is more than likeable, he is bubbly and can tell a lot of wonderful stories.
The fact that everything is so close together in Daun, everything takes place within walking distance between the market square and the rally mile. So everyone meets everyone else and you're always together somehow, with a common conclusion at the Saturday evening party. I can't think of anything spontaneously that could be improved, actually I'm completely satisfied. Maybe a little more manpower for the paper collection.
The festival always gives me 4-5 days of positive excitement with family and many old and new friends. The participants' cars are getting better and better every year - probably unique in the world. The introduction of improved safety standards was and still is good and correct. The routes, timetable and organisation have always been top notch and are still getting a bit better all the time. The Eifel Rally Festival - a microcosm of its own.

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