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Permanent guests at the Eifel Rally Festival - Harald Demuth
For Harald Demuth, the two-time German rally champion, taking part in the Eifel Rally Festival is a must. "I wouldn't want to miss a single year. It's great to see the enthusiasm of the people every year who take extra holidays to see us and our old 'rally treasures'." Roger Lötzner made his Ur-Quattro available to him at the start, which is also how the first joint event with Wolfgang Inhester took place. Entries followed in the private Mercedes 500 SLC, the legendary Fricker Mercedes 190E 2,5-16 or again and again with originals from the treasure chest of Audi Tradition. "... and one thing is for sure, if I don't have a vehicle to drive, I'll come by bike, maybe I'll get a starting licence with it." Over the years, Demuth, who drove a Quattro up a ski jump in Finland for commercials in 1986 and 2005, revealed many exciting background stories. While he was securing the first WRC points for Audi in the 80GLE in Portugal in 1979, he was involved in the development of the quattro at the same time: "Crazy, during the week we tested the 80 prototype with four-wheel drive and turbo and got to know the new dimension of rallying. At the weekend, we drove the events in the Audi 80 GLE with a meagre 165 horsepower and front-wheel drive - I always thought my feet were about to fall asleep. "Wolf-Dieter Ihle has the original Portugal 80 in his possession and made it available to Demuth in the Eifel. The reunion with the original Audi S1 Pikes Peak, with which Walter Röhrl won the 1987 'Race to the Clouds' and which Demuth, who completed the tests at the time, now drove again in the Eifel, was also special.
Demuth on the festival: "I can only say one word: brilliant! The drivers, the cars, the atmosphere: everything just fits. You can drive here without any pressure at all - if you want to, you can go across for the fun in the cockpit and with the spectators or just be completely relaxed. Where else can you do that? "