Click on the picture for the high-res version

 

ADAC Eifel Rallye Festival – A year of anniversaries

• A puzzle to find enough pitches in the service park
• The Neuville brothers in a triple pack
• ow available to order: programmes, tickets and the official book of the Eifel Rally Festival 2011 - 2022

This year's ADAC Eifel Rally Festival (July 27th/29th, 2023) will be marked by many anniversaries from the history of rallying. The entry list of the largest rolling rally museum can accept a maximum of one hundred and fifty cars. This list has long been fully booked and illustrates these anniversaries as well as the great rally classics.
Around Daun in the Vulkaneifel there will be 'moving' memories of Alpine Renault and their title victory in the first World Rally Championship in 1973. Jean Rédélé from Dieppe started in 1953 with his Alpine light-weight cars based on chassis from Renault. Renault joined the privateer in 1966, and the new Alpine-Renault produced 150 hp at the rear axle with an engine of 1,600 cc. Following Jean-Claude Andruet's title in the 1970 European Championship, the Alpine A110 was further developed and in 1973 produced a whopping 180 hp from its 1,800 cc engine. Renault also took a majority stake in the company, but continued to rely on Rédélé's management. In its traditional dark-blue metallic livery, the A110 won in Monte Carlo and Portugal, while cars in the new blue-red-white livery won in Morocco, Greece, Sanremo and Corsica. The Eifel Rally Festival commemorates the very first WRC title in rally history with four original vehicles. Two 1,300cc versions from 1971, the 1,800 version from late 1973 and the 1974 car with larger wheel arches for the Tour de Corse.

Ten years later, exactly forty years ago, Lancia won the manufacturer title in the WRC. The Lancia Rally 037 had been homologated in April 1982 as one of the first cars under Group B regulations. After its apprenticeship and development year, the 037 was ready for the 1983 season in which, right from the start, the Audi Quattro was one of the favourites. With Lancia's perfect organisation, reliability and cleverness, the 037 won the Monte Carlo, Tour de Corse, Acropolis, New Zealand and Sanremo rallies, and was rewarded with the manufacturer World Championship title. It was the last victory of a lightweight rear-wheel drive car with a supercharged engine against the newly developed cars with four-wheel drive and turbocharging. Four of these rare 037s will be on display at the Eifel Rally Festival, each in the colours of their then sponsors, namely, Martini Racing, Totip, Würth and Olio Fiat.

A puzzle to find enough pitches in the service park
"It's a problem, but one we are very happy to have to face," says organisation manager Otmar Anschütz from the organising MSC Daun. Together with Reinhard Klein, who is responsible for putting together the field of participants, they are sounding out every possible parking space for service areas in and around the Rally Mile and fighting for every centimetre to allow as many entrants as possible to start. "We have already informed the participants that they can only use the space provided and no more. Working together, we may just manage to be able to create a service and parking space for some of those on the waiting list," Klein explains.

The Neuville brothers in a trio
Last year, WRC star Thierry Neuville thrilled the fans with his private Peugeot 306 Maxi and won the 'screamer' classification. Due to the preparations for the WRC round in Finland, Neuville cannot be at the start this time but says that: "After the testing, I will come back from Finland so at least I can be there as a spectator in Daun". His eyes will certainly be on his two younger brothers, who will be driving cars from his private collection. Yannick Neuville will drive an original Citroën DS3 WRC, but it is not yet finalised which car Tom Heindrichs, the youngest of the Neuville brothers, will bring to the start.

The list of well-known participants in this class reunion of historic rallying is getting bigger and bigger. Former World Champion Stig Blomqvist will bring one of the rarities from the Audi Tradition collection to the Eifel, as will Harald Demuth. Nikolaus 'Niki' Schelle will be back at the start in the Suzuki Ignis Super 1600 with which he had an audible comparison with Neuville for the 'screamer' classification last year.
The anniversary of Alpine-Renault has also attracted Jean-Pierre Nicolas to Daun. The long-time works driver for the 'Blues' contributed to the brand's 1973 World Championship title with his victory in Corsica. In 1972, he won the Olympia Rally between Kiel and Munich in an A110. After his active career, the Frenchman was team boss at the Peugeot works team, where he celebrated World Championship titles in 2000 and 2002 with driver Marcus Grönholm.

Eifel Rally Festival 2011-2022 – The definitive book.
The official book about the first ten editions of the Eifel Rally Festival is not just a simple chronicle. With the stars of the scene from the past and present and with the most beautiful original cars and replicas from rally history, it is, so to speak, a Who's Who of the sport. Within its pages are the highlights from ten years of the Festival with cars that are normally never seen outside museums, such as the Group S Audi, the rebuilt Safari Stratos and exotics ranging from the Jidé to the Clan Crusader. There is a unique cross-section of rally history with the older classics from Mini and Volvo PV544 to Group 4 legends like the Stratos and the Ascona 400, not forgetting the amazing Group B monsters, the stars of Group A from Lancia to Subaru as well as the spectacular World Rally Cars. The bilingual texts (German and English) and the many photos in the 300-page work are completed by numerous tables and lists of starters and cars from the ten years. The foreword is written by long-time patron Walter Röhrl in which he recalls his own impressions of the Festival. Here is the order link at the RallyWebShop:
https://www.rallyandracing.com/mcklein-store/buecher/eifel-rallye-festival-2011-2022-das-offizielle-buch?c=1194

 

The Eifel Rally Festival - Timetable

Thursday, July 27th, 2023
15:00 – 19:00	Shakedown in Bodenbach
From 20:30	Welcome Evening in the Rally Mile, Open-air rally cinema with cult filmmaker Helmut Deimel
Friday, July 28th, 2023
From 08:00 hrs	Vehicle scrutineering, Rally Mile in Daun
11:00 – 12:00	Autograph session with many stars
From 14:20	Hochkelberg One
From 18.20	Hochkelberg Two, by night
Saturday, July 29th, 2023
08:30 – 16:00	Asphalt stages in the Volcano Eifel
In between the stages	Rally Mile Daun with many attractions
From 19:30	Rally party with honours and prize giving

Advance sale of programme booklets and tickets has started
In order to optimise the distribution and to extend the offer, the sale of the programme booklet and the tickets will be organised via the RallyWebShop this year. This makes it possible for the first time to offer day tickets in advance as well as weekend tickets. In addition, the RallyWebShop offers a variety of payment options such as PayPal or credit card. Here is the link to the different ordering options in the RallyWebShop:
https://www.rallyandracing.com/rallywebshop/eifel-rallye-festival-2023/
The prices for the programme and tickets can be found in our price list: https://www.eifel-rallye-festival.de/de/tickets.html.

Info for all journalists:
Accreditation is possible at
http://www.eifel-rallye-festival.de/de/Akkreditierungs-Info.html

Das Eifel Rallye Festival in den sozialen Medien:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EifelRallyeFestivalOfficial
Twitter: www.twitter.com/EifelRallye
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/eifelrallyefestivalofficial
YouTube: www.youtube.com/channel/UCV52bpXboaWN4OGt3vgHvSA

Verwendet unsere Hashtags: #eifelrallyefestival, #eifelrallyefestivalofficial

Presse-Kontakt
Jürgen Hahn
Weiherstraße 9
65558 Langenscheid
E-mail: presse@eifel-rallye-festival.de