The 15th edition of the WinterRAID, a rally for winter-hardy drivers, brought many innovations from January 17 to 20, 2018. The first day was dedicated entirely to the new prologue: the riders were sent over the Maloja and Julier Passes, where there was heavy snowfall, drove special stages in St. Moritz Bad and - this has never happened before! - four times through the main street of the village, which is actually a pedestrian zone.
Changeable conditions
Early in the morning on Thursday, the riders headed over the snow and ice track of Montebello, reserved exclusively for the RAID, in a snowstorm over the Bernina Pass, then in beautiful weather and past high snow walls to Cortina d'Ampezzo, the Pale of the Dolomites. This was followed by a day peppered with tests, with numerous passes awaiting the participants.
In total, no fewer than 27 passes were conquered in this RAID, some of them very narrow roads from the time of the First World War.
An advantage with spikes
The return to St. Moritz on Saturday, January 20, again brought heavy snowfall, icy drifts and roads that were barely groomed, the wind was blowing so hard, ideal weather conditions for the WinterRAID cracks!
The cars that were on the road with spikes had made the right choice, as without four-wheel drive this was certainly the next best thing.
Lots of public interest
There was a large crowd in the Via Maistra in St. Moritz when the rally participants crossed the finish line after 1600 km of exertion in sometimes difficult conditions.
The oldest cars were a Lagonda Le Mans and an Alvis Sport, both built in 1934 and of course open-wheeled from start to finish. The team of Philipp Buhofer and Peter Lustenberger were the superior winners of the winter drive in a 1960 Austin-Healey 3000 Mk II that was spiritedly driven around the bends.
33 vehicles were judged, with Philipp Buser and Patrick Fichtner in the 1969 VW-Porsche 914 in second place and Reto Schmid and Joerin Gianluca in the 1967 Volvo Amazon 123 GT in third.
Diverse field of vehicles
Many brands from Autobianchi to Volvo were represented in the field of almost 40 cars and there were some cars that are otherwise rarely seen on rally tracks, such as a Morgan Plus 4, a Subaru Turismo, an Opel Commodore GS, a Fiat X 1/9 from 1985 or a Rover P6.
The 1984 Ford Sierra "Carlos Sainz" was a real rally specialty.
Well-prepared participant vehicles
"Despite the toughest conditions, the WinterRAID has never required as few repairs as this year," said the head of the RAID breakdown service. This shows the care with which the cars were prepared. This was also necessary in order to survive low temperatures of around minus 15 degrees and, in some cases, completely icy roads.
