This year's Arosa Classic Car from September 1 to 4 was, as always, a festival for all-round enthusiastic mountain racers, even if it did go swimming at times. However, everyone involved kept their heads above water and mastered the difficult moments. With over 170 different classic cars, a broad spectrum of vehicles was on offer. This meant that there was plenty to admire on the 7.3-kilometer route for classic road car fans and long-time racing enthusiasts alike.
The crowd does it
The ears of those present were blessed with unique sounds from four, six, eight and twelve cylinders. Thanks to a large number of Porsche 911s from the seventies and eighties, even here you could hear some differences that might otherwise have remained hidden. The same applies to the undeniably beautiful Alfa Romeo GTV and GT Junior. The former were in classic Alfa Romeo red, the latter in regal, elegant dark blue with yellow headlight lenses.
Porsche here, Porsche there. Is that a Porsche too? Yes!
The impressions created by the Porsche partnership with the Arosa Classic Car are also not to be neglected. In addition to the race cabs that could be booked by visitors and countless Porsche Panamera, Taycan and 911 cars for the organizational staff, respect was paid to a special type of Porsche model: Porsche's transaxle models, now a thing of the past, marched uphill in a parade of their own. Led by several Porsche 924s, followed by four to five 944s and a few 968s bringing up the rear, this was a truly unique experience for connoisseurs.
Bustling atmosphere in the paddock
A walk through the paddock was also worthwhile at this event. With just a little patience, you could catch a glimpse or two of an engine compartment or even sit in a very special passenger compartment for a test drive. After all, many of the participants are at least as flushed with gasoline as the visitors, and many enthusiastic conversations quickly ensued between participants and visitors. The atmosphere from one pit stop to the next was consistently friendly and sometimes almost informal. People helped each other wherever they could and put their heart and soul into the event.
Back to the roots
One highlight on the paddock grounds deserves a special mention at this point: to celebrate the day, Porsche brought along a "rolling chassis" of the Porsche 963, which has just celebrated its premiere on the world stage and is set to score the next Le Mans victories for Zuffenhausen from 2023. It is a sight from another planet, having just stood in front of a Ford GT40 and a Ferrari 512M from the late sixties and early seventies, which also have a special aura.
Why not give it a try
Another special feature of the "Arosa Classic Car" is the fact that the same pass road that has just been used by full-blooded racing cars is used to get to and change locations during the event. This gives spectators the opportunity to experience at least a little bit of what happens during the race.
Strength lies in tranquillity
But apart from Le Mans classics and rally racers that only know acceleration, there were also more leisurely vehicles that brought calm to the excitement. For example, a 1960 Cadillac DeVille, whose uphill drive required some optimism.
Rain, sun, rain, sun
Inspired by the varied views on the track, the weather also seemed to be encouraged to change every minute and so there was everything from bright sunshine to pouring rain. This also made it difficult to objectively assess the weekend's race results. It should be borne in mind that the track conditions sometimes changed significantly within a single race.
But now quickly! Here are the winners
Due to these equalizing weather conditions, Florian Feustel in a Porsche 911 IROC RSR from the "Competition" class was able to sprint up the hill 0.03 seconds faster than Thomas Amweg in the well-known Formula 2 Martini MK50-03 from the "Competition-Formula" class on Saturday. On Sunday, however, this discrepancy was resolved to Thomas Amweg's benefit, and with a time of 4:12.71 minutes he returned to the top. 300 hp from a two-liter BMW four-cylinder can still win races after 40 years.
The overall winner of the "Classic Trophy" from Field 1 was Benjamin Braem with an Abarth 695 Assetto Corsa. This was not just about the best time, but the consistency of the times driven. The smallest gap between two of the four times set was taken into account. In Braem's case, the difference between his two selected times was just 0.65 seconds. The winner of the "Classic Trophy" in Field 2 was Hans Peter Lötscher in a Jaguar E-Type with a difference of just 0.69 seconds between the times set. Victory in the "Sport Trophy" went to Daniel Uebelhard in an Audi Quattro with a gap of 0.63 seconds between his closest times.
The ground in the paddock in Arosa was partly flooded, but the last wave has now passed. With it go many great vehicles and a great team of people who make all this possible year after year. We look forward to seeing them all again next year for a joint petrol burn. However, the rain is requested to avoid the event. Thank you very much.
