Rally fans from all over Europe came together in the Admont area as part of the Austrian Rally Legends 2016. With 130 starters from 8 nations, the expectations of the organizer cooperation ARBÖ Admont and MSC Rosenau were clearly exceeded this year.
Of course, the Austrian Rally Legends focused on the variety of well-known and rare historic rally cars. The line-up ranged from the 1964 Wartburg 311 Rallye and a genuine Trabant works rally car to top-restored Skodas of various types, with an exact replica of the rare Skoda 180/200 RS attracting particular attention. A colorful mixture of Porsches, Minis, Opels and BMWs, as well as Ladas and a Polski Fiat made the hearts of rally fans beat faster.
However, the star of the Austrian Rally Legends was probably the former Austrian European Rallycross Champion Herbert Grünsteidl with former co-driver Georg Hopf and his newly built BMW 1600 Ti.
A shakedown in beautiful sunshine attracted a large number of spectators. In keeping with tradition, the rally, which is organized as a demonstration drive for historic rally vehicles on closed routes without
timekeeping and scoring, began on Friday in Spital am Pyhrn in Upper Austria.
In front of an impressive backdrop, spectators were treated to some of the best historic rally sport on the Oberweng stage. The spectator points on the extended Gleinkerau circuit were already full hours before the start. For the second day, the rallyross moved over the Pyhrn Pass to Admont in the province of Styria.
A professional driver and vehicle presentation, beautiful stages with different characters but of equal scenic beauty and an exemplary organization made the start of the second day an experience. The inclusion of the new and demanding St. Gallen route (which was used for the national championship many years ago) provided an additional challenge. The stage, with its jumps and hairpin bends, was a real challenge for the riders.
Unfortunately, there was a serious accident involving an Audi quattro at the end of the event - the event was then stopped immediately. All help came too late for the driver Alois Schlauderer from Germany - he died on the spot. The co-driver Wolfgang W. was flown to the UKH Graz with serious injuries. Thus the otherwise impressive rally unfortunately came to a sad end.
Our thoughts and those of the organizers are with the bereaved of Alois Schlauderer and with Wolfgang W., who will hopefully recover soon.
