Anyone who thought there was no way to improve on last year's brilliant premiere was proved wrong last weekend: the second edition of the Edelweiss Bergpreis Rossfeld Berchtesgaden from September 26 to 28, 2014 was a real classic car festival, not least thanks to the fantastic late summer weather, which spoiled the almost 8,000 spectators, especially on Sunday.
Exactly 41 years after the last round of the European Hill Climb Championship ended on the Rossfeld in 1973, numerous racing legends from back then returned to Berchtesgaden on the last weekend of September.
"The actual purpose of the event, however, is to provide financial support for Lebenshilfe Berchtesgaden," recalls initiator Joachim Althammer. "This enables people with mental disabilities in the district of Berchtesgaden to be helped."
Vehicle presentation in Berchtesgaden
The starting signal for the second new edition was given on Friday, when around 120 participants from Germany and abroad gathered in the pedestrian zone of Berchtesgaden. From 12.00 noon onwards, things got lively at the Weihnachtsschützenplatz, with the display of "chrome jewels" from almost a century of motorsport history rounded off by a visit to the Kitzbühel sports car meeting. A highlight for the fans who had traveled to the event was undoubtedly the anecdotes told by legendary narrator Rainer Braun to the young-at-heart heroes of yesteryear.
Things got really exciting from Saturday onwards at Rossfeld: three demonstration runs of each of the 120 classic cars from nine decades drew applause from the large number of visitors. The star of the event was undoubtedly double rally world champion Walter Röhrl, who gave one or two prominent co-drivers an unforgettable experience during his drives in the original Porsche 718 W-RS Spyder - including the patron, former Minister of Transport Peter Ramsauer.
But Harald Demuth in the 1961 Hartmann Formula Junior, Sepp Greger Jr. in the Porsche 356 A Carrera and Rudi Lins in the rare Porsche 356 B GS Carrera GTL Abarth also made the eyes of young and old alike sparkle.
Instead of a uniformity rating , this year a jury assessed the history of the vehicles at Rossfeld and the visual impression of the participating drivers. The spectators' expressions of sympathy were also included in the evaluation. The overall winner across all eras was Franz Ostermaier in the deafeningly loud Schnitzer BMW 2800 CS from 1970, ahead of Alfred Jodl in the Abarth OT 1300 from 1965 and Franz Stahlmann with his Lotus 23.
Highlights create enthusiasm
Keyword Schnitzer-BMW: None other than Herbert Schnitzer acted as patron of the special BMW exhibition in the paddock, with crowds of people forming in front of the exhibits. The small car exhibition in the finish area at Ahornkaser was also a great success.
Numerous spectators took advantage of the special service of taking one of the 24 vintage buses to the best viewing points along the route or to the finish line.
There was even excitement during the lunch break, which magician Harry Riegel used to drive blindfolded along the historic route in a historic Mercedes limousine. The feat was accomplished on both days of the event, even though the brave co-drivers as well as the track announcers Rainer Braun, Dirk Johae and Hannes Mayerl held their breath.
All information is available at www.rossfeldrennen.de .
