Once a year, the engines smoke at the Hamburg Stadtpark Race. On the first weekend of September this year, there was even more smoke: arsonists had set fire to bales of straw on Saturday night, meaning that most of the track was closed for the first morning of the race. However, more than 300 racing cars, motorcycles and sidecars thundered through the streets of the green area.
Race track on public roads
Every year, the organizers close off around 1.7 kilometers of public roads as a race track. The two lanes of Saarlandstrasse heading north form the start and finish straight with the longest straight section, interrupted by several chicanes. The straw bales here had to be replaced in a hurry after the fire. The roadway and toilet blocks had partially melted. After the hairpin bend, the route goes back two thirds of the way, then turns right and sharply left twice and back through the start and finish. The first original City Park Race in 1934 was still a six-kilometre race through the greenery of Hamburg, but back then only motorcycles started. Cars were not included in the program until 1938. The engines fell silent during the war, and it was not until 1947 that racing resumed on the now four-kilometer course.
Good visibility for spectators
The spectators had a good view at every point on the outside of the track. Race fans entered the infield via a specially constructed bridge. As every year, the organizers had set up a classic car parking area in a cul-de-sac adjacent to the track. On both sides of the 200 meters, classic cars from Alfa to Zündapp were parked close together, quite a few with for-sale signs on the windscreen. These included a Mazda small car from 1971, which is rare in Europe, and a Ukrainian Saporoshez 965A.
Lots of gray heads at the race
A little away from the race track, the four- and two-wheeled beauties of all model years were on display in the paddocks. Every visitor had free access to this area and contact with the drivers and mechanics was quickly established in a mutually welcome screwdriver discussion. The racers were naturally proud of their treasures and wanted to talk about them. Here and there, wheel nuts were tightened or the ignition and carburetor were touched up; every vehicle was lovingly spruced up for this event. Some of the chauffeurs had even kitted themselves out in period costumes. Most of all among the motorcycle and sidecar drivers - most of the leather outfits belied their supposed age. And you were amazed when the riders took off their helmets after a race. A surprising number of gray heads proved that the machines were not the only veterans.
Celebrities in the Porsche 911 Turbo S
Among the celebrities invited this time were Walter Röhrl and Sir Stirling Moss. Röhrl took part in several show runs on Saturday in a Porsche 911 Turbo S instead of in historic racing cars. In the morning, however, he only drove over a very shortened course due to the fire, which Röhrl annoyingly called the "Mickey Mouse Lap". Here, the "best rally driver of all time", as motorsport experts call him, was unable to show off his skills. In an interview, however, he explained how this reputation came about: "It's certainly partly down to my photographic memory. I memorize the smallest sections of the track."
Precise preparation is the key
While chatting, he tells the incredible story of his victory at the 1980 Rally Portugal, when he won in dense fog with almost no visibility, almost five minutes behind the runner-up. "It wasn't magic, it was precise preparation. Christian (that's his long-time co-driver Geistdörfer) and I drove the route conscientiously the day before without fog and noted much shorter sections than usual. We even noted smaller landmarks such as stones or bushes."
What Röhrl then said could also have been done by a dancer to internalize his performance: "I had the exact split times as notes and in my head. When I got to the hotel, I lay down on the bed and went through the route with my eyes closed and the stopwatch in my hand. The time difference was less than four seconds compared to the real lap." He didn't drive blind, as some people believe.
Interview with racing star Röhrl
Röhrl drove a Fiat in Portugal in 1980. When asked about his favorite race car, he doesn't think twice: "That was the Lancia Rally 037 from 1983." However, the car that helped him make his breakthrough was a Ford. At the end of the interview, Röhrl strolled over to the Jochi Kleint stand and met Christian Geistdörfer. Together they posed in front of the very Ford Capri Kleint R.S. in which Röhrl performed outstandingly as an outsider at the 1972 Olympic Rally. The car is currently being restored by young people in Hamburg. We will report on this. Next year, Röhrl wants to drive this car in the Hamburg City Park Race.
