The Grand Prix Mutschellen took place for the eighth time. While the last event two years ago was overshadowed by a lot of rain, last Sunday, April 29, 2018, the sun was shining throughout and it was even as hot as a summer's day! Accordingly, there were many spectators on site and the small mountain above Rudolfstetten was packed with thousands of people. The refreshment tents at the start, in the middle and at the finish were always well attended, but things went quickly and the whole event was very professionally organized, as you could see from the smiling faces of participants and spectators.
100 years of car history in four groups
The announcement did not promise too much, and an enormous range of vehicles was indeed presented. The oldest vehicle was an American La France from 1915. These brute racers were mostly emergency vehicles used by fire departments in the USA. The name "La France" comes from a French engineer. The 9.4 liter engine drives the rear wheels via the chain drive. The vehicle has no brakes on the front wheels.
Motorcycles made for a good rattling noise
Three groups of motorcycles were at the start, from pre-war motorcycles and sidecars to those from the 1970s. In addition to the deafening rattling, there was also plenty of action in the sidecars.
Unlike the four-wheeled comrades, there were often spectacular clouds of smoke.
And even though the mountain route on the Mutschellen is very short, there were still places that were a little reminiscent of the Isle of Man TT.
150 micro cars at Mutschellen
This has never happened before at the GP Mutschellen, and the demonstration of the 150 micro cars was truly overwhelming. Micro cars are small vehicles with three or four wheels, less than 500cc engine capacity and built up to 1970. The International Micro Car Meeting Switzerland has been held in Wohlen (Switzerland) every four years since 1976. This year it was that time again and after the meeting the "little ones" made a detour to Mutschellen. And there the little ones were suddenly the really big ones, the spectators waved and cheered the "smooching balls".
Although everyone was traveling extremely slowly, this allowed a closer look at the vehicles and the extremely cheerful drivers. The field was of course well filled with the well-known small cars such as Messerschmitt and BMW Isetta, but many exotic cars made the field an exciting journey of discovery: Geissmann, Bond, Kroboth, Felber, Kleinschnittger, Brütsch, Spatz, Velorex and Trojan were some of the manufacturers that could be identified.
Archaic pre-war car at the start
Early in the morning, we noticed a minimalist-looking racing car, a Delahaye from 1924. There was no bodywork, you just sat in it and drove off.
The direct view of the engine with 3.4 liters of displacement and 80 hp was impressive. Due to the lack of bodywork, this was a special acoustic treat, which the owner Riccardo Beccarelli from Thusis was happy to demonstrate.
Up the mountain with 27 liters
The first sight of the candidate with starting number 317 was immediately impressive, as the 1930s-style racing car is powered by a Rolls-Royce aircraft engine. The displacement of the twelve-cylinder engine is 27 liters (!) and produces almost 1000 hp.
In 2003, owner Louis Frey bought the engine, and shortly afterwards a chassis from Gaggenau dating from 1911. It took ten years before the car was driven out for the first time.
Striking vehicles at the start
Only 70 cars were built of the Ferrari 250 GT Boano from 1957. Koni Lutziger came to Mutschellen with one of these, whose chassis came from the Ferrari 250 GT Tour de France.
Christian Müller's Cadillac was originally built as a four-door sedan, but had already been converted into a racer in the 1920s and was used in South America. All the components are still from the original vehicle. It was transferred to Switzerland in 2010, restored and presented.
You don't see TVR racing cars every day, so the TVR Griffith 200, driven by photographer Jost Wildbolz, was greeted all the more enthusiastically by the spectators. Incidentally, Wildbolz is still the record holder for the Memorial race at Klausen, which he achieved in an English ERA racing car.
What you usually see in Le Mans Classic or Spa Classic was at the start of the GP Mutschellen this time: a Lister Jaguar Knobbly. The wonderfully shaped vehicle by Christian Jenny with the registration number "BHL 16" is one of 17 "Knobbly" cars built and was originally delivered to Kjell Qvale in San Francisco. Lister mainly used Jaguar components from the last D-Types for the construction. However, the chassis, steering, front suspension and rear axle were developed in-house.
GT40s can either be seen in heaps at Goodwood or at the end of the year at the Spa Six Hours race. But there was also a GT40 at the start in Mutschellen, which could also be seen on the public roads, as Ruedi Stoop's GT40 is road-legal.
In 1976, father and son Amweg built a special one-off in their workshop in Ammerswil, which was technically and formally right up to date: the Amweg-BMW AW 76 Formula 2. Fredy Amweg had achieved countless victories in hill climbs with this racer and won the Coupe der Schweizer Berge. The mountain king put the vehicle back on its wheels and brought it to Mutschellen.
Ernst Sigg brought a rarity to Mutschellen. Only two examples of the Sauber C2 were built. The vehicle was in the collection of Walter Grell in Rheinfelden after the active period and was restored from the ground up by Ernst Sigg, meticulously restored to its original condition and fitted with the original sponsor stickers.
Roger Bolliger's Pontiac Birdbird Trans Am won the Jim Clark Revival in 2015. The man from Reitnau is constantly working on improving this American car, which is based on the look of Jerry Titus' car from the 1970 Trans Am Series. However, it is constantly getting lower, wider and faster.
However, real racing car prototypes also drove up the hill in Mutschellen. These included the beautiful Abarth of Ernesto Piccirilli (2000 Sport) and Kuno Schär, who did his best with his SE021.
