Background:
Since 1971, one year after the opening of the then "commercial airfield" in Kassel-Calden, races have been held at the small regional airport in northern Hesse. Highlights included the Interseries races in the early 1970s and the German Racing Championships until 1978. However, the installation of an instrument landing system put an end to racing activities after 1987. The last official event, a night prologue, took place on the site in 1997.
After a 30-year break, the two organizers Heinz W. Jordan and Dr. Dietrich Krahn dared to make a fresh start in 2017 and initiated a first revival on the airfield site, which had been derelict since 2013, which was very well received by the drivers and fans. The follow-up event took place from August 24 to 26.
Formerly a kind of "German Standard", there are now almost no more circuit events at airfields. There is obviously a need for it, because the 320 starting places were fully booked in no time (122 of them motorcycles) and even the waiting list was quite long. Even pilots from the far south made their way to northern Hesse.
However, the demand seems to exist not only among the riders, but also among the spectators. Even on the cool and damp Saturday, attendance was well above expectations. The planned 3000 admission wristbands were all gone by lunchtime. Sunday went even better, and at the end of the event there was even a considerable traffic jam at the Calden Orstein exit.
Modified route compared to earlier
However, it was not the fast route from before, consisting of two long straights, but a variant in the northern part of the area, which used a good half of the former runway in two-way traffic with a narrow hairpin bend as a connection, a part of the taxiway and was about 2.6 km long. In total, there were three motorcycle classes, one sidecar class and seven different automobile classes. The "Classic Cars" and the "Youngtimers from 1976 onwards" were so well filled that they started in two groups. This meant that spectators were able to enjoy 26 demo runs plus some special runs on both days.
Material breakage leads to accident
Of course, it wasn't about fast lap times, but about having fun. In the end, all the drivers accepted this and none of them thought they had to set a new, imaginary lap record, even if an incident initially made it look otherwise.
However, this was not due to overconfidence, but to material breakage and went off lightly and, above all, without personal injury: a wheel had come loose on a Wartburg and the Ost-Bolide had slid uncontrollably into a Donkervoort on the oncoming lane. A stroke of luck. The Donki driver was traveling alone and remained uninjured despite severe damage to the passenger side.
However, it remains incomprehensible why the organizer of the otherwise very well-organized event had dispensed with the presence of a tow truck and why the recovery took so long, or why the Wartburg initially came to a standstill between the two lanes.
Driving in the opposite direction?
Otherwise, there is little to nothing to complain about the event and it is to be hoped that it will continue in 2019 with tow trucks and a better separation of both lanes on the runway, drivers and fans would be happy.
Another option would be to drive on the track in an anti-clockwise direction, which would provide even more safety on the bend at the entrance to the runway, the run-off area of which is the back straight - but a meadow when driving in the opposite direction.
The official page of the event can be found on the event website .
