It's not called "Passione Engadina" for nothing, as the rally starts in the Engadine around St. Moritz in Switzerland. The Alpine passes all around allow you to indulge your passion for classic cars, with a preference for Italian makes, to which the Passione Engadina is dedicated.
Seventh edition
The Passione Engadina took place for the 7th time from August 24 to 26, 2018, with around one hundred teams registering to compete in terms of consistency and navigation skills, as well as in a beauty contest.
The basic concept has remained the same and has proven its worth. You arrive on Friday and check into the elegant hotels in St. Moritz. On Saturday, it's off on a varied rally, in 2018 over the Albula, Splügen and Maloja passes. On Sunday, there will be a skills race at Samedan airport, the Corso around the city circuit and the Concours d'Elégance.
Maserati in the center of
The 7th edition of Passione Engadina was dedicated to the Maserati brand.
The sports car manufacturer from Modena was once on a par with Ferrari and many a rich GT driver preferred the products with the trident to the cars with the little horse. This resulted in true automotive superlatives such as the Maserati 5000 GT or racing cars such as the Maserati 250F or the 450S.
Fantastic special exhibition
In the center of St. Moritz, right next to the Kulm Hotel, Passione organizer Paolo Spalluto planted an extraordinary special exhibition with milestones from Maserati history.
A Maserati 6C-34 from 1934, a 450 S from 1956, the Eldorado-420M-58 from 1958, but also road cars such as the early Allemano coupés A6G-54, the Pininfarina A6 GCS or sports cars such as the Mexico, Bora or Khamsin, complemented by the Pininfarina "Birdcage" study from 2005, were all under one (tent) roof.
Fascinating!
Top-class automobiles on the track
But the Passione was also an opportunity to encounter top-class sports cars and limousines on the road. It goes without saying that the Maserati brand was particularly present. For the rally, however, the participants opted for the more modern cars from the 3500 GT upwards.
Several examples of the commercially successful coupé were represented, and the Vignale cabriolet version was also at the start. And then there were the later Ghibli, Indy, Merak and Biturbo sports cars. Over 20 historic Maserati were registered.
A sports car Eldorado
The Engadin and its roads are among the best routes for drivers with a flair for bends, gradients and challenging routes. Some people remember the famous scene from the movie "The Italian Job" when a red Lamborghini Miura drives up the hairpin bends of a mountain pass road. Unfortunately, the registered orange Lamborghini Miura did not make it to the start of the Passione, as a technical defect prevented it from taking part.
The mid-engined sports car would have fitted in well with the field, which included a whole pack of Ferraris, Alfa Romeos and Lancias as well as exotic cars such as the Osca MT4 Sport from 1954 and the Ermini 1100 Sport from the same year.
Unforgettable soundscape
Modern sports cars can have the most sophisticated flap systems in their exhaust systems, but nothing beats a Ferrari 275 GTB roaring up a mountain pass.
The twelve cylinders played a well-tuned concert that certainly fascinated many a passer-by at the Saturday rally.
A little competition too
Of course, the Passione Engadina is also about haggling over tenths of a second and uniformity - after all, you are competing against each other. At the Julius Baer Rally, Ottaviano Checchi and Giovanna Franchi had the fewest penalty points in the 1960 Alfa Romeo Giulietta Spider. They also won the St. Moritz Challenge Cup. A successful weekend for the pair!
Enjoyment in community
Of course, driving and discussing the cars is a focal point of Passione Engadina, but the cozy get-together, the culinary delights and the opportunity to try out modern cars are just as much a part of it.
It is this coherent overall package that makes many Passione participants repeat offenders. They simply enjoy returning again and again, because St. Moritz in August is a pleasant environment, even when it cools down to 1.5 degrees Celsius, as it did in 2018, and the snow glistens on the mountain peaks. In any case, there was a lot to report about the weather, with sunshine alternating with rainfall, which occasionally spoiled the enjoyment of the barchetta occupants.
But only briefly, because soon the sun was smiling again and so were the passengers!
