The keen observer quickly realizes that this is not one of the usual rallies. There are young people at the wheel, they seem relaxed, they smile and laugh a lot and are having a good time. And the cars are not necessarily the kind of vehicles you see at international rallies.
Of course, the RAID Young Raiders Challenge also has well-known classics such as a Mercedes-Benz 250 SL (Pagoda), an MGB GT, an Aston Martin DB 2 Mk 3, an Alfa Romeo Giulia as a Spider or an Austin-Healey 100 BN1 at the start, but where else can you see BMW Z3, Mazda 323 GTR, Peugeot 205, Renault 5 Turbo 2 and TVR Chimaera together at a rally?
It is precisely this breadth and the possibility of using cars from the nineties, even if it is a Range Rover, that obviously appeals to the young drivers. After all, the number of participants has increased significantly compared to the first edition a year ago, despite the higher entry fee.
Two days across Switzerland
The start was at the AMAG Autowelt Zurich in Dübendorf, where the participants received a detailed briefing. They listened attentively, as half of the participants were new to regularity tests and average stage times.
From Dübendorf, the route led through the Zurich Oberland and Toggenburg to Wangen in the canton of Schwyz and then towards Wäggital via Sattelegg and Ibergeregg to Lake Lucerne. Via Küsnacht am Rigi, the route then went over the Michaelskreuz, where the mountain race course was crossed in the direction of the valley to reach Lucerne via Emmen.
There was also an "after-drive party" there from 10 p.m., after all, the young participants were owed something.
On the second day, the route led towards Emmental and then over the Glabenberg Pass, where lunch was served above the sea of fog.
The rally then continued via Giswil and the Brünig Pass to Lake Brienz and finally to Toffen near Bern, where the rally came to an end with the award ceremony after covering around 480 kilometers.
Challenging special stages
Numerous special tests had to be passed along the way, several of them under difficult conditions, such as on a slippery surface at the TCS traffic center in Emmen or blindly on a closed-off parking lot where a specified distance had to be covered without visibility.
VW Beetle here and there
The Volkswagen was omnipresent at the Young Raiders Challenge, not only in the field of participants, with eleven Beetles from the years 1956 to 1980 and four Golf versions from 1990 to 1993, but also at the stage finish of the first day, the Swiss Museum of Transport in Lucerne.
There, the rally entourage met up with the early Beetles from 1948 to 1952 from the AMAG anniversary celebrations "70 years of VW in Switzerland" as well as other Beetle variants.
Weather luck
Rally participants are not always so lucky with the weather. Apart from a few patches of cloud, the sun was always shining when the 75 or so cars of the RAID Young Raiders Challenge drove past, which of course also delighted the many spectators on the sidelines, who watched the entourage with interest, but also frowned at one or two of the participating vehicles.
Things are much more relaxed with the youngsters. Individuality often counts more here than originality, but this certainly didn't detract from the fun, as the smiling faces along the way proved.
Winners and losers
It was pretty close in the overall classification. In the end, however, David and Florian Hug had the fewest penalty points and won with their 1978 Porsche 911 SC ahead of Eric Wirth and Markus Wernli in a relatively young 1987 Toyota Celica Cabriolet.
Lorenz and Claudio Weibel came third in a 1956 VW Beetle, certainly a good performance for the relatively weak and not so easy to drive Volkswagen, which was also aerodynamically handicapped with the massive roof box.
The fact that the large number of women - around a sixth of the vehicles were registered with a woman at the wheel - did not come out on top is perhaps a challenge for the next edition to finally show the men how it's done?
In any case, the rally can be given a good prognosis, the concept obviously works and we can already hope for the next edition.
