The Swiss team Ginesi / Ginesi is on a real roll: overall winner in the Coppa delle Alpi with a Fiat Ballila, a top place in the Mille Miglia and now a second place overall in Freiburg, this time with a Porsche 356. The overall victory went to Andreas Zuhnemer / Rolf Pellini in a Renault 5 Alpine Turbo.
The Black Forest has been a UNESCO biosphere reserve since 2017. It's hard to believe that almost 200 years ago, this huge area was almost completely deforested due to intensive use by glassworks and charcoal burners. Obviously, people thought better of it and reforested it with predominantly spruce monocultures. In the midst of this varied landscape, the ADAC and the Freiburg Motorsport Club have been organizing the Schauinsland Classic for 17 years now; a successor event to the legendary Schauinsland hill climb, which is highly regarded in racing circles.
No fewer than 24 car brands from Alfa Romeo to VW were represented at Schauinsland on August 3 and 4, offering spectators a cross-section of automobile construction from the 1930s to 1993. The only pre-war car was a Plymouth PD Special from 1933, after the Kieffer / Thiry team swapped their MG NA Magnette Supercharged for a 1954 Lancia Aurelia GT before the start. Thanks to the geographical proximity to Switzerland, almost thirty teams from the Alpine country found their way to Fribourg, probably also taking advantage of the national holiday. A total of 120 teams from six countries battled for victory and against the pitfalls of accurate driving.
Mario Ketterer from Freiburg is almost a fixture at the Schauinsland Klassik. There is nothing new about his vehicle: "Still my VW Beetle, whose engine still has 100 hp," he smiled. And he didn't have to worry about his Schauinsland track record being broken.
Freiburg and the church tradition
On Friday's tour, the teams set off every minute from Messe Freiburg in a north-easterly direction on the approximately 270-kilometer route. The route was peppered with special stages: Every hundredth of a second deviation from the target time was penalized with a penalty point. The highlights were the tests on the go-kart track in Teiningen and at the airfield in Teichhalden. Despite the sometimes bad weather, the finish of the first stage of the day on Münsterplatz was somewhat Italian: Due to the rain, there were fewer spectators than usual lining the entrance of the classic cars, but they ensured plenty of applause.
Ulrich von Kirchbach, first mayor of the city of Freiburg, swapped his desk, from which he has also written greetings for the Schauinsland Classic, for the passenger seat in a Porsche 911 Carrera 3.2 Cabriolet. Although he was taking part in a historic rally for the first time, he navigated his chauffeur Thomas Bugmann confidently around the rally route.
Why doesn't the organizer do the same for the cathedral priest? The fact is that the church tradition and the holy mass in Freiburg Minster are actually somewhat older than the Schauinsland Classic and are sacred to the clergy there in the truest sense of the word. Disturbances are not tolerated, especially not by motor sport events such as the classic car rally. The finish on Friday evening can therefore be set for 7:30 p.m. at the earliest for the first car, because by then the evening mass is finished and the engines are no longer any competition for the spoken word in the church. If the cathedral priest were now sitting in a participating vintage car, the time of entry onto the cathedral square would perhaps no longer be so sacrosanct...
Preparing for the centenary
The second day, this time in fine weather, led over 260 kilometers into the eastern and southern part of the endlessly expansive Black Forest. Immediately after the start from the exhibition halls, the legendary Schauinsland mountain route took us deep into the Black Forest. Karl Wolber, who was responsible for the route, once again found roads and little streets, mostly away from the main traffic routes. And that is precisely what makes the Schauinsland Classic so charming. After a total of 530 kilometers, it was already over early Saturday evening. The grand finale was the award ceremony, which took place in Hall 4 of the exhibition center as part of a small banquet.
Next year, the organizers of the Schauinsland-Klassik are planning a special exhibition to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the hill climb with many of the racing cars that took part in the first race in 1925 and, of course, with racing drivers who have taken part over the years. Only none of the drivers from the inaugural race will be able to be there.
