What do Rastede and Römö have in common? Nobody knows where they are. Well, Zwischengas reported on the Römö Motor Festival last year and this year it's the Vintage Race Days in Rastede that we want to make known to a wider audience.
To answer the initial question: Rastede is a small country town near Oldenburg, north of Bremen, and has a disused racecourse with a timekeeper's tower and grandstand. In Oldenburg there is the former BMW dealer Herbert Freese, in Rastede Manfred Janßen, the former with an important BMW collection, including the ex-Bechem AFM, the latter with a no less important collection of Mercedes vehicles from the 6-cylinder S-series and the 8-cylinder 500/540 K-series.
Pleasant garden party
So it is not surprising that, in view of Goodwood's development from a garden party to today's huge Festival of Speed, a number of enthusiasts came together a few years ago and set their sights on the disused 1000-metre race track in the park for an event with pre-war cars.
After many initial concerns - will anyone come? can you drive on a grass track? - the organizers led by Messrs Fricke and Bohn jumped in at the deep end five years ago and launched the Vintage Race Days. And lo and behold, participants and spectators came in droves.
This year was the fifth edition and with 60 vehicles and around 10,000 visitors, it was certainly a complete success!
Very British, but not only
The starting field focused on British brands from the Austin Seven to various Bentley types, MGs, Alvis and Riley Specials. Blue Bugattis, red Alfas and white S-series Mercedes provided a colorful mix.
By and large, it was pre-war vehicles that ventured onto the grass track, while the post-war vehicles present were at least visually oriented towards their predecessors.
With timekeeping
The race was based on a lap time and whoever came closest was the winner.
There were various classes such as British Heritage, MG & Friends, 20s, 30s, 40s and 50s, elephants vs. racing dwarfs, i.e. always colorful fields that the spectators could view up close on the "race track" after the runs and talk to the owners. A successful advertisement for the classic car movement. And not only that, the contact also contributed to the very relaxed atmosphere of the event. You could see happy faces everywhere.
As can be seen in the pictures, modern crash helmets were not necessary, the riders wore contemporary beanie caps or dispensed with headgear altogether.
There were both mass and Le Mans starts, which added to the entertainment value of the event. A "night race" into the darkness was even planned for Saturday.
Nobody stayed clean
As is usual this spring, there were the odd rain shower and it left its mark on the cars, which the owners endured with humor.
Special vehicles
Of course, we were also on the lookout for participants that you don't see at every event with old cars. One of these was the Bentley Coupé, better known as Bentley vs Blue Train, which was represented as a new build.
The counterpart to this was the Protos from 1920, a two-seater sports car with a long boat tail, which turned up during demolition work in 1993 and is in an amazingly good state of preservation. A Protos won the inaugural Avus race in 1921, but it is not certain whether it was this one.
The Protos company was taken over by Siemens-Schuckert and sold to NAG in the 1920s. An interesting representative of the early days of the automobile. I would like to see more of these.
Another, albeit not beautiful, but also very interesting representative of racing in the 1950s is this Formula Junior, several of which were built by the Bode company in Siegerland in 1958 using DKW technology.
The front-wheel drive is provided by a DKW 3=6 three-cylinder two-stroke engine, the noise development is corresponding. The aluminum body is designed less for aesthetic reasons than to cover the technology. Hence the two-stage front.
From the rear, it presents itself as a classic 50s racing car with a streamlined hood.
With the mixture of popular racing and sports cars from the pre-war and early post-war period, with some special features, with the relaxed atmosphere for participants and spectators, the organizers have succeeded in creating an all-round enjoyable weekend with old cars, which will find its permanent place in the event calendar.
We would like to thank Kevin Knoche(www.kkxphoto.de) for his great photos .
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