Many interruptions once again determined the schedule of the Arosa Classic Car this year. Inconsistencies on the radio occasionally even led to unintentionally funny moments. For example, the race director's request: "The stationary car should please turn around and drive back uphill." Unfortunately, it was in the short downhill section, which could of course be misunderstood. They wanted to send the driver back to the start first. What was meant, however, was to continue uphill towards Arosa. Top priority: Never ride against the direction of the race unless accompanied by track safety.
As 20 years ago, the mountain race started in Langwies at 1374 meters above sea level and reached the finish in Arosa at 1738 meters after 7.3 kilometers and 76 bends. Thomas Amweg, the son of mountain king Fredy Amweg, was once again the fastest man in Herbert Müller's March 752. Amweg won for the eighth time in Arosa. The overall runner-up in the Swiss Mountain Championship is and remains the "King of Arosa". After the first run in 4:20 minutes, the 39-year-old family man from Ammerswil said: "There's still room for improvement, but I won't beat the record of 4:06 minutes with this car. The track is also far too bumpy in some places for that."
After a time of 4:16 minutes in the second run, Amweg improved the best time by a further five seconds in the third run. In the addition of the three fastest runs, he was clearly in first place with a time of 12:47 minutes. "In the fourth and final run, I was on slicks in the wet." The battle for second place in the "Competition" category between Florian Feustel in a Porsche Carrera RSR and local driver Roger Moser in his BMW-Martini Mk 28 was exciting, with the latter missing out by 1.5 seconds in the end.
One driver, who would probably have broken the 14-minute mark if the three fastest runs had been added together, had to switch from the Comeptition to the Demo class on Saturday: Fabio Scherer. The LMP2 winner of the 2023 24 Hours of Le Mans emerged from a sea of flames in Friday's practice run. His 1974 Porsche Carrera RSR suffered engine damage in the finishing bend, which set the car on fire. Apart from expensive material damage, however, nothing more serious happened. Of course, the damage could not be repaired overnight, so Scherer had to switch to a Carrera RS in the demo class, which robbed him of the chance to win.
Best in the regularity class was Oliver Philip Kreyden in an Alfa Romeo Giulietta. The driver from Muttenz was one thousandth of a second (!) more precise than second-placed Felix Lindenmüller on an Austin Healey 3000. It is amazing how evenly these two fields covered the 7.3-kilometre route from Langwies to Arosa: up to and including 30th place, the two best times did not differ by more than one second for any driver.
It was similarly close in the "Sport Trophy" category. Here the winner, Sandro Rüegg in an Alfa Romeo Giulia, set his two best times within seven thousandths of a second of each other. Second place went to Urs Rahm (Opel Kadett C, 52 thousandths of a second); third place went to Pius Erni (also Opel Kadett C, 55 thousandths of a second).
Porsche showed what they are made of in passenger drives with various current cars - provided the driver was as good as the car. One of the most exciting vehicles of the 200 or so participants was the inconspicuous Lotus Elan S4R from 1969 by Edi Schorno. With a curb weight of just 680 kg and an output of 240 hp, you could literally see and feel the power of the small but ingenious Chapman design.
With the exception of the last run on Sunday, the weather was just as one would wish: sunny, without rain or even snowfall, which has happened before.
