Villingen-Schwenningen in racing fever
10/21/2013
In the Peace of Campo Formio, negotiated between Napoleon Bonaparte and Emperor Franz II, Villingen, which had previously been part of Lower Austria and is now part of Baden, was granted to the Duchy of Modena in 1797. Perhaps today's racing car metropolis is the source of the DNA that naturally sends the shared town of Villingen-Schwenningen into motorsport fever every two years.
As a tribute to the four circuit races held in the 1950s in the Württemberg district of Schwenningen in Hammerstatt, the "Hammerstatt Revival 2013" was held for the ninth time on October 5/6, 2013. For the first time, historic sports and racing motorcycles as well as old racing cars competed on the 1.6-kilometre square circuit in what was once the world's largest watchmaking town.
Around 250 motorcycle racers, including three former world champions, did their laps in the lively presentation rides in the Strohballenkanal. In addition to Jim Redman and Dieter Braun, Freddie Spencer also competed for the first time. In a spectacular driving display together with a brilliant Peter Rubatto ("Mr. Superbike"), his appearance was one of the many highlights of the event. In addition to Heinz Rossner, Bruno Kneubühler and Horst Burckhard, former world championship runners-up and the last German premier class GP winner to date, Edmund Czishak, also competed. The sidecar teams particularly impressed the spectators with their wild and acrobatic cornering. The Maico Historic Racing Team from Pfäffingen in Swabia drove around the Neckarring with an armada of racing machines.
Over 30 attractive historic racing cars were at the start. For example, the Schramberg car collection sent the spectacular Adler streamlined racing car, which finished sixth in both the 1937 and 1938 Le Mans 24-hour race (picture above).
Hannes Steim enthralled the audience with wild cornering in his Miller Sprintcar (1937). A quartet of racing cars from the Swabian Alb, including an EHP Torpedo, a Rob Walker F2 Cooper Climax, a Fiat 508 CMM-Barchetta and an F3 Trimax, were nonchalantly chauffeured to the limit by daredevil men.
The orange-colored March 761 of Hans Stuck/Vittorio Brambilla, driven by Sepp Maier from Heitersheim, seemed to have been brought directly from the filming of the current F1 movie "Rush".
Urban Fässler drove his Tasman Lotus 35, bringing the motorsport feeling of the "Roaring Sixtees" to life.
A small 40-year FV anniversary was celebrated with the old warhorses Helmut Bross and Markus Hotz and Wendelin Egger.
Daniel Walther drove Ronnie Peterson's ex-F3 Brabham around the Neckar-Ring. Sepp Binder and the experienced F3 drivers Heinz Scherle and Klaus Trella engaged in spectacular and skillful duels in his Project 4-Ron Dennis-F2-Ralt.
With "fire and flame": "Rocket Bruno" Ianniello ignited his Lancia Delta S4 Group B rally monster. More than a third of the participants were "rush comrades" who had come to the event from nearby Switzerland.
Although the weather only revealed dry track conditions on the afternoons of the two event days, motorcyclists, four-wheelers and spectators enjoyed a great time. Everyone is already looking forward to the next revival in two years' time.
We owe the photos for this article to Udo Günther and David Hotz.
