The Opel Manta shows the competition at the 24-hour race on the Nürburgring
The ADAC Zurich 24-hour race is not a classic car event, it's about the latest top-class motorsport. The winner on the weekend of May 16/17, 2015 was a modern Audi R8 LMS.
However, there were quite a few older cars among the participants, with the Opel Manta from Kissling Motorsport with Hans-Olaf Beckmann, Volker Strycek (!), Peter Hass and Jürgen Schulten at the wheel being particularly striking. And they won in their SP3 class (for naturally aspirated engines with a displacement of up to two liters), averaging 132.947 km/h and completing 126 laps. They even managed the fastest lap with an average of 154.814 km/h, leaving class rivals such as the Renault Clio Cup, VW Golf 3 16 V and Opel Astra Gsi behind them.
Of course, the Audi R8 LMS covered a few more kilometers with 156 laps, but 52nd place in a field with hordes of modern GT3 cars is a respectable result for the 25-year-old Manta B (with foxtail!).
A youngtimer like this also has its charm in the 24-hour race, even if it wouldn't really make fans of originality happy with a sequential gearbox and all kinds of other modifications.
