Walter Röhrl now at a 70-degree drift angle
03/07/2017
From today, Walter Röhrl will continue to drift through his exciting life at exactly a 70-degree angle. Yes, he turns seventy today.
We all know Walter's career inside out. Yes, he became world champion twice. Yes, he could easily have won even more titles. Yes, he won the "Monte" four times and yes, each time in a different vehicle. He drove a Ford, Opel, Fiat, Lancia, Audi and Porsche. Even today, he is still blazingly fast in anything with four wheels, regardless of the surface. "You're only really fast when your tears of joy run horizontally down the back of your face."
His sayings are and remain legendary. They embody in words his great passion for moving fast.
His super-fast 42 km "Arganil" special stage in dense fog, when he crushed all his opponents at the Rally Portugal with a lead of several minutes, clearly shows that Walter could win the Rally Monte Carlo backwards and blindfolded.
Walter Treser (Head of Audi Sport) on Walter Röhrl: "When we were selecting the drivers, we invited Michelle Mouton, Hannu Mikkola and Walter Röhrl to a test. I was in the car with all three of them. Mouton had a lot of trouble with the "quattro" after all the two-wheel-drive small cars she had driven up to that point. But she didn't let it get her down and said that it could all be learned, including 'left-hand braking'. Hannu Mikkola drove off like a madman and suddenly I was no longer sure whether he would actually make the hairpin bend that appeared. It went just fine when Mikkola just said: 'Sorry, but I forgot about this corner'.
Then it was Walter's turn. The journey began at a leisurely pace. He asked about every single switch in the car and what it was for. He tried out everything and rolled along at a leisurely pace. At some point I said: 'Walter, I think the engine has slowly reached operating temperature. Then Walter dropped two or three gears and off we went, so that not a single question was necessary. The quattro went very well in a straight line back then, but it still left a lot to be desired in the bends. But with Röhrl at the wheel, you immediately lost the feeling that improvements were needed in this respect."
A journalist from "Car" magazine wrote about Röhrl: "I didn't really know what fast driving was until Röhrl shot me around the Ring (Nordschleife)... He shows you what driving can really be, and confirms your love for what we do here."
Walter not only won at full throttle, he also had a way with accuracy and consistency. In 1994, for example, he won the first Ennstal Classic in a private Austin Healey.
But what is absolutely remarkable, despite his exceptional talent, is his never-lost humanity. He doesn't really like the hype surrounding him, but he still knows everyone, even after years. He greets and talks like the nice neighbor next door and if you have the rare opportunity to sit at the table with him, you will certainly never forget that evening.
As Porsche ambassador, the double world champion is a figurehead in a class of his own. The new book ("Walter Röhrl, Querlenker, Eine Zeitreise in Bildern" (Walter Röhrl, Wishbone, A Journey Through Time in Pictures) published by McKlein Verlag) says the following about him: "No one described the duels on the rally tracks as vividly and originally as he did, and no one called the unpleasant things by their name as openly and sometimes drastically. Few people today outline the character of a car as idiosyncratically, aptly and entertainingly as Röhrl. Whenever Porsche presents new sports cars to the press, media professionals are keen to take a ride in Röhrl's car, which usually results in very emotional reports from on board."
All publications by and about Walter always have a great fun factor. They are not just boring documentaries about rankings and successes. The movie "Röhrl's Katze" by Helmut Deimel is also highly recommended .
Sebastian Vettel in Melbourne 2011 about Walter Röhrl: "Today I met a great hero whose sayings are absolutely brilliant."
In the new McKlein book, Walter Röhrl answers the question: "What is enjoyment for you?": "Driving a modern car on a race track or on a driver training course. I'm thrilled how the car drives to the millimeter where I steer, how it has power in abundance, how it goes through the gears without any interruption in traction. That is a pleasure. But the pleasure is at least as great when I'm sitting in an old Porsche, shifting gears myself, with no ABS, no servo, where I can get the car to drive like a modern car with a gentle hand. These two things fascinate me immensely. In the old car, the satisfaction comes at lower speeds, in the new car only at much higher speeds. So I'm more relaxed in a classic car."
Röhrl himself felt a sense of exhilaration during the laps on the harness racing track in Gröbming with the pre-war compressor MG in a duel against a horse.
There is nothing but positive things to say about the long Regensburg native, especially if you are lucky enough to know him personally. He is not only an exceptional talent, he is also an exceptionally kind person.
We wish the very best cross-country driver of all time and the rally driver of the millennium all the best for his 70th birthday and many more healthy and enjoyable years together with his beloved wife Monika!
