When the Heidi Classic family meets in June in the Bündner Herrschaft region and in neighboring Bad Ragaz for the annual drive, the focus is on the joy of classic vehicles. The journey is the destination when the lovingly maintained classic cars roll along narrow roads. The twistier and steeper the road, the more stories there are to tell in the evening. The Heidi Classic 2023 offered the 42 participating teams two varied excursions over sometimes spectacular routes and took them to remote but picturesque places.
Historic pass roads made for classic cars
The two route leaders Norbert Good and Ueli Sauter once again outdid themselves in their choice of route and took the participants to places that many of them only knew from a map.
On Friday morning, in light rain, the route led from Bad Ragaz through the Tamina Valley up to Lake Gigerwald and a first coffee stop in St. Martin. After the restart on the dam wall, the route led in an almost adventurous manner over the Kunkelspass into the canton of Graubünden and via Bonaduz through the Versamer Tobel to Ilanz, from there on to Vals, where the sun peeked through the clouds just in time for lunch.
Open the convertible tops in the afternoon. A detour to the other side of the Val Lumnezia valley awaited; finally, the last special stage of the day awaited at the end of Flims, where the classic car drivers had to complete a short route in a specified time and as accurately as possible to the hundredth of a second.
The second ride on Saturday offered sunshine and summer heat as well as a detour to the Principality of Liechtenstein. This one had it all - a 24 percent gradient! It went up to Triesenberg and Silum, from there through the 48-metre-long and extremely narrow tunnel built in 1899, which was the only road connection from the Rhine Valley to Steg and Malbun until 1947. The route then led along picturesque side roads towards Lake Walen to a special stage high above Murg.
Concentrating on the road book and time was difficult, the breathtaking view of the lake and the Churfirsten mountains opposite was very tempting. In the afternoon, the route took us over the Kerenzerberg and then to the Klöntalersee, from there over the Pragelpass (special stage!) back to Glarus. Picturesque places and roads as old as the classic cars at the Heidi Classic.
Rally and beauty winner
The Heidi Classic has been run in three categories since it was first held, with the "Relax & Drive" category being held without a special stage and therefore without scoring. The main "Classic" category is run on the slightly shorter of the two rally routes. There were 24 teams at the start.
Among them was a father-son duo from the canton of Lucerne: Eric Fellmann and Stefan Fellmann competed in an Opel Kadett C City 2.0 S and excelled in the "finding tree monkeys" discipline. Nevertheless, it was not quite enough for victory. Christian Di Ronco and co-pilot Karin Di Ronco in an Austin Healey MK III secured this victory; they were able to keep local driver Ötzi Wohlwend and his new co-driver Andreas Heldstab in a Volvo 121 at bay.
The overall winner of the Heidi Classic is the team that wins in the "Sport" category. And they were no strangers in 2023: Claude Schwegler and Andrea Schwegler in the Volvo 123 GT are experienced classic car rally participants and keen trophy collectors. They were presented with the challenge trophy at Maienfeld Castle on Saturday evening.
The "finale furioso" of every Heidi Classic is the classic car festival on Sunday in the village center of Bad Ragaz. Once again this year, classic car enthusiasts from near and far came together to choose the winner of the Prix d'Elégance.
The most beautiful and original was the 2023 Ford Mustang 428 Cobrajet (Mach 1) from Nicolas Vontobel from Islisberg. The gem in the color "Candyapple Red" was built in 1969, is manual and has 335 hp.
See you in 2024
The volunteer organizing committee can once again look back on an all-round successful and accident-free Heidi Classic. But as the saying goes: After the rally is before the rally. Preparations for the 12th Heidi Classic are already underway and the rally will once again take place on the fourth weekend in June. The fixed date and the final decision as to whether the next Heidi Classic will once again be held in the "long version" - i.e. with two full-day rides - will be communicated on the Heidi Classic website in the course of the summer.
What is already certain, however, is that next year's event will conclude with a classic car festival on Sunday in the village center of Bad Ragaz. Not only the participants of the Heidi Classic, but all classic car drivers from near and far are invited to attend.
