At the AvD Oldtimer Grand Prix, the Nürburgring will become the stage for a top-class motor racing museum from August 9 to 11, 2013. Twelve races and a large number of demo runs and presentations will bring motorsport and automotive history to life for spectators.
Legendary sports and racing cars on the grid
Sports car fans can look forward to very special highlights at this year's AvD Oldtimer Grand Prix. BMW will field Joachim Winkelhock at the Festival of Historic Racing Cars at the Nürburgring with the kind permission of Opel.
The Waiblingen native returns to the cockpit of the BMW V12 LMR in which he took overall victory at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1999.
He drives the car on demo laps before the big BMW races and meets another Bavarian warhorse: Marc Surer will drive the 1,000 hp Brabham BMW BT52 Turbo in which Nelson Piquet became Formula 1 World Champion in the 1983 season. Derek Bell can also be seen on the Nordschleife: He was Stefan Bellof's team-mate in the 1983 World Sports Car Championship and drives the Porsche 956 in which Bellof drove the fastest lap ever completed on the Nordschleife.
The sports car races and demolaps of the weekend will give you a real Le Mans feeling. This is not only ensured by the top-class vehicles from BMW and Porsche during the demonstration laps on the Grand Prix circuit and the Nordschleife.
Le Mans feeling and a drive into the dusk
The fascination of this racing category is also tangible in the racing program. The FIA Masters Historic Sports Car Championship showcases the beautiful sports prototypes from the years 1962 to 1974, where the "big bangers" with their roaring engines are on the starting grid, divided into displacement classes and production periods, but the somewhat lighter-engined prototypes and GTs from the endurance classics of yesteryear are also fascinating.
The two races of the two-seater racing cars and GTs up to 1960 / 61, whose race at dusk on Saturday will conjure up real endurance racing flair in the Eifel, will also take you back to the early days of post-war sports cars. And here, too, the ancestry becomes clear at the latest when the drivers line up for the second race on Sunday morning to demonstrate the classic Le Mans start.
Kremer in the field
The Porsche 901 made its debut in 1963 and, after a brief legal dispute with a French manufacturer, was quickly given the name 911, which still has the magic ring to it today. The constant evolution of this sports car, especially in racing all over the world, is inextricably linked with the name Kremer Racing. The brothers Erwin and Manfred Kremer were involved in all stages of the 911's development, but very often also optimized it according to their own ideas. The Jägermeister Kremer Porsche 935 K3 entered in the Revival German Racing Championship with Kremer regular driver Wolfgang Kaufmann at the OGP is certainly one of the most popular racing versions of the sports car from Zuffenhausen developed in Cologne among fans and drivers from all over the world. With overall victory in the 1979 24 Hours of Le Mans, winning the 1979 German Racing Championship with Klaus Ludwig and countless victories all over the world, the Kremer 935 K3 is one of the most successful racing cars of all time.
While the "Jägermeister", as the fans simply call the 935 K3, is equipped with a biturbo engine, the predecessor model, the "Vaillant", is a Kremer-Porsche 935 K2 in the characteristic green livery with the Vaillant bunny with monoturbo. Kremer team owner Eberhard A. Baunach himself will be at the wheel.
The third cult car from Kremer Racing's German racing history is the Samson-Porsche 911 RSR, which was seen for the first time at the OGP last year after a long reconstruction. Jochen Arden will be driving this car, which has been restored down to the last screw at Kremer in Cologne.
Strong presence of pre-war vehicles
One of the highlights of the weekend is the extensive program of pre-war vehicles. In two races on the Grand Prix circuit, they will show that even the technology, some of which is over 80 years old, has genuine racing genes. The "pre-war cars" can also be seen on excursions in the surrounding area and on the legendary Nordschleife.
All historic FIA racing series at the start
The AvD Oldtimer Grand Prix will be the only classic race in Germany to feature all three historic circuit racing series of the FIA. They will revive the history of Formula 1 and the sports car prototype scene as well as the Formula Junior junior class.
Lovers of touring cars and GTs can be pleased as well: the regulations of the AvD Touring Car Trophy have been revised so that a huge spectrum from all performance classes will be on display on all days of the event.
And, of course, the AvD Historic Marathon will also take place on the Nordschleife with vehicles from the classic car and youngtimer eras.
So a visit to the Eifel is definitely worthwhile.
More information can be found on the organizer's website.
