ADAC Eifel Rallye Festival (July 27-29 2023) Press release 07
ADAC Eifel Rallye Festival – The historic rally
world meets in the Volcanic Eifel
The schedule of the Festival is now definitive
Rides as co-driver with Blomqvist, Thiry,
Toivonen and Schelle are up for auction
Available to order: Programme booklets, tickets
and the official book of the Eifel Rallye Festival
2011 - 2022
In the region around Daun, anticipation is mounting for
the return of the biggest rolling rally museum. The ADAC
Eifel Rallye Festival (July 27th to 29th, 2023) will once
again bring over one hundred and fifty historic rally cars
to Daun. They will not just be on display at the service
areas along the Rally Mile in the middle of Daun, as fans
can also watch these cars from rally history in action on
the demonstration stages in the Volcanic Eifel. One of the
secrets of success of this unique 'class meeting' of
rallying is the fact that there is no timekeeping on the
stages. This guarantees the diversity of the entry list,
from the small Trabant to the powerful turbocharged cars
from the Group B era, or even the WRC cars of the more
recent past – all of them are enthusiastically cheered
by the tens of thousands of fans who come here from all
over Europe – and sometimes even further.
As last year, the Festival will kick-off on Thursday
(July 27th) from 15.00 hrs with the shakedown in
Bodenbach. In the area between Bodenbach and Borler, there
are several spectator points from which the majority of
the stage can be seen, thus it is a visual as well as an
acoustic treat. At the official spectator points – as at
all other demonstration stages – the local clubs take
good care of their international guests. "We look
forward to being a part of the Eifel Rallye Festival every
year. First as part of a stage and now as the start and
finish of the Shakedown," Thorsten Krämer, Mayor of
Bodenbach, conveys the mood of his community. "Many
of our numerous helpers take extra leave for this, but we
are now a well-coordinated team across the clubs."
However, the fact that the Shakedown is now being held
here also brought some changes as Krämer explains:
"More visitors require even more logistics, for
example, and significantly more parking space for the
fans. The cooperation with our Shakedown partner community
Borler and the makers of the Festival works absolutely
smoothly and to good effect." The community centre in
Bodenbach is also the first port of call for journalists.
Last year, almost one hundred writing and photographic
representatives of the media as well as TV stations and
radio stations from twenty nations were provided with the
necessary documents to cover the Festival. However, the
residents living along the Shakedown stage had to accept
one restriction last year since, thanks to the many fans
along the route, the mobile telephone network was
overloaded and partially broke down.
Thursday evening traditionally belongs to the Welcome
Evening. From 20.30 hrs, the open-air cinema run by cult
motorsport filmmaker, Helmut Deimel, opens on the main
stage at Laurentiusplatz on the Rally Mile. The Festival
ringmaster, Markus Stier, will head the evening and elicit
entertaining and surprising anecdotes from the rally stars
who come up to his microphone.
Friday starts at 08:00 hrs with technical
scrutineering. For the first time, the scrutineering of
the cars will have a commentator so that the fans will
receive additional information about the vehicles and the
teams as the cars are being scrutineered. From 11.00 hrs,
the autograph session with the stars of the Festival will
attract visitors to the stage adjacent to the Rally Mile.
It is important to line up in good time, as the rush for
the coveted signatures is simply enormous year after year.
From 14.00 hrs, the first advance cars will roll over the
start ramp towards the 'Hochkelberg' stage. Here there is
an absolute novelty for the fans. The loop, which was used
for the first time last year, will be run a second time on
Friday from 18.53 hrs as a night stage. Non-stop action
with the historic rally cars will thus be offered to the
fans on the designated spectator areas until well into the
evening, which are all within walking distance from the
car park.
Of the three demonstration stages on Saturday, two are
new. The first one will take place at the legendary
'Mantaloch' on the outskirts of Brück. Parts of the route
have already been used in the past, but a large part of
the new ten-kilometre sprint course is completely new. The
second stage is also completely new – apart perhaps from
a few short familiar sections – and extends over 14.2
kilometres along the Ueßbach valley. Also a classic, and
no less interesting, is the familiar Lehwald circuit at
the end with its main spectator point at a natural
grandstand.
The grand finale of the Festival starts on Saturday
evening with the rally party kicking off with live music
on the big stage at Laurentiusplatz. The highlight, but by
no means the end of the long night, is the prize-giving
ceremony that runs from 20.30 hrs.
Rides with Blomqvist, Thiry, Toivonen and Schelle
are up for bid
How would you like to sit alongside a rally Champion as he
drives these stages ? It is a cherished tradition at the
Eifel Rallye Festival that such rides are auctioned off
for charitable purposes. This year, the much sought-after
passenger seats of Stig Blomqvist (Audi Sport Quattro S1),
Bruno Thiry (VW Golf GTI 16 V), Harri Toivonen (Škoda
Fabia Rallye2)and Niki Schelle (Suzuki Ignis Super 1600)
have been made available for this purpose.
Whoever places the highest bid in each of the auctions
will be able to sit there for an impressive lap during the
shakedown. The "Nestwärme e.V." in Trier will
be happy about the financial result. They use it to
provide "moments of joy" for families with
disabled children and their mission statement is:
"Nestwärme e.V. is dedicated to helping children,
young people and adults". All information about the
auctions is always available on the homepage
(www.eifel-rallye-festival.de) plus all social media
channels of the Eifel Rally Festival. A first auction is
already underway. One special thing about it is that
Wolf-Dieter Ihle is not only providing the original VW
Golf GTI Team of Lars-Erik Torph/Björn Cederberg from the
1988 East African Safari Rally in Kenya for Thiry, he is
also doubling up the highest bid to the benefit of
"Nestwärme e.V.".
Eifel Rally Festival 2011-2022 – The definitive
book.
The official book about the first ten editions of the
Eifel Rally Festival is not just a simple chronicle. With
the stars of the scene from the past and present and with
the most beautiful original cars and replicas from rally
history, it is, so to speak, a Who's Who of the sport.
Within its pages are the highlights from ten years of the
Festival with cars that are normally never seen outside
museums, such as the Group S Audi, the rebuilt Safari
Stratos and exotics ranging from the Jidé to the Clan
Crusader. There is a unique cross-section of rally history
with the older classics from Mini and Volvo PV544 to Group
4 legends like the Stratos and the Ascona 400, not
forgetting the amazing Group B monsters, the stars of
Group A from Lancia to Subaru as well as the spectacular
World Rally Cars. The bilingual texts (German and English)
and the many photos in the 300-page work are completed by
numerous tables and lists of starters and cars from the
ten years. The foreword is written by long-time patron
Walter Röhrl in which he recalls his own impressions of
the Festival. Here is the order link at the RallyWebShop: https://www.rallyandracing.com/mcklein-store/buecher/eifel-rallye-festival-2011-2022-das-offizielle-buch?c=1194
The Eifel Rally Festival - Timetable
Thursday,
July 27th, 2023
15:00
– 19:00
Shakedown
in Bodenbach
From
20:30
Welcome
Evening in the Rally Mile, Open-air rally cinema
with cult filmmaker Helmut Deimel
