Porsche 2014 Annual Report Download - page 54

104 105 Annual Report Porsche AG 2014
Tradition
and Emotion
Rolling museum: The course
travels through numerous towns –
here the marketplace in Steyr.
head for the Rossfeld parking lot. They’ve
gathered crucial data: the drive was
smooth, but slightly under optimal con-
ditions. Even so, ground has been broken
for this year’s running of the classic car
event.
“When we held the event for the rst time
back in 1993, we drew our line in the
sand at 1972 models, because from our
vantage point there are just so many
fascinating cars built before then,”
explains organizer Michael Glöckner.
“And we just ended up leaving it there.
One side eect: the starting eld gets
older and as such more interesting every
year.” Glöckner, formerly a motorsports
photographer and tourism director in
Gröbming, created the Ennstal-Classic
in collaboration with Formula 1 journalist
Helmut Zwickl. “The mix of competitive
driving, grand landscapes, Austrian
hospitality and relaxed shop talk are what
make the Ennstal-Classic special,” Zwickl
says. “Where else can you nd this kind
of combination?”
This is precisely the recipe cooked up by
the Ennstal-Classic for the international
classic car circuit. Fans ock to the
event. Some love the idea of piloting their
own old-timer through carefully selected,
low-trac streets across four Austrian
provinces – the number of applications
far outstrips the capacity every year.
Others look forward to standing at the
start, nish or way stations of this rolling
museum.
ON THE HUNT FOR SPECIAL
MOMENTS
2014 marks Andreas Kainer’s fourth year
in the race. He’s already returned back
from Stoderzinken, following a carefully
laid-out route that runs along the Nockalm
and the Turracher Höhe toward the Red
Bull Ring in Spielberg, one of the further
highlights of the day. His sports car, built
in 1955 in Zuenhausen, is the oldest
356 in the eld, and the second-oldest
Porsche: a 550 Spyder from the factory
museum rolled across the start line a
fewminutes ahead of him. Kainer thinks
the silver racer is somewhere around the
next crest, ahead of other classic cars,
and hopes at some point in the day to
follow in its slipstream. It remains to be
seen whether it’ll happen. But the fun is
already well underway: he’s become one
with his driving machine, owing through
curves and switchbacks in an ideal
rhythm. “When I get in the zone like this,
I become a hunter of special moments,”
he says, eyes blazing. “Out here you nd
them on nearly everymetre of pavement.”
The 365 in the extremely rare Bent-Window
Pre A Continental version approaches a
curve. Kainer double-clutches into third
and then back down into second gear.
The needle on the tachometer hangs at
roughly 3,000 rpm. Following the ideal
line precisely, he heads rst right, then
immediately left through the next straight-
away. Kainer depresses the gas and the
Boxer motor responds. “The car is happy
when it can rev to between 3,000 and
5,000 rpm. It runs more or less on its
own then. But you have to trust it and let
it carry that speed, because otherwise it
won’t have the power in the mountains to
accelerate going uphill.”
PROMINENT DRIVERS AT THE
STARTING LINE
Extraordinary moments are par for the
course at the Ennstal-Classic – from
the landscape, from the cars, from the
discussions. It doesn’t hurt that there’s a
high density of prominent rally and racing
drivers on hand, lured by the charms
of the event and the classic cars they’ll
be piloting along the course. A small
“Who’s Who” of elite motorsports has
coalesced over the years, with lots of
big names nding their way to the “last
paradise.” The full list would easily ll
20 rows. Among the starters for 2014:
Jacky Ickx, Marc Lieb, Walter Röhrl and
Hans-Joachim “Striezel” Stuck, all driving
Porsche.
The company has transported rare
and valuable vehicles from its Stuttgart
museum to take part in the Austrian
festivities. Ickx is driving a 550 Spyder
from 1955, Röhrl is piloting a 718/8
W-RS from 1962 and Stuck is at the wheel
of a 356 Carrera GT from 1960. Having
already received masterful care from the
museum’s workshop, they are ne tools
in the hands of these skilled drivers.
Marc Lieb proves a major head-turner
among the spectators after taking an
unocial exhibition run in a 911 GT1
from 1998.
Walter Röhrl, considered by many the
nest rally driver in the world, is a familiar
face in Gröbming. He and his wife were on
hand for the inaugural Ennstal-Classic in
1993, and in fact claimed the event’s rst
victory. He repeated the feat in 1997 to-
gether with former Porsche engineer and
racing director Peter Falk. For 2014, Röhrl
decided to participate in the Chopard
Racecar Trophy, a separate competition
Ennstal-Classic Marathon |
421 km
More than 800 km in all will be
driven over the course of 4 days.
Rolling time checkpoint and
start of next stage
Pass-through control
Finish
Schladming
06:00 pm
Haus
05:45 pm
Niederöblarn
05:00 pm
Bad Mitterndorf
04:30 pm Pürgg
04:15 pm
Schloss Pichlarn
08:20 am
Start
Gröbming
08:00 am
Spital am Pyhrn
09:00 am
Steyr
11:00 am
Waidhofen
00:45 pm
Lunz am See
01:45 pm