St. Moritz, 2nd - 11th of September, 2022

Owing to its high-alpine “Top of the World” location, St. Moritz is globally appreciated as the repeated host of the Olympic Winter Games, and major international competitions. But far beyond skiing and bobsleighs, the luxurious Alpine resort has become a genuine melting pot of cosmopolitan elegance and regional charm. Given its international spirit and the fabulous sceneries of the Engadin region, it should be of no surprise that this town in Graubünden, Switzerland also draws a number of automotive events to the high valley and surrounding mountains. Early this year there was the “ICE” (International Concours of Elegance) on the frozen lake. Then, a few weeks ago, the Passione Engadina hosted a variety of Ferrari and Bugatti, among others. Now, at the end of the summer season, the International Car Week was being held around the Kempinski Grand Hotel near the lake.

It started the first weekend of September with the Kilomètre Lancé, just as it was in the early editions of the Automobile Week in 1929 and 1930. Back then a sprint race was held on the public road, today the sprint is held on the Engadin Airport runway. Unfortunately, this and the following rallyes clashed with the Concours weekend in Hampton Court so we only made it to the second historic event of the Concours at the Grand Hotel, the Motorsport Rendezvous.

Friday was the arrival and scrutineering of the hillclimb cars for the Bernina GT run at the weekend. After a buffet lunch at the hotel the cars were transferred to the top of Bernina that should be closed for the next two days. The Bernina GT easily can be seen as the highlight of the week and also the conclusion when around 80 cars are doing 6 timed runs up the Bernina over the next 1.5 days. Divided in a competition and the regularity class there were street, formula and rally cars as well as historic touring cars and even a few modern supercars that made it up the hill.

Timeline Gallery

Unlike the other concours throughout the year this is more like an exhibition to the entrants and visitors than a serious competition with extensive judging and the entry list is more a cross section on the various ages raging from the Blitzen-Benz or Simplex left over from the sprint race to the modern interpretation of the classic marques like Bugatti or De Tomaso. After a rather grey and drizzly start the cars and owners could enjoy a sunny day on the lawn while more and more cars for the next events, the hillclimb, were rolling into town. This year saw more events than ever and unfortunately some of them even clashed within the week with the Stick Shift Rally for Supercars with manual gearboxes or the Targa Poschiavo for pre-war cars so there was a steady coming and going at the parking including the arrival of the cars from the auction partner RM Sotheby´s that should be sold on Friday.

Thursday was the second day of the Rendezvous and a few cars went on to a small tour in the rain while the majority was still on display for the locals and end of season tourists. In the evening once again, a few cars were transported to the Paradiso restaurant on top of the hill to overlook the region and the lake. With the welcome dinner for the entrants sponsored by Mercedes-Benz it was not a surprise that this year there were two 300 SL Roadsters brought up by the Classic Centre whereas the vintage Simplex and the Mercedes-Benz 710 SS even made up the unpaved road under their own wheels to give a nice setting against the spectacular landscape.

Most interesting were certainly the Blitzen-Benz, that was rebodied since the Kilometer race from its streamlined form to the GP form as raced in period. Joined by the Simplex of 1903 also brought from the Technik Museum Sinsheim these high displacement engines could be well heard several turns before they were actually seen. Even louder but very different was the screaming of the new De Tomaso supercar that was taking the hill just like a Bugatti Divo that was just seen in Hampton court the week before.

The fastest time in the last run was set by a Porsche 911 IROC RSR that was up the hill in just 3:12 minutes, almost 15 seconds faster than the second fastest, a BMW 3.0 CSL Batmobile. Comparing the Blitzen-Benz making it up in 4:25 despite the gear ratio less suitable for these kinds of events.

In the regularity the set time for the winning BMW M1 was 4:16 and in two runs the penalty was just over one second although a fresh wind prevented the finishing bow to be set up making the finish line more difficult to spot from the distance.

Sunday around noon the price giving was the final chapter of a very interesting week including the Auction on Friday and soon after that the cars were loaded to get home before a new weeks start.

We were happy to join a very colorful event with lots to see and we hope the pictures could show more than just the words and it would be great if the next Automobile Week would attract a few more visitors and also more international participants making it even more interesting in future.

Report & images ... Peter Singhof
www.ClassicCarPhotography.de

Bernina GT

Motorsport Rendezvous

RM Sotheby's Auction Block