Oschersleben/Germany, July 3-5, 1998
For the third time in a row
Formula 1 demonstrations
Classic Ferrari on show
A royal visit at Oschersleben
Verdict
For the third time in a row
Ferrari Deutschland GmbH, the factory-owned German importer, were for the
third year in a row the host of the so-called "Ferrari Racing Days" which included
races of the F355 Challenge "Europe Central" and "Europe West" and various
races for gentleman drivers, plus demonstration runs of historic and Formula 1
cars. A real novelty was the site of this event: the MOTOPARK Oschersleben, a
new circuit located near Oschersleben in former East Germany between
Hannover and Berlin.
Formula 1 demonstrations
The weather on this first weekend in July was too cold and too wet for July, but
nevertheless more than 200 Ferrari showed up at the gathering. The most
interesting cars were naturally the Formula 1s and the some 20 classic Ferrari;
the owners of the latter had been invited separately by Ferrari Deutschland since
the importer organized two parades for classic examples of the marque held on
Saturday and Sunday.
The vast majority of the Formula 1 cars had already been present at the track day
of Modena Motorsport GmbH at the Nürburgring some days earlier. Uwe
Meissner again drove Michael Gabel's hot to handle ex-Nigel Mansell 641/2 F1
s/n 120 and performed well.
Helmut Gossens spent a very long time on the track in his 312 B2 F1 s/n 005,
while another newcomer to the small, but exclusive circle of F1-owners was less
fortunate: Wulf Frensel from Itzehoe in the very northern part of Germany showed
up in his newly acquired 412 T2 F1 s/n 164, but blew the engine on Friday. After
the well-known F355 Challenge pilot with his viking-like hairstyle eventually
crashed his F355, too, on Saturday, he desparately left the scene in his still
healthy F50.
However, the other F1 pilots obviously enjoyed the track time in their cars,
although the track is a little tricky due to its many turns and corners. Fortunately,
the Sunday was dry in the afternoon after it had rained on Saturday for almost the
entire day, so the monoposti could finally be taken out of the pits.
Classic Ferrari on show
The two oldest Ferrari on show at Oschersleben were two 195 Inters: s/n 087S,
bodied by Vignale and owned by Peter Andersen, a fish dealer from Denmark
living in Hamburg, and s/n 0105S, bodied by Ghia and owned by Walter Schäfer
of Hainburg/Germany. By the way, s/n 087S had been owned by Schäfer, too, for a
number of years prior to selling it to Andersen in 1997.
Dieter Roschmann from Augsburg finally had repaired the engine of his 500
Mondial Spider Scaglietti s/n 0528MD - in early 1997, he had badly blown the
motor during the Ferrari Shell Historical Challenge at Monza. At Oschersleben, he
ran in a field of gentleman drivers in their F355s, 348s etc. and was the fastest
man on the track! Of course, Roschmann also formed a part of the demonstration
runs for the historic cars and was the fastest again.
The "contestants" in this non-competition run included the 250 GT Cabriolet
Series II s/n 2361GT (formerly owned by Wolfgang Count Berghe von Trips, now
owned by Volker Nast from Hamburg), the 250 GT Lusso Prototipo s/n 3849GT of
Siegfried Propfen from Hameln and the 250 GT Lusso s/n 5377GT of Gerd
Flaskämper from Celle. He latter car has pretty sporting looks due to its lack of
bumpers and the "Snaps" exhaust pipes.
A very rare Ferrari also present at the MOTOPARK was 500 Superfast s/n
8253SF. The 30th Superfast of the 37 examples made is owned by collector
Matthias Ficht from Munich. Two Daytona Spyders could be admired as well: s/n
13637, a nicely restored conversion owned by Wieland Schwarzkopf of
Ziemetshausen, and s/n 14761, a genuine 365 GTS/4 Daytona Spider owned by
Swiss enthusiast Dr. Fritz Hartmann of Speicher.
More contemporary classics included an absolutely immaculate 365 GT4 BB (s/n
18427) and two 288 GTO. Various F40s (including a genuine F40 LM) and three
F50s made the variety of popular tipos nearly complete.
A royal visit at Oschersleben
A special guest preferred to stay almost incognito when driving on the circuit:
HRH King Carl Gustaf of Sweden
attended the event on Saturday in a light metallic blue 456 GT, while a friend of
his was driving a new 456 M GT. The king did some laps on the track - it is
unknown to us whether or not the 456 GT (registered in Paris) is actually owned
by him. In the evening, the king was a special guest at the prizegiving to the
contestants of the F355 Challenge Europe West. By the way, on Sunday, Carl
Gustaf attended the STW Cup touring car event at Nürnberg.
Verdict
Probably due to the sometimes bad weather, there were not too many spectators
to be seen in the grandstands this time. But the enthusiasm for Ferrari keeps
growing in Germany's "new old" eastern part, and so it is likely that the Ferrari
Racing Days will be hosted at the MOTOPARK once again in the future.
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