Salzburg, May 30th - June 1st
The Gaisberg in Salzburg saw its first hill climb in 1929,
organized by the Salzburger Automobilclub (S.A.C.). Back in the
1930s the international hill climb scene was very important and
already the first edition of the Austrian event drew the big names
as the touring car class was won by no less than Manfred von
Brauchitsch on Mercedes, the race car class attracted gentlemen
drivers as Count Lobkowitz who won on his Bugatti. In five
editions before the war the international race car elite came to
Salzburg to participate, von Brauchitsch raced the “White
Elephant” Mercedes-Benz SSK against the small Bugatti of
Joachim von Morgan from Berlin who raced the French straight
eight in the German race colour white to victory in 1930 and 1931.
Just as in the international road race the car of the early 1930s
was the Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 and few know that even German idol
Rudolf Caracciola drove one between his Mercedes years and in
1932 he justified his nickname as “Rainmaster” winning in wet
condition followed by Count Trossi in 1933. The racing archive of
the technical museum Wien features a few interesting images of
this era (www.technischesmuseum.at/motorsport-in-
oesterreich/veranstaltungen/articleid/1986 this page is only
available in german, but pictures tell their story in the viewers
language) showing several Maserati and Alfa Romeo 8C (in lungo
configuration, Monza and even Zagato spider) plus numerous
motor bikes who raced the Gaisberg as part of the European Hill
Climb Championship.
After the break during the war it took until 1957 when the race
was re-established as the “Großer Bergpreis von Österreich” to
become part of the European Hill Climb Championship in the
following years.
After 13 edition the final chequered flag was waved in 1969 for the
original race that now gives the historical background for the
classic car event that was first held in 2003. Eligible for the
Gaisbergrennen are cars of the pre-1969 era in the Touring,
Sports and Race Car class, certainly today the event is held as a
regularity event rather than a race. The event is divided in 4
different parts, the Hill Climb, a few laps on the Salzburgring, the
“Gaisberg Wertungsfahrt” regularity rally based on the eponymous
rally of the 1950s and the City Grand Prix as prelude.
The later is also responsible for the annual date of the event as
the Corpus Christi holiday is the only date during this part of the
season that allows the closure of the city ring around the historic
town centre of Salzburg for the Grand Prix. Thursday the 30th of
May was this year date when the 160 participating cars and
crews gathered at the Schloß Hellbrunn for the scrutineering.
Unfortunately this year's weather was as bad as it could get with
heavy rain during the first 2 days as part of the long rain period
that caused severe flooding in middle Europe the following days.
Nevertheless most of the entered cars could be seen in Hellbrunn
with just a few cancellations of some of the open race cars
without any weather protection.
Porsche has a strong linkage to the Gaisbergrennen as the 910
Bergspyder is still holding the record on the hill and the Porsche
Museum was present with 3 cars from the collection. More
important this was one of just two races where the famous 909
Bergspyder was entered, the most radical hill climb race car in
the history of the marque from Zuffenhausen designed by
Ferdinand Piech, his older brother Ernst Piech is a regular entrant
of the Gaisbergrennen. Being the grandson of Ferdinand Porsche
he usually enters an Austro Daimler from the period when
Ferdinand was constructor for them, now well in his 80s Piech
showed the “young guys” the spirit of motoring as he drove a pre-
war roadster despite the rain on all three days.
Official sponsor of the event is the BMW Classic Group thanks to
their history with the motor bikes. As this is a pure automobile
event BMW entered a few 328 and 507 led by the 328 Touring
Spyder driven by Austrian touring car champ Dieter Quester.
After the scrutineering the cars were escorted by the police to the
Residenzplatz in front of the cathedral to be displayed to the
public prior the demonstration laps on the city ring. Despite the
lousy weather many visitors found their way to the viewing and
lined up on the bridges over the Salzach for the Grand Prix. With
several timed sections the Grand Prix is part of the regularity trial
and in these conditions it is even more noteworthy that the results
were equal to the years before showing that the very professional
drivers and navigators could handle the stop watches and speed
traps even in limited visibility, the drivers of the closed touring
cars certainly had some advantages against the open sports
cars.
Unfortunately the weather did not improve over night as the drive
up the hill on Friday led to fog and almost freezing temperatures
on top of the Gaisberg with visibility of less than 20 meters in the
last section. Some complained about irregular conditions but as
the weather was constantly bad it was at least equal for everyone.
Some of the drivers decided not to drive that day, especially those
who came just for the fun and not for competition.
After the first two days a duo was leading with the Team
Geyer/Pichler on Lancia Aprilia and Wohlenberg/Wohlenberg on
Aston Martin DB MKIII sharing the same score so this year's
event had to be decided on the final day.
On Saturday morning the teams have to drive five timed laps on
the nearby Salzburgring before the lunch break at Schloß Fuschl
to have a final drive up the hill in the afternoon. Saturday morning
was the only time it stopped raining with an almost dry
Salzburgring so a few cars appeared that were not seen the days
before including a Bugatti T51 and a Lotus-BMW. But already on
the way to the lunch break rain set in again and so the event
ended the way it started.
In the evening the final dinner was held at the Hangar 7 between
the toys of the Red Bull collection with the price giving. After a
second place in 2012 the Team Geyer/Pichler finally entered the
top of the podium this year after a strong final day.
Talk of the evening was without doubt the bad weather of the last
three days which is the only thing that could spoil a well
organized event. Most of the entrants are regulars so they might
be back next year under better conditions but some might chose
a coupé for security over an open car.
For more information on the next edition visit the homepage of the
Salzburg Rally Club www.src.co.at
Report & images ... Peter Singhof
www.ClassicCarPhotography.de
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