Linthal, 27th - 29th of September
When looking at the race calendar in the 21st century most of the
activities are located at modern racetracks with state of the art
safety facilities, be it sports car or formula races. Back in the last
century during the dawn of motorsports a diversity of events were
held on public roads, closed off hills or even airports, some of the
most famous races were the Mille Miglia or the Targa Florio. One
of the first important race series aside the European Grand Prix
Championship was the European Hill Climb Championship started
in 1930. Just as the Grand Prix Championship a few years later
this included a variety of the most important events of its kind
ranging from small events like the Shelsley Walsh to the large
passes in the Alpes including the Klausenpass in Switzerland.
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First held in 1922 the Klausenrennen was the International Hill
Climb event of Switzerland attracting the best drivers of this era
both on two and four wheels to take the 156 corners on the way
from Linthal to the top of the pass with a total altitude difference of
1237 meter on 21.5 kilometers.
Unlike today, where the top drivers are bound to manufacturers
and race series by well-paid contracts the drivers of this time had
to earn their living with price money, so the most famous of them
drove on a variety of events. Within a short period the
Klausenrennen gained a superb reputation with a winners list
reading like the who-is-who both on the drivers and manufacturers
side including Otto Merz and Rudolf Caracciola on Mercedes-
Benz, Louis Chiron on Bugatti or Hans Stuck on Austro Daimler
so the Klausenrennen was one of the 10 races to form the first
European Hillclimb Championship in 1930.
Held every second year by then 1932 was one of the most
spectacular events with top drivers in all different race classes,
Tazio Nuvolari was driving Alfa Romeo 8C in the Sports car class
against Hans Stuck on Mercedes-Benz SSKL, in the race car
class three times winner Louis Chiron and Achille Varzi on the
four-wheel driven Bugatti T53 were chasing Caracciola in his Alfa
Romeo P3 setting a new record with less than 16 minutes on the
unpaved road up the hill.
1934 saw the last race up the hill on the Klausenpass, the speed
on the bumpy road (especially on the Urnerboden) made the race
to dangerous with top speeds of more than 200 km/h on the
straight but the final chapter was also the highlight of its short
history. Despite a difficult journey up the hill to the most sought
after places at the final serpentines thousands of spectators
watched an epic duel on the nature tribunes. Both Auto Union and
Mercedes-Benz have sent their new Silver Arrows driven by their
leading drivers Hans Stuck and Rudolph Caracciola to Linthal to
win this prestigious hill climb although the Hill Climb
Championship no longer existed this year. Finally Caracciola in
the W25 succeeded with about 3 second on the “Bergmeister”
Stuck in the 16-cylinder AU to set a new record time of 15:22
minutes.
Like with many other legendary races of the time a revival for
classic cars was intended during the upcoming boom of the
classic car scene in the 1990s but the Klausenrennen remained a
wishful dream for many years. Not just the ban of racing in
Switzerland after the Le Mans crash in 1955 but also the special
topography and importance of the Klausenpass made the
organization a nightmare. Being the main road between the
Kanton Glarus and Uri it is difficult to get a closure for an entire
weekend, special rights of the farmers on the Urnerboden made a
date necessary after the “Almabtrieb” (the take down of the cows
from the alp to their winter quarter), the planning for the first event
took about 5 years to see a glorious premiere in 1993 with about
400 cars and bikes at the hill. Since these early days four more
memorials were held to the present day, the last one in 2006.
Although the organization changed over the years, the main
concept and the problems stayed the same, being restricted to
the era 1922-1934 this is a spectacle for fans but pre-war events
seem to have problems attracting sponsors compared to the more
glamorous 1950s racing events. After a cancellation of the 2011
event finally this year saw the fifth edition, officially the 11th
Klausenrennen following the original 10 edition as this was the
first “race” compared to the previous regularity editions.
On Friday morning about 270 cars and bikes were displayed on
the crowded main place in Glarus for the scrutineering including
the main attraction of the event, the Mercedes-Benz W25 wearing
the same race number as back in 1934. In cooperation with
Swiss watchmaker IWC the classic department of the oldest car
manufacturer in the world brought the only running example of the
first Silver Arrow in existence having one of its few outings on
selected events. Restored back to former glory a few years ago
this was the first possibility to bring this car back to the venue of
its triumph, the invaluable gem was driven by Roland Asch on the
following two days. Former DTM driver Asch apparently had fun
driving the W25 up the hill as one could see by a huge smile
under the jet helmet, wild slides around the corners and the
unique sound of permanently engaged supercharger heard all the
way up the hill entertained the crowds especially on the steep
and sparse “Vorfrutt” near the finish. As this section if very difficult
to reach, most of the spectators stayed on the first corners in
Linthal as the top was just reachable from the Uri-side due to the
missing of some shuttle buses. Although the W25 suffered some
gear box problems on the second day obstructing the straight 8
on his way this was the undoubted highlight of the event and
worth alone the troublesome ascent.
Unfortunately Audi was not willing to bring one of the former
opponents but preferred to demonstrate some Audi Quattro driven
by the Swiss Le Mans winner Marco Fässler. Although this is
certainly a good sight not few did not see the connection to the
event, this would have been a great opportunity to give the Auto
Union C/D-Type a rare outing just as back in 1998 when it was
driven by Emanuele Pirro.
With few support from the other manufacturers and museums it
was the enthusiasm of the private entrants to make this weekend
special. After the long scrutineering process the cars and bikes
drove up from Glarus to Linthal for the three practice and race
runs on Saturday and Sunday.
In four classes for bikes and cars in regularity and race category
the first run was held on Saturday morning. The first corners after
the start in front of the grand stands are the only part of the hill
climb that still wears its original surface cobblestone before the
road leads through the forest to the Urnerboden half way up. The
long (about 8 Kilometres) alp is normally the fastest part of the
run up the hill but like in previous year it was neutralized for safety
reasons because of the bumpy surface so the race is restarted at
its end for the second and more interesting part of the run. Soon
after leaving the treeline the view is spectacular over the
serpentines, the Urnerboden and the surrounding mountains. As
intended earlier it is a big shame that this was just enjoyed by
some photographers and few spectators, a bigger cheering crowd
would have been also in the interest of the competitors as the thin
air and the surface were a problem for some of the cars, with
every run up the hill the amount of cars (especially in the race car
class) making it up the hill was reduced.
Fortunately the weather was just perfect most of the time as it
was neither to hot (to become a problem for the coolant) nor as
cold as a few weeks earlier when the Klausen already saw the
first snow of the year. Just with the end of the last run on Sunday
a rain shower accompanied the last cars on the 21.5 kilometre.
Although every entrant who made it up the hill was a winner that
day there is certainly a final result as well, fastest of the cars was
the 1939 Talbot Lago driven by Christian Traber followed by Rainer
Ott in the 1936 ERA B-Type. Almost as fast was the first of the
Morgan Three-wheeler with less than 14:30 minutes in both times
runs.
There are a lot of events to visit every year and most of them are
repeating themselves so an event every 5 years is already special
as it is a rare opportunity. Furthermore there are few mythical
moments like a rare 1950s racing Ferrari in Tuscany during the
Mille Miglia, a Porsche 917 during the night at the Le Mans
Classics but the sight of a Mercedes-Benz W25 or an Alfa
Romeo P3 on an alpine pass with this surrounding landscape
might be even more special. Certainly some people will talk about
the experience of seeing the Silver Arrow at the Klausenpass in
the years to come, hopefully even more will have the same
chance near future to do so. The Klausenrennen is certainly an
event that deserves a proper main sponsor for the next editions
making this a more calculable risk for the organizers. With the
experience of this edition and the enthusiasm of all participating
drivers and 500 helpers we can hope for a strong future of the
event, almost 30000 visitors prove that this traditional hill climb
attracts a lot of interest. Maybe in five years Audi will join in to
revive the duel of 1934 to even surpass this edition.
Report & images ... Peter & Wolfgang Singhof
www.ClassicCarPhotography.de
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