Salzburg, 29th - 31st of May, 2014
Back in 1929 the first Hill Climb at the Gaisberg in Salzburg,
Austria was organized by the Salzburg Automobile Club. Before
the war the Gaisbergrennen had a very short history as the last
event was held in 1933 before reappearing in 1952, in the following
years the race became more and more important as the
“International Hill Climb of Austria” became part of the European
Hill Climb Championship. Up to 25000 visitors saw the light and
nimble Maserati and Porsche Spyder racing up the hill or
international racing stars like Hans Herrmann in the 1950s, the
late 1960s saw one of the few appearances of the famous
Porsche 909 Berg Spyder. It is not a surprise that the light 909
masterminded by Ferdinand Piech was used especially in
Salzburg as the Porsche/Piech clan is deeply linked to Austria
were his grandfather Ferdinand Porsche did not just work for
Austro-Daimler early in his career but also started the production
of the cars with his own name in Gmünd after the war. Porsche
Salzburg was also importer for the Volkswagen and became later
famous for being the livery of the first Porsche 917 to win Le Mans
and Salzburg is still the base for the Porsche Holding today. So
both Porsche and Piech have a strong relation to the Gaisberg
and when the Gaisbergrennen for historic cars was invented in
2003 both were early supporters and still are.
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The Porsche museum does open its treasury year by year to
show some of the legendary models of this era like the 550
Spyder and the 356 Abarth GTL that was driven this year by none
less than Walter Röhrl. Röhrl is still considered by many as the
best rally driver ever and being associated to Porsche in the
development and representation it was a pleasure to see him
drifting around on the city grand prix.
Ernst Piech on the other side just opened a museum with the
work of his grandfather last year in Mattsee near Salzburg and
every year he is showing one of several Austro-Daimler in the
collection, this year he arrived in a model 28/32 from 1908
wearing jacket and tie just like the gentlemen did back in those
days, a coat and hat to protect from the rain that was purring
down again that day.
After a very rainy event in 2013 the three organisers Gert Pierer,
Hermann Schwarz and Thomas Matzelberger were seen at last
year’s award ceremony in wellies and surely they did not expect
to need them again this year but the weather forecast was again
very bad. So it was not a surprise that the scrutineering at
Schloss Hellbrunn (famous for its water garden) proceeded a little
bit trudging as few of the 150 entered cars were brought by their
owners outside earlier than necessary. After all of them got their
race number and the essential transponder the cars were
escorted to the Residenzplatz at the Dome were they were
expected by an interested crowd despite the increasing rain.
Traditionally the Ascension Day is the first day of the
Gaisbergrennen as this is the only day that allows a closure of
the roads and the bridges over the Salzach for the city grand prix
where the cars are sent out for the first regularity trial, fortunately
all of the drivers were very disciplined on the slippery roads and
so it was left to Röhrl to entertain the spectators with some wild
drifts.
The second day is divided in two parts, the first group of race and
touring cars did take the hill two times in the morning whereas the
sports cars were on a rally through the region just to change in
the afternoon. Especially on the Gaisberg the conditions were
very bad, the rain was not as heavy as last year and the
temperatures were a little bit milder but the fog made the job at
the light barrier very difficult as the visibility was limited to a few
meters. Many of the cars had to fight with fogged windshields so
it was not just a question of talent but also of experience as the
regular entrants already knew where to expect the finish line; it is
even more remarkable that still some of them were driving with
accuracy on a fraction of a second. At least the conditions were
equal for everyone as the afternoon was not better.
The third day starts early in the morning at the Salzburgring
where every driver can set his own time that has to be repeated in
the following laps. As the weather improved a little bit over the
night several cars could be seen that were missing the day
before, especially the open race cars and the brutish Lola T70
that would have been not driveable under those conditions. In five
groups sorted by their intended pace the historic cars were
released from the paddocks and after a few more showers the
later groups even saw the sun coming out so the final day
compensated a little bit for the two previous ones. After the
intermezzo on the race track the convoy was led to the nearby
Schloß Hotel Fuschl am See for a nice line-up in the garden and
near the lake during the lunch stop.
After the lunch the final run up the hill was on the program for
every car and for the first time within days the surrounding
mountains could be seen in dramatic clouds from the finish.
So what is the conclusion of the three days in the Austrian rain?
First of all the mood was surprisingly good as could be seen on
the evening receptions. The organisers pointed out that they try to
keep the group of entrants homogeneous and this shows latest
on the opening dinner at the Zistelalm in very rustic ambience.
Most of the entrants are regulars and the new ones are warmly
welcome. Although a regularity event with winners the ambition
seems to be less important than in other events. One of the
favourites was driving a perfect time with no penalty point at the
hill but because of a misjudgement of the distance to the light
barrier he was penalized for speeding and being the first to loose
places after a perfect time he was the laugh of the evening but
sympathetically he was laughing himself the most showing that
the joy of the company with like-minded was more important than
the position in the classification.
Nevertheless there was still a winners ceremony and what would
be a better place than the famous Hangar 7 of Red Bull were the
Formula 1 team celebrated more than one triumph. Not as fast
but more regular were the winning teams of Georg Geyer and
Gerald Hegenbart in a Porsche 914/6 in front of the Aston Martin
DB4 of Florian and Sybille Kunz and the Mercedes-Benz 230 SL
of Karsten and Monika Wohlenberg.
Next year most of them will be back at a very entertaining event
consisting of four very different parts with the City GP through the
crowds, the rally in the Salzurger Land, the Hill Climb and some
laps on a modern race track. As diverse as the driving is are the
receptions with a rustic evening on the alp, a gala dinner at the
Schloß Hellbrunn and the final in the modern Hangar 7 leaving
something for everyone. Hopefully this was the last time in years
were the wellies were needed and after two rainy years a sunny
2015 event should reward the organizing trio for their efforts over
the last dozen editions.
Report & Images ... Peter Singhof
www.ClassicCarPhotography.de
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