BETTER PARTSPaul Pietsch Classic 2014 Opel boss with victory
Opel boss with victory
Only the sky is the limit. Before the hood of a sky-blue sea. Then lower the nose and giving a view of a landscape as painted for a model railroad. Narrow valleys, small villages and vineyards as far as the eye can see. On the horizon, the panorama opens into the Rhine valley.
The region around the Imperial chair to describe only as the warmest corner of the country, it is not fair. She is also one of the most beautiful areas of Germany. "Working in Swabia, in Baden life ", because Paul Pietsch has kept his 101 years long life. Before the Second World War, successful racing driver in 1946 he laid the foundation as a later publisher Motor Presse Stuttgart and founder of the modern motor journalism. Pietsch made sure that his family lived in the Black Forest while he campaigned during the week in Stuttgart for the publisher. His memory in honor drove on the weekend over 100 classics of automotive history by the emperor chair and the Black Forest - including some specimens that may have never seen many of the numerous spectators along the route in their lives.
© Volkswagen Paul Pietsch Classic: Mario Ketterer controls the Beutler Porsche through his home. The Autostadt of Volkswagen in Wolfsburg had opened the treasure chambers of their time building and has come as a major partner of the Paul Pietsch Classic with a strong team of nine vehicles to Offenburg. Including real rarities such as the 1956 Ghia Aigle Coupe and the Beutler Porsche 696 special from 1957. As in the prewar usual, put the Swiss coachbuilder Beutler in the first decades after 1945 on a Volkswagen floorpan own aluminum body. With extra charge even a Porsche 356 engine and brake system were possible. So in the years 1957 and 1958, only five units were built this elegant four-seater coupe. Only one of them is ready and so was " local hero " and former mountain racer Mario Ketterer neither tired of explaining the history of the car, nor extend the Beutler in the valleys and on the heights.
© Volkswagen Paul Pietsch Classic: Christian Geistdörfer (left) and Walter Röhrl . So did rally legend Walter Röhrl, who made his debut at the Paul Pietsch Classic this year. At his side his equally famous long-time co-driver Christian spirit villages. Together they could revive the times of their active motorsport career in the Motor City team. Not in a Opel Ascona 400, the vehicle with the Röhrl gained his second World Rally Championship title, but in a 1973 Porsche 911 Carrera RS 2.7. 210 hp from six cylinders accelerated the neon-yellow racer on the narrow roads through the vineyards of the Emperor chair and the dark forests of the Black Forest. "We will experience magnificent distances ," says Röhrl after the first day. Until the racers blood comes through again: "Only to slow through-roads are a problem ," says Röhrl with a smile on her face.
© Opel Paul Pietsch Classic 2014: Hanns Werner Wirth ( left) and Dr. Karl-Thomas Neumann brought to the class and the overall victory. No problems with the rally stages, the team had Opel Classic. With the "big three", Opel had come to the Black Forest. Kapitän, Admiral and Diplomat ventured for Opel from 1964 to 1977 in the luxury car class before. Not only the names reflected the class consciousness of Rüsselsheim, but also the American-influenced design and powerful six and eight-cylinder engines are clear statements. And what for whom. At the wheel of an Admiral A with a V8 engine from 1965, only 622 copies were produced until 1968 in Opel, won Opel CEO Karl-Thomas Neumann, and the previous year's runner-up Hanns-Werner Wirth, the third edition of the Paul Pietsch memory event.
Successful rarities sees Otto Ferdinand Wachs, Managing Director of Autostadt, like: " Classic cars are no clocks. Since it belongs to that models are flown, of which only one copy in the world is available. We are their ingenious designers guilty. " ( Ampnet / av)