The 2016 Ennstal Classic Rally will be held 27-30 July on the roads of Austria. The three-day rally in the Alps is open to interesting and sporting cars built before 1973.
The starting field consists of 43 different brands. Porsche has the highest market share with 38 cars, followed by Jaguar with 25, 17 for Alfa Romeo and 10 for Mercedes-Benz.
Other interesting marques include: Stanguellini, Talbot, Siata, Jensen, Lagonda, Adler, Arnolt-Bristol, Glas, Devin and Delahaye. The oldest car in the field is a Sunbeam Supersports from 1927, while the weakest car is a Steyr Puch with 32 HP and the strongest is a Ford Thunderbird Landau with 600 HP.
Porsche will bring the several pieces from the factory museum, from a Porsche 550 RS Spyder to 356 Carrera Abarth. Strietzel Stuck and Wolfgang Porsche will drive these jewels. Two historical Formula race cars will take part at the Zenith Grand Prix in Gröbming on July 30th: the 718 Formula 2 and the 804 Formula I eight-barrel. Stirling Moss won the Grand Prix of Austria in 1960 with the Formula 2 Porsche. He will also be at this year’s event and drive a Jaguar C-Type at the Zenith Grand Prix.
Another notable entrant for the 2016 Ennstal Classic Rally is the 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO, chassis 3527GT. First owned by Viennese jeweller Gotfried Köchert, the Italian icon with a 290 HP three-liter, 12 barrel engine was delivered on May 22nd 1962. Köchert drove the 1000 km race at the Nürburgring together with his friend Umberto Maglioli. The team was in lead in the three-liter GT class until, after a pit stop, the engine did not start anymore.
The car was sold back to Maranello and then via Ecurie Francorchamps to Lucien Bianchi, who came in 7th at the Tour de France after he collided with a truck whilst in the lead. Afterwards Bianchi and Mairesse came in fifth at the 1000 km race of Montlhery and Bianchi won the GP of Angola.
Serial number 3527GT was then sold to the Scuderia Filipinetti. The Suisse banker Armand Boller bought the GTO in 1963 and drove mountain races. In 1965 the car was civilised for road use with a leather interior and wind-up glass windows at the Suisse company Graber.
From 1966 until 1972, Sir Anthony Bamford was the owner of the GTO. He sold it to Volkswagen dealer Don Nelson. In 1984 the car went on to Stephen Pilkington who owned the car for 20 years until it was bought by Lord Irvine Laidlaw in 2005. Laidlaw will drive the GTO in the Ennstal-Classic for the second time.
For additional information, visit ennstal-classic.at/en.
[Source: Ennstal Classic]
