Alpine trip

The Alpenfahrt (also called Rallye Österreich , English Austrian Alpine Rally ) was one of the earliest automobile competitions. Organized by the KK Austrian Automobile Club, the first Alpine trip took place in 1910 . The rally was only held once under World Rally Championship (WRC) conditions, namely as part of the 1973 World Rally Championship .

history

The alpine tour is older than the much more famous Monte Carlo Rally . It has been described as one of the toughest rallies in Europe that took place before the First World War. The automotive engineer and historian Freiherr von Löw stated in 1924:

“The Alpine Rides [...] in 1911, 1912, 1913 and 1914 were the most important touring car competitions that have ever been held because the vehicles were subject to demands under the strictest supervision that had not occurred in previous competitions . Approximately 3000 km were covered in about 8 days of driving. The engine was not allowed to be switched off from morning to evening, not even if tires were damaged or rims were changed. The cars had to spend the night outside and turn on within a minute in the morning. The roads were the steepest and the passes the highest that could be put together in the eastern Alps: Katschberg, Kreuzberg, Turracher Höhe, Loibelpass, Wurzenpass, Pordoijoch, Rollepass, Broconnepass, Felzaregopass, Mendelpass, Jaufenpass, etc. Often there were particularly bad routes with hundreds was chosen from deep transverse grids, which at the considerable driving speeds (around 400 km had to be covered every day) created enormous stresses on the springs and rear axle drive. "

All five races from 1910 to 1915 were won by the Iron Team : Heinrich Schönfeldt , Ferdinand Porsche and Eduard Fischer . After the First World War , the event could no longer be financed. In 1921 and 1922 Heinrich Schönfeldt also won again. An "International Alpine Tour" was organized from 1928 to 1936 with the participation of various automobile clubs. The rally went through Austria , Switzerland , France , Italy and Germany . The first "Austrian Alpine Tour" after the Second World War was held in 1949 and until 1965 it was mainly motorcycles that drove the rally (for economic reasons). In 1961, 1962 and 1966 Werner Salevsky succeeded in bringing the Alpine Cup to the GDR on MZ ; in these years MZ machines generally played a victorious role. From 1965 to 1973, cars again made up the majority in the entry list.

1973 World Championship run

In 1973 the “Austrian Alpine Tour” was part of the World Rally Championship . The route was newly created. The name Alpenfahrt suggests that the rally took place in the mountains. It is not so. The rally was driven 26 kilometers south of Vienna near Baden (Lower Austria) . The rally comprised 31 special stages with a distance of 324.5 kilometers. Special stages 2 and 22 were canceled. Achim Warmbold won with a BMW 2002 Tii ahead of Bernard Darniche ( Renault Alpine A110 1800) and Per Eklund ( Saab 96 V4).

Classic rally

Since 2002 the rally has been started as the "International Austrian Alpine Tour" for historic vehicles. The start and finish is Bad Kleinkirchheim in Carinthia .

Overall winner

year	rally	driver	Co-driver	automobile
1964 1	35th Int. Austrian alpine tour	Paddy Hopkirk	Henry Liddon	Austin-Healey 3000
1965 1	36th Int. Austrian alpine tour	Arnulf Pilhatsch	Peter Lederer	BMW 1800
1966 1	37th Int. Austrian alpine tour	Paddy Hopkirk	Ron Crellin	BMC Mini Cooper S.
1967 1	38th Int. Austrian alpine tour	Sobieslaw Zasada	Jerzy Dobrzański	Porsche 911 S 2.0
1968 1	39th Int. Austrian alpine tour	Bengt Söderström	Gunnar Palm	Ford Escort Twin Cam
1969 1	40th Int. Austrian alpine tour	Hannu Mikkola	Mike Wood	Ford Escort Twin Cam
1970 1	41st Int. Austrian alpine tour	Björn Waldegård	Lars Nyström	Porsche 911 S.
1971 1	42nd Int. Austrian alpine tour	Ove Andersson	Arne Hertz	Alpine-Renault A110 1600
1972 1	43rd Int. Austrian alpine tour	Håkan Lindberg	Helmut Eisendle	Fiat 124 Spider
1973	44th Int. Austrian alpine tour	Achim Warmbold	Jean Todt	BMW 2002 tii

¹ no World Cup status

Web links

• Results on eWRC-results.com

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Quoted from von Löw's classic Das Automobil , CW Kreidel's Verlag 1924, 5th edition, p. 181. Von Löw mainly refers to Austrian, German and European automobile magazines and newspapers.
2. ↑ Great MZ success at the international Austrian Alpine Tour . In: Motor vehicle technology 8/1962, p. 347.
3. ↑ juwra.com: Rally of Austria , September 28, 2014
4. ↑ alpenfahrt.com/: Alpenfahrt Classic , September 28, 2014