What makes an event like the Red Bull Ring Classics so special? For starters, the more than 200 historic cars on parade. But it’s also scenes like this one: a grandfather is telling his grandson that he was his age when he saw Dieter Quester racing, and all the while, the Austrian motorsport legend himself is standing next to them.
There was no way Dieter Quester and Leopold Prince of Bavaria were going to miss out on the opportunity to be at Spielberg this weekend. With demo runs in the BMW Z4 and BMW M1 Group 5, the two veterans showed that they have not forgotten a thing. During the Legends Talk in the Fan Zone, the pair reminisced about the good old days.
There is no doubt that the sport was far more dangerous back then, as you could see from the F1 Lotus cars on display. Back then, the driver’s seat was perched atop the petrol tank. The 200 – 300 litres of racing fuel it contained were piped around the driver to the engine. Niki Lauda’s incendiary accident on the Nordschleife is a prime example of what happens in a crash involving a car from this era.
A motorsport journey through time
But the sport back then was also far less complicated. Visitors to this year’s two-day show were able to immerse themselves in an atmosphere of nostalgia in the paddock of the Red Bull Ring. The pits were freely accessible to all. Mechanics could be seen working on engines next to portable barbecues with meat sizzling on the grill.
Everyone was allowed to take a look under the bonnet of the cars or even climb into the cockpit and grip the steering wheel. Wherever you looked, there were lots of happy faces, young and old. During the Pit Lane Walk, F1 fans of the 90s reminisced at the sight of the Schumacher Ferrari, while the Netflix generation were working on the perfect selfie with Eleanor, Bullitt and other cars that had featured in famous Hollywood movies. Visitors who were still too young for either were meanwhile having fun in the bouncy castle and at the autograph session with Bulli Junior and Ringo.
Successful continuation
The fans had their hands full at the Red Bull Ring Classics: looking through exhibitions with fascinating exhibits on four wheels in the paddock, enjoying pit lane walks and inhaling the smell of the “good old days”. A total of 15,000 visitors took a foray through motorsport history over the weekend.
Event organisers Rene Binna and Christoph Gerlach (BG Sportpromotion) and Erich Wolf (General Manager Red Bull Ring) were delighted with the turnout of 15,000 spectators over the two days: “Our thanks go to all the series and teams for their tireless efforts and, of course, especially to the spectators who have kept faith with us and created a great atmosphere. The success of the previous year has been seamlessly continued and forms the basis for a long-term partnership. The huge amount of positive feedback is confirmation of this.”
