Mega gallery and report: the 46th edition of the AvD Oldtimer Grand Prix
By Marcel Hundscheid / Speed-O-Graphica
Sit back and relax with our report from the 46th edition of the AvD Oldtimer Grand Prix, brought to you by Marcel Hundscheid of Speed-O-Graphica and featuring almost anything on wheels between a touring car and a Formula 1 car. Over the weekend of the 10th to 12th of August, the 46th edition of the AvD Oldtimer Grand Prix was held at the Nürburgring. Nearly 51000 spectators found their way to the legendary track in the beautiful Eifel region to enjoy the antics of 15 different fields on the Grand Prix track.
In terms of highlights, the Formula 1 cars from the Cosworth era, 1967 to 1983, were scheduled for the 46th edition. Another highlight was the competition for two-seat GTs and sports cars on Saturday evening. For the first time at the event, this weekend also featured two series for modern racing cars – the Porsche Carrera Cup and the Ferrari FCD Racing Series.
As usual, we focus in this article on the historic races and a number of special cars that were on display during the weekend.
New in the extensive program for the Oldtimer Grand Prix were the prototypes and GTs of the Masters Endurance Legends, featuring two 40-minute races on Saturday and Sunday. In this new championship, hosted and organized by the British Masters Historic Racing organization, a Lola Aston-Martin DBR1-2, Lola B12/60 LMP1, Audi R8 LMP1, Saleen S-7R and an Aston Martin DBR9 were present, amongst many others.
One of the favorites of the audience was the Zakspeed Ford Capri Turbo which, with Peter Mücke behind the wheel, scored two crushing victories.
The public were ecstatic to see the touring cars from the Tourenwagen Classics, originating from the DTM, ITC and STW. Particularly the participation of the Alfa Romeo 155 V6 TI, BMW M3 E30 and Mercedes-Benz 190 Evo II, who together temporarily brought the public back to the 1980s and 1990s.
The extensive program also consisted of cars from the FIA Masters Sports Car Championship, FIA Lurani Trophy, Historic Grand Prix Cars, Formula 3 from 1964 – 1984, AvD Touring Car- and GT-Trophy, Touring Car Revival and the Vintage Sports Car Trophy.
This Opel Astra ST with chassis number MSD-TA-008 was built by Motor Sport Developments for the 1994 South African Touring Car Championship. In that year the car was driven by South African Michael Briggs.
Later, chassis MSD-TA-008 was shared between Briggs and touring car legend John Cleland from the UK for the International Touring Car Challenge. After participating in Slovenia and Poland the car went to Germany in 2001. From 2015 it was bought by its current owner Steffan Irmler.
Pictured here is Kremer Porsche 935 K3 with chassis number 000 00011 in the magnificent bright orange Jägermeister-livery.
British racing driver John Fitzpatrick bought the car back in 1981 and raced it successfully in the American IMSA championship. Besides this the car appeared in different international events such as the German DRM championship, the 1980 24 Hours of Le Mans as well as the 1981 and 1982 24 Hours of Daytona, the 12 Hours of Sebring and several more events in the US.
Nowadays the car is back were it was originally based, in Cologne Germany at the Kremer garage, and is driven by Kremer Racing’s manager Eberhard Baunach. Chassis 000 00011 is rarely seen outside Germany, but is a regular guest at the Oldtimer Grand Prix.
Former Formula 1 driver Arturo Merzario founded his own Formula 1 team back in the late ’70s and even managed to race his own car on a very small budget. Merzario participated in some 85 grands prix, and will always be remembered for rescuing Niki Lauda during his severe crash at the Nürburgring back in 1976.
Merzario drove F1 cars for Ferrari, Williams and March but as he couldn’t find a team for the 1977 season, he decided to buy a March customer chassis. The season turned out in a disaster and Merzario announced that he was going to race his own F1 car from 1978.
Giorgio Piola designed the Merzario A1, a car that was unreliable. In 1979 the A3/01 pictured above appeared on the scene. The car was powered by a 3.0 liter Cosworth DFV engine, but was too heavy and its handling capabilities suffered.
The former FIA Group 5 created a number of special cars, such as the Ford Zakspeed Capri. Ford Germany, based in Cologne, teamed up with Zakspeed to eventually produce the Ford Zakspeed Capri using a turbocharged four-cylinder engine with a displacement of 1.4 litre.
German Hans Heyer debuted the Capri back in 1978. Although the season started with engine failures Heyer scored nine victories out of fourteen races. Later the engine displacement was extended to just over 1.5-litre and finally into 1.7 litre giving the Capri 495 bhp. Some cars even managed to produce 600 bhp.
Zakspeed built six chassis including ZAK-GSC-002/80 from 1980 pictured above. Klaus Ludwig drove this car during the 1980 and 1981 seasons. Nowadays the car is owned by Mücke Motorsport from Germany and successfully raced in the German DRM Revival.
Results Avd Oldtimer Grand Prix Nürburgring 2018
FIA Masters Historic F1 Championship race 1
1) Nick Padmore, Williams FW07/C
2) Martin Stretton, Tyrrell 012, + 15.204
3) Christophe D’Ansembourg, Williams FW07/C, + 28.189
FIA Masters Historic F1 Championship race 2
1) Martin Stretton, Tyrrell 012
2) Christophe D’Ansembourg, Williams FW07/C, + 2.257
3) Nick Padmore, Williams FW07/C, + 2.587
FIA Lurani Trophy race 1
1) Mark Shaw, Brabham BT6
2) Bruno Weibel, Lotus 22, + 15.498
3) Richard Smeeton, Wainer 63, + 18.594
FIA Lurani Trophy race 2
1) Mark Shaw, Brabham BT6
2) Bruno Weibel, Lotus 22, + 0.204
3) Bruno Ferrari, Branca FJ, + 16.690
FIA Masters Historic Sports Car Championship
1) Leo Voyazides – Simon Hadfield, Lola T70 Mk.IIIB
2) Michael Gans, Lola T290, + 12.327
3) Jason Wright, Lola T70 Mk.IIIB, + 28.335
DRM Revival race 1
1) Peter Mücke, Ford Capri Zakspeed Turbo
2) Michael Kammermann, BMW M1 Procar, + 49.754
3) Achim Heinrich, BMW M1 Procar, + 1:06.429
DRM Revival race 2
1) Peter Mücke, Ford Capri Zakspeed Turbo
2) Michael Kammermann, BMW M1 Procar, + 13.844
3) Urs Beck, Porsche 935 K3, + 13.855
Two seat sports cars & GTs 1960-1961 race 1
1) Ulrich Schumacher – Marco Werner, Maserati Tipo 63
2) Michael Gans, Lotus 15, + 31.612
3) Markus Jörg, Lotus 11, + 1:01.314
Two seat sports cars & GTs 1960-1961 race 2
1) Ulrich Schumacher – Marco Werner, Maserati Tipo 63
2) Michael Gans, Lotus 15, + 18.827
3) Simon Hadfield – Wolfgang Friedrichs, Aston Martin DB4 GT, + 33.437
Historic Grand Prix Cars race 1
1) Peter Horsman, Lotus 18/21
2) Williams Nuthall, Cooper T53, + 0.271
3) Rod Jolley, Cooper T45/51, + 28.248
Historic Grand Prix Cars race 2
1) Peter Horsman, Lotus 18/21
2) Rod Jolley, Cooper T45/51, + 4.799
3) Joaquin Folch-Rusinol, Lotus 16 365, + 45.439
AvD Touringcar & GT Trophy race
1) Sebastian Glaser, Ford Escort RS1600 BDA
2) Alexander Furiani, Alfa Romeo Giulia Sprint GTA, + 44.893
3) Markus Niestrath, Alfa Romeo 1750 GTAm, + 1:20.019
Formula 3 1964 – 1984 race 1
1) Christian Olsen, Martin Mk.39/Alfa Romeo
2) Thomas Warken, Ralt RT3/84/Alfa Romeo, + 0.935
3) Robert Moores, Chevron B38/Toyota, + 13.042
Formula 3 1964 – 1984 race 2
1) Christian Olsen, Martin Mk.39/Alfa Romeo
2) Thomas Warken, Ralt RT3/84/Alfa Romeo, + 5.694
3) Frederic Rouviers, Martini Mk.31/Toyota, + 8.733
Gentlemen Drivers GTs up to 1965
1) Leo Voyazides – Simon Hadfield, Cobra Daytona Coupe
2) Michael Gans – Andy Wolfe, AC Cobra, + 0.422
3) Nicolai Kjaergaard, Lotus Elan, + 10.164
Tourenwagen Classics
1) Stefan Rupp, Alfa Romeo 155 V6 TI
2) Thorsten Stadler, Mercedes AMG C Coupe, + 26.498
3) Alexander Schmidt, Renault Laguna, + 1:26.999
Masters Endurance Legends race 1
1) Steve Tandy, Lola B12/60
2) Alex Kapadia – James Hanson, Oreca 03 LMP2, + 30.977
3) Christophe D’Ansembourg – Herve Regout, Lola Aston-Martin DBR1-2, + 37.964
Masters Endurance Legends race 2
1) Christophe D’Ansembourg, Lola Aston-Martin DBR1-2
2) Steve Tandy, Lola B12/60, + 2.842
3) Alex Kapadia – James Hanson, Oreca 03 LMP2, + 1:05.499
Besides the races mentioned above the programme featured regularity tests from the Vintage Sports Car Trophy, the Tourenwagen Revival and rally cars from Slowly Sideways. The 47th edition of the AvD Oldtimer Grand Prix will take place at the beginning of August 2019.
