Report & Gallery: 2022 Bosch Hockenheim Historic

By Marcel Hundscheid / Speed-O-Graphica

With a large field, almost a dozen different races and spring weather, the epic 17th edition of the Bosch Hockenheim Historic Jim Clark Revival had all the perfect ingredients for a great start to the new motorsport season over the weekend of May 6, 7 and 8.

Just eight months after the 16^th edition that took place in August of 2021, organizers managed to create a stunning three-day action-packed programme featuring single seaters ranging from Formula Juniors from 1963 to Manfred Winkelhock’s Ralt Formula 2 and from 1979 to Ingo Gerstl’s 2006 Toro Rosso F1. Group C and CanAm behemoths stood side by side with the slightly underperforming but no less fascinating GT and sports cars of the ’50s to ’80s. Touring car fans also got their money’s worth. The honor of oldest vehicle went to a 1934 Riley sports car. With around 30,000 spectators enjoying a special weekend at the Hockenheimring, the lifting of COVID-19 restrictions was very noticeable.

An important part of the programme is a tribute to the late Jim Clark. Part of this tribute was the presence of the British HSCC celebrating their season opener for the Historic Formula 2 Championship including two races over the weekend. The fastest and by far noisiest cars of the weekend were the former F1 and GP2 cars of the BOSS GP Series.

Another crowd puller was the return of the Group C Supercup. The rebirth of this series, open to Group C cars, took place during 2021 edition at Hockenheim. Two races were scheduled for the weekend, including Group C, IMSA GTP and a couple of GT cars. Amongst the contenders were three-time Le Mans winner Marco Werner and Le Mans winner Stanley Dickens.

In addition to the above, the public also enjoyed the FIA Lurani Trophy for Formula Junior cars, Formula Super Vee, and a mixed race for CanAm, sports cars and GTs. The AvD Histo Race Cup HRA participated with nearly 30 classic Formula 3, Formula Ford and Sports 2000s. Fans of historic touring cars, sports cars and GTs could enjoy the Dunlop Gentle Drivers 65 Historic and the Colmore Youngtimer Touring Car Challenge from the Netherlands with an impressive grid of 54 cars.

Let’s take a closer look at some of the cars that caught our eye over the course of the event.

RIAL Racing built the ARC2 racing car for the 1989 Formula 1 season. The car was designed by Stefan Fober and powered by a Cosworth DFR 3.5 liter V8 engine.

RIAL Racing entered two cars for the 1989 season driven by Christian Danner who replaced Andrea de Cesaris and Volker Weidler. Best result for the ARC2 was Danner’s fourth place during US Grand Prix in 1989. At the end of the season the team withdrew from Formula 1. Christian Danner drove the car pictured here in 1989.

Above is the Arrows A6/1 from 1983 driven by Alan Jones and Marc Surer.

Dave Wass designed the Arrow A6 Formula 1 car for the 1983 and 1984 season. It would be Arrow’s last naturally aspirated car before the turbo era. The A6 was a development of the earlier A5 featuring a flat bottom and rear diffuser instead of ground effects.

Employing the 530 hp Cosworth DFV engine, this evolved version of the A5 would take on the turbo charged cars. But soon it would becoming quite noticeable that the turbocharged cars would have much more straight line power.

Cheetah Automobiles, based in Lausanne (Switzerland), was started in 1971 by Swiss-American engineer and racing driver Chuck Graemiger. Three years after the start up he built his first car – the 01G – followed by two-litre sports cars.

The G603 ran in Graemiger’s own works team. The team attempted to enter the 1983 Le Mans 24 Hours with Loris Kessel, Laurent Ferrier and Florian Vetsch, but didn’t quite get there. As the team didn’t enter Le Mans, the G603 debuted at Spa. The team ran the G604 in 1984 and 1985, but did not find significant success with it.

Graemiger’s next car was designed to the latest Formula 1-inspired Group C rules. Originally Graemiger dubbed the car G606, but before completion it was renamed to SGR001. At the time, Graemiger had a new partner, Fred Statler and his team Racing Organisation Course. In this way the car was renamed ROC 002.

The car entered the 1991 Le Mans 24 Hours as it was built to the F1 regulations. Despite making it to fifth place on the grid, the ROC 002 suffered from mechanical problems and was forced to retire. The car appearing at Bosch Hockenheim Historic this year is the sole ROC 002 built.

Amongst the vast field of historic F3 and Formula Ford cars of the AvD Histo Race Cup HRA, a stunning Ralt RT2 car appeared.

The Ralt RT2 from 1979 was a ground effect Formula 2 car made exclusively for the use of the Toleman team. The car looked very close to the Ralt RT3/4.

Besides the cars that were made for Toleman, another car went to Bertram Schäfer Racing from Germany. Schäfer was a succesful Formula 3 racer who won the German F3 title in 1976 and 1978. Besides racing he also had his own racing team in both F3 and F2. In 1980 he entered a single Ralt RT2 for German Manfred Winkelhock who scored a second place at Hockenheim.

Dont’forget to bookmark your calendar for the 18th edition of this great event that will take place from 5th until 7th May 2023.