Report & Gallery: The 50th Anniversary of the Oldtimer Grand Prix

By Marcel Hundscheid / Speed-O-Graphica

Around 50,000 visitors attended 2023’s 50th anniversary edition of the Oldtimer Grand Prix at the Nürburgring, which was held in mid-August. This year’s meeting featured, amongst others, the 1-hour endurance race traditionally held on Saturday evening, the Group 5 cars of the Deutsche Rennsport Meisterschaft and the Touring Cars of the golden era.

Sunny weather conditions treated drivers and spectators on Friday. On Saturday morning the weather gods showed their lesser side again, resulting in a soaked circuit. By noon it cleared up, while it was mostly cloudy on Sunday.

Although the organisers had to cope with the absence of Formula 1 cars during the anniversary edition of the oldest historic motorsport event on the European mainland, and the field in the HSCC F2 was downright thin, the presence of the touring cars of the golden era more than compensated for this. They managed to bring out well known names from the past, including Danes Kurt Thiim and Kris Nissen, Roland Asch and his son Sebastian and Olaf Manthey.

However, these names did not play a leading role in the overall victory. During the two races that were held, the battle for victory was mainly between the BMW 3.5 CSL of Michael Kammermann from Switzerland, the BMW 320i STW of Yannick Trautwein from Germany and Briton Paul Mensley with a Ford Sierra Cosworth RS500.

Kammermann was convincingly victorious in Saturday’s first race, although he had to deal with an unleashed Paul Mensley in Sunday’s race. However, the Briton made a mistake on the very last lap, allowing Trautwein to take second place as Kammermann headed for his second victory of the weekend.

Another highlight were the cars of the DRM championship, Deutsche Rennsport Meisterschaft. Enthusiasts of former Group 4 and the monstrous Group 5 cars were treated to a large field that included Zakspeed Ford Capri Turbos, Porsche 934 and 935s, BMW 320i Turbo, BMW M1, De Tomaso Pantera and many others.

In the first race, which was held during a beautiful sunset on Saturday evening, the Mücke Motorsport Zakspeed Ford Capri Turbo of Peter and Stefan Mücke turned out to be considerably too quick for the rest of the field. More than forty seconds later, the impressive De Tomaso Pantera Gr. 5 by Ralf Kelleners followed in second place. The podium was completed by the former Harald Ertl Zakspeed Ford Capri Turbo of Mike Stursberg and Heinz Schmersal.

During the second race, however, the roles were reversed. Kelleners drove the Pantera to victory after half an hour of racing with a lead of five seconds, followed by the Zakspeed Capris of father and son Mücke, and the Stursberg/Schmersal duo.

Fans of historic Formula 3 and Formula Ford cars were well treated with a large number of participants in the AvD Historic Race Cup. Numerous beautiful historic Formula 3 and Formula Ford cars from the eighties in particular made their appearance. Alexander Weiss, Valerio Leone and Stephane Lechine reigned in the first race of the weekend on a drying track. The second race was run in completely dry conditions with a second win for Weiss. Alberto Cilla and Patrick Andriessen finished second and third respectively.

Another crowd puller was the traditional endurance race held on Saturday evening. Two-seater sports cars and GTs up to 1965 took part in the 60-minute race. Oliver Hartmann celebrated a deserved victory after a 1-hour race in an Elva Mk. 7S.

Historic Touring Cars, GTs and were represented in the FHR organised series such as the HTGT Dunlop Trophy, Dunlop Gentle Drivers ’65 and CanAm/Sports Cars. Although Formula 1 cars from the 1970s and 1980s were absent, the public could be entertained with single-seaters from Formula Junior Lurani Trophy and the historic Grand Prix cars from the Historic Grand Prix Car Association.

The Historic Sports Car Club from England was present with their Formula 2 championship, although only 9 cars were at the start on Saturday and no more than 8 on Sunday. The reason for the meagre delegation was the fact that during an earlier race in England several cars had been sidelined with technical problems that were not solved in time for the race at the Nürburgring. In addition, partly due to Brexit, the number of drivers from England has been remarkably less in recent years than in recent years. Both races were won by Wolfgang Kaufmann with a March 782.

The 2023 Oldtimer Grand Prix offered another great weekend of historic motor sport at the Nürburgring, with plenty to see, especially on the track, for fans of historic motorsport. A loss for the fifty-year anniversary edition in particular were the historic Formula 1 cars that usually work as a magnet for fans of historic motorsport. However, we are already looking forward to the 51st edition, which is scheduled for early August 2024.