Classic á la carte 2012 (Charity rally)
When you’re sitting comfortably at home, you dream of adventure. When you’re in the midst of an adventure, you wish you were sitting comfortably at home. This quote from Thornton Wilder concluded this year’s Classics a la carte. Behind it was a photo book hastily put together overnight, containing impressions from the last four days, and these impressions were overwhelming. The seven members of the organizing team, led by Wessel von Loringhoven, Guido Gutzeit, Eike Klages, Wolfgang Rüping, Richard Schimmer, Frank Steffling, and Rolf Versen, got this adventure off the ground.
On Thursday, September 6, 55 teams met at Sport-Schloss Velen in Münsterland to take on this challenge. The engines were still crackling from the journey when it was time to climb the Matterhorn. In addition to athletic effort, creativity was also required. Each team painted their own start numbers, resulting in a remarkable variety of designs.
On Friday, Richard Schimmer took us along beautiful avenues through the Münsterland region to Nordkirchen Castle, where we enjoyed our lunch break outside in glorious weather. From there, we continued on to a private invitation from Prince zu Salm Horstmar at Varlar Castle. Back at Velen Castle and countless special stages later, we longed for some relaxation in the hotel’s wellness area. But not with Guido Gutzeit in charge of the organization. The sun lounger was not for resting, but for the next challenge. We fought tooth and nail with full commitment to move the lounger from one side of the castle courtyard to the other as quickly as possible, and then reassemble it in no time at all.
On Sunday, the group stopped at the Archaeological Park in Xanten for lunch before setting off on the final stage back to Düsseldorf. In Kaiserswerth, they rode along the dike to the exhibition grounds in Düsseldorf. From there, they rode in order of their start numbers to the finish line on Königsallee. On Saturday evening, everyone gathered at the Theater der Träume for a party with a raffle.
The award ceremony was celebrated outdoors in beautiful summer weather at the Böhler Works. The Porsche Center Düsseldorf came up with something very special for this occasion. Shortly before the winners were announced, the head of development at Porsche Zuffenhausen drove up in the prototype of the Porsche 918 Spyder.
The winners of this year’s Classics á la carte were the team with start number 45, Christian Hubertz and Sebastian TeNeuses, in a Porsche 914/6. Second place went to Wolfgang Lohe in an Aston Martin DB5, and third place went to the Movendi team with Petra Schmitz and Bernhard Kerkloh in an Austin-Healey 100/4.
