written by Alexander Zwickl
The Ennstal-Classic is a living journey through time that showcases progress while celebrating the aesthetics and engineering of bygone eras. It is not a Concours d’Elegance, not a rigid museum where cars are taxidermied and stuffed like extinct dinosaurs.
It is a feast for the senses, an opportunity to enter a world in which every bend, every engine and every cockpit tells its own story.
In a world shaped by rules and regulations, the Ennstal-Classic is a Jurassic Park where rare automotive treasures find a protected habitat.
Tradition meets innovation: the Ennstal-Classic evolving through time.
But the Ennstal-Classic does not stand still, it is constantly evolving and is also aware of its social obligation.
Some of the first participants are already using synthetically produced e-fuels instead of fossil fuels. Any remaining CO₂ emissions from the event are offset, which makes the rally “climate neutral”.
In addition, the rally is a technological leader. A state-of-the-art GPS timing system increases the number of special stages to the limit for man and machine. Information and data are sent directly to participants in real time via a new communication app.
The route – a challenge again this year – not a flower corso but sportiness with over 50 special stages.
On Thursday, the rally heads south from Gröbming to Carinthia with a lunch stop in Taggenbrunn. Where Formula 1 cars usually push the limits of physics, the rally returns this year to the Red Bull Ring. The final stage crosses the 1790-metre Sölk Pass, once used in the late Bronze Age to cross the Alps into the Enns Valley. In the evening light, as the Grimming rises above the valley, participants know that after more than 400 kilometers, the finish in Schladming is near.
Four stages divide the 450-kilometer route on Friday. After a long absence, the rally stops again in Gmunden, in the historic Toscana Park on Lake Traunsee. At the picturesque town square in Steyr, between proud, centuries-old buildings, the Ennstal-Classic pauses for lunch. The following scenery along the route could not be more different. First over the gentle, lovely green hills of the Panorama-Höhenweg between Waidhofen and Ybbsitz to Lunz am See. The rally then winds its way back to Gröbming between the rock faces of the Gesäuse and the wild Enns River.
A finale full of emotion: between deceleration, competition, and pure passion.
On Saturday, the otherwise tranquil market town of Gröbming is transformed into a festival for historic automobiles. Starting with the Stoderzinken mountain stage, the Ennstal-Classic’s local mountain, long before it was named Austria’s most beautiful place. The finale is traditionally the PORSCHE DESIGN Grand Prix, where motorsport comes to life.
The Ennstal-Classic stands for sportiness, for challenge, for passion and species-appropriate driving in the last paradise. Driving a classic car also means deceleration – a journey into a bygone era when time moved differently. Everyday stress fades, worries disappear, and the mind is freed from modern overstimulation.
But as soon as you roll over the start ramp in Gröbming, a competition against treacherous hundredths of a second, which can feel like an eternity, and against yourself ensues. Maintaining concentration over hundreds of kilometers is a physical and mental challenge for drivers and co-drivers alike. It is the passion of the drivers, the joy of the spectators, and the dedication of the volunteers that make the Ennstal-Classic so fascinating.
Registrations until March 31, 2024, field of participants is limited.