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This has been the Ennstal-Classic 2024

A cosy, well-mixed field of starters, many exotic cars, 100-year-old sheet metal. Plus a few GP cars, a racing atmosphere in Gröbming and, most importantly, a new generation of winners! Perhaps the 32nd edition of the Ennstal-Classic will go down in history as a turning point – who knows!

First of all. Margarita and Magdalena Voglar are by no means Ennstal newcomers. Quite apart from the fact that they have practically been injected with the Ennstal-Classic spirit with their mother’s milk (well, mathematicians will pick this apart now, but please allow the Chronsites to do the flowering …), because their parents are rightly considered veterans of the event; the young ladies themselves have also been in the starting field of the competition for years.

The green 64cc Giulia TI is well known to EC fans, certainly from top placings. The “silver medal” already went to Voglar/Voglar in 2021, and Margarita and Magdalena have already won the parallel competition of the “Vredestein Youngster Trophy”. But this year the time had come: the second-generation Voglars took the overall victory at the Ennstal-Classic with aplomb, unbeaten right from the start and, if you believe their close rivals such as the second-placed team Klackl/Kovacic-Klackl, also uncatchable. Not only did they deliver the long overdue second victory for a women’s team in Austria’s most beautiful classic car event. Above all, they finally dispelled the prejudice that classic car competitions such as the Ennstal-Classic are for old people who are not only stuck in the past, but will soon no longer be.

The fact that Margarita and Magdalena Voglar are a winning women’s team is not something we want to overemphasise here. There is no reason to do so. First of all, those familiar with the event know that the second Ennstal-Classic in history was won by the all-women’s team of Jutta Roschmann and Nicole Neukunft in 1994, which was refreshingly not an issue back then, as one would only wish today. And the first Ennstal a year earlier, which was won by a certain Walter Röhrl, was, according to him, mainly due to the co-drivers, his wife Monika. Generally speaking, mixed teams know from history that it is usually down to the women’s overview when a team achieves success in a competition where hundredths of a second are important over distances of more than 1000 kilometres. So it was only a matter of time before another all-women team would climb to the top of the Ennstal Classic podium. And this year it happened.

But what is much more pleasing and warms the heart is the combination of youth and ladylike behaviour that overwhelmed us here. And somehow created a good atmosphere from the very first special stage onwards. There was a certain sense of excitement among the fans and spectators. Everyone helped the Voglars. Rarely have there been so many people clamouring for the time sheets during half-day classifications, the server of the Ennstal-Classic website, the one with the results, threatened to collapse under the load of access at times. And when on Friday at noon at the latest the Klackls, who were already in second place at that time, admitted not unhappily that the girls could hardly be beaten this year, a kind of wave arose which not only wished the girls overall victory, but literally swept them away. The final in Gröbming was a correspondingly big success, as the top ten formed up for the last lap around the GP course and, although not everything was decided yet, a lot was.

Third place changed hands (the youngsters Kapsch/Antoni were overtaken by the veterans Erich and Roswitha Volk, as those in the know will recognise: also a mixed team), otherwise the start ramp belonged to Margarita and Magdalena as expected. The champagne flowed freely and the rest of the day was a party until late into the night.

What else made the Ennstal-Classic 2024 shine? Mostly fine weather, which was decorated with the usual thunderstorms but no capers, just the right number of participants, just enough but not too many. And then there were the new stage locations, which we will gladly get used to. Gmunden, for example – the wonderful Toscana Park. The driveway of the automobile gems right by the water provided countless photo opportunities. Then there was the beautiful, southernmost point of the route in Taggenbrunn, our second time there and an unmissable stop. The classics Steyr and Lunz am See, celebrated and very popular. And finally, as the crowning glory of the various timed events on closed-off pistes such as Niederöblarn or Trieben: The Red Bull Ring. Where the pre-war cars in particular attracted attention with their ambitious flying colours.

Not too long, but also not for the lazy: these were the stages of the Ennstal-Classic 2024. The timing was right, the only downer was the cancellation of the Sölkpass, the road could not be opened in time after storms the weekend before. And the fact that the Stoderzinken actually presented itself in heavy rain was seen by most as more of a challenge than an inconvenience.

The numerous spectators along the pistes behaved in an exemplary manner. There was a great atmosphere not only in Gröbming, but all along the route people were celebrating, taking photos, admiring and signing autographs. The cars are the stars here, of course. But their glamour also rubs off on the drivers. No matter whether they are celebrities like Alex Kristan, Aksel Lund Svindal or Dieter Quester. All the other illustrious members of the big Ennstal-Classic family will also take centre stage for three days. At the centre of ambitious, automotive locomotion in the last paradise.

We are looking forward to 2025 – 16 to 19 July!
And first of all to the Planai Classic from 9 to 11 January!