Live Report of the 18th EHC 2023

As every year, the rally starts a few days earlier for some participants – especially since there are many reasons to enjoy life here in Val d’Ega. Enjoying the time in and around the Ganischgerhof with good friends is therefore a habit that some participants have grown fond of.

And when the “Relax & Rallye” programme begins, as it did on Monday, with a wine tasting of the exquisite wines of the Schreckbichl – Colterenzio winery in the ambience of Tschein restaurant with a breathtaking view of the Catinaccio, then that unique Eggentaler Herbst Classic feeling already sets in: soon the most beautiful rally of the year will start.

After all, not everything has to revolve around cars. That’s why Markus has been looking forward to Tuesday before the rally for three years now. On the golf course in Monte San Pietro, he then takes up the irons with joy (and also with a bit of ambition) together with ten EHC guests. This year, the title of the best golfer of EHC 2023 went to Barbara Richter, ahead of Jonathan Ashbury and Lutz Scherf. Markus offered an aperitif at the award ceremony – and after the day was intensively analysed in golfers’ language, everyone agreed: the golf course in Monte San Pietro is one of the most beautiful far and wide.

There are a few unmistakable signs which herald the Eggentaler Herbst Classic. When the weather forecast announces three days of pure sunshine, for example. Or when there are a remarkably high number of gorgeous classic cars on the road from Bolzano to Ganischgerhof in Nova Ponente driving to the event, which somehow feels like a class reunion. Those who have been there once always come back – and so once a year, classic car enthusiasts that have become friends over the years meet here in South Tyrol.

However, some of them are here for the first time: Sandra and Marco Basse, for example, with their Porsche 911 T from 1971. The classic car collectors are celebrating their rally premiere here in Val d’Ega. “We’re hoping for a relaxed atmosphere and are excited about what to expect,” say the two from northern Germany. Regarding the atmosphere, guitarist and singer Chris has already provided the musical basis for a relaxed first evening in the rally tent in front of the hotel – this has almost established itself as a good tradition. And from a culinary point of view, chef Youss and his team demonstrated what the next few days will bring. 30 hands chop, cook and prepare to the max – and provide a paradise-like buffet every evening.

That the Eggentaler Herbst Classic is such a pleasure for everyone can also be seen in the 116 pages of the rally magazine. For the second time, we present the programme of the rally as well as the most beautiful pictures and stories around it in a high-quality print. We have already seen some of our guests browsing through it with curiosity. Basil Erath, for example, was thrilled when he discovered a picture of himself. “Great photo!” he exclaimed spontaneously. Although we assume that there is a bit of bias on his part.

The excitement among the drivers and co-drivers of the more than 130 old-timers is immense. Some of them are quite ambitious. Jürgen Strasser, for example, who has four cars and teams starting this year, gathered everyone together – also because Annalena and Tobias are two rookies in his squad. They meticulously checked the roadbook and the stages together so that the newcomers could benefit from the vast experience of the old hands. Others, however, are completely unfamiliar with this kind of preparation. “I’ve seen some who already do training,” says Jan de Boer, for example, with a wink. When he was asked in the race office, where Irene, Marion, Sandra and Dania were busy, in which classification he would like to race, he said concisely: “In the one that is the least complicated for me.

The SPIEGEL magazine just said that you can extend your life by 23 years if you eat less, for example. Considering this, one must be worried about the participants of the Eggentaler Herbst Classic. After currywurst, pulled pork and chips for lunch, only two hours later they were treated to extremely tasty burgers at Mannius Philiaz in Caldaro. With a view of Lago di Caldaro, the weather was almost too good to be true – somehow it feels like never-ending summer at the Eggentaler Herbst Classic.

On the first day of the Dolomite Rally, there is the traditional Tyrolean evening at the Ganischgeralm. Peter and his ten colleagues from the shuttle service are busy bringing the 260 rally participants to the alpine hut and back again. But for him this is anything but stress: “Every year I look forward to the rally and the great atmosphere,” he says, beaming with joy. And as a true Tyrolean, he enjoys watching all the non-Tyroleans celebrating, singing and dancing to the sounds of the group of musicians and DJ Schicky.

Carola Carius, for example, who is competing in the Eggentaler Herbst Classic with her partner Armin Grutschus for the second time after a year’s break. On one hand, she talks about the “joint challenges” of driving a rally together, and on the other hand, the two of them approach it all very relaxed and with a lot of fun. And on the Tyrolean evening, they say, it feels as if all the participants have known each other forever. Of course, the two of them – like almost everyone at the Ganischgeralm – were dressed in Lederhosen and Dirndl. Carola, however, had only one problem with this – and she pretty much shared it with almost everyone else around her. The dirndl got tighter and tighter over the course of the evening with all the Tyrolean delicacies. Which takes us back to the SPIEGEL story. But let’s be honest: who really cares right now. There’s plenty of time to eat less after the rally.

The fashion question that polarises humanity: is it allowed to combine blue jeans with a denim jacket. And possibly even wear a denim shirt with a denim cap to go with it. Klaus Pichler, organiser of the Eggentaler Herbst Classic, answers this question with an emphatic “yes”. “Jeans Only” was the dress code for the second evening of the 18th Dolomite Rally at the Ganischgerhof.

Klaus’ good mood was written all over his face anyway. Not only because 47 Ganis employees are pulling together for the rally, but also because everything is smooth running with the additional 11 people working in time measurement and the eight-man team of race director Karlheinz Schott. When Klaus looked up at the bright blue sky during the lunch break at Chalet Gerard below the Grödner Joch, he even had to shed a few tears of emotion. “At moments like this, I realise that I really, really enjoy organising this rally,” he said. He was actually quite sure that the perfect conditions of last year could not be topped. “But it got better again,” Klaus noted a little proudly.

“Well it was certainly never this warm,” said Peter Reck and Jochen Kist, who traditionally set off first from the lunch break with starting number one. Until then, the route past Lago di Carezza over the Passo Fedaia, the Passo di Campolongo and the Passo Gardena was simply breathtaking. When Top Speed TV presenter and filmmaker Martin and photographer Jens met on the road, they noted with irony: “There are sad days: it’s raining, the landscape is boring, the people are depressed and the cars are ugly.”

Speaking of ugly: it may well be that some of the participants found the “jeans only” look of some of the participants hard to get used to. The good news is that the dress code was only valid for one evening. And the second piece of good news is that the creativity of some of the competitors gave us an idea of what to expect tomorrow. When at the Concours d’Élégance in the centre of Nova Ponente the Eggentaler Herbst Classic comes to its climax, at least in terms of style.

Today we tell the story of the final day of the 18th Eggentaler Herbst Classic starting from the end. At the Concours d’Élégance in the centre of Deutschnofen there was once again every reason to be amazed. It would be too much of a good thing to mention all the original outfit ideas. But Andrea and Axel Prym were – once again – the eye-catchers par excellence. Wearing brightly coloured 70s costumes in partner look, they got off at the finish line and obviously had the most fun with their appearance.

However, Axel – who is definitely still in possession of full head hair – confessed that he had to overcome two challenges. Firstly, enduring the heat under the wig. And secondly, convincing his wife to wear these impressive artificial curls. As every year, Michaela Amplatz, Magda Pardeller, Karl Pardeller and Heinrich Zelger also looked fantastic this time – and drove down to Deutschnofen in historical pyjamas.

The radiant sunshine was joined by many beaming faces, who on the one hand were happy that everything went off without a hitch, but on the other hand also wished that these endless summer days would simply last forever. One consolation for the fact that it’s all over now may be that there are only 368 days left until the next Eggentaler Herbst Classic starts.

And let’s be honest: every day sun, cake and a panoramic views of the Dolomites might be a bit too much of a good thing. Whereas Reini Hinteregger of the Laurins Lounge in the Carezza ski area has just that. The Catinaccio is truly within reach at South Tyrol’s highest panorama lounge at over 2300 metres, the sun shines more than 300 days a year and his cakes are hard to describe in words. It’s probably no exaggeration to say that this was the most spectacular espresso stop in the history of the Eggentaler Herbst Classic. The selfie rate up there was pretty much in the vicinity of Erich Honecker’s election results at 99.96 percent.

Inspired by the view, we continued to the other side of the Val d’Ega – to the lunch stop at the Ganis Platzl Mountain Lounge with a magnificent view of the other Dolomite massif here, the Latemar. There Christian Faber and Thomas Townson also revealed a very personal secret. Thomas answered a rally non-expert’s question as to why they wear headphones in the car: “Christian prefers to listen to classical music, and I prefer rock.

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The 19th Eggentaler Herbst Classic 2024 will take place from 10 – 13 October.