The 26th edition of the Oldtimer Festival organised by the Allgemeiner Deutscher Automobil Club (ADAC) attracted more then 12,000 visitors over the weekend. As in the previous years the public was entertained by exciting races and demonstration-runs of vehicles on two, three and four wheels from the years 1908 (De Dion Bouton) until 2003 (the Formula One, IndyCar, ChampCar, and Formula Nippon EuroBOSS series).Several Markclubs were gathered on the central parking field in the centre of the Nürburgring to show off their pride and joy. Of course the Porsche 911 was present in all kind of versions just like the first model Ford Capri (about 100 cars), Alfa Romeo Giulia, Mercedes-Benz, Jaguars XKs and a few Ford GT40s.    

Dallara Renault 3.5 V6 and Tyrell Judd 3.5 V10.	Damaged Alfa GTAm	Triumph Spitfire	Mini Clubman 1275

No less then 95 pre-war cars and 12 vintage motorbikes gathered in the old paddock from where they set off to the Nordschleife and the Südschleife for demonstration-runs.  On Saturday a part of the L93 public road was closed for a sprint-race. It is worth mentioning some very rare motorcars and cycle-cars. In the latter category was the Sima-Violet, a French cycle car which looks downright ugly.The factory on the Rue Lazare in Paris manufactured the small racing cars between 1924 and 1929.  The model is powered by an air-cooled, two-cylinder, two-stroke 496 cc. engine.  

Sima-Violet	Sima-Violet and Mercedes Transporter.	Austin Seven  Sports 1934	Cunningham Special 1924

BNC (Bollack, Netter et Compagnie) was established by Lucien Bollack and René Netter in 1923.BNC produced mainly sportscars, and their design was similar to that of the Amilcar.Within its category BNC had some victories (12 hours of Madrid,  Paris-Nice rally, 7th place in the Le Mans 24 Hours race of 1928). This 1927 produced model 527 has an 1,100 cc. 4 cylinder engine. In the late 1920's, the company tried to penetrate a higher market sector, unfortunately the demand for large passenger cars was low and in later years only ultra-light racing cars were produced by special request. Finally the Levallois based company was forced to close down in 1931.

BNC 527 1927.	Riley 1.5 Sport Special 1937	Harley-Davidson 8-Valve 1928	NSU Vintage

Another rare French motorcar is the 4 cylinder 1,500 cc. EHP Torpedo made in the year 1927.EHP stands for Etablissement Henry Precloux. This French firm was located near Paris and produced racing-cars from 1925 until 1929.An unknown marque in Europe is Cunningham. These fine automobiles were fabricated in Rochester (New York) and a 7.2 litre V8 sports version was present at the “Ring”.    

EHP Torpedo 1927	MG C-Type 1933	Imperia 500H 1929	American La France 1918 14500 cc

On Saturday, members of the Horch club visited the old paddock during their tour in the Eifel area and about twenty of these high-performance luxury motorcars (made in Germany)  were on show to the public. Most prominent of these was the beautiful bodied 853 cabriolet with an in-line 8 cyl. 4944 cc engine.
 

Horch's	Horch type 853	Riley 12-4 Special 1934	Battle of dwarfs

  With less horsepower under the bonnet but full of commitment the drivers of the smallest touring cars showed their skills in a race divided into two heats. On the starting grid were 21 Fiats Abarth 1000 TC,  9 Abarths A112, 15 NSU TTs, 3 Steyr Puchs and 10 Mini Coopers. This race incorporates three championships, the Abarth-Coppa-Mille, the British-Car-Trophy and the NSU-TT-Trophy.   2008 is a special year for the Abarth-drivers as it is the 100th anniversary of the birth of founder Carlo Abarth (1908-1979) and it’s also the year in which the new Abarth 500 (135 bhp) and Grande Punto Abarth (155 bhp) will be for sale in most European countries. The two Abarth models are expected in Australia late 2008.    

NSU TT and Fiats	Fiat Abarth 1000 TC	Fiat Abarth 1000 OT	NSU 1200 TT

   

BMW 315 1935