During the drive from my bed and breakfast address to the circuit  on Friday-morning at nine there were plenty of reasons to be cautious about the day ahead. There was a thick fog (in some parts there was only 30 metres visibility) in the whole area.  The cars ready for practice for the Historic 400 kilometres Marathon on the Nordschleife were queued up for hours but unfortunately had to be driven back to the parking lot at 12.00 h. when the organisation decided that the 400 kilometres race was cancelled and two hours later also the practices on the Grand Prix track were cancelled until further notice.  Finally the complete day’s program was cancelled. A big disappointment for all drivers but an understandable reaction from the organiser. A new timetable for Saturday and Sunday was announced at 17.00h. 

The International Oldtimer Festival – also known as Jan-Wellem-Pokal – is as classic as the cars competing at the legendary Nürburgring. This year the three day event celebrated its 25th anniversary from June 15th  to 17th. Friday and Saturday the weather was cloudy and rainy but Sunday was a beautiful sunny day. The programme included around ten different race series attracting more than 600 drivers  from various countries. Among the highlights are the historic motorbikes and sidecar bikes.The range of vehicles reaches from the classic De Dion Bouton GP built in 1908 to the high-tech Group C sports car Jaguar XJR16 from 1991. The International Oldtimer Festival features world-famous sports cars, classic touring cars and rare formula cars like the Tyrell P34 six-wheeler.  The demonstration runs for vintage cars featured more then 100 prewar motorcars like Bugattis, MG J2s, Rileys, Lagondas, Austin Sevens, BMWs and Veritas.