The Eifelrennen was an annual motor race, organised by

ADAC ADAC, officially the Allgemeiner Deutscher Automobil-Club (), is Europe's largest motoring association. ADAC is the largest club (Verein) in Germany with around 21 million members. It would be more aptly described today as an individual mo ...

Automobile Club from 1922 to 2003, held in

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

Eifel The Eifel (; lb, Äifel, ) is a low mountain range in western Germany and eastern Belgium. It occupies parts of southwestern North Rhine-Westphalia, northwestern Rhineland-Palatinate and the southern area of the German-speaking Community of ...

mountain region even before the Nürburgring was built there.

History

Starting from 1922, the first races were held on a 33 km long combination of public roads around

Nideggen Nideggen () is a town in the district of Düren in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located on the river Rur, in the Eifel hills, approx. 15 km south of Düren. Nideggen is known for its ruined, but partly restored ...

, Wollersheim, Vlatten, Heimbach, Hasenfeld and other villages in the

mountains, similar to the

Targa Florio The Targa Florio was a public road endurance automobile race held in the mountains of Sicily near the island's capital of Palermo. Founded in 1906, it was the oldest sports car racing event, part of the World Sportscar Championship between 1955 ...

which was a very important race at that time, and popular in Germany due to two wins by Mercedes (still without Benz then). In 1922, all vehicles were allowed, cars, motorbikes, and even bicycles with supporting engines. Over 100 entrants showed up to compete in the 10-lap event. The track was not paved, and muddy after heavy rains. From 1924 to 1926, the races for 2 and 4 wheels were held on separate days, and classes were introduced. Still, several fatal accidents happened. Even spectator stands collapsed, caused by stormy weather. The unsatisfying safety situation led to the construction of the Nürburgring circuit in that area, which was inaugurated on Saturday, 18 June 1927 by the ''5. Eifelrennen'' weekend, starting with motorcycle races. On Sunday,

Rudolf Caracciola Otto Wilhelm Rudolf CaracciolaBolsinger and Becker (2002), p. 63 (30 January 1901 – 28 September 1959) was a racing driver from Remagen, Germany. He won the European Drivers' Championship, the pre-1950 equivalent of the modern Formula One Wo ...

won the first car race on a

Mercedes-Benz Mercedes-Benz (), commonly referred to as Mercedes and sometimes as Benz, is a German luxury and commercial vehicle automotive brand established in 1926. Mercedes-Benz AG (a Mercedes-Benz Group subsidiary established in 2019) is headquartere ...

S. The Südschleife was used instead of the Nordschleife from 1928 until 1931 and from 1958 until 1968. The connection between the motorcycle and car races was discontinued in 1974, when organisers, drivers and German motorcycle Grand Prix riders disagreed on the best way to make the track safe for both kinds of racing - with straw bales or without? As a result, international contenders for the motorcycle World Championships boycotted the races, leaving the GP wins to rather unknown Germans (even to German fans) who decided to ride anyway. After the modern

Grand Prix Grand Prix ( , meaning ''Grand Prize''; plural Grands Prix), is a name sometimes used for competitions or sport events, alluding to the winner receiving a prize, trophy or honour Grand Prix or grand prix may refer to: Arts and entertainment ...

track was built at the Nürburgring in 1984 and F2 was replaced with F3000, the Eifelrennen was discontinued as it always was associated with the long ''Nordschleife''. Later, the trademark was given to a standard rounds of the

Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft The Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft (DTM) was a touring car racing series held from 1984 to 1996. Originally based in Germany, it held additional rounds elsewhere in Europe and later worldwide. The original DTM had resumed racing with producti ...

and STW

touring car racing Touring car racing is a motorsport road racing competition with heavily modified road-going cars. It has both similarities to and significant differences from stock car racing, which is popular in the United States. While the cars do not move ...

on this short GP track. Often two separate races were held, thus two winners. The last Eifelrennen was held in early May 2003 when several races were held, including an VLN endurance race on the 25.9 km full combined Nordschleife in preparation for the 24 Hours Nürburgring race three weeks later. Currently there are no major race series cooperating with the ADAC to host a weekend as Eifelrennen.

ADAC Eifelrennen winners (motorcycles)

Deutsche Tourist-Trophäe (German Tourist Trophy) *1922 Sixtus Meyer,

Harley-Davidson Harley-Davidson, Inc. (H-D, or simply Harley) is an American motorcycle manufacturer headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States. Founded in 1903, it is one of two major American motorcycle manufacturers to survive the Great Depressi ...

1000 ccm *1923 - No Race - *1924 Franz Bieber, BMW - (1000 ccm : Robert "Robby" Jecker,

) *1925 Paul Weyres *1926 *1927

Toni Ulmen Anton "Toni" Ulmen (25 January 1906 – 4 November 1976) was a German motorcycle and racing driver from Düsseldorf, Germany. His racing career started in 1925 on a 250 cc Velocette. In 1927 he won the opening race of the Nürburgring on a 350 ...

ADAC Eifelrennen winners (automobiles)

*1922

Kurt C. Volkhart Kurt is a male given name of Germanic or Turkish origin. ''Kurt'' or ''Curt'' originated as short forms of the Germanic Conrad (name), Conrad, depending on geographical usage, with meanings including counselor or advisor. In Turkish, Kurt (surn ...

, Steiger *1923 - No Race - *1924 Wetzka / Haide, Austro-Daimler *1925 *1926 Felten, Mannesmann

ADAC Eifelrennen winners (automobiles) on the Nürburgring

References

External links

{{Commonscat
1922

DAMC 05 Formula One non-championship races Auto races in Germany Auto races in West Germany Motorcycle racing in Germany Sport in Rhineland-Palatinate