Legendary cars from rallying history in action at the Eifel Rally Festival

The ‘rolling rally museum’, comprising 160 vehicles, takes to the demonstration stages at a brisk pace. Since 2011, the Eifel Rally Festival has also developed into one of the world’s largest gatherings of drivers, mechanics, teams and fans of the sport.

Rallye-Meile beim Eifel-Festival

Foto: ADAC-Eifel-Rallye-Festival

The career of rally legend Stig Blomqvist, who is celebrating his 80th birthday this month, will be given special recognition this weekend at the ADAC Eifel Rally Festival.

Blomqvist took the international rally scene by storm when he won the International Swedish Rally in 1971 – the first of his seven victories at the Rally Sweden.

Blomqvist secured eleven WRC victories over the course of his career, the first of which came in Sweden during the championship’s inaugural season in 1973. The Swede was synonymous with Saab throughout the 1970s, until the manufacturer’s WRC programme was discontinued and he spent a season behind the wheel of a Talbot Sunbeam in 1981.

Der Audi-Rallyeweltmeister von 1984 in der Eifel mit dabei: Stig Blomqvist

Foto: Audi

The following year, he was signed by the Audi works team to drive the then-revolutionary all-wheel-drive Quattro. It was at the wheel of the Quattro that Blomqvist enjoyed his greatest successes. He claimed seven of his eleven victories in the car, including five on his way to winning the title in 1984.

After finishing second behind Peugeot’s Timo Salonen in 1985, Blomqvist moved from Audi to Ford to drive the ‘Blue Oval’s’ Group B RS200.

Audi Quattro in Aktion

Foto: ADAC-Eifel-Klassik-Festival

This weekend, Blomqvist will lead a parade of cars he has driven over the course of his 60-year career. Kicking things off is the RSCC Distomo, a current rally prototype based on the concept of the banned Group S and the Ford RS200. The collection includes three Saabs, amongst them a 1965 96 Monte Carlo and a 96 V4 in its 1974 specification.

The Audi Quattro A2, in which he won the title in 1984, will be on display, as will the 1985 Quattro S1 E2 and the 1986 Ford RS200.

The ADAC Eifel Rally Festival is also marking the 40th anniversary of the phasing out of the Group B regulations. To pay tribute to this era of rallying, a special parade has been organised, featuring one of the largest collections of Group B cars ever assembled at a single event.

Talbot-Sunbeam-Lotus: Weltmeisterauto von 1981

Foto: ADAC-Eifel-Rallye Festival

The parade comprises 16 different cars, some of which are otherwise only on display in museums. The line-up ranges from the Nissan 240RS to the Opel Manta 400, the Porsche 911 SCRS, the Lancia 037 and the Delta S4. Three different variants of the Audi Quattro, the Ford RS200 and the MG Metro 6R4 will be on display. The Peugeot 205 T16, which won the last Group B title in 1986, will be present, as will the rare Citroën BX4TC. A further 20 Group B cars will also be put through their paces on the festival stages.

“This is a truly unique experience. I’m not sure if we’ll ever manage to bring all these cars together in one place again. A big thank you in advance to the car owners who are making this show possible,” says Reinhard Klein, head of “Slowly Sideways”, the organiser of the Group B parade.