CAFÉ RACER 76

samedi 12 septembre 2015

The Bernina Gran Turismo brings rallying back to the Engadin

In the 1920s and 1930s, drivers from all over Europe would make the pilgrimage to the Swiss Engadin to compete in the Bernina Mountain Race. In early October, the Bernina Gran Turismo will revive this tradition.

Legendary mountain race on the Bernina Pass

In the 1920s, the triumph of the automobile began in the Alps. Newly built mountain roads and magnificent panoramas attracted gentlemen drivers who sought to prove their sportsmanship at high speed. One of the first and most famous mountain rallies at this time was the Klausen Pass Race, first held in 1922, but other parts of Switzerland were starting to attract wealthy tourists from all over Europe with the lure of hillclimbs. In the summer of 1929, just four years after the abolition of a strict car ban in the Canton of Graubünden, the first ‘Automotive Week’ was held in St. Moritz. The heart of the event was the Bernina Mountain Race, along a 16.5km route and attended by many great racers of the time. Winners included Hans Stuck in a 1929 Austro-Daimler ADR 3.0 and Louis Chiron in a 1930 Bugatti T47. Another highlight was a ‘Kilometre Race’ for which Shell had created a dedicated asphalt road between Punt Muragl and Samedan. Today, the road is still known as the Shellstrasse, or Shell Road.

Adrenalin and stunning views

Now the classic race cars return to the Engadin each year, thanks to a group of automotive enthusiasts who initiated a revival race last October. The event will run again this year, starting on 2 October, with a hillclimb for sports and racing cars built up to the early 1980s on a closed road along the Bernina Pass. From La Rösa up to the Bernina Hospiz, the hillclimb will (say the organisers) be 5.6km of “pure adrenalin in an inimitable Alpine setting”. Early October, when the sky above the snowy peaks is a deep blue and the forests rich with autumn colour, is certainly the ideal time for a race weekend in such a beautiful place.

Photos: Bernina Granturismo

Dream women at the wheel – Welch, Bardot and co to enchant at Chantilly

While cars that once belonged to the likes of Steve McQueen or Alain Delon are traded for millions of dollars, the same can’t yet be said for famous female owners’ cars. At next week’s Chantilly Arts & Elegance, a dedicated ‘Ladies’ Cars’ class in the Concours d’Etat will aim to change this…

Let’s face it – the automotive scene is one of the few places where the feminist movement has scarcely left its mark. The scantily clad young ladies at motor shows today would never have passed in the 1950s and, even at premier concours events, glamorous ladies play second fiddle to polished sheet metal and chrome. The organisers of Chantilly Arts & Elegance have noticed this, and have thus dedicated a concours class to famous female motorists, comprising a number of classics with prominent female previous owners.

From the cabaret to the racetrack

Among these cars will be a 1927 Bugatti Type 35B formerly owned by cabaret dancer and enthusiastic racer Hellé Nice, an elegant, ex-Lucienne Dhôtel Figoni-bodied Delahaye 135 MS, and the Ferrari 250 GT Europa of Princess Lilian de Réthy, the wife of King Leopold II of Belgium. Also featuring is Brigitte Bardot’s Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud II convertible, which she hopes will do well come Monday afternoon, given how much she adored it.

Four-wheeled gifts

Another star is the BMW 507, which Ursula Andress was given in 1963 following filming with Elvis Presley. But gifts for actresses were probably not that rare – director Leslie H. Martinson presented Raquel Welch with a blue Ferrari 275 GTS in 1967, after they had become acquainted during the filming of ‘Fathom’. Even later, in 1986, Madonna received a Mercedes 280 SE from Sean Penn, though admittedly he was her husband at the time. It is an illustrious group of women, whose cars could well inspire change in the classic car scene. About time? We think so…

Photos: Peter Auto