It was all go for Slowly Sideways members as the end of July approached. The action commenced with our annual Rallyparty where we take over the centre of Daun and for two days, run alongside the national ADAC Rallye Masters event. There was a record entry of sixty-five cars plus the double-O Talbot Sunbeam Lotus of our local liaison man, Peter Schlömer and our family Schlusswagen, the ex-Safari Escort driven by Ursula Kleinmanns. Sadly it was reduced a bit by a few no-shows. Perhaps we discouraged John Melling by giving him number 13 for his Metro 6R4. But still we had sixty-plus cars at the traditional aerial photograph – used in a Greek magazine with the title “Model Cars!” and there were plenty of us circulating to keep the spectators happy. Indeed thirty-five cars managed to complete all the stages …

Here are some of the stories and incidents from the Eifel.

Walter Röhrl was on hand, his principal purpose to make a film ready for his 60th birthday next year, but he took time to sample some of our cars. One in particular was the Audi Quattro of Garry Midwinter, which he reckoned was better than the works cars he drove in 1985. Garry was equally impressed with the skill with which Walter put his car through the Sammersbach stage especially as by the time they drove, it was in the dark. Later in the event, Garry encountered a problem with the steering which would allow the car to turn in to a corner but then not turn out. The power steering pump was thought to be the problem.

Our regular guest, Björn Waldegård, was also on hand. He tried the Klein MG Metro 6R4 on the shakedown and was very disappointed that he could not get it to hang its tail out as he is used to doing with Porsches, Stratoses, Toyotas etc. He also had a run on Saturday in Uwe Kurzenberger’s ex-Safari (Kühne & Nagel) Porsche 911. Uwe has been working to try and improve this car’s European performance without destroying its African authenticity, but Björn confirmed that it was still a bit of a handful on tarmac.

Another regular visitor is Armin Schwarz who brings something different from his collection every year. This time it was a Lancia 037 Rallye but he had a troubled time, first with no intercom with which to talk to wife Petra, and then an engine problem sidelining them on the Saturday morning.

A newcomer to the ranks was Reinhard Hainbach who came with a BMW 2002 ti that he had built up in as faithful a replica as he could of the car in which he did the Monte Carlo in 1973. The car looked good and ran perfectly throughout.

Mark Sharrat tuned up with his ex-Carlos Sainz Toyota Celica Turbo 4WD that the World Champion rolled on the 1992 Acropolis Rally. After that, the car went to Toyota Sweden and was driven by Mats Jonsson before it was sold to Henning Solberg who let Petter have a go in it. After that, it went to Latvia where Martins Ballodis used it to become runner-up in the national championship of 2001. Mark discovered it on a Russian web site in January 2005. Sadly his rally was short with the turbo deciding to shed its fans like a burlesque dancer in Las Vegas.

Jeremy Browne and Diana McCourt were there with Jeremy’s ex-works Lancia Fulvia 1.6. While they had been back in Australia, the Lancia had been resting somewhere in Norfolk and required a little de-countrifying before it was in full fettle for the Eifel where it performed to its usual perfection. It is now indulging in some French leave outside Paris before its next event. Jeremy tells us that this historic car may soon be permanently rested as he is building a “new” Fulvia with which to tackle future rallies.

James Avis and Peter Moss had the shortest of all rallies when they broke the half-shaft on their newly acquired Nissan 240 RS before the rally had even kicked off. Having acquired the car from John Hanlon, James is said to be studying the warranty terms with some care…

Dave Kedward brought his ex-Safari Lancia 037 Rallye but a worrying noise caused him to get co-driver – and preparer extraordinaire – Sooty to have a look. What he found was a gear tooth in hiding above the differential drain plug. At which point they deemed it prudent to retire rather than risk a major, unplanned redesign of the transmission.

Lloyd and Susan Tredell were out again in their Rothmans liveried Metro 6R4 which had made its – and their – debut on the Deutschland Rally 2005. An early problem was from the braking department where, as Brian Muir once famously remarked “I knocked on the brakes and there was no one home”. A bleeding session seemed to at least partially restore the status-quo but later a broken exhaust manifold two stages from the end made communication inside the car sufficiently difficult that they did an extra lap on the Mehren stage.

Wim and Marijke Slaats were giving their Ford Capri 2600 its first airing on a big Slowly Sideways event. This was not one of the Safari Köln Capris from 1970 but one that had been prepared for Ford France to Group 2 and rallied extensively by them on events like the Tour de France between 1970 and 1975. Wim acquired it in 2005 and has given it an extensive re-build and it was nice to see this unique car out again.

One man who nearly did not make it to the Eifel at all was Rob Whitehouse who has just acquired a Lancia 037 Rallye from Mick Wood. Mick had brought the car to the rally but Rob was temporarily marooned in Majorca after having his passport, money and riving kit stolen from under his nose at the check-in desk. Happily, substitutes were found for all that and he made it, arriving at the eleventh hour. On the rally, he and Mick were one of the crews to complete the whole route.

We were treated to a double helping by the Smeets family as both Jos and Michel turned up with their own Opel Asconas. Michel had the “new’ one that has been built as a Eurohandler replica from a donor car while Jos was in their original Dutch championship example with red, white and blue.

Once again, the Eifel Rally gave us a wonderful chance to drive our cars while the hotels and restaurants of Daun looked to our creature comforts. Our thanks are due to Karl Fries, the rally director, and to Peter Schlömer who both live in Daun for making all this possible.