Joachim Winkelhock took the 1913 Opel Grand Prix Rennwagen up the hill which was a nice contrast to the brutal La France Speedster-Racing with 14.5-litre displacement under agricultural tractor sound

The central German city of Kassel, with the beautiful Bergpark Wilhelmshöhe, has a rich hillclimb history: In the 1920s, Rudolf Caracciola gained his first motor sport success here. It's a place steeped in history...

The historic track, which is believed as Germany’s oldest perserved race track in original shape, starts at a romanian aqueduct, uphill crossing the Herkules monument and finishing at the knight’s castle Löwenburg with the cars lining up in front of the ch΢teau with its wide gardens – electors from 16th century were provided with quite nice leisure areas.

Back in 1926 Karl Kappler drove his white Bugatti T35 to success and now this car was back home on known trails and shown in a Bugatti exhibition. From the Schlumpf Collection in France three unique Bugattis (T46, T73, T64) were taken out of the storage and run for the first time after 50 years with only a quick oil change made. Unfortunately a nice Bugatti T50 lost all fluid 100 meters before the start line.

Opel’s historic department arrived with vintage Rally gear such as the Ascona B 400 and touring car. Joachim Winkelhock took the 1913 Opel Grand Prix Rennwagen up the hill which was a nice contrast to the brutal La France Speedster-Racing with 14.5-litre displacement under agricultural tractor sound.

Other cars in beautiful backdrop were Austin Healey in works racing spec, a Jaguar MK IV in concours condition and German standard classics like Mercedes-Benz 300 SL Gullwing and Porsche 356 next to a rare Glas Coupé.

This was the third edition of the new historic event with about 90 entrants on two and four wheels. The fact that Kassel applied to get the Bergpark Wilhelmshöhe approved as a World Heritage Site making a fourth run in 2011 dubious to say the least.