400 cars and 12.000 visitors
Pre-War history of the Solitude Races
The Solitude Revival brings back the heydays of racing at the Solitude. The tradition of legendary Solitude races just began in 1903 with a hillclimb sprint for motorcycles starting downtown from Stuttgart’s western railwaystation and finishing up at Solitude castle. From 1922, for sports and race cars were allowed in the hillclimb too. In 1925 was the first year a roundlap was raced. Each lap took approximately 22 km. The circuit was considered as being very demanding and could be compared with the famous Targa Florio in Sicily. Therefore more and more foreign makes and competitors came to the Solitude. Soon the race was among the most prestigious all over Europe. Later the track was shortened a few times. In the end the length of the circuit was 11 km, offside from Solitude castle. That last trac one later became the classic Solitudering of the post-war era. After a long period without races, due to politics and war, the first post-war race took place in 1949.
Post-war history of the Solitude Races
In 1954, the races at the Solitude were combined with the Solitude Rally. On the circuit and its surroundings sportive trials for touringcars kept place. They became nearly as popular as the racing events. From 1961 the rally was combined with the French Lyon-Charbonnières rally and thus became a European top event. In the sixties, Formula cars became more and more popular. The race of 1960 is one to remember. Local hero Hans Herrmann, in a Porsche 718/2 was only beaten by seconds by Wolfgang Graf Berghe von Trips in a Ferrari. In 1961, F1 cars made their appearance at the Solitude. In 1962 the Porsche was at the Solitude with a brandnew 8 cylinder F1 car. The result was a double victory for Dan Gurney and Joakim Bonnier. 1965 was the last year, races took place at the Solitude.
Porsche at the Solitude Revival
Porsche has always had a strong connection with the Solitude races, and nothing else is the case with the Solitude Revival. Not only is Porsche one of the main partners of the organisation. Porsche makes sure the audience has something to enjoy too. 2019 is the year the Porsche 917 celebrates its 50th anniversary. And with the presence of 3 Porsche 917s, the visitors had nothing to complain. Next to the Porsche 917 Renntaxi of the Porsche Museum, 2 private Porsche 917s gave present. The Renntaxi is Porsche 917.015 (035) , the 1971 Spa 1000km winning car (Pedro Rodriguez / Jackie Oliver). Ionas Inglesis brought the Porsche 917/30.006, a car without race history. Ottocar Jakobs could be seen on the track in the Porsche 917/10.016 (ex Ernst Kraus). Ottokar Jacobs bought the car approximately 20 years ago from Vasek Polak.
During our visit to the Solitude Revival, Mark Lieb had the honours to drive the Porsche 804 F1 car on the Solitude race-track, with Stephane Ortelli following in the Porsche 718/2 (Formula 2) car. Useless to tell the view of these 2 rare Porsche’s on a historic race-track is an absolute highlight for a Porsche enthusiast. The Porsche Museum brought a Porsche 356 Carrera Abarth GTL to Solitude too, as well as a Porsche 550 Spyder and its succesor, the Porsche 718 RS60 Spyder.
Herbert Linge Sonderlauf
Herbert Linge , one of the first employees hired by Porsche, has always been very faithful to Porsche. At the age of 91, Linge still enjoys being part of festivities like the Solitude Revival. Because of his importance in the history of Porsche, and for motorsport in general, the Solitude Revival honours him with a special race with nothing but Porsches. Next to the previously mentioned cars, we noticed a few Porsche 904 Carrera GTS, Porsche 356s, Porsche 914s, Porsche 911s and so on. In the Porsche tent, the Porsche Museum had a shop. That was the place where personalities like Herbert Linge, Hans Herrmann, Kurt Ahrens, Hans-Joachim Stuck, Eberhard Mahle gave presence for a talk, an autograph, or a podium with exciting stories about their motorsport past.
Picture Gallery 2019 Solitude Revival
Pictures by Vintage Race Photography
