9 Classic BMWs Take On a 1935 315/1 to E30 Rally in Bavaria
Article Summary
- Nine BMWs spanning a 1935 315/1 to a 1985 E30 325i Cabriolet competed among 55 total entries at the 35th Falkenhausen Classics in Lower Bavaria.
- The event is a regularity rally, where crews are penalized for arriving at checkpoints either early or late rather than racing against the clock.
- The route ran four stages from Neufahrn Castle through a Concours d’Elegance in Landshut to a finish at Peuerbach Castle.
The 35th running of the Falkenhausen Classics took place July 25-26 in Lower Bavaria, the stretch of countryside between Munich and the Bavarian Forest. Fifty-five classic cars entered this year, and nine of them were BMWs covering more than five decades of the brand’s history.
The BMW Entry List
The oldest BMW in the field was the No. 2 car, a 1935 BMW 315/1 driven by Harald Springer and Elke Springer. The newest was a 1985 E30 325i Cabriolet, entered by Martin and Jeanette Deggelmann. In between sat a run of BMWs that trace the company’s postwar and prewar identity in one lineup: a 327 Cabriolet, a pair of 502 Cabriolets, a 503, a 2600 Luxus V8 (the car nicknamed the Baroque Angel for its rounded, ornate styling), a BMW-Glas V8 3000, and a 2800 CS coupe.
The full BMW roster:
- No. 2 – 1935 BMW 315/1 – Harald Springer / Elke Springer
- No. 5 – 1937 BMW 327 Cabriolet – Francis Urzinger-Woon / Claudia Urzinger-Woon
- No. 10 – 1955 BMW 502 Cabriolet – Hermann Boniberger / Cedric Boniberger
- No. 17 – 1959 BMW 503 Cabriolet – Jochen Ortmann / Cornelia Ortmann
- No. 18 – 1959 BMW 2600 Luxus V8 (“Baroque Angel”) – Jocki Kiefer / Traudi Kiefer
- No. 21 – 1962 BMW 502 – Dieter Martin / Annemarie Martin
- No. 34 – 1967 BMW-Glas V8 3000 – Daniel Simmerl / Martin Fußeder
- No. 39 – 1970 BMW 2800 CS (E9) – Franz Josef Dallinger / Petra Hame
- No. 54 – 1985 BMW E30 325i Cabriolet – Martin Deggelmann / Jeanette Deggelmann
For context on the field as a whole, the oldest car at the event was a 1933 Aston Martin Le Mans Short Chassis, so the BMW 315/1 was only two years younger than the overall field leader.
A Rally Decided By Precision, Not Speed
The Falkenhausen Classics is a regularity rally, which changes what “winning” actually means. There’s no clock to beat. Crews get a detailed roadbook and a fixed time to complete each section, and the penalty points pile up whether they show up early or late. The crew with the fewest points after all stages takes the overall win, which puts a premium on pace-holding and navigation rather than outright speed. It’s a format that rewards a good co-driver as much as a good car.
How The Weekend Played Out
The event opened with a one-hour prologue from Neufahrn Castle, a scenic warm-up drive through the surrounding countryside. After an hour’s break, competitors ran Regularity Stage 1 in warm sunshine, a roughly two-hour-and-15-minute stage that ended at Mengkofen Castle with an evening reception.
Sunday carried the bulk of the competition across three more stages. RS2, a short 30-minute run, started at the Adlkofen Automobile Museum, home base of organizing club Scuderia Isar e.V., chaired by Verena Proebst. That stage finished in Landshut’s historic center, where a Concours d’Elegance gave spectators a chance to look over the cars and talk with the owners directly.
RS3 ran 90 minutes through Frontenhausen and around the roundabout made famous by the German Eberhofer crime film series, with a brief rain shower thrown in before competitors reached Tunzenberg Castle. After a 90-minute lunch break, the final stage, RS4, covered about two and a half hours en route to Peuerbach Castle, where the weekend closed with an evening celebration and the prize-giving ceremony.
Between the cars, the route, and the crowds, the 35th Falkenhausen Classics kept up the event’s reputation as one of the more scenic regularity rallies on the German classic car calendar.
[Photos: Quirin Schoen]
Related posts
Latest Post
No Comments