‘You need a vehicle that suits you. With style and character. You understand?’ There’s no need to explain this famous quote by Kalle Grabowski, star of the silver screen, to ‘Creme’ participants. The creme21 – the rally for modern classic cars and their fans with a pronounced affinity for fun – also stopped by the drive-in cinema in Essen, giving hundreds of participants the opportunity to experience the Ruhr region’s cult film Bang Boom Bang as a group under an endless sky.
Happening in orange
The creme21 youngtimer rallye has become a legend. Volkswagen Classic enriched the 17th cult event with three cool classic cars.
Volkswagen Classic took part in the 17th creme21 youngtimer rallye with the Scirocco SL, Iltis and Corrado G60 16V.
Deep in the west
This year’s creme21 youngtimer rallye kicked off at Essen’s Zollverein Coal Mine Industrial Complex in the Ruhr area, a befitting location to mark the end of black coal mining in Germany, with the teams gathering in front of the UNESCO World Heritage Site on the afternoon of 12 September 2018. There was a collective sense of anticipation in the run-up to the event: ‘It’s a mix of vehicle models that used to fascinate us as children in the back seat and are now all gathered together at one location,’ says creme21 participant Christian Tipke. It truly is a colourful representation of recent automotive history that has come together: more than 200 fascinating classic cars of brands big and small, including a whole host of air and water-cooled models from the Volkswagen Group, adorned the grid.
If you love your car, you may have to push: things often got off to a slow start in the grid, occasionally requiring a little elbow grease.
The diversity representing Wolfsburg was astonishing, from the ‘Ovali’ Beetle retrofitted with a Porsche engine and the Passat forerunner 1600 L to the many Golf GTI and Cabriolet models and the bulky SUV forerunner Golf Country. Once again this year, Volkswagen Classic enriched the rally with hand-selected highlights from its collection, the first being the robust 1979 Race Iltis off-roader as a homage to the success of Freddy Kottulinsky and Gerhard Löffelmann, who in 1980 won the Oasis Rally (later the Dakar Rally) with the new four-wheeler.
Career in dynamism: the 37-year-old Scirocco SL cut a fine figure at the driving dynamics facility. Its forever youthful radiance and flawless condition turned lots of heads and prompted plenty of thumbs-ups.
Another was the unique model from 1989, powered by a potent 154 kW (210 PS) engine with G-Lader: the athletic Corrado G60 16V, whose model series received its H-plates this year for the first time. The third was the iconic Scirocco I, an extremely rare, special 1981 SL model from the Volkswagen Osnabrück car collection. All three vehicles were greeted with enthusiasm by creme21 participants and spectators and added their own special touch to the colourful mix of the starting grid.
With a new course established each year, the 2018 kilometre competition followed enchanted secondary and tertiary side streets deep into western Germany. From the Zollverein Complex, the route wound its way through the Ruhr area, into the Münsterland region and ultimately up to the Eifel mountain range. Varied driving tasks at the Aldenhoven Testing Center followed by three loops on the Circuit Goodyear testing course in neighbouring Luxembourg delivered a unique boost of dynamism behind the wheel. Teams with dynamic, compact sports cars, in particular, had the best time here. As in previous years, GTI drivers Wolfgang and Ramon Tomschi were there with their black Golf 1 GTI: ‘The route was amazing again this year, perfect for our sporty modern classic car!’
As a backdrop, the World Heritage Site offered an outstanding atmosphere for classic cars such as the Golf Country.
Volkswagen’s Race Iltis also flaunted its dynamism on the winding roads of the Eifel mountain range.
The rally put the driving skills of the 221 teams to the test, demanding unwavering endurance. After all, according to the roadbook, the seven stages covered nearly 900 kilometres.
Andrée Witt decked out with his Type 3 1600 L. Of course, the Essen resident chose an outfit that matches the paint.
Authentic clothing embodies the spirit of the creme21. This year was no different, so lots of participants went all out with bell-bottoms, long wigs, sports jackets with shoulder pads, huge sunglasses and plenty of accessories in orange. Equipped with a 29-page roadbook, the colourful troop embarked on a creme21 journey through time in eye-catching modern classic cars from the 70s, 80s and 90s.
No man’s land now in the rear-view mirror
The Youngtimer Club e.V. rally celebrates its niche automotive flair and has long been a concept among our European neighbours, too.
In 2002 it was just a handful of car fans from Oldenburg, whose vehicles fell somewhere between used cars and collector’s items – in no man’s land. They founded the creme21 as a rally for older vehicles without an organised fan base. The event takes its name and colour from the Creme 21 skincare brand, paying homage to the styles of the 70s and 80s.
There’s so much interest in the ‘creamy’ event today that participants have to be creative in how they apply for a spot in the grid. You don’t need any tuning or a heavy foot to experience the fun and success. It’s much more about the many eye-catching applications put together exclusively for Creme, ranging from floral still lifes and 70s trim to the collection of contemporary gimmicks.
Driving excitement also took priority at the 17th rally and there’s still no need for a trip meter: taking the entire distance into account, it’s not the last tenth of a second or award-winning horse power that counts. The opportunity to actually be there is everything. Measurable rally success requires skill as well as the desire to put your ability and knowledge to the test in the usually very creative surprise tasks: an eagerness to play and thinking outside the box rather than stopwatch stress and overcomplicated stages.
Very few rallies boast a starting grid as colourful as that of Creme. This Beetle Cabriolet is sporting the original Creme 21 colour.
Colourful and stylish: Sharon Franken and Dennis Dremmen of Maastricht are creme21 repeat offenders. This year they had lovingly transformed their Mars red 1983 Golf GTI into a non-alcoholic ‘wine booze-up’.]]
Participants were sent on their way at one-minute intervals. While navigation devices were off limits, co-drivers were given a roadbook.
Entertaining games – like the arrangement of vehicle parts here – are an integral part of the creme21 programme.
On the road together
Open to all brands, the rally has developed an exceptional reputation in the classic and modern classic car scene. And for good reason: again in 2018, the event team came up with a varied potpourri of occasionally bizarre, extremely tricky and unquestionably entertaining tasks which, as special stages along the route, are exciting for more than just car fans.
Among other things, this year’s event required special knowledge about Sesame Street and the Blues Brothers, the ability to correctly arrange car parts, and in-depth insight into models of exotic modern classic cars. For the legendary suitcase game, the teams had one minute to memorise the contents of the suitcase and then later had to answer unexpected questions.
Creme analogy: guessing musical artists of the 70s and 80s as a special stage.
From travelling circus to repeat offenders
It shouldn’t be a surprise that there are many regular Creme participants in the starting grid: the charming mix of driving excitement, unusual tasks and a parade of eye-catching exotic models and everyday classic cars from the 70s and 80s is like nothing else in Germany and once again has made the automotive travelling circus a highlight in the late-summer calendar of events. So it’s no wonder that fans had gathered along stretches of the route to cheer on the colourful procession.
Even everyday heroes like this Golf II have become popular creme21 guests.
The first-generation Golf GTI was the vehicle of choice for several creme21 participants for the nearly 900-kilometre route.
Excited Creme participants
As different as the vehicles and their owners may be, what brought them all together again this year was an enthusiasm for cars, driving culture, retro style and having loads of fun together. At the end of the day, it really didn’t matter if your car of choice was a luxury saloon, a fast sports car or an iconic supermini. Creme participants were gushing with excitement again this year.
Uwe and Sabine Kreuter participated with a rare Polo Coupé GT G40 from 1988. Grinning from ear to ear, they refer to themselves as ‘completely Creme-infected’.
The next generation of Creme participants: Torsten Pape and Bianca Schönheit competed in creme21 for the first time with their yellow 1970 Beetle Cabriolet. They both thought the collective car happening was ‘super!’
Incidentally, it was Matthias and Susanne Zech of Mönchengladbach who won the 2018 rally, whilst 21st place went to Joachim and Roswitha Baier of Hanau. The Volkswagen Classic team managed to clinch a stage win and second place on Saturday and is already looking forward to next year’s rally, which will be celebrating a special anniversary in orange: Creme will come of age in 2019 – but that’s not to say that the rally will be any more normal.
Friends of Creme: Michael Winkler of the Volkswagen Classic team handed over the award won the day before to Peter and Barbara Eberhard of Rüsselsheim. The two took 138th place overall, which just happened to be the Scirocco’s number.
The Volkswagen Classic team had lots of fun in orange. The 18th creme21 youngtimer rallye has already been added to the calendar, of course: 18 to 22 September 2019.
