As the racing days are getting shorter and shorter, we're becoming more eager to see the latest crash action from the German mecca of speed. Taking place over the weekend, the Rallye Köln Ahrweiler 2014 is a racing series organized by ADAC that brings together some of the best modern classics ever to devour the tarmac. It's a true spectacle, although our next two protagonists may have taken the asphalt eating a bit too seriously.
Today's freshly released crash videos from the sidelines show a car that most say started the hot hatch segment, the Mk1 Golf GTI. Fitted with a roll cage and track tires, this particular model should be quite fun to hoon about in… once the damage from this crash is repaired.
A long hairpin curve, the Karussell is probably the most famous corner of the Nurburgring. In fact, it could actually be the most famous corner in world. Contrary to popular belief, the name doesn't come from a playground attraction but from the name of German pre-WWII racing driver Rudolf Caracciola, who reportedly clipped the corner of track and went onto the dirt in a trademark racing line. When later reconstructed, the corner gained the concrete banking we see today.
While approaching the famous Nurburgring Karussell corner backwards, the GTI inexplicably goes on the grass, rams into the concrete that forms the inner part of the corner and almost hits the barrier. All this time, the driver does little to correct the line. Is this some sort of catastrophic systems failure?
As for the second car crash, the video description suggests this is an Opel Astra, which is only partially true. What we're actually dealing with is the Kadett E, the fifth and final version of the compact car that came before the Astra. Sister brand Vauxhall did, however, call it an Astra.
Midway though the Kadett's life cycle in 1988, the high-performance version was introduced, which is likely what we're dealing with here. It was called the Kadett GSi and came with a 16-valve twin-cam that produced 156 horsepower or in non-catalyzed form, six less horsepower with a catalytic converter fitted.
Of course, none of this tech stuff is relevant when you're crashing...
Mihnea's favorite cars have already been built, the so-called modern classics from the '80s and '90s. He also loves local car culture from all over the world, so don't be surprised to see him getting excited about weird Japanese imports, low-rider VWs out of Germany, replicas from Russia or LS swaps down in Florida. Full profile
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