Last October, the very first Ardennen Rennen played out in the Ardennes region of south-east of Belgium.
The winding forest roads provided a spectacular backdrop to this driving event for Porsches and Volkswagens of a vintage variety, with dark skies and rain only adding to the spectacle. You can check out my coverage of the 2022 Ardennen Rennen here. Based on what I experienced just from a spectator standpoint last year, I knew I had to return to the Ardennens for the event’s 2023 running, and I’m very glad I did.
Ardrenne Rennen: The Gentlemen Racer Reunion invites owners of select pre-1970 Porsches and Volkswagens – including 356s, 912s, 914s and 911s, and Beetles, Buses, Karmann Ghias and Type 3s – to take part in the 500km weekend drive. And that call for entries was well and truly answered, with almost double the number of competitors as last year and a nice 50/50 mix between the brands.
The 2023 programme began at R-Hotel in Aywaille on Saturday afternoon for technical inspection, followed by a prologue stage to determine the vehicle starting order for Sunday’s main event – a day-long drive from Liège to Bastogne and back again, with a picnic lunch break in between.
There’s a lot of history in this area, and the route chosen by the organizers – a completely different one to 2022 – took in a number of roads that saw rally action many decades ago when these cars were new.
Despite being limited to two makes and a handful of models, there was plenty of diversity in the field. The standout for me was a super-rare Porsche 356 Speedster, but unfortunately that car broke down during Saturday afternoon’s prologue. Luckily for the owner, his other 356 – a Pre A Cabriolet – could be swapped in, and ran like a charm on Sunday.
If opportunity and ownership allows, having two vehicles on hand is not a silly idea. Cars #49 and #50 are both owned by the same gentlemen, and were driven over from the UK especially for this weekend of fun.
Closing out the first day was a four-course dinner paired with a great selection of local beers and wines.
As mentioned earlier, last year’s Ardennen Rennen was extremely wet, so having the sun out and a new route which took in small towns this time around, made it feel like a completely different event.
Photography-wise, these little towns did pose a bit of a challenge. The narrow, cobbled lanes were great, but the modern cars around and abundance of street signs stripped away a lot of the event’s vintage feel. Out in the rural areas, it wasn’t an issue at all though.
Early Sunday morning, the driving aspect of the event began proper.
Unlike a typical rally, where combined special stage times are added together for an overall time, the Ardennen Rennen is more about consistency. It’s not the team that gets from point A to point B the quickest that wins; average speeds are calculated on non-disclosed sections of the entire route and revealed afterwards.
The fact that the competing cars aren’t going flat-out honestly doesn’t matter. Just seeing these cool classics on stunning roads is enough.
There’s a bunch of truly passionate people behind this event, and it really shows. The 2023 Ardennen Rennen was everything I hoped it would be and more; the only downside is, it’s now becoming a biennial event, which means I’ll have to wait until 2025 to do it all over again.
Collin Tiemens
Instagram: fuegocarculture
How To join the IATS program: We have always welcomed readers to contact us with examples of their work and believe that the best Speedhunter is always the person closest to the culture itself, right there on the street or local parking lot. If you think you have what it takes and would like to share your work with us then you should apply to become part of the IAMTHESPEEDHUNTER program. Read how to get involved here.
Very cool tour. Thank God for VW because without VW there'd be no Porsche!
Happy to see such fantastic pictures representing the event ! Collin really knows how to capture the cars and along with it the atmosphere during the event !
Awesome pictures at my favourite event