Loreley 2011 HCD Rally Review

by Werner Schlueter

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On September the 16th I went down the fourth time to the rally on the top of the famous Loreley rock. Since the Heinkel Club Deutschland was founded in 1983 it has become a tradition to meet at Loreley on the third weekend in September. It is the weekend when there is the event Rhein in Flammen (Rhine in flames). The town’s Sankt Goarshausen and Sankt Goar on the other side of the Rhine River are full of visitors on this weekend. They all want to see the famous fireworks on Saturday night.

Since nearly 30 years Heinkel fans meet on a camping yard on the Loreley rock and it has always been a very simple meeting where not a lot is organized. The entrance fee for the campgrounds is paid by the Heinkel-Club

This time I could not go down on my scooter because I was busy the whole week and I only got the Friday off. So I put my A0 on the trailer and went down together with a friend who took his A2 in a minibus to Sankt Goarshausen. The weather forecast had not promised very good weather so we were quite surprised when we arrived at Loreley after 5 hours and the sun was shining. It is always such a wonderful moment when you have a look down from the rock into the valley where the Rhine River flows.

Many Heinkel fans had already arrived, some a few days prior and the campgrounds was nearly completely filled with tents, caravans, campers and naturally many Heinkel vehicles. Most of the vehicles were Tourists but there were also some Kabines, Perles and some other scooters and bubble cars. Wolfgang Kurz from the Heinkel Club Store had already setup his spare parts tent up and many other guys had started their sale on tables and blankets.

Friday ended with a good meal paid by the club, meeting old and new friends and a few too many beers.

Saturday is normally the best day of Loreley but to me it started with a bad headache (ouch). After open-air breakfast in front of the tent (thanks Wolfgang for driving down to Goarshausen to get the rolls), I felt a bit better and we decided to have a ride down to Boppard with 5 scooters. Boppard is a nice town about 25 km away from the campgrounds and has many beautiful places for a view over the Rhine area that can be accessed with a ski lift. On the way to the viewpoint I found out that it was no good idea to take the lift after a hard beer drinking night, but I survived.

Later we went to Kaup where we visited a nice little scooter museum with some very rare vehicles like a Bastert scooter or a French military scooter.

Back at the campgrounds, typical rally life. Shifters were adjusted, carburetors cleaned, parts were sold, and many visitors with their Heinkels, Messerschmitts, Zündapp Bellas, Goggomobiles etc.

Wolfgang Kurz was also very busy selling spares and I always enjoy a visit in his tent and never get out without less money in my pocket. This year the two very fast 2 stroke A2s did not attend, you should see them speeding up the Loreley hill, oh my god they`re really fast.

The Saturday night fireworks were great like every year. This time I stayed in a vineyard to watch it but the best place to watch is standing close to the Rhine River because it’s so close to the ships where the rockets are fired off. You feel every explosion in your belly like somebody kicking you in it.

Later I heard about somebody from the Chiemsee area who got badly injured in a road accident with his A1 and sidecar. A car had kicked him off the road and completely destroyed the scooter but thank god he survived with 2 broken ribs a cut at the knee and a few bruises.

Saturday ended on the campgrounds with a few beers and my friend Johann’s jokes. He is the kind of guy who can tell you the same joke the 5th time and you still laugh!

Then Sunday came and the rally was nearly over, so we had to pack all the stuff back on the trailer and said goodbye, knowing that this wasn`t the last weekend at Loreley.

Finally some details of Loreley 2011:

Thank you for the review Werner!

Mike

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