Happy New Year! Now get those snow chains on...

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The first few days of the year are for sitting back, relaxing, and looking back at 2022 after all the festivities of the Christmas period, aren’t they? Well, they may be for many of us, but over in Austria the historic rally season of 2023 will kick off soon with the annual Planai Classic.

The Austrian winter rally for classic cars will take place from 12-14th January with 63 entries this year, and they’re in for a severe three-day test of man and machine on roads reaching up to 1,700 metres (5,600ft.) in altitude. The Planai Classic lives up to its reputation of being a beautiful but harsh drive. The organizer calls it “Autofahren im letzten Paradis” – “Motoring in the last paradise” – but emphasizes that it’s not a jolly: “The snow gets deeper, the visibility gets worse, the Dachstein road gets steeper and it gets more and more slippery. Snow cornices make the road narrower and narrower, the stopwatch runs. The gusts of wind from the Dachstein almost sweep the old cars off the road, the windows freeze over.”

Still, may of us love just that! The rally has seen a rise in interest in recent years, perhaps because modern cars are not much fun in winter conditions anymore. “Here, driving a car becomes a return ticket to your youth”, the organizers add. Have fun in 2023!

(Words Jeroen Booij, Pictures Planai Classic)
 

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