FunCup lives up to its name:

Hanover, August 2004. The Uniroyal Fun Cup started right on schedule on August 8th and 9th at the Nürburgring in Germany, with the Belgians taking the lead in the first race.

Here you can download the press release as a doc-file (4.17 MB)

This year's AvD Oldtimer Grand Prix held at the Nürburgring was the highlight of the season not just for the oldtimers. Rain tyre manufacturer Uniroyal eagerly anticipated the first Fun Cup races to be held in Germany, after this event had repeatedly proved successful in other European countries. The AvD, Germany's oldest automobile club, provided its partner Uniroyal with the opportunity to display the racing appeal of this sponsored trophy to the spectators during a half-hour demonstration on the Sunday. Although the spectator stands remained largely empty during the actual race on the Monday, this did not matter to the participants.

On the Sunday the appearance of Uniroyal brand ambassador Alain Prost, the former Formula One driver and four times world champion, triggered lively interest and journalists had a field day photographing the racing expert and showering him with questions. An hour-long autographing session in the paddock followed, a scene reminiscent of times in old East Germany - long queues outside the Uniroyal marquee, where the former champion patiently signed T-shirts, baseball caps and cards.

Uniroyal's invited guests - tyre dealers, dealership customers and journalists from Germany, the Czech Republic and Switzerland - then spent a wonderful summer evening in the gardens of the hotel on the River Moselle enjoying the ambience. A barbecue and a selection of cold drinks followed the delightful welcoming speech given by Bernhard Bamberger, DACH marketing manager, and Uniroyal's brand manager Spyro.

It was an early start on the Monday morning, with the drivers already receiving their briefing at 7.30 a.m. at the Nürburgring. They also had to put on their special racing suits and all kinds of rather hectic preparations were made before the training could commence. For some drivers it was the first chance they had had to try out the seats in the racing cars with the legendary Beetle profile, whilst others had already sampled the atmosphere at the Sachsenring back in May or had even experienced other races. In all 44 cars lined up for the start and the majority of the participants were in fact Fun Cup racing experts, some of the Belgians drivers having been involved since 1997.

The training results on the shortened Grand Prix track were quite irrelevant, because lots were drawn for the starting positions to ensure more action in the race. The Uniroyal Germany 5 team with Oliver Hilger from the magazine 'AutoBild Motorsport', Ian Brown, Frank Grudowski and Jörg Kock was exceptionally lucky, drawing the number 7, whilst Germany 4 with Dieter Serowy from 'Auto Zeitung', Albert Königshausen, André Dietzel, Peter Keller, Karl-Heinz Becker and Lars Döhmann drew number 26. The 'Autohaus' team - with Dirk Gentgen, who launched the FunCup many years ago when he was Marketing Head Cars Europe - was hit even harder, being given position 44. Ultimately, however, this team managed to gain eight places and Germany 5 lost a full 19. It all depends on how you look at things...

Nevertheless, Oliver Hilger's team came away as the best of the German teams, taking top position on the podium. They were nine laps behind the winning car. Germany 2 - with tyre dealers Reinke, Bruser and Kammerer - took second place, ten laps behind the winner. The bronze medal was won by Germany 4, in 32nd position overall.

The experienced teams battled out the overall victory among themselves. The first five crossed the finishing line within 20 seconds of each other after four hours' racing. The four hours were packed full of neck-and-neck racing, fighting for slipstream, braking and jostling, using pit stop strategies, refuelling and driver changes. It was not just the racing activities that brought the drivers out in a sweat - it was truly midsummer weather in the Eifel mountains. After his track test, Oliver Hilger wrote a euphoric account of the event in 'AutoBild Motorsport': "With the German national anthem playing as we stood on the podium and an overall smelling of champagne - that's how every track test should end in future..."

However, for the FunCup in Germany this is just the beginning. Plans are already being drawn up for a German event in this series to be held in 2005. The search is now on for a team to provide and market the cars.

The Belgian rubber goods manufacturer Englebert began producing tyres in 1895 and customers included Continental AG. From 1958, when the company merged with US Rubber, it became known as Uniroyal Englebert. In 1979 Uniroyal, the inventor of the rain tyre, became a European brand of Continental AG in Hanover, Germany.

The Continental Group is a leading supplier of tyres, braking systems, suspension components and technical elastomers. In 2003 the company achieved a turnover of 11.5 billion euros and currently employs some 69,000 staff worldwide.