Former Cape Town-based Mini racer Trevor Noble now lives in Rotterdam, where he runs his own marine safety consultancy. Racing remains in his blood, but he’s moved out from behind the wheel to behind the lens and his weekends are filled with motorsport photography expeditions across Europe. A few weeks ago he headed for Zell am See airfield in Austria and the GP Ice Race and sent us a bunch of pics.
The event, first held in 2019, is best thought of as an Austrian Goodwood Festival of Speed on ice. It can trace its roots back to the sport of skijoring (derived from the Norwegian word skikjøring which means ‘ski driving’) – a winter sport in which a skier is towed (traditionally by a horse or dog). In 1938 some lads decided to add some more petrol to the mix, and the trusty steed and man’s best friend were substituted for a motorcycle. Cars were added to the event in 1952 and it grew from there, moving to the airfield in 1969. In 1974, it was cancelled due to extremely bad weather and fell off the calendar – until the 2019 revival.
Of course, we chose to run the classic stuff in the below gallery, but there was more to the event. How about a Formula E electric single-seater with studded tyres, a Porsche Taycan sharing the temporary track with a historic Porsche 911 rally car (complete with surfboard on the roof) or past Grand Prix ace Hans Stuck doing demonstration runs in the Jägermeister-liveried March-Cosworth 741 he made his Grand Prix debut in at Monaco in 1974?
There was also the 2012 Dakar Rally-winning Mini All4 Racing, a number of other machines with rally raid provenance and an overload of classic Saabs, Volvos, Volkswagen Beetles, Fiats, Alfas, Minis, Lancia, Porsches and more.