Would he ever do it? Would he even entertain the idea? Would he dare get into the car – on the passenger side? “No,” says Jockel Winkelhock, “I wouldn’t do it. Not me. I’m happy being behind the wheel. It gives me something to hold onto. I’m not cut out to play second fiddle.” He then adds: “I would scare myself silly.” When asked whether you need more guts to sit in the passenger seat, he shrugs his shoulders and nods. Maik Rosenbaum, Christine Boje, and TV host Annica Hansen needed just that today. They were about to get into an Astra OPC Cup with Winkelhock behind the wheel, who will chauffeur them for three laps around the Oschersleben circuit at the world’s biggest Opel Meet. Chauffeur is probably not the right word, however. Winkelhock has about as much in common with a regular chauffeur as a coachman does with an astronaut. He has won the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the 24 Hours Nürburgring, and the Spa 24 Hours, and barreled down the track in a 470-HP Astra V8 Coupé for Opel in the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters (DTM).
“HE IS CAPABLE OF SOMETHING WE AREN’T.”
The Astra’s two-liter turbo has been warming up in the pit lane for a few minutes, getting reading to launch its 320 HP into action. Maik is standing next to it, shifting his weight from one foot to the other. One of his legs is excited, the other nervous. Maik, who has come from Werne to the Opel meet in Oschersleben, has just won a chance to ride along by answering a quiz in the OPC tent. At this moment he looks as if he can’t really decide what to think of his luck in winning the prize. The Astra already sounds pretty mean, and it’s not even moving.
Maik’s friends seem all but encouraging as they wonder who will clean up the seat afterward. Marcus Lacroix from the Opel Motorsport team hands the passenger a hood and a half shell helmet. “Relax and enjoy it,” he says. “At moments when you or I would normally brake, he will shift up gears. He is capable of something we aren’t.” He can push the Astra OPC Cup to the limit. But Maik can do something that Winkelhock can’t, which is to sit beside him as the car hurtles toward the first braking point, located some 100 to 150 meters before the left curve behind the start-finish straight. “I think we will get there at around 200 kph,” said Winkelhock earlier.
Maik Rosenbaum
NAILED DOWN TO THE SEAT
As they get started, Maik is asked whether he is excited. “Yes, totally, but I want to get going finally!” He climbs over the roll bars and sinks deep into the bucket seat. An assistant places the seat belt over his shoulders, fastens it to the center buckle, and tightens it until Maik feels practically nailed down to the seat. “Does the seat belt really have to be so tight?” he asks. The answer: “You have no idea how he drives.”
Five minutes later, he knows. As he gets out of the car, the words pour out of him. “Man, that was crazy.” Maik raises his hand. It is trembling again. “That was indescribable,” he says, shaking his head. But in the end, he does find the words to describe the spot that made the biggest impression on him. “I thought he would brake and turn when we reached the chicane, but he just plummeted right through over the curbs and the car was dancing on the asphalt.”
Christine Boje
SMOKE RISES UP FROM THE BRAKES
Christine Boje from Schenefeld in Schleswig-Holstein is next. She grins with pleasure before getting strapped into the Astra. “Holy smokes!” she says, pointing at the wheel wells. “The fumes were rising from the brakes a minute ago. It’s going to get really good now.” She can hardly wait until she can finally experience it for herself. She is also feeling a bit chilly and needs to warm up again. She is wearing a top with the words ‘Gasoline in your blood, Opel in your heart’ written on it. Is she an Opel fan? “Of course. This is my 5th Opel Meet in Oschersleben.”
Annica Hansen
“HASN’T HE ALWAYS WANTED TO HAVE A PRETTY BLONDE IN HIS CAR?”
But that in itself is not enough to win a spot in Winkelhock’s passenger seat. She used other tactics instead. “I was maybe the one who screamed the loudest during the raffle.” And when she was asked why she should win the ride, she replied, “Hasn’t he always wanted to have a pretty blonde in his car?” Winkelhock sure did. And now he is getting one. Two, in fact. Because after Christine, the even blonder Annica Hansen, TV celebrity, model, and an Opel host in Oschersleben, will take her place beside him in the Astra OPC Cup.
A SELFIE BEFORE THE MADNESS Hansen quickly snaps a selfie with her phone shortly before they set out. After three laps at top speed, she wriggles out of the Astra’s bucket seat and says, “That was completely wild, and it was so much fun, but you know what? I would much rather drive myself now.” But that is simply not going to happen, because Winkelhock would not dare do what Maik, Christine, and Annica have just done.
The Oschersleben Motorsport Arena is located outside of Magdeburg in Saxony-Anhalt. It is the northernmost racetrack in Germany.
The facility, formerly called Motopark Oschersleben, took 13 months to build and was completed in 1997. It was the third permanent test and race track after Nürburgring and Hockenheimring. Since then, they have been joined by the Eurospeedway and the Sachsenring, following renovations there.
The first meeting of the Opel Sportclub Wernigerode took place in Oschersleben in 2000. The event is growing more and more popular every year, and it has now become the biggest Opel meet in the world.
During the event, the population of the 20,000 swells to several times that number, when it is rechristened ‘Opelsleben.’ It accommodates around 16,000 vehicles with the lightning bolt logo and more than 65,000 visitors.
The motto of the festival is: ‘Gasoline in your blood – Opel in your heart.’