Luigi Does the Amelia Island Concours

Hans Stuck drove Luigi at the 1976 ETCC race held at the famous Nurburgring.
Hans Stuck drove Luigi at the 1976 ETCC race held at the famous Nurburgring.

We had the privilege of attending this years Amelia Island Concours and bringing along Luigi. He was driven by Hans Stuck in 1976 at the famous Nurburgring in the ETCC race, and since this year’s honored driver was Hans Stuck we got the call.

Friday night after cruising the displays of trophies, auction cars, and vender tables all at the Ritz Carlton, we attended the BMW dinner in honor of Stuck.

Saturday morning we unloaded the car in time to catch the end of the Cars & Coffee before heading off to the BMW Drivers seminar.

The panel of drivers for this seminar consisted of Boris Said, Bill Auberlin, David Hobbs, Brian Redman, Hans Stuck, and John Fitzpatrick. It was a spell-binding 2 hours of funny stories, friendly banter, and great BMW history.

Luigi was a part of the official event photo honoring Hans Stuck's great racing career.
Luigi was a part of the official event photo honoring Hans Stuck’s great racing career.

Following the seminar we had too get back to the car and drive him out on the field for the “Cars of Hans Stuck” official photo shoot. The group included the BMW X5 with the 700 HP Le Mans winning V-12 in it that Hans drove around the Nurburgring in under 7 minutes.

We then parked the car in its assigned spot on the concours field and headed back to our motel for the night.

By 10:00 the event was packed. It was difficult to even walk around to look at the other cars.
By 10:00 the event was packed. It was difficult to even walk around to look at the other cars.

Sunday morning came with a threat of rain. We were told that all events would be wrapped up by 3:00 in hopes of beating the rain. The crowds poured in at 9:00 AM, and by 10:00 it was packed! I was told that over 35,000 people attended this year.

We had entered Luigi to be judged in the “Cars of Hans Stuck” group. Our judges included German driver Jochen Mass, former Porsche racing director Norbert Singer, and Steven Pastiener.

Luigi won an Amelia Award in our group!
Luigi won an Amelia Award in our group!

Needless to say we were floored when we were awarded Amelia Award for our class. This is a real tribute to the work of Jim Froula, Terry Forland, and the rest of the skilled guys at Racecraft.

Both Mary and I were thrilled to be a part of this spectacular event. It was a weekend full of wonderful memories.

Me and Stuckie
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Here’s a video of our weekend: