Tim's Alfa Romeo Page - Racing Alfasuds: Alfasud <<Preparata da Köppen>> in the Youngtimer Trophy 2002

Alfasuds <<Preparata da Köppen>> racing the Youngtimer Trophy 2002

In 2002 the Alfasud celebrated its 30th anniversary (if you count from the start of sale in 1972). That such an "old car" can still be very fast on track is proved by Reiner Köppen and his team which comes from the surrounding of the Nürburgring in Germany. In 2002, the team started in the German Youngtimer Trophy with three race cars and in the Youngtimer Rallye Trophy with three rallye cars. For that reason, Reiner had rebuilt an old Alfasud ti Trofeo which was once raced in the Trofeo Alfasud Italia. This work was done in the winter 2001/2002. Another Alfasud ti was rebuilt from the body on, too. You can see the red ex Trofeo Alfasud Italia with its yellow wheelarch extensions on the photo on the left. The other new racer - an orange one - was not yet ready when the photos for this page were taken. Engine and gearbox where still missing as you can see on the photo below. Actually Reiner did not want to rebuilt the red / yellow Alfasud ti Trofeo completely. But after he Alfasud ti - the engine is still missing. and his team had disassembled the car, it proved to be in a very bad condition. Besides the two new cars Reiner owns another Trofeo Alfasud ti - a red one which is already in use for years. This car was raced by Franz Guggenberger who also started with the yellow Rallye-Alfasud in the year 2002. In some races the car was also driven by Reiner and his son Alexander. The orange Alfasud ti was in the hands of Mister Jörg Chmiela. The red / yellow Alfasud ti Trofeo was raced by Reimund Faber. Another "member" of the team is an ivory Alfasud which was used for rallyes and was driven by Reiner and Alexander Köppen. If you want to see the ivory Alfasud in action, click here to see it at the hillrace in Insul, Germany in 2000. Then there was an Alfasud Corsa 8 (which can not be seen on one of the photos) which was already prepared for rallyes years ago. Without the financial help of a sponsor one could never run

six cars in one season. What a luck that Franz Guggenberger could get his employer Magant as Sponsor. So in 2002 all the cars were decorated with the Magnat letters and the Magant dog logo on the car's roof. Alexander Köppen, Reiners son drove his first complete season in 2002. The 21-year old coachbuilder and

Alexander Köppen and his co-pilot waiting forthe start of the rally "Rund um Kempenich" 2002

car painter was infected with the racing-virus in early years when he still started on carts. Since he had his driver's license he occasionally raced his father's Alfasud ti Trofeo - ex Gerhard Berger. Alexander Köppen Alfasuds. So he started in 2000 and 2001 at the 500 km race at the Nürburgring. He also started at the hillrace in Insul and at the Rallye Köln Ahrweiler in 2000 and 2001. In addition, he he also drove the "Slalom" in Bitburg and Neuss in the year 2001. All this events belonged to the program of the Youngtimer Trophy. If you want to know more about this trophy for cars made in the sixties, seventies and early eighties, have a look at www.youngtimer.de. Here you get all the information about the cars (the range begins with a "tiny little" Audi 50 and ends with hot Porsche 911s). Besides the already mentioned cars, Reiner Köppen owns the original Trofeo Alfasud ti which was once raced by Gerhard Berger. It was exhibited during the presentation of the new German Alfa 147 Cup on the Oschersleben track in east Germany in 2001 together with another Alfasud (Corsa 8) and other famous Alfa Romeo racing cars.

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Last Update: March, 20th 2004 Created: March, 23rd 2002