Hillclimb Rally Cup

PS veteran (63) spent a year working on his comeback

Ewald Scherr's Ford Escort RS Cosworth is a real eye-catcher.

(Bild: Hilde Rieger)

Ewald Scherr completely destroyed his Ford Escort RS Cosworth on the Rechberg last year. After many "wrenching" nights, the 63-year-old will be back on the starting grid on Sunday. 

The Hillclimb Rally Cup will be held in Gasen-Straßegg on Sunday. Around a hundred starters have registered for the third round of the season. For one of them, the race will be a big comeback: Ewald Scherr will be taking part in a race for the first time in over a year. 

Total loss on the Rechberg
The 63-year-old from Petersdorf had to take a forced break after his accident at the Rechberg race in 2023. "I had a proper crash in Lackner-Reith back then, demolishing the concrete crash barrier with its three and a half tons with my car. It was a serious accident," explains Scherr, who escaped with bruises at the time.

The Ford Escort RS Cosworth was scrap, however, and Scherr spent a year painstakingly rebuilding it himself: "You can't just go to a spare parts dealer with a car like that." In the meantime, he thought about ending his four-decade motorsport career: "In all those years, I must have thought about quitting ten times and only started again eleven times," jokes Scherr.

An icon of the nineties
His car is a nineties icon from the World Rally Championship. In the days of Group A regulations, the Ford works team with drivers such as Miki Biasion and Carlos Sainz took a total of ten victories between 1993 and 1998.

Of course, Scherr's car no longer has much to do with the original version. "I've now made it to 700 hp, but unfortunately I'm about 150 kilos too heavy," says Scherr, alluding to the 1.2 tons of weight of the vehicle that he will finally be able to drive again on Sunday. "I'm already tingling," reveals the hill climb rally veteran.