Wildly it drives the snow through the air - so close that the hand in front of the eyes is barely visible. There is no cloud in the sky over the Kitzsteinhorn. A permanent roar permeates the scene.

After almost 50 years, car fans and famous racers meet again for the ice race in Zell am See. For two days more than 100 racing and rally cars unleash the very special winter storm: with and without skiers in tow, they storm on studded tires over a 600-meter long circular path and dig in constant drift so much ice and snow from the track that the spectators behind the safety fence look like Yeti hunters.

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Ice race in Zell am See: How people and engines push the limits

The idea was revived by Ferdinand Porsche, great-grandson of the autodynasty founder of the same name, together with a fellow student. With their idea for the PS party, which seems plentiful in times of climate change and particulate matter alarm, the two have probably also come through, because the Porsches in Zell are one of the most influential families. They have this status since they fled with their relatives, the Piëchs from Vienna, before the turmoil of the Second World War in the sleepy town in the Salzburg Land.

The so-called bulk commodity, a farm that has been converted into a family estate, is almost the hub of the Porsche world. Because the families also belong to the largest part of the VW Group, the threads from Wolfsburg, Ingolstadt & Co converge there. A design center also entertain the Porsches on the banks of the Salzach.

"The ice races once belonged to Zell am See like the mountain roads around it," says Ferdinand Porsche. He tells of weekends when ten thousand visitors came to the frozen lake to watch the motorsport elite fight for grip and profit.

Once motorbikes pulled skiers over the ice

The Austrians were once inspired by the so-called skijoring during the Olympic Winter Games in St. Moritz in 1928. At that time, skiers of riderless horses were the first to be dragged over the ice. At the first race in Zell nine years later, they first stretched motorcycles in front of the skis.

At some point, the two-wheelers then drove without an attachment, and suddenly the first cars were traveling on the ice, remember the organizers. After nearly 40 years the fun was over in 1974. During the preparations for the race in 1973, two community workers had collapsed, one of them was killed.

In 2019, the accident is almost forgotten. The tubes of the engines fill the wide valley in Zell am See.

No driver has to worry about his bathing. Because the lake did not have a closed ice cover despite the lousy cold and the harsh winter break of recent weeks, the 600-meter-long track - as in bad winters 50 years ago - is built on the airfield next door.

Legendary cars at the start

Especially the VW group goes there powerful. And there are a couple of dozen privateers on the mirror-smooth circuit who are actually on time - with rally racers like a Subaru Impreza WRX STI or a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo and less capable models like old VW Buggies, Saabs and Ford or even a Trabant 601. A few daredevils can be skied on skis over the 600-meter track.

But above all, it is the old and new race cars such as Audi's Formula E racing car, the current WRC cars from VW and Skoda, or the newly presented Porsche WRC Cayman from the factory garages that attract the public. At the wheel of cars like the Audi S1 ​​quattro or the twin-engine Golf, with which VW has failed legendarily at the famous mountain race Pikes Peak, PS pros like Formula 1 driver Mark Webber, Formula 4 driver Daniel Abt, long-distance pro Mark Lieb or Pikes- Peak record holder Romain Dumas.

Especially oblique: The Tetzenflieger

Even a few really old Renner have the organizers ascended: So hunts Hans-Joachim Stuck an Auto Union Type C over the ice, thus reminiscent of a similar car, with his father Hans stormed 80 years ago victorious on the Gross-Glockner.

On display is a Porsche 550 Spyder, which once belonged to Ferry Porsche and was already in Zell at the first ice race at the start. Perhaps the weirdest car is the so-called Tetzflieger - an extremely short and therefore even wider self-built around a Porsche four-cylinder, the former motorcycle racer Otto Mathé built after a serious accident in the 1950s specifically for the ice race: only 395 kilos and 130 hp, he has reached speeds in excess of 200 km / h and dominated the scene at that time.

For most racers, the ice race is a new experience - mainly because of the lack of grip, which is hardly better even with 7-millimeter spikes in the tires. "Ice is of course the absolute challenge for a racing driver," says 2017 DTM champion Rene Rast. "It all happens in slow motion, but we still have to concentrate fully on the one hand, it's fun on the other, and we always want to feel the limit."