IT WAS NEVER ABOUT CARS
LOOK MOM I DID A THING!
IT WAS ABOUT EMOTION, CULTURE & COMMUNITY
OCC Küstentrophy 2025: Drifting an Alfa through History
16. Juli 2025
Written by: Fynn Maass
The OCC Küstentrophy 2025 kicked off at Schloss Fleesensee. An old lakeside estate in Mecklenburg that looks like it was designed for the express purpose of hosting classic car rallies and champagne-heavy breakfasts. It set the tone immediately: elegant, a bit eccentric and filled with cars even older than some of the participants.
The Küstentrophy isn’t your average Sunday cruise. It’s a two-day rally through northeastern Germany’s scenic backroads, featuring some of the finest automotive metal ever put on four wheels. From pre-war Bentleys and 60s-era SLs to a blood-red Testarossa. One team even turned up in a Rolls-Royce from the dawn of internal combustion, a car that looked like it required a valet and a footman to even start it.
Our Team: Hanna and William, forming an unlikely but charming rally duo in a classic Alfa Romeo. The car had character. Which is another way of saying it made suspicious noises and didn’t always stop in a straight line. I got to drive it briefly and suddenly understood the deep loyalty (and occasional heartbreak) Alfa owners talk about.
Unlike more competitive rallies, the Küstentrophy focuses on style, navigation skill and the general ability to operate a vintage car without boiling the radiator. Each stage had timed sections, trivia checkpoints and the occasional challenge like the now-infamous brake-and-stop test: bring your car to a halt exactly on a line. No more, no less. Hanna stopped one centimeter before the mark. Everyone applauded. Until someone else stopped exactly on the line. The judges nearly cried.
The OCC Küstentrophy 2025 kicked off at Schloss Fleesensee. An old lakeside estate in Mecklenburg that looks like it was designed for the express purpose of hosting classic car rallies and champagne-heavy breakfasts. It set the tone immediately: elegant, a bit eccentric and filled with cars even older than some of the participants.
The Küstentrophy isn’t your average Sunday cruise. It’s a two-day rally through northeastern Germany’s scenic backroads, featuring some of the finest automotive metal ever put on four wheels. From pre-war Bentleys and 60s-era SLs to a blood-red Testarossa. One team even turned up in a Rolls-Royce from the dawn of internal combustion, a car that looked like it required a valet and a footman to even start it.
Our Team: Hanna and William, forming an unlikely but charming rally duo in a classic Alfa Romeo. The car had character. Which is another way of saying it made suspicious noises and didn’t always stop in a straight line. I got to drive it briefly and suddenly understood the deep loyalty (and occasional heartbreak) Alfa owners talk about.
Unlike more competitive rallies, the Küstentrophy focuses on style, navigation skill and the general ability to operate a vintage car without boiling the radiator. Each stage had timed sections, trivia checkpoints and the occasional challenge like the now-infamous brake-and-stop test: bring your car to a halt exactly on a line. No more, no less. Hanna stopped one centimeter before the mark. Everyone applauded. Until someone else stopped exactly on the line. The judges nearly cried.
The route wove through small towns and rural countryside, with plenty of locals lining the streets to wave as priceless machinery rolled by. It’s less about racing and more about community, shared love of classic cars and experiencing driving the way it used to be: analog, noisy and slightly dangerous.
While Hanna and William navigated the rally, I followed closely behind, capturing the ride from every angle, switching between cameras in the support car and occasionally hanging out of windows for that one shot. Creating content in motion, in real-time, among some of the rarest cars on German roads? Not your average production brief.
The route wove through small towns and rural countryside, with plenty of locals lining the streets to wave as priceless machinery rolled by. It’s less about racing and more about community, shared love of classic cars and experiencing driving the way it used to be: analog, noisy and slightly dangerous.
While Hanna and William navigated the rally, I followed closely behind, capturing the ride from every angle, switching between cameras in the support car and occasionally hanging out of windows for that one shot. Creating content in motion, in real-time, among some of the rarest cars on German roads? Not your average production brief.
Speaking of rare cars, somewhere between stage two and lunch, I fell in love. An Audi Sport Quattro. Wide arches, boxy attitude, rally pedigree. I get it now.
That car doesn’t just sit in your memory, it moves in, redecorates and demands its own playlist. The OCC Küstentrophy wasn’t just a rally. It was a celebration of craftsmanship, of nostalgia, of cars that shouldn’t still be running but are. Beautiful and stubborn.
