Fifty Trabants will take to the roads of western Saxony this Saturday for Red Bull Rennpappe, a 115-kilometer road rally combining automotive history, unusual competitive challenges and a lap of the Sachsenring during the circuit’s DTM weekend.
Scheduled for September 12, Rennpappe begins at the August Horch Museum in Zwickau before traveling through the region to the Sachsenring, Chemnitz, Hohenstein-Ernstthal and Mülsen. Rather than outright speed, the event will judge teams on knowledge, skill, creativity and teamwork through five special stages along the route.
The choice of starting point is particularly appropriate. The August Horch Museum occupies the historic Zwickau factory complex where Audi was established in 1909. The site subsequently produced cars under several of Saxony’s most important automotive marques, including Horch, Audi and DKW, and later became part of the industrial complex associated with Trabant production. Today, the museum covers more than 120 years of automobile manufacturing in Zwickau.
The first competition, appropriately called “Trabikunde,” takes place at the museum beginning at 10:00 a.m. and tests how well the participating teams know their Trabants. The cars begin departing Zwickau from 11:00 a.m., headed directly for the Sachsenring.
There, the modest performance of the Trabant will provide a contrast to the contemporary racing machinery competing during the DTM weekend. At approximately noon, all 50 Trabants will take to the Sachsenring together for a presentation lap in front of the circuit’s spectators before DTM competition gets underway.
From Sachsenring, the rally heads to Campingplatz Oberrabenstein for its second special stage, “Pension Sachsenruh.” Competitors must inflate an air mattress against the clock, with a traditional Bockwurst awaiting them at the Nagetusch snack stand afterward.
The next stop is Chemnitz’s Industriemuseum. “Boxenstopp,” the third competition, brings the focus back to the cars themselves as teams race to change a wheel using the Trabant’s original tools.
The route then crosses central Chemnitz, passing the city’s monumental Karl Marx head before continuing to the Altmarkt in Hohenstein-Ernstthal. Here, “Der Heiße Ring” tests competitors’ precision and nerves before the participants are rewarded with traditional soft-serve ice cream.
The final driving challenge takes place at Arena E in Mülsen. Named “Goldene 601” after the best-known Trabant model, the fifth stage sends the cars through a driving-skills course before the field heads back to Sachsenring.
Several recognizable names will also be behind the wheel. Olympic biathlon champion and motorsport enthusiast Michael Rösch is participating, as is mountain-bike athlete Patricia Druwen. DTM driver Luca Engstler will arrive at the Sachsenring in a Trabant before exchanging it for his ABT Sportsline Lamborghini GT3 race car. Actress Claudia Schmutzler, who played Jacqueline Struutz in the 1991 German road comedy Go Trabi Go, will participate with a film Trabant and serve on the jury awarding the “Goldene Rennpappe.”
The cars are expected back at Sachsenring from approximately 4:45 p.m., with the awards ceremony scheduled for 6:00 p.m. The day concludes at 6:30 p.m. with an outdoor drive-in screening of Go Trabi Go, bringing the event’s celebration of the East German automobile back to one of its best-known appearances in popular culture.
The Rennpappe name itself plays on the Trabant’s longstanding nickname. Its Duroplast body panels, manufactured from a fiber-reinforced phenolic material rather than conventional sheet steel, led to the affectionate description of the cars as Pappe, or cardboard. Red Bull’s “Rennpappe” turns that nickname into something approximating “racing cardboard.”
For visitors attending the DTM weekend, the event extends beyond Saturday’s rally. Following their Sachsenring presentation lap, the decorated Trabants are also scheduled to be displayed at the circuit’s kart hall throughout Sunday.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Event: Red Bull Rennpappe
Date: September 12, 2026
Start: August Horch Museum, Zwickau
Route: Zwickau – Sachsenring – Chemnitz – Hohenstein-Ernstthal – Mülsen – Sachsenring
Distance: Approximately 115 km
Cars: 50 Trabants
First competition: 10:00 a.m.
Rally start: From 11:00 a.m.
Sachsenring presentation lap: Approximately 12:00 p.m.
Finish at Sachsenring: From approximately 4:45 p.m.
Awards: Approximately 6:00 p.m.
Go Trabi Go drive-in screening: Approximately 6:30 p.m.