Vintage Motor Racing Events in Europe
Quite why there is a return of vintage car events may be manifold, but there is no doubt the general public is being energized by the reappearance of some older events and the creation of new ones. The owners and drivers of historic vehicles come in two flavours. This who like to keep their vehicles in showroom condition, spend hours cleaning and polishing their treasured cars and never take them out on the open road. The other extreme is the owner/driver who hardly ever cleans his car, in fact they may just do the bare minimum to keep them running. These people seem to be more interested in driving rather than owning and seek every opportunity to get their motors on the road, either in point-to-point challenges or even track racing where possible. Another thriving branch of historic motorsport is the hill climb discipline, where stripped down racers climb a closed section of hilly terrain as fast as possible.
The section of sport we are concerning ourselves with here covers location to location car rallies or historic competitions on motor racing circuits. These are the events that are attracting the public attention and now make up a significant part of the motor sport calendar in different countries. One of the biggest is the Goodwood Revival Festival in the UK which attracts cars, owners and visitors from all over the world. There are real races that see very expensive cars put through their paces on the track, which has been lovingly restored to reflect the bygone era when the cars originally raced. Visitors are invited to dress up in period costume and the whole weekend is a special event.
A similar event on a smaller scale is the brand new Algarve Historic Festival, which tales place for the first time this year at the Algarve’s newest motor circuit, near to Portimao. Just like the Goodwood festival there will be competitive races for cars in different categories. In fact there are 16 different races in addition to plenty of exhibition areas for cars not racing. Motor racing legend Sir Sterling Moss has accepted an invitation to race his own car, a 1956 Osca, in the year he celebrates his 80th birthday. Sir Sterling is well known for not owning a normal car himself, preferring to travel around on public transport or on his scooter. Also planned is a charity parade celebrating 50 years of the Mini as well as parade laps for Ferrari, Maserati and Osca cars.
Gambia is the final destination for a historic motoring event that sees a group of cars racing across Europe all the way from Plymouth in England to Banjul, the capital. This is an unusual event that started several years ago and requires the drivers to leave their cars behind in Banjul after the rally to benefit the local community
