best historic rallies
From full-bore competition races to more gentle regularity events, historic rallies attract diverse entry lists in locations ranging from the UK and Europe all the way across to Africa
Legend Boucles à Bastogne, Belgium
21 February One of the hairiest historic rallies, now in its 57th running – sideways on snow and ice, through trees, on a route secret until the start but using new stages through the Bastogne. Last year organisers upped the stakes by raising the average required speed for the Classic category from 50 to 60kph. ‘Legends’ run at 80kph, and there’s a an even faster, though untimed, ‘demo’ category for real Group B and later Group A (not WRC) cars too.
// www.racspa.be
Rallye Maroc Classic 14-21 March
Historic regularity based in Casablanca and following the Atlantic coast with a finish loop to Marrakech.
www.rallye-maroc-classic.com
Coppa Europa 19-22 March
Maastricht to Trier regularity, traversing Eifel, Ardennes, Vosges and Elza ranges in Belgium, Germany, France and Luxembourg and billed as the ‘rally with the most bends north of the Alps’.
www.coppa-europa.org
Icelandic Saga 18-25 April
To the ‘land of fire and ice’. The driving tests and regularities are optional on this one if you simply want to meander and enjoy the waterfalls, glaciers, hot springs, mud pools, thermal baths, Geysir and the amazing Glacier lagoon. Mixed surfaces, so winter tyres are recommended.
www.heroevents.eu
Flying Scotsman 17-19 April
Seventh edition of the invitation-only event, and it’s now full, but we’ve included it so you can see how the other half live. Start from Oulton Hall, near Leeds, taking in Scarborough and Oliver’s Mount, to Gosforth, then day two is castles Alnwick first and then on to Lindisfarne and Holy Island followed by Duns, home of the Jim Clark museum, overnight at Edinburgh, then the Kingdom of Fifte, taking in Blairgowie, Stathtay, and on to prizegiving in Gleneagles.
www.endurorally.com
Tour Auto 20-25 April
Though there are plenty of similar events in various countries emulating the road-sectionswith-race-circuits formula, the Tour Auto Optic 2000, or the Tour de France as it used to be known after the 1951-1973 road race that inspired it, has been running since 1991. This year for the 25rd running of the event the route goes east from the start at the Grand Palais in Paris, running though Clermont-Ferrand, Toulouse and Pau to Biarritz. Among plenty of Ferrari GTOs and SWBs there’s always more humble fare such as Sunbeam Rapiers and Mini Coopers.
www.tourauto.com
Tour Ireland 12-15 May
New venture from the Tour Britannia team. Mostly it’s in Wales, based in Llandudno, but crosses the water for a day’s competition of closed-road stages and a race at Mugello. One quirk is that Irish rules require HANS devices to be worn on special stages.
www.tourbritannia.com
Mille Miglia 14-17 May
Almost impossible to get into, chaotic to cover and stifled by traffic jams – think The Italian Job in more rural surroundings. It looks like a race but it’s now run as a regularity rally (yeah, right...), sharing the route and name with the 1000-mile open-road blasts of the ’50s. Technically any car of a type that ran in the original Mille up to and including 1957 when the original event was stopped is eligible, but organisers have the choice of a many-times oversubscribed entry, with works racers from the likes of Jaguar and Alfa Romeo, and registrations close in December. Good luck for next year…
www.1000miglia.eu
Summer Trial 22-24 May Classic reliability trial and tour, for pre-1984 cars. Recognising that not everyone can take lots of time from work, this eats little into the working week. This year’s event is centred on South Wales, and classes as ‘introductory’ by HERO.
// www.heroevents.eu Princess Rally 30 May – 4 June 4 Ladies only, from Paris to St Tropez.
// www.zaniroli.com Modena Cento Ore Classic 2-7 June 15th-anniversary running of the race-regularity event for pre-’81 cars: four days on a new route from Rome to Modena featuring circuit races at Vallelunga, Magione, Mugello, and Imola plus a dozen timed special stages.
// www.modenacentooreclassic.it Three Castles Welsh Classic Trial 3-6 June A popular and friendly rally that attracts a good mix of newcomers and serious competitors through dramatic Welsh scenery.
// www.three-castles.co.uk Second Trans-America Challenge 7-28 June Starting in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and finishing in San Francisco, California, taking in some of the best scenery the US and Canada has to offer.
// www.endurorally.com Classic Marathon 14-20 June This was the first classic regularity rally, first run in 1988, and it still offers some of Europe’s finest driving, this time heading from Lecce to Brescia.
// www.heroevents.eu The Great Race June 20-28 Big tour for pre-’73 vehicles largely following Route 66, starting in Kirkwood, Missouri, and finishing in Santa Monica, California, via Oklahama, Texas, New Mexico and Arizona.
// www.greatrace.com Silvretta Classic 2-5 July Based in Austria. Long-established (since 1998) Alpine road rally now under the banner of Auto MotorundSportand MotorKlassik, cars up to 1995 allowed.
// www.silvretta-classic.de 1000 Mile Trial 13-18 July Second running of the event for pre-war cars, emulating the famous rally that took place in 1900, and the VCC’s re-run in 2000. Classed as intermediate by HERO.
// www.heroevents.eu Second Alpine Trial 6-9 September Three days of rallying over ‘some of the finest roads in Europe’. Maximum of 50 pre-war cars.
// www.endurorally.com Rallye Père-Fils 11-13 September A unique weekend in which fathers and sons take part in a regularity race open to GT cars.
// www.happyfewracing.com Classic Legends 27 September – 2 October Biarritz to San Tropez in pre-war cars.
// www.thetrial.nl Tour Britannia 2-3 October Road mileage mixed with races at some of the UK’s best circuits. This year the event is based at Woodcote Park in Surrey.
// www.tourbritannia.com Sahara Challenge 5-14 October Madrid to Marrakesh. Open to vintageant, pre-1941 and classic cars of a type in production before 1975. The event is almost full (40 cars) already, so be quick...
// www.endurorally.com Safari Rally 24 October – 15 November ‘Eye to eye with the big five’ game animals on the second running of this drive through South Africa, Namibia and Botswana for classics and 4x4s. Both competitions feature two or three sections a day, and touring ‘Safari’ classes.
www.safarirally.nl Rally of the Tests 5-8 November Replicating the RAC rallies of the ’50s – a decently long route from Newcastle to Blackpool interspersed with multiple tests. Starting at Slaley Hall, the rally heads north and crosses the border to Dumfries. Day two takes in the Cumbrian and Penine Fells. All crews dress in period gear.
// www.craevents.eu Kenya Airways East African Safari Classic Rally 19-27 November The biggie, (it’s billed as ‘The World’s Greatest Rally’) replicating the classic Safaris of the ’60s and ’70s. It’s been won twice by the late first world rally champion Björn Waldegård and demands very specialised machinery – in some cases basically classics stuffed with modern-day WRC kit. It costs almost £30,000 to enter, but tours to follow the action are available from the organisers.
// www.eastafricansafarirally.com Roger Albert Clark Rally 28-30 November Designed to emulate the wintry RAC rallies of the ’70s, and now spawning its own championship series, but the biggie is still the Roger Albert Clark, with a huge field from two-stroke Saabs to top-running Group 4 Escorts.
// www.rogeralbertclarkrally.org Le Jog 5-8 December One of those ‘must-do’ events which still incorporates all the classic features such as Stanhope Ford and the Loch Ness Monster, graded by HERO as ‘expert’ as it features, with some understatement, ‘mixed navigation, night driving and adverse conditions’ but there’s a touring option, too. Pre-’86 cars only, arrive and drive packages available.
// www.heroevents.eu
Silverstone Classic 24-26 July the rocking and racing gets bigger every year with the unique spectacle of historic artists playing into the evening as the sun sets over the Group c and sports prototypes race – this year’s saturday headliners are status Quo. over the weekend, the 25th anniversary of the first christie’s historic festival, there are 24 classic races with more than 1000 entries, from U2tc upwards, organised by the heavyweight players – Masters, Legends and hGcPa, which brings grids for both spectacular pre-1961 and pre-1966 f1 cars, plus the super touring car trophy and ’90s Gt Legends.
// www.silverstoneclassic.com Vintage Prescott 31 July – 2 August steeped in englishness but resounding to the thunder of aircraft engines and the ‘ripping calico’ of Bugatti straight-eights, Vintage Prescott always takes place on the first weekend in august. oK, it’s a hillclimb, not a race, but here you can see the best vintage action in europe. the course, owned by the Bugatti owners’ club, is highly technical, but from the top you can see much of it, with fabulous views cross the cotswolds. it’s opened every year by a bicycle race and a marching jazz band – and the orchard paddock is always rammed with a spectacular array of members’ cars. for only the second year, the action is now over three days, which we found was a refreshingly quieter experience first time round.
// www.vscc.co.uk Oldtimer GP, Nürburgring 7-9 August one of the original historic racing festivals, this is in its 43rd year and regularly pulls crowds of 60,000 to watch the action both on the GP circuit and the Nordschleife. typically there’s historic f1, a pre-61 Gt race, and the avd historic marathon for touring cars and Gts on the old circuit.
// www.nuerburgring.de Bonneville Speed Week 8-14 August every august for a week you can stare off into infinity across the salt, 90 miles west of salt Lake city, Utah, rub shoulders with pith-hatted members of the legendary southern california timing association… and marvel at the ingenuity of brave lunatics and their often home-brewed devices, hoping to hit up to 400mph on two and four wheels. You can walk through the pits freely, but bring binoculars as spectators are kept a quarter-mile from the course.
www.scta-bni.org Monterey Motorsports Reunion 13-16 August Part of Monterey car Week. as well as the multitude of concours and an auction every night in the environs of Monterey, there’s a week of historic racing at Laguna seca near carmel – home of the infamous corkscrew where the track disappears out from under the drivers’ viewpoint. More than 500 cars line up in 13 groups, including trans-am cars from the pony war era of 1966-1972 among the headline classes – and this year’s featured marque is the shelby Gt350 on its 50th anniversary.
// www.montereycarweek.com 2CV 24 Heures d’Anglesey 22-23 August Up all night with 2cVs in the season-closer for the classic 2cV racing club. there’s a mainland european counterpart at spa on 10-12 october.
// www.2cvracing.org.uk Brighton Speed Trials Early September (tbc) the institution was saved last year, so go along and support. National a and National B sprint competition along the seafront with 200 runners.
// www.brightonandhovemotorclub.co.uk Spa Six Hours 18-20 September the legendary event, at the legendary drivers’ circuit – including the event highlight, the six-hour endurance race on the saturday evening. there are 600 cars in 20 races over the weekend, including five grids from Masters racing.
/// www.themastersseries.com Circuit des Remparts 18-20 September historic racing in the walled city of angoulême. traditionally seven race groups, or ‘plateaux’ of 160 cars – allowing for lots of small-bore french weirdness plus a pack of enthusiastic Vintagemounted Brits – plus a concours and tour.
www.circuit-des-remparts.com Goodwood Revival 11-13 September the revival, for two years running voted the Motor sport event of the Year in the octane/efG historic Motorsport awards, showcases circuit racing carrying on from the way it was in 1966 when racing was stopped there (so nothing post-66 is allowed inside the circuit), this year paying tribute to legendary driver, engineer and racing car constructor, Bruce McLaren, who was killed testing there in 1970.
// www.goodwood.co.uk Algarve Classic Festival 23-25 October Plenty of Brit racers decamp to Portugal at the end of the season to catch some winter sun – and one of the best-driving circuits for historics at Portimao. Pre-war and ’50s sports car races plus the historic touring car challenge will be run by Motor racing Legends.
// www.motorracinglegends.com Carrera Panamericana 16-22 October Just about anything goes in this colourful cavalcade, a celebration of the hardcore road races held from 1950-1954. Just like the original, it’s fast, hairy and scary. each year 100 cars line up in southern Mexico to race 2000 miles north, this year from Veracruz to Zacatecas. But this is no parade: between the ‘transit’ sections, race cars are started at 30-second intervals over the speed stages, lasting anything from three to 16 miles - after the police clear the road. and with no limit on the speed of the cars or any handicapping system, there’s plenty of overtaking…
// www.panamrace.com Valletta GP 8-11 October sprint-style old-school street racing in Malta’s old capital city, as well as a hillclimb at Mtahleb before the accompanying Mdina concours.
// www.vallettagrandprix.com