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Vintage motoring events in Europe

The reason for a return of vintage car events may be multiple, but there is no doubt that the general public is getting excited about the reappearance of some older events and the creation of new ones. Historic vehicle owners and drivers come in two flavors. This one who likes to keep their vehicles in show condition, spend hours cleaning and polishing their prized cars and never take them out on the road. The other extreme is the owner/driver who hardly ever cleans his car; in fact, he may only do the bare minimum to keep it going. These folks seem to be more interested in driving than owning and look for every opportunity to put their engines on the road, whether it’s point-to-point challenges or even track racing when possible. Another thriving offshoot of historic motorsport is the hill climb discipline, in which racers scale a closed section of mountainous terrain as quickly as possible.

The sports section at hand here covers venue-to-venue car rallies or historic competitions on motorsport circuits. These are the events that are attracting the attention of the public and now form an important part of the motorsport 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 where very expensive cars are put to the test on the track, which has been painstakingly restored to reflect the bygone era when the cars originally raced. Visitors are invited to dress up in period costume and the entire weekend is a special event.

A similar event on a smaller scale is the new Algarve Historical Festival, which is being held for the first time this year at the Algarve’s newest motor circuit near Portimao. Like the Goodwood festival, there will be competitive car races in different categories. In fact, there are 16 different races plus plenty of display areas for non-competing cars. 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, preferring to travel by public transport or on his scooter. A charity parade is also planned to celebrate 50 years of the Mini, as well as a parade of Ferrari, Maserati and Osca cars.

The Gambia is the final destination for a historic motoring event in which a group of cars race across Europe from Plymouth in England to Banjul, the capital. This is an unusual event that started several years ago and requires drivers to leave their cars in Banjul after the rally to benefit the local community.

Another fairly low-key event is the Volta a Madeira, a car festival taking place on the Portuguese island of Madeira for the 22nd time this year. Some of the vehicles that participated in the most recent version of this event included cars from Ferrari, Mercedes, Triumph, MG, Lancia and BMW. The Volta takes competitors up and down the beautiful mountainous roads of the island during the four-day event.

The island of Mallorca also has its own classic car rally, known as the Rally Clásico Isla Mallorca, which challenges drivers on routes all over the island in spring. This is a very popular event and over forty cars have already been entered for the 2010 event, the sixth edition of the event. The oldest car competing so far is a 1954 Jaguar XK 140 which will join the others in various stages around this beautiful island. The most spectacular of the 14 stages for spectators will be the ones that take the cars to the Sierra de Tramuntana, north of Palma. One stage runs between the northern city of Pollensa and Lluc, the location of one of Mallorca’s most famous ancient monasteries.

Another similar event is the Historic Commercial Vehicles Rally which was held on the island of Malta in March this year. Organized by the Malta Historic Vehicle Trust at the Ta Qali location, the event hopes to become the largest motoring event in Malta. Surprisingly, in the first edition of the Rally, almost 120 vehicles were displayed, including old fire engines, trucks, vans and military vehicles.

Finally, France has a great heritage in classic cars and has two similar events in two of its legendary venues. The Magny-Cours track hosts the Masters Historic Festival every two years in July, while other years the Le Mans Classic festival takes place. Both events include competitive racing for pre-1974 and pre-1966 racing cars. Another French classic car event is the November Sun Run, which begins in the Champagne region of France on November 4, 2009 and sees cars drive 1400 kilometers to the south of France, finishing on November 7 running the famous alpine climb of Alp D. ‘Boo.

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