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		<title>Welcome - MotorMarques.com | Classic Car Revival</title>
		<description><![CDATA[MotorMarques.com is all about classic cars. The site contains thousands of brilliant images and stories of automobiles that stand out from bland, mass-produced transport that you see every day. Our home team of 5 photographers come from Europe, Britain, Australia and New Zealand. We mainly feature cars that have distinguished themselves in competition - from Goodwood and Nurburgring to local club-run sprints and hillclimbs.]]></description>
		<link>https://www.motormarques.com</link>
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			<title>ADAC Hockenheim Historic – The Jim Clark Revival 7-9 May 2026</title>
			<link>https://www.motormarques.com/news/european-desk/item/805-adac-hockenheim-historic-%E2%80%93-the-jim-clark-revival-7-9-may-2026</link>
			<guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.motormarques.com/news/european-desk/item/805-adac-hockenheim-historic-%E2%80%93-the-jim-clark-revival-7-9-may-2026</guid>
			<description><![CDATA[<div class="K2FeedImage"><img src="https://www.motormarques.com/media/k2/items/cache/cf0c9728d8bedab6603748ee4cc837b5_S.jpg" alt="ADAC Hockenheim Historic – The Jim Clark Revival 7-9 May 2026" /></div><div class="K2FeedIntroText">Over 45,000 spectators experienced historic motorsport once again during the second weekend of May. More than 500 different legendary racing cars were on display at the legendary Hockenheimring. From vintage Formula cars to relatively modern Formula 1 vehicles, Touring cars and current sports cars were all present. Well-known marques from the past, such as Lotus, Ford, Ferrari, Fiat, Alfa Romeo, and Porsche, roared their engines. The popular event is affectionately known as the "Jim Clark Revival." This year would have been the 90th birthday of the Scotsman, considered as the greatest Formula One talent of the 1960s. Opel had an impressive exhibition on the roof of the pit complex, and the former Mercedes building once again hosted an exhibition dedicated to Jim Clark.</div><div class="K2FeedFullText"><ul> <li>The Raceclub Germany Historic is an association of owners of historic GP, formula, and sports cars. The focus is on a shared passion for classic motorsport and the authentic presentation of significant racing cars from previous eras. <br />Fast Formula 2 cars from Lotus, March or G.R.D, driven by legends like Jochen Rindt and Ronnie Peterson, Formula 3, Formula 3000 and Formula 5000 complete this unique journey through time. At Hockenheim Raceclub Germany Historic had presentation runs all three days.                                                                                                                                                                                          </li> <li>The Lurani Trophy and the Formula Vee series feature tributes to two of the most successful and renowned Junior single seaters of the last century.<br />While the Lurani Trophy is the flagship for Formula Junior, Formula Vee is considered one of the most ingenious ideas of the brilliant former Porsche racing director, Huschke von Hanstein. Both racing classes have managed to produce big names including several Formula 1 World Champions such as Jochen Rindt, Niki Lauda, and Keke Rosberg.                  The Historic Formula Vau showed an impressive number of entries, fifty-one cars. In the Lurani Trophy just 18 cars were entered for two races.                                                                                         </li> <li>The German Racing Championship, also known as the DRM, was the most important motor racing series in Germany from 1972 to 1985. In the first years of the DRM, modified touring cars were used according to FIA Group 2 rules. From 1977, touring cars were registered according to FIA Group 5 rules, which were significantly more heavily modified, had protruding fender extensions and spoilers and were usually equipped with turbo engines that had to have a displacement 1.4 times smaller. At Hockenheim, there were 25 entries, a varied field of cars, like BMW M1 Procar, Ford Turbo Capri, Porsche 911 RSR and Opel Kadett C Coupé.                                                                                                                                                                    </li> <li>The two races of the Touring Car Golden Era were absolute crowd-pleasers. Fifty-two cars were on the starting grid, BMW E36s, BMW M3, Ford Sierra RS 500, Nissan Skyline, Honda Accords and Civics, Audi A4 STW and a very special Audi 200 M86.                                                                                                      </li> <li>The Golden Era Classic Cup brings an exclusive range of historically significant Porsche cars back onto the racetrack, providing a complete overview of the technical evolution of the Zuffenhausen-based brand. The starting grid at Hockenheim was a bit disappointing with just eleven cars competing.                                                                                                                            </li> <li>The BOSS GP is one of the fastest racing series in Europe. Brute race monsters from Formula 1 go head to head against GP2, Indy Cars, Renault’s World Series, A1 GP and any other powerful, fast and noisy formula cars. Twenty-one cars competed in two races with just one former F1 car, the Toro Rosso STR1 driven by Inog Gerstl.                                                                                                            <br />The ADAC Hockenheim Historic – The Jim Clark Revival is an excellent race-event for young and older motorsport fans. The 22nd edition will be held during the weekend of May 7 to 9, 2027.</li> </ul>    <em>           Pictures by Michael Körber (more pictures of Michael on Instagram mk_images.de)</em></div>]]></description>
			<author>nospam@motormarques.com (Guus Docen)</author>
			<category>European Desk</category>
			<pubDate>Thu, 28 May 2026 16:11:08 +0000</pubDate>
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			<title>Spa Summer Classic 24-26 April 2026</title>
			<link>https://www.motormarques.com/news/european-desk/item/804-spa-summer-classic-24-26-april-2026</link>
			<guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.motormarques.com/news/european-desk/item/804-spa-summer-classic-24-26-april-2026</guid>
			<description><![CDATA[<div class="K2FeedImage"><img src="https://www.motormarques.com/media/k2/items/cache/9e9e1351d6a763151a8613c1dd10d427_S.jpg" alt="Spa Summer Classic 24-26 April 2026" /></div><div class="K2FeedIntroText">  The Spa Summer Classic has become a benchmark on the European classic car racing calendar and every year it attracts large and impressive starting grids. It was the seventeenth edition of the event and the tenth edition of the headliner, the Spa 3 Hours race. The program featured 10 race series which included historic Touring cars, vintage GTs and the more modern classic racers. The regular visitors of the Spa-Francorchamps area are familiar with the very changeable weather conditions whatever time of the year. Not so during this three-day meeting, full sunshine from the early morning until late in the evening. An extraordinary experience at Spa-Francorchamps in April.</div><div class="K2FeedFullText"><ul> <li><strong>Three Hours Race</strong><br />For the tenth edition of the three hours endurance race co-organised by Race Ready and Roadbook, sixty-five cars were on the track for the qualification on Friday afternoon. Favorites for pole position were the winners of last year's edition, the Danes Palle Birkelund Pedersen and Alexander Weiss in the ultralight Ginetta G4R. Just four Lotus Elans 26R were comparable to the Ginetta, all other teams drove much heavier and powerful cars like Shelby Cobras, Ford Mustangs, Austin Healeys and Porsches. Again the Danes showed their driving skills by putting their car on pole position with a lap time of 2:45.07 followed by the Shelby Cobra of Alexander and Vincent Kolb. Third on the grid was the Porsche 911 3.0 RS driven by Belgian Oliver Meutjens and Frenchman Brice Pineau. Entering La Source first after the start on Sunday-morning was the Danish Ginetta followed by the Cobra and Porsche. The Ginetta kept the lead for the whole race, the fight for second, third and fourth position was continually changing from the start until the end of the race, mostly dominated by the Shelby Cobra (Kolb), the Ford Mustang of Andy Taylor, Dave Coyne and Mike Wright and the Ford Capri 2600RS of the Kuijl family. The Capri started from the back of the grid because of an engine change after qualifying but the team managed to make a remarkable comeback to the frontrunners. Unfortunately, the replacement engine gave up, and after lap 34 the Capri ended back into the pitbox. The British Mustang took second position in lap 35 with a gap of two laps to the Lotus twin-cam powered Ginetta.<br />The battle for third and four position kept going on between the two Shelby Cobras of Charles Faber-Castell-Andy Newall and Alexander Kolb-Vincent Kolb. Finally the latter finished in third position and fourth the Kolb equippe. The Jaguar E-Type of Michael Gray and Kallum Gray completed the top five, ahead of the first Lotus Elan, driven by Luxembourgers Philippe Vermast and Patrick Wilwert. Again the Danes Pedersen and Weiss have proved that they are the potential winners of the Six Hours race in September. Will there be another team already busy preparing a second Ginetta G4R for the Six Hours race ?                                                                                                                                                                                      </li> <li><strong>German Historic Championship</strong><br />The German Historic Championship had their races for the cars build until 1965 in two 30-minutes races and the pre ’81 cars had a single race on Sunday lasting 90 minutes. In the pre ‘65 class thirty cars qualified themselves on Friday. The Elva Mk8 (Oliver Hartmann) drove to pole position but it was Dutchman Bas Jansen in his Shelby Cobra 289 who won race 1. On Sunday Bas Jansen started in the second race from pole position but another Dutchman Jac Meeuwissen (Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupe) was on his tail and positions between the two Cobras changed constantly. Finally Meeuwissen won the battle 10.617 sec. ahead of the other Cobra. The 90-minutes race on Sunday for the pre’81 showed a much larger grid of 39 cars of which 16 Porsches and several Alfa Romeos 1750 GTAm. A rather unusual car was the Mercedes-Benz 300 SEL 6.3, nicknamed the Red Sow. It was a replica of the original car which drove the 24-hours race for Touring cars at Spa in 1971. The original was scrapped many years ago but around sixteen replicas were built all over the world and this was one of them. The car started from the back of the grid and sadly didn’t finish. Maxwell Polzler and Nick Salewsky took the victory in a Porsche 911 RS followed by Daniel Schrey in a Porsche 911 RSR. Third was the Markus Diederich in a Ford Escort RS1600 MkI.                                                                                                                                                   </li> <li><strong>Belcar Historic Cup</strong><br />Another major race series at the Spa Summer Classic is the Belcar Historic Cup which attracted again a large number of entries, 48 cars took part in two splendid 30 minutes races. Favorites this weekend were the brothers Wim en Tim Kuijl , Wim Kuijl drove to overall pole position and set a fantastic 2’36’481 lap time in the Ford Capri 3100 RS Cosworth. Tim Kuijl placed the BMW E66 2.5 next to his brother’s Capri on the front row of the grid. Luc Moortgat achieved the third fastest time in a Porsche 964 RS. During the first race, only Luc Moortgat's Porsche could keep up with Wim Kuijl's blistering pace. The result of race 1 is the starting grid for race 2, and thus Wim Kuijl was once again on pole with his Capri, with Luc Moortgat alongside him. Again Wim Kuijl and Luc Moortgat opened up an impressive gap on the competition. Kuijl won again followed by Moortgat 7 seconds later.                                                                                                                                                       </li> <li><strong>British Classic Sports Car Club races</strong><br />Another combined race was organized by the British Classic Sports Car Club (CSCC), the CSCC Classic & Morgan Challenge – British GTGT.<br />This led to an impressive number of entries, 62 cars of various marques, of course Morgans and BMWs but also MGB GTs, Jaguars XJS, Lotus Elans and even an Austin A40, Warwick GT and a Reliant Sabre. A 2-Litre Morgan Plus 4 (Louis Ruff) drove to pole position, second was Colin Philpott in a Jaguar XJS. Louis Ruff and Colin Philpott finished in the same order in both races. <br />The other CSCC combined race was the Modern Interseries & Ramair BMW Championship with again 62 entries. Interesting cars filled the grit like several Caterhams 7, small hot hatches like Renaults Clio and Abarth 595s but also a Ferrari 488 and a Lamborghini Huracán. BMWs E46 M3 filled the top ten finishers in race1 but race 2 saw five Caterhams finishing in the top ten and far less BMW M3s.                                                                                                                         </li> <li><strong>Battle of the Dwarfs</strong><br />Small racing cars but a big starting field this weekend in the Battle of the Dwarfs. Cars like the Fiat Abarth 1000 TCs, Autobianchi A112, and Fiat 127, with just over 1000 cc. compete in the Abarth Coppa Mille. The group British Car Trophy is filled with Mini Coopers. The NSU TT Trophy is for NSU 1200TT. The 1300 Histo-Cup is home to classic touring cars like the Fiat 128, Simca Rallye, and Lada’s. Again like the previous year the Simca 1200 S Coupé driven by Hans März was the overall winner during both races and second place in both races was for the Abarth 1000 TRC driven by Michael Männl. Third place in both races was for Gregor Nick in a Mini Cooper.                                                                                                                                                </li> <li><strong>1300 European Touring Car Challenge and Fast Seventies</strong><br />The “1300 European Touring Car Challenge” (1300 ETC) offers a platform for drivers of small 1300 cc. Touring cars to compete on the track. This weekend the 1300 ETC was combined with the Dutch race series Fast Seventies with Touring cars and GTs. This combination gave a very attractive and diverse field with almost 40 cars on the grid. The results of both races showed the dominance of the Fast Seventies cars. Daniel Schrey drove his yellow Porsche 935 K1 twice to victory. Cees Lubbers in the beautiful BMW 3.0 CSL finished second in both races. Fastest ETCC car was the Morris Mini Cooper S driven by Frenchman Thiery Thiefain. The difference in laptime between the Porsche and Mini was 20 seconds !                                                                                                                                                                                             </li> <li><strong>Colmore YTCC</strong><br />The Colmore YTCC delivered a spectacular show with a wonderfull varied field (73 entries!). From the Trabant 601 RS to a Dodge Challenger, VW Golf GTI, BMW M3 E30s, Ford Sierra RS500s, Ford Escort Zakspeed, and even a BMW M1. It was the only series with three 20-minutes races. Dutchman David Verzijlbergen (BMW M3 E36) drove from pole in race 1 followed by the German Daniel Schrey (Porsche 935 K1). Schrey won the first two races while Dutchman David Verzijlbergen took advantage of a penalty imposed on Malcolm Harding (Ford Escort Zakspeed), securing the Sunday race.                                                                                                                                                                   </li> <li>The 17th edition of the Spa Summer Classic was an entertaining weekend for all racing teams. The optimal weather conditions allowed drivers to push their cars to (and sometimes over) the limits. Free entry for the visitors, direct access to the teams in the pitboxes and a relaxed atmosphere allowed fans and photographers to engage directly with the cars and drivers. Next racing event organized by the Roadbook organization is the Spa Six Hours 25-27 September.</li> </ul>         <em>Pictures by Guus Docen and Michael Körber (more pictures of Michael on Instagram mk_images.de)</em></div>]]></description>
			<author>nospam@motormarques.com (Guus Docen)</author>
			<category>European Desk</category>
			<pubDate>Wed, 06 May 2026 09:36:41 +0000</pubDate>
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			<title>National Auto Museum - the Loh Collection</title>
			<link>https://www.motormarques.com/news/european-desk/item/803-national-automuseum-the-loh-collection</link>
			<guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.motormarques.com/news/european-desk/item/803-national-automuseum-the-loh-collection</guid>
			<description><![CDATA[<div class="K2FeedImage"><img src="https://www.motormarques.com/media/k2/items/cache/bfea3555ad38fe476532c5b54f218c09_S.jpg" alt="National Auto Museum - the Loh Collection" /></div><div class="K2FeedIntroText">Germany is known for it’s automobile industry with manufacturers such as Volkswagen, BMW, Porsche and Mercedes. Each of these manufacturers has it’s own car museum. Understandably the public get to see the company's own models. It’s worthwhile to visit any of the other car museums in Germany as there are truly incredible collections to be seen. One of them is the "National Car Museum - The Loh Collection" located in central Germany, in the town of Dietzhölztal-Ewersbach, about 150 km from Frankfurt and Cologne.</div><div class="K2FeedFullText">The museum started as one of the world’s greatest private car collections from Prof. Friedhelm Loh, owner of multi-billion-euro industrial company Rittal. The collection started solely with Mercedes-Benz and Porsche models some 40 years ago. In the 1990s Loh came to the conclusion that cars from just two manufacturers were just to restricted for him. A great part of the collection was sold off although the very special cars remained in the current collection.<br />More than two decades later, the cars are finally on public display at the Nationales Automuseum in a historic building which covers 7,500 square metres in a network of eleven halls and museum rooms on the industrial site of the Rittal business.<br />Although being closed during the winter, the museum has already welcomed more than 85,000 visitors from all over the world since opening in July 2023. <br />As one of the most exciting car collections in the world, the Loh Collection displays more than 150 spectacular vehicles from 1886 to the present day. <br />Much attention has been paid to the ambiance in which the cars are displayed. For instance, even the old “Capital Kino,” the cinema in Dillenburg that Friedhelm Loh visited in his youth, has been recreated in detail. Undoubtedly, beautiful car and motorsport films can be shown there. In the hall with cars from the interwar period, a traditional workshop from that era has been recreated. The museum offers a variety of educational programs for schools and universities. This also includes the so-called "History Workshop". It introduces visitors to the industrial history of the Lahn-Dill district and will inspire many young people to pursue a technical education. To guide the visitor, the museum offers an app for smartphones that includes technical information, photos, anecdotes and videos of the vehicles on display. The museum has 2 restaurants of different styles, open all day, including for dinner.<br />Each year, the National Automobile Museum – The Loh Collection organizes a major themed exhibition to complement its permanent collection. For the 2026 season, the spotlight is on the history of rallying, featuring more than 30 cars and a tribute to the manufacturers and drivers who have shaped this major motorsport discipline.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      Pictures by Michael Körber</div>]]></description>
			<author>nospam@motormarques.com (Guus Docen)</author>
			<category>European Desk</category>
			<pubDate>Fri, 10 Apr 2026 19:00:39 +0000</pubDate>
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			<title>32th Spa Six Hours - Francorchamps 25-27 September 2025</title>
			<link>https://www.motormarques.com/news/european-desk/item/802-32th-spa-six-hours-francorchamps-25-27-september-2025</link>
			<guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.motormarques.com/news/european-desk/item/802-32th-spa-six-hours-francorchamps-25-27-september-2025</guid>
			<description><![CDATA[<div class="K2FeedImage"><img src="https://www.motormarques.com/media/k2/items/cache/c2521bfee169c226099b9168e0b93ff0_S.jpg" alt="32th Spa Six Hours - Francorchamps 25-27 September 2025" /></div><div class="K2FeedIntroText">    For three days, the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps saw the racing cars of the past in action. The theme of the 32th edition of the Spa Six Hours was the Sound of History. Indeed, for the connoisseur, it quickly becomes clear which racing class is on the track when enjoying the high-revving sound of racing cars looming in the distance. The spectators' main interest was obviously the Six Hours endurance race on Saturday. Other interesting races scheduled during this event were from the Historic Grand Prix Car Association, Classic Sports Car Club & British HTGT Competition, Historic Championship ’65 & ’81, Alfa Revival Cup, the Formula 3 1000 cc European Trophy, RAC Woodcote Trophy & Stirling Moss Trophy, Youngtimer Touring Car Challenge, the Pre War Sports Cars, GT3 Legends and Classic GP – Historic F1 Pre-1986    </div><div class="K2FeedFullText"><ul> <li><strong>Six Hours Race</strong><br />The starting field comprised a total of 78 vehicles, almost the same as last year, also the various marques and types were more or less equivalent. Fourteen Ford GT40s, fourteen Lotus Elans, seven Jaguar E-Types, several Shelby Cobras, Ford Mustangs, MGs, and Austin-Healeys, as well as a few soloists such as a Ginetta G4R, a TVR Griffith, a Marcos 1800 GT, an Alfa Romeo Giulia Sprint GTA, and a real heavyweight: a 7-Litre Ford Galaxie 500. <br />Amongst the registered drivers were some well-known names like former Formula 1 driver Christian Danner, Martin Brundle with his son Alex, Jacky Ickx daughter Vanina, Sam Hancock, Andy Priaulx, Martin Stretton, Simon Hadfield, Michael Lyons, Nico Verdonck, Count Oeynhausen and others who have already made a name as experienced drivers in endurance racing.                                                                                                                                    As the starting lights turned green the GT40s on the front row stormed to La Source, it was the GT40 of Michael Funke /Luco Sanchez /Nick Salewsky which took the lead followed by the Oeynhausen /Verdonck /Newall GT40 and third the GT40 of Christian Albrecht/Seb Perez. Only a few seconds later No.7 GT40 (Stretton/Ferrao) and No.5 GT40 (Holz/Nuthall/Lyons) had contact, causing the number 5 car to spin, losing a back wheel and come to a stop against the pit wall. The yellow flag had to be waved and it took some laps before the number 5 GT40 was removed from the track. After the race restarted a trio of front-running GT40s No. 20 (Michael Funke), No. 30 (Graf Oeynhausen), and No. 25 (Christian Albrecht) took some distance from the rest of the field. For more than two hours they kept the lead.                                                                                                                              Just like last year the small Ginetta of Palle Birkelund Pedersen, Alexander Weiss, and Nicolaj Kjaergaard posed the biggest threat for the GT40s. This small glass fibre car (1720 cc. Lotus engine) proved to be quite capable of keeping up with the pace of the GT40s, a top speed measurement showed 230.3 km/h! Martin Stretton's GT40 was marginally faster at 232.8 km/h. The Ginetta started from eleventh position but had worked its way up to the top three and in lap 49 the darkgreen car suddenly took the lead. The Danish equippe completed their laps flawlessly and consistently in the little rocket but a badly timed refueling stop in lap 67 dropped the Ginetta back to 8th place.                                          Refueling was an issue this year. As usual, for safety reasons, the cars were only allowed to refuel at the official gas station behind the old pit exit, and the driver had to do the refueling himself. Unfortunately, only three of the four pumps were available as one of the pump got broke and cars were queuing up. Bad luck for the GT40s with two tanks of each 70 litres!                                                                                                                                                The Spa Six Hours was a tombola, with four safety car periods in the first hour alone, some lasting as long as ten minutes – a trend that remained unchanged for the entire race. Most safety cars periods were caused by mechanical issues that left oil trails. In the second hour an oil trail was created from Les Combes to Campus. The oil-covered section of the track was gritted, and the race was restarted – but only briefly: The Mustang of Yool/Sykes/Grimes skidded on the still-slippery section, spun 90 degrees, and crashed head-on into the barriers. The driver was uninjured, but another safety car intervention was unavoidable. After the tenth safety car, most drivers lost count.                                   After four hours the No.30 GT40 of Marcus Count Oeynhausen/Nico Verdonck/Andrew Newall was in the lead, over a minute ahead of the No.3 GT40 of Nikolaus Ditting and Sam Hancock. In third position was the no.7 GT40 of Martin Stretton and Diogo Ferrao but in the fifth hour of the race they managed to get into the lead but within a few laps the Danish Ginetta reappeared in their rearview mirror. Stretton en Ferrao had to defend themselves from the Ginetta as the gap between the two cars got smaller and smaller. Finally Stretton and Ferrao won the race, for Martin Stretton it was the fifth time that he won this race,the last time was in 2014. Third and fourth place were for two other Ford GT40s: the No.20 of Michael Funke, Luco Sanchez, and Nick Salewsky, and the No.30 Nico Verdonck, Marcus Graf von Oeynhausen, and Andy Newall. It is evident that a six hours race causes a lot of wear and tear to an older racing car as just 50 cars reached the finish.                                                                                                                                                             </li> <li><strong>Youngtimer Touring Car Challenge</strong><br />The Dutch Youngtimer Touring Car Challenge had the largest number of entries after the Six Hours race with 75 cars. No fewer than three races were held with the first race on Thursday evening on a wet track. Alex Taylor won with his TVR Tuscan, followed by Piers Masarati’s Porsche 911 Turbo and Mike Manning's Ford Sierra Cosworth RS500. <br />Race 2 was held on a dry track, with several neutralizations, one of them caused by the crash of the Alex Taylor’s TVR Tuscan (driven by James Affleck). The battle for victory was between Miles Masarati in the Porsche 911 Turbo and Felix Haas's spectacular Morgan MMC4, with Masarati taking victory. The final YTCC race on Saturday was marked by several incidents. After a good battle with Felix Haas in the Morgan, Stephen Scott Dunwoodie drove his Ford Sierra Cosworth to victory. So Felix Haas finished second followed by Piers-James Masarati (Porsche 911 Turbo).                                                                                                                           </li> <li><strong>Classic Sports Car Club & British HTGT Competition</strong><br />Two very interesting races were the combined fields of the Classic Sports Car Club and British HTGT Competition (from Germany), in total 49 entries. The first race was held on late Thursday afternoon during heavy rainfall. Luxembourger Philippe Vermast who started from the frontrow in the heavily modified Triumph Vitesse could keep the pace behind Steve Osborne's Jaguar E-Type. The Briton secured victory in the CSCC-Swinging Sixties class, Vermast took the win in the British HTGT Competition category. Race 2 was held under much better weather conditions on Friday afternoon with the sun shining. Steve Osborne drove his E-Type to victory again, this time ahead of John Wolfe's TVR and Dean Halsey's Datsun 240 Z. Bad luck for Philippe Vermast as in lap 5 the left front suspension gave up at Fagnes.                                                                                                                                                 </li> <li><strong>Historic F3 1000cc European Trophy</strong><br />The Historic F3 1000cc European Trophy was born in 2001. It is open to every F3 1000cc "screamer" built between 01/01/1964 and 31/12/1970 representing the first generation Formula 3 cars that have made the iconic hours of international motorsport in the sixties. A fantastic field of around thirty 1000cc Formula 3s took to the grid this weekend at Spa-Francorchamps. Race 1 was held on Friday morning, Peter De La Roche in the Alexis took the lead followed by Charlie Martin's De Sanctis. Jason Timm finished third in a Brabham BT21. De La Roche started from pole for Race 2 on Saturday, but on the second lap, his Alexis encountered problems and he was forced to pit. Charlie Martin took over in his De Sanctis, but he was also plagued by technical issues. This gave Ross Drybrough the opportunity to pilot his Merlyn to victory, ahead of the two Brabhams of Jason Timms and Christoph Widmer.                                                                                                                                     </li> <li><strong>Royal Automobile Club Woodcote Trophy & Stirling Moss Trophy</strong><br />Apart from the Pre-War Sportscars, Motor Racing Legends also returned with the combined RAC Woodcote & Stirling Moss Trophy. These series showed just sixteen cars during qualification on Thursday and even less cars (fourteen) on the Friday starting grid. In my 2018 Spa Six Hours report there where 56 cars entered for this race… <br />From pole position, Maxwell Lynn's Lister Costin Chevrolet immediately took off and built up a 20-second lead. Frederic Wakeman (Cooper T38) and John Spiers (Lister Knobbly) battled for second place. Unfortunately, the leading Lister Costin Chevrolet retired with engine problems twenty minutes before the finish! The track was open for Chris Ward's Cooper T38, who replaced Fred Wakeman and opened up a small lead over Spiers Lister Knobbly. The Lotus XV of Guy Peters and Will Nuthall took third place.                                                                            </li> <li><strong>Pre-War Sports Cars</strong><br />On Saturday all the visitors could enjoy a forty-minute duel of twenty pre-war sports cars. Jonathan Bailey (Bugatti T35C) started from the front row but quickly ended up in the La Source gravel trap. He made an impressive comeback finishing in nineth position. Gareth Burnett starting second on the grid seemed to dominate the race with his blue Alta Sports, but due to mechanical failure was forced to retire with just three laps remaining! The 1932 Alvis Firefly Special of Rudiger Friedrichs and Charlie Martin took over the lead and had a convincing victory, well ahead of the 1500 cc.Frazer Nash TT Replica (Robert and Joshua Beebee) and the 1937 Riley 12/4 TT Sprite Rep. of Alex Hewitson. Of the eight Bentley’s it was the 3 Litre (4½ Litre engine) of Clive and James Morley which finished fourth. Best Bugatti driver was Belgian François Rivaz finisihing fifth in a type T44 preceding Sue Derbyshire in her three-wheeler Morgan Super Aero.                                                                                               </li> <li><strong>Historic Grand Prix Cars Association – Pre-’66 Grand Prix Cars</strong><br />Thirty-five Grand Prix cars, featuring a mix of front- and rear-engined single-seaters drove two 30-minutes races. In race 1 there was a fierce battle between German Rüdiger Friedrichs in a Cooper T53 and Tim Child at the wheel of a Brabham BT3/4. Finally it was Tim Child who won the race 12 seconds ahead of Rüdiger Friedrichs. Race 2 was held early Saturday afternoon. The previous day's winner, Tim Child (Brabham BT3/4) had to retire with technical problems. Rudiger Friedrichs (Cooper T53) took the lead but had to fend off attacks from Dutchman Michel Kuiper (Brabham BT4) until the finish.                                                                                        </li> <li><strong>Historic Championship 65 & 81</strong><br />The German Historic Championships of ’65 and ’81 were merged into a single race of sixty minutes. François Rivaz (Chevron B19) won the ’81 race followed by the Ford GT40 of Michael Funke and Luco Sanchez. Michael Wittke took third place at the wheel of a Porsche 911 RSR. Oliver Hartmann's speedy Elva MkVIII S was fastest in the ‘65 race, 11 seconds ahead of Rudiger Friedrichs' Shelby Cobra 289. The Ford Mustang of Dutchman Reinier Van Abbe took the third place on the podium.                                                                                         </li> <li><strong>Alfa Revival Cup</strong><br />A new race series at this event was the Italian Alfa Revival Cup with exclusively the Bertone model. Of this type there were fourteen 1750 GTAms, five Giulia Sprint GTAs and two GT Veloce 2000s. In the sixty-minute race the brothers Daniele and Ambrogio Perfetti set the pace from the start on both a 1750 GTAm. Daniele Perfetti seemed poised for victory but a five-second track limit penalty decided otherwise: his brother Ambrogio was handed the victory! Roberto Restelli completed the podium. Former F1 driver Christian Danner drove a 1750 GTAm with Mathias Körber, they finished finished in eighth place.                                                                                          </li> <li><strong>GT3 Legend and Formula One pre-1986</strong><br />The GT3 Legends series caters for the early period of GT3 racing , from its founding in 2006 up to 2012. Sadly their were just 15 cars entered for Spa-Francorchamps. Australian Graham Davidson drove his Aston Martin V12 Vantage to victory in both races without any serious opposition. Christoph von Oeynhausen finished second in a BMW Z4 GT3. <br />As the Masters race series are no longer present in the program of the Spa Six Hours the Roadbook organization collaborated with Portugese Diogo Ferrao to organize an F1 race. Unfortunately things didn’t work out as planned and only six cars were on the starting list of which only took the track! Paul Tattersall won on Friday, being the only one to cross the finish line! On Saturday, it was Michael Lyons who secured the victory.                                                                                            </li> <li>This 2025 edition of the Spa Six Hours Endurance, attracted again a large crowd, especially on Saturday. The various parking lots around the circuit de Spa-Francorchamps were completely full! It would be great if the Roadbook organisation decided to change the event days back to Thursday through Sunday instead of Wednesday through Saturday. This would increase the number of English participants, which again would benefit visitor numbers. </li> </ul>         Pictures by Guus Docen</div>]]></description>
			<author>nospam@motormarques.com (Guus Docen)</author>
			<category>European Desk</category>
			<pubDate>Thu, 06 Nov 2025 19:59:25 +0000</pubDate>
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			<title>The 52. Belmot Oldtimer Grand Prix 1-3 August 2025</title>
			<link>https://www.motormarques.com/news/european-desk/item/801-the-52-belmot-oldtimer-grand-prix-1-3-august-2025</link>
			<guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.motormarques.com/news/european-desk/item/801-the-52-belmot-oldtimer-grand-prix-1-3-august-2025</guid>
			<description><![CDATA[<div class="K2FeedImage"><img src="https://www.motormarques.com/media/k2/items/cache/f3fa6960b52e3c842fd94fee5eb122ab_S.jpg" alt="The 52. Belmot Oldtimer Grand Prix 1-3 August 2025" /></div><div class="K2FeedIntroText">The 52nd edition of the Belmot Oldtimer Grand Prix was held during the first weekend of August at the Nürburgring. Over 400 historic racing cars competed against each other in numerous series – including classics such as the Masters Racing Legends of Formula 1 (1966-1985), Group C, Historic Grand Prix Cars, the legendary touring cars from the “Golden Era” and the STW Cup, Formula 2 and 3 racing cars. Pre-war vehicles from the Vintage Sports Car Trophy could also be experienced up close in the historic paddock. On the Saturday-evening the one-hour race of two-seater racing sports cars and GTs up to 1965 took place. Weather conditions were better than expected, just Saterday the weather conditions changed constantly, sunny, cloudy and some heavy showers in the afternoon and during the evening.</div><div class="K2FeedFullText"><ul> <li>This year, the auction house Classicbid presented itself with an own exhibition stand on the Ring Boulevard. Visitors and participants could inspect the approximately 100 selected vehicles – including classic cars, modern classics, and rare collectibles. Two live auctions followed on Saturday and Sunday. Also new this year were post-war racing motorcycles spanning six decades of motorsport history. Historic motorcycles from BMW, Gilera, Moto Guzzi ,Yamaha, Ducati, NSU, and other renowned manufacturers drove there demonstration run on Saturday and Sunday .                                                                                                                </li> <li><strong>Two-seater Sports Cars and GTs</strong><br />Almost as long the Oldtimer Grand Prix exists an evening-race for two-seater sports cars and GTs takes place. This year 36 cars were on the entry list. From Danmark the team Palle Birkelund Pedersen and Alexander Weiss proved again that a small lightweight car can beat much more powerful cars. The Danish duo qualified themselves on pole position in the Ginetta G4 R followed by the Elva MK VII S driven by experienced driver Will Nuthall. Also in the one-hour race the dark green Ginetta was driven in a superb way beating the Austin Healey’s, Jaguars, Porsches and Maserati’s. The Danish duo crossed the finish line first followed by Carl-Friedrich and Alexander Kolb (Austin Healey 3000) and Andreas and Michael Große-Entrup (Austin Healey 3000).<br />In the second race on Sunday Pedersen started the race again from pole position but Michael Gans (Lotus 15) was om his heals for many laps and finally could pass the Ginetta. After the pitstop and drivers change Alexander Weiss was able to take the lead again but in lap 25 the rear suspension of the Ginetta got damaged and Michael Gans took the lead again but finally it was Oliver Hartmann in the Elva MK VIII who won the race.                                                                                    </li> <li><strong>Historic Grand Prix Cars</strong><br />Only the front-engined cars of the Historic Grand Prix Car Association had there two races at the Nürburgring. During qualification the Ferrari 246 Dino driven by Richard Wilson was just 0.6 seconds faster than Joaquin Folch in a Lotus 16. Third on the grid was John Spiers in the Maserati 250F. The latter won the first race beating Richard Wilson’s Ferrari by just 0.4 seconds. Third position was for Eddie McGuire in the Scarab. Joaquin Folch finished fifth behind the Lister Jaguar Monzapolis (Rod Jolley). Joaquim Folch took revenge in the second race on Sunday as he beat the Italian cars by 7.5 seconds (Richard Wilson–Ferrari) and 35 seconds (John Spiers-Maserati).                                                                                                                             </li> <li><strong>The Historic Championship ’65 and ‘81</strong><br />The Historic Championship ’65 is intended for GTs and touring cars up to 1965. Thirty-nine cars were entered for two races. The first race was won by Georg and Björn Griesemann in a Ford GT40 followed 19.6 seconds later by Shelby Cobra 289 (Alexander Kolb). The next race on Sunday the Griesemann GT40 again was unbeatable. This time Valentin Schumann’s Elva Mk.7S finished second. <br />The Historic Championship ’81 had more participants as fifty-five cars drove their qualification on Friday. Again a Ford GT40 (Luco Sanchez/Michael Funke) was on pole position followed by a Lola T212 driven by the team Goncalo Gomes and James Claridge. A single ninety-minute race was held on Saturday afternoon during which a shower fell down. It was the Porsche 911 RSR (Björn and Georg Griesemann) which won the race followed by the Ford GT40 (Sanchez/Funke) and the Lola T212.                                                                       </li> <li><strong>Masters Formula One and ADAC Graf Berge von Trips Pokal</strong><br />After a six-year absence, the Masters Formula One Racing Legends was present again at this event with twenty-one cars. From pole position Mike Cantillon (Williams FW07C) won both races. Second in race one was Jamie Constable (Tyrrell 011) and in race two Werner d’Ansembourg (Williams FW07C) finished second.<br />Another single seater race series was the so-called ADAC Graf Berge von Trips Pokal for Formula 3 cars from 1985 until 1992, Formula Ford 2000, Formula Atlantic and Sports 2000. Of all classes Alexander Weiss from Denmark drove the ex-Giancarlo Fisichella Ralt RT35 to pole position and won both races.                                                                                                                         </li> <li><strong>Historic Championship CanAm & Sportscars</strong><br />Just fourteen cars were entered for the Historic Championship CanAm & Sportscars, of which just three CanAm cars, rather disappointing. Most impressive was the 2 litre 4-cylinder Lola T298 driven by Sylvio Kalb who won the race on Saturday. On Sunday there were just nine cars on the starting grid of which the Porsche 962 driven by Klaus Abbelen won the race.                                                                                                                                                           </li> <li><strong>DRM (German Racing Championship)</strong><br />The German Racing Championship, also known as the DRM, was the most important motor racing series in Germany from 1972 to 1985. From 1977, touring cars were registered according to FIA Group 5 rules, which were significantly more heavily modified with wide bodies and spoilers and were usually equipped with turbo engines that had to have a displacement 1.4 times smaller. Since 2005, the Oldtimer Grand Prix has honored these spectacular cars with their own raceseries as part of the event.<br />Nowadays the cars are divided into three divisions. Up to Two liters with cars like the Opel Kadett GT/E, Opel Manta Ford Escort RS1600. The second division is called the DRM Classic with cars like the BMW 3.5 CSL, BMW 635 Group 5, De Tomaso Pantera, Ford Capri 3.0, modified Opel Kadetts and Manta’s. The third division are the heavily modified cars like the Porsche 935 K3, Porsche 911 RSR Group 5, BMW M1 Group 5, the Ford Capri Turbo and BMW 2002 Group 5. This year the number of participants in the DRM was lower than in previous years. Fortunately there were three Ford Capri Turbo group 5s which had the fastest qualification. In the first race on Saturday, Stefan Mücke drove his Zakspeed Capri to victory followed by Mike Stursberg in the other Capri Turbo. Ronny Scheer couldn’t start in this race as the Capri Turbo suffered gearbox problems. A new gearbox solved all problems for the second race on Sunday and Scheer won the race followed by Georg Griesmann ( Porsche 911 RSR). Seventy-eight year-old Peter Mücke (father of Stefan) finished third.                                                                                                                                                              </li> <li><strong>Touring Cars Golden Era</strong><br />Since its debut in 2016 the "Tourenwagen Golden Era" (TWGA) has been bringing smiles to the faces of the audience and participants. The original idea was to bring DTM and STW cars from the 1980s and 1990s back to the racetrack so everyone can experience them. <br />A good 40 starters in the "Golden Era" field represented everything that made touring car fans' hearts beat faster. Audi V8 quattro, BMW M3 E30 DTM, Ford Sierra RS500, Mercedes-Benz 190 Evo II, Opel Vectra STW and Ford Mondeo STW, they were all there for two races of 25 minutes. In both races the Audi 200 M86 driven by former WTCC driver Altfrid Heger was unbeatable. <br />The two-liter vehicles had their own special races under the race title "Iconic Two Liters – STW Revival" but sadly there were just 10 cars on the grid. Rene Aeberhardt won race in a Opel Vectra STW. The second race was won by Markus Reich in the completely white Audi A4 Quattro STW.                                                                                                                                                </li> <li><strong>Vintage Sports Car Trophy</strong><br />The oldest cars of this event drove the track without any competitive ambitients. There were about thirty cars gathered in the historic paddock of the legendary Nordschleife. Six Bentley’s, two Lagonda’s, three Alfa Romeo’s 8C, a Railton, Lancester, Wolseley, Riley, Rover, Invicta, MG etc. There was also the possibility for the owners to drive their treasure for an hour on the Nordschleife.                                                                                                             </li> <li>The event attracted 39,000 spectators who enjoyed a diverse field of competitors participating in competitive and entertaining races. Not only for racing fans the Belmot Oldtimer Grand Prix is a true paradise, also for classic car enthusiasts, and car spotters there's always plenty to see, both on and off the event grounds. Along the boulevard, a constant stream of unique cars comes and goes. Various clubs gather in the parking lots surrounding the event, from Caterham to BMW, from Morgan to Porsche. Reason enough to look forward to next year, especially as the date for the 53rd edition in 2026 has already been set: it will take place from August 7 to 9, 2026.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            <em>Pictures by Guus Docen</em></li> </ul></div>]]></description>
			<author>nospam@motormarques.com (Guus Docen)</author>
			<category>European Desk</category>
			<pubDate>Thu, 28 Aug 2025 07:12:21 +0000</pubDate>
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			<title>Spa Summer Classic 25-27 April 2025</title>
			<link>https://www.motormarques.com/news/european-desk/item/800-spa-summer-classic-25-27-april-2025</link>
			<guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.motormarques.com/news/european-desk/item/800-spa-summer-classic-25-27-april-2025</guid>
			<description><![CDATA[<div class="K2FeedImage"><img src="https://www.motormarques.com/media/k2/items/cache/ddbd51c6174319adf1ea9a6d30392812_S.jpg" alt="Spa Summer Classic 25-27 April 2025" /></div><div class="K2FeedIntroText">The Spa Summer Classic had it’s sixteenth edition during a very sunny weekend. Also this year, the event brought together teams, drivers, and mechanics for a diverse programme featuring both sprint and endurance races. The grids showed many Touring cars, GT’s and also single-seaters. The highlight of this weekend was the three-hour endurance race, exclusively for pre-1976 Touring and GT cars, with refuelling stops at the circuit's fuel pumps. During the whole event there was free entrance for spectators which also had the opportunity to explore the paddocks.</div><div class="K2FeedFullText"><ul> <li><strong>1300 European Touring Car Challenge</strong> <br />The “1300 European Touring Car Challenge” (1300 ETC) offers a platform for historic motorsport enthusiasts to compete on track with their small Touring cars up to 1300cc. <br />The 1300 ETC Challenge entered its second season and there has been a significant increase in competitors. At Francorchamps 32 participants filled the grid in Mini Coopers, Volkswagen Polo’s, Simca 1000 Rally’s, Lada’s and even a Matra Jet 6. In the first race, German Thomas Schröder and his VW Derby (a notchback variant of the Polo) seemed to be holding the lead, but that was without counting on Frenchman Enzo Thiefain in the Mini Cooper S, who emerged the clear winner in a strong battle with the Derby. The second round once again saw Enzo Thiefain winning in a fierce battle. The Frenchman's Mini only edged out Christian Kehr's VW Polo by 0.5 seconds!                                                                                                                                                        </li> <li><strong>Belcar Historic Cup</strong><br />One of the major events of the Spa Summer Classic, the Belcar Historic Cup once again attracted a large number of entries, 57 competitors took part in this splendid Battle of the Ardennes. Belgian Tom Van Rompuy drove the impressive BMW E36 GTR (owned by Erik Qvik) into pole position for Race 1. Tom Van Rompuy drove a brilliant race, winning by no less than 11 seconds over Luc Branckaerts' Corvette C4 ZR1. After battling with the Corvette lap after lap, Tim Kuijl lost contact late in the race but still managed to drive his BMW 325i E36/Warsteiner onto the third step of the podium. Starting from pole position in Race 2, Erik Qvick was aware of Salewski's Porsche 911 RSR following close behind but once again the BMW E36 GTR won with a lead of around 4 seconds. Tim Kuijl took the podium for the second time this weekend with the E36 BMW 325i.                                                                                                                          </li> <li><strong>Historic Championship ’65 and ‘81</strong><br />The German Historic Championship is Europe’s largest racing series in historic motorsport.Two race series were held at this meeting, the Historic Championship ’65 and the Historic Championship '81. In the ’65 championship cars like the Ford GT40, Jaguar E-Type, Austin Healey 3000, AC Cobra, Lotus Elan, Alfa Romeo GTA, and Porsche 911 are competing. Two races of 25 minutes each were completed on Saturday and Sunday. The Ford GT40 of Pedro and Luco Sanchez crossed the finish line first on Saturday. During the second on Sunday, however, it was Oliver Hartmann who took the chequered flag first in the Elva Mk.8. Thirty-four cars were starting in the pre ’81 championship like BMW 2002, Ford Escort RS1600, Alfa Romeo 1750 GTAm, Porsche 911 Carrera, BMW 3.0 CSL and even two Lola’s T210. A 90-minutes race was held on Sunday in which the winning ’65 series GT40 was starting from pole position! This GT40 driven by Luco Sanchez kept the lead until the end of the race. It took almost two minutes before the next cars past the finishing line, three Porsches Carrera RSR and the BMW 3.0 CSL !                                                                                                                                   </li> <li><strong>Spa 3 Hours</strong><br />This 3 hour race is part of a European Endurance competition organized by the Portuguese organization Race Ready. It’s the crowdpuller of this event. The race was marked by the outstanding performance of the little Ginetta G4R driven by the two Danish pilots Palle Pedersen and Alexander Weiss. Already holding a surprise pole position after a qualifying session marked by numerous red flags, the two Danish drivers confirmed their position in the race by getting off to a flying start and then literally crushing the competition to claim an overwhelming victory, no less than two laps ahead of the TVR Tuscan V6 of Connor Kay and Ben Caisley, despite having been served by a drive-through penalty for overtaking under the safety car! Result of the penalty was that the Lotus Elan 26R driven by Ben Barker and Rory Butcher took the lead but in the penultimate lap the Elan stopped aside the track with an engine failure. Luckily the classification of this race is based on total distance covered, with no obligation to cross the checkered flag so the drivers of the Elan car still finished on the podium. The roaring and spectacular Ford Capri RS2600 of the Dutch Kuijl family finished in fourth place.                                                                                                                   </li> <li><strong>Battle of the Dwarfs</strong><br />The race series "Battle of the Dwarves" was launched in 1992. Over the years, the series has grown considerably and is currently Germany's largest sprint racing series. The small touring cars, with a maximum displacement of up to 1300 cc, are crowd favorites at every historic motorsport event. There is no strict model year limit but the release date of a specific model is up to 1974. This means the model must have been launched before 1974. The cars are divided into five groups. Cars like the Fiat Abarth 1000 TCs, Autobianchi A112, and Fiat 127, with just over 1000 cc. compete in the Abarth Coppa Mille. In the British Car Trophy, the Mini Cooper is the major entry. Many Germans will remember the old days of NSU TT hillclimb and slalom races. These cars are competing in the NSU TT Trophy. The 1300 Histo-Cup is home to classic touring cars like the Fiat 128, Simca Rallye, and Lada’s. The Simca 1200 S Coupé driven by Hans März was the overall winner during both races but the highly modified Mini Cooper S driven by Swiss Gregor Nick finished very close behind the Simca in the second race. The Fiat-Abarth 1000 TCR (Michael Männl) finished third in both races.                                                                                                                                                                 </li> <li><strong>Super Sixties Racing</strong><br />SuperSixties Racing (formerly NKHTGT) was founded in 1996 as the Dutch Championship for Historic Touring Cars and GTs. Nowadays it has grown into a series of competitions in various countries. For 2025 there are a striking number of new drivers from the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, the United Kingdom and Sweden. Supersixties Racing is very popular with spectators because of the variety of participating cars, ranging from the big Ford GT40s to the tiny Mini Coopers. The SuperSixties 2025 competition kicked off at a Spa-Francorchamps with 53 cars on the track with two GT40’s, two Corvette Grand Sports, three Shelby Cobra Daytonas, ten Lotus Elans, several MGBs and Lotus Cortinas etc. It was the pale green Lotus Elan driven by Lando or Alexis Graf von Wedel which was fastest during the qualification. During race 1 the Lotus Elan kept the lead just for one lap and quickly dropped back into the back of the field so Laurent Jaspers to over the lead in the Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupé closely followed by the Shelby Mustang GT350 driven by Roelant de Waard. In this order the podium places were filled. Race 2 on Sunday-afternoon Laurent Jaspers started from pole position but was overtaken by Swede Kennet Persson in his Ford GT40. Kennet grapped victory with Kaj Dahlbacka second in the Corvette Grand Sport. Laurent Jaspers finished third. Lando and Alexis Graf von Wedel were more lucky in race 2 as they finished fifth overall.                                                                                                                                    </li> <li><strong>Historic Monoposto Racing</strong><br />The first race for the Historic Monoposto Racing didn’t last long, just three laps because of a crash. The race was neutralized, not restarted and a classification wasn’t made. On Sunday thirty-five monopostos started a more exciting race. Frank Färber's Reynard SF84 left from poleposition and won the race just 1.3 seconds in front of the Irishman Peter Drennan in a Royale RP27.                                                                                                                                      </li> <li>This seventeenth edition of the Spa Summer Classic, organized by Roadbook events was undoubtedly an excellent event as all race series on the program delighted a large crowd. The next Roadbook event is the legendary Spa Six Hours 25-27 September 2025 also held at the circuit of Francorchamps.                                                                                                                                                                          <em>Pictures by Guus Docen</em></li> </ul></div>]]></description>
			<author>nospam@motormarques.com (Guus Docen)</author>
			<category>European Desk</category>
			<pubDate>Sun, 25 May 2025 17:15:17 +0000</pubDate>
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			<title>The Marxzell Museum in Germany</title>
			<link>https://www.motormarques.com/news/european-desk/item/799-the-marxzell-museum-in-germany</link>
			<guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.motormarques.com/news/european-desk/item/799-the-marxzell-museum-in-germany</guid>
			<description><![CDATA[<div class="K2FeedImage"><img src="https://www.motormarques.com/media/k2/items/cache/671fe58af5845f33e7786dd608484c8d_S.jpg" alt="The Marxzell Museum in Germany" /></div><div class="K2FeedIntroText">Marxzell is a town located on the picturesque Alb Valley in the North Black Forest of Germany. The museum in Marxzell is one of the largest privately owned German mobility museums with over 3600 square meters of exhibition space, The collection includes around 200 automobiles, from the early beginnings of automobile fabrication to the present day, over 350 motorbikes and mopeds, more than 170 bicycles, at least 20 fire trucks, a fire fighter helicopter, carriages, over 80 tractors, some trams and locomotives but also agricultural machinery. The place is not a museum, it's more like a warehouse full of stuff.</div><div class="K2FeedFullText"><ul> <li>The Marxzell Museum was opened in 1968 in a former sawmill in Pfaffenrot, part of the Marxzell municipality. The founder, Bernhard Reichert, died unexpectedly in 1984 before the completion of a larger hall, which he had just started to build, as the collection was bursting out of it’s seams. Now his sons are running the museum. From the entrance cars and motorbikes are displayed surrounded by display cases stuffed with objects like model cars, tobacco tins, car brand emblems and mascots, dollhouses, advertising signs, old radios and turntables, tools, and toys. It’s a hoarders place, stuff, stuff, and more stuff. It's a kind of hide and seek game to see who can find more strange and weird objects. Only a narrow passage in the middle is left for the visitors. Finding your way through the museum is more like an expedition. You'll discover more details, more little things and more funny settings again and again.</li> <li>Don’t expect that the cars and motorbikes are restored but many of them are driveable. Each treasure has its own story, like the 1936 Rolls Royce Phantom, whose first owner was Queen Mary! Just by coincidence a friend of father Reichert spotted the car in an English front garden. They got in contact with the he owner who decided to sell them the Phantom for a considerable amount of Pounds but today the car is worth a fortune.</li> <li>Another rare and valuable car is the 1954 Mercedes-Benz 220 Sport Cabriolet with Wendler bodywork. The company Wendler was a carriage builder founded in 1840. From the 1920s they started to design and make carbodies. Wendler is best known for the aluminium bodies of the Porsche 550 Spyder. The Wendler-bodied Mercedes-Benz in this museum was custom-made for a rich German industrialist.</li> <li>Without doubt this is the messiest, and weirdest museum I ever visited. It’s a jungle of passenger cars, small trucks, tractors, fire trucks, ambulances, motorbikes and even a small helicopter all surrounded by a giant mix of memorabilia". It’s a hoarders palace but that’s the reason why this museum is so much fun to visit!                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             <em>Pictures by Guus Docen</em></li> </ul></div>]]></description>
			<author>nospam@motormarques.com (Guus Docen)</author>
			<category>European Desk</category>
			<pubDate>Tue, 04 Mar 2025 20:48:16 +0000</pubDate>
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			<title>31th Spa Six Hours – Francorchamps 25-29 September 2024</title>
			<link>https://www.motormarques.com/news/european-desk/item/798-31th-spa-six-hours-%E2%80%93-francorchamps-25-29-september-2024</link>
			<guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.motormarques.com/news/european-desk/item/798-31th-spa-six-hours-%E2%80%93-francorchamps-25-29-september-2024</guid>
			<description><![CDATA[<div class="K2FeedImage"><img src="https://www.motormarques.com/media/k2/items/cache/9ec5addc67447038d196a2fc30522c2d_S.jpg" alt="31th Spa Six Hours – Francorchamps 25-29 September 2024" /></div><div class="K2FeedIntroText">From September 27th to 29th 2024, the legendary race-event "Spa Six Hours" was held again on the Spa-Francorchamps Grand Prix circuit. The weather forecast was quite sobering for all participants and spectators this weekend, rain and low temperatures. All three days it was overall cloudy and rainy. During all mornings the thermometer showed around ten degrees Celsius. These weather conditions couldn't stop the historic motorsport fans from visiting this most interesting historic racing event.</div><div class="K2FeedFullText"><ul> <li><strong>Spa Six Hours Race</strong><br />Seventy-nine cars were registered for the legendary Six Hours race of which twenty Ford GT40s, eleven Lotus Elans, seven Jaguar E-Types, six Porsches 911, ten Ford Mustangs, four TVRs, MGBs, Morgan, Austin Healey, Gilbern, Marcos, a Ginetta G4R and even a small Turner. A total of 220 drivers were competing in the six-hour race of which quite some well known and professional drivers like three-time overall winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans André Lotterer, four-time overall Indy Car winner Dario Franchitti, British GT champion Marino Franchitti, Frank Stippler – multiple winner of the 24-hour races at the Nürburgring and in Spa; TV presenter Chris Harris and three former Formula 1 drivers: Thierry Boutsen, Eric van de Poele and Karun Chandhok.<br />On pole position was the turquoise GT40 driven by Nico Verdonk and Count von Oeynhausen. Nico started the race and kept the lead for an hour but technical problems set the car back. After the problems of Verdonck the victory seemed to be reserved for David Hart, his son Olivier and Nicky Pastorelli in the orange GT40, but with just fifteen minutes before the chequered flag fell Olivier Hart braked too hard at Pouhon and slipped the car ending up in the gravel trap. It lasted five minutes before Olivier managed to get back on the track but meanwhile the GT40 of Dario & Marino Franchitti and Lotterer which was already in second position managed to take the lead. Also the fast Lotus Elan of British touring car driver Gordon Shedden, Ben Barker and Rory Butcher got advantage from the stranded orange GT40 and drove in second place for a short while but in the last ten minutes Olivier Hart passed the Lotus and got back into second position. Winners were the Franchitti brothers and André Lotterer. The Hart team finished second and the Shedden, Barker Butcher driven Elan finished third. <br />The little Ginetta G4R of the Swedes Pedersen-Kjaergaard-Weiss started from the eleventh position and managed to crawl between the GT40s into the first position after three hours ! Big advantage of the Ginetta is the much lower fuel consumption. Refuelling during this race takes place at the central petrol station in the lower part of the paddock and can take a lot of time. Sadly after four hours the right front wheel of the Ginetta came off and the team had to retire. More luck for Luke Wos and Andy Yool in the small 1962 Turner MKII, they started from fifty-first position and finished the race in thirty-second position. To my opinion it’s a pity that the professionals in the GT40s dominate this race. The 2017 Six Hours entry-list still shows 117 entries and much more Jaguar E-Types, 4-cylinder TVRs, Triumph TR4s, Morgans, Marcos and even a Alfa Romeo 1600 GTA ! This year the entry fee was 5500 Euros and that’s a lot of money for a private team !                                                                                </li> <li><strong>Masters Racing Legends-F1 Cars 66-85</strong><br />A magnificent field of 26 historic F1 cars including the ex-Pryce Shadow DN5 driven by Belgian former F1 driver Thierry Boutsen. The race on Friday was won by Matt Wrigley and Werner d'Ansembourg (Brabham BT49C) finished second followed by Olivier Hart. The Saturday race was held under rainy conditions. A chaotic race which was neutralized three times, once with the red flag and twice behind the safety car. In the end, Olivier Hart (Arrows A3) was the first to cross the finish line, but a penalty for a collision on the first lap dropped the debuting Dutchman back to sixth place. Thierry Boutsen started from the penultimate starting row but managed to move further forward despite the difficult circumstances. He crossed the finish line in fifth place and eventually became fourth place due to Hart's penalty. The victory thus went again to Matthew Wrigley (Tyrrell 011). Nick Padmore (Lotus 77) finished second and was also the winner in the class of F1 cars built before 1978.                                                                                                                                                                      </li> <li><strong>Masters Gentlemen Drivers & Masters Pre-66 Touring Cars</strong><br />The combined Masters Gentlemen Drivers & Masters Pre'66 Touring Cars race was dominated by Britian Julian Thomas in the Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupé ahead of the AC Cobra of the Dutchmen Abraham Bontrup and Olivier Hart. Belgian Vincent Gaye accompanied by Phil Keen finished third in a Jaguar E-Type. In the Touring Car category, there were just seven cars of which the Ford Mustang of Michael Whitaker Jr. won ahead of the Ford Falcon driven by Robin Ward.                                                                                                                                                               </li> <li><strong>Masters Sports Car Legends</strong><br />The rain was pouring down when the drivers of the Masters Sports Car Legends took to the track for a 60-minute race. Soon the darkgreen Lola T70 of David and son Olivier Hart took the lead and battled for victory with the McLaren M1B of John Spiers and Nigel Greensall. The lead changed several times but after a mistake by Nigel Greensall in the final lap father and son Hart could celebrate their victory. The ultrafast 4-cylinder Lola T296 of Gonçalo Gomez and James Claridge completed the top three.                                                                                                                   </li> <li><strong>Classic Sports Car Club</strong><br />The cars in the Swinging Sixties and Classic-K categories had the honour kicking off the Thursday evening race programme... in such rainy conditions where you would rather leave your racing car in the paddock. Qualifying was a few hours earlier and Connor Kay drove to pole position in the 3-litre TVR Tuscan followed by Michael WhitakerJr. in a Ford Mustang. Third on the grid were Peter and Nathan Dod (TVR Griffith). In these rainy conditions it was the Mini Marcos of Sam Polley which took advantage of it’s superior roadholding grip.Sam won the race ahead of the Datsun 240 Z of Dean Hasley and the Ford Mustang of Classic-K winner Michael Whitaker Jr. Early Friday evening the second was held. It was time for revenge for Connor Kay, whose TVR Tuscan quickly rose to the top of the standings to take a convincing victory, ahead of the Aston Martin DB4 of Nicholas King and the Mini Marcos of the previous day's winner, Sam Polley. Michael WhitakerJr. finished fourth.                                                                                                                                                                            </li> <li><strong>Historic Grand Prix Cars</strong> <br />One of the largest grids of this weekend was for the Historic Grand Prix Cars Association with 47 single seaters entered. In race 1 the Belgian driver Maxime Castelein (Lotus 18) stormed to the front but had to retire due to a technical problem, allowing the German Rudiger Friedrichs in his ex-Jack Brabham Cooper T53 to win ahead of the Brabham BT3/4 of Tim Child and the Cooper T53 of Charlie Martin. In the Grand Prix cars with front engines Mark Shaw won the race for the front-engined cars in his Scarab. On Saturday race 2 took place on an extremely wet track. Rudiger Friedrichs took the lead but was threatened from lap 3 until the end by John Spiers in the Maserati 250F. Philipp Buhofer (BRM P261) finished third.                                                                                                                                                               </li> <li><strong>F2 and F3 Classic Interseries</strong><br />The F2 Classic Interseries and the continuation of the F3 Classic Interseries are the result of the continuing partnership between the two major organisations the Historic Sports Car Club and French promoter HVM Racing. From this year each category has it’s a five-event, 10-race schedule at the best circuits and events in European historic racing of which the races at the Spa Six Hours is one of these circuits. There were 24 Formula 2 cars on the grid for two races. The March cars clearly dominated race 1 with Matthew Watts taking the ex-Eddie Cheever March 772 first across the finish line ahead of Germany’s Wolfgang Kaufmann March type 782 and Alex Kapadia’s type 762. Race 2 was won by Kaufmann ahead of Mark Charteris. The starting field of the Formula 3 Interseries showed just seventies cars at Spa-Francorchamps. Both races were dominated by Andy Smith in his March 783. Former French F3 champion Tristan Gommendy (Argo JM10) finished third in race 1 and second in race 2. Italian Davide Leone (March 783) finished second in race 1 and third in race 2!                                                                                                                                                </li> <li><strong>RAC Woodcote Trophy & Stirling Moss Trophy</strong><br />The number of entries for the RAC Woodcote Trophy and Stirling Moss Trophy was poor. Just seventien cars drove the Saturday-morning one-hour race with New Zealander Roger Wills leading in his Lotus XV. He kept the lead until lap 7 when he was overtaken by Lukas Halusa in the Jaguar D-Type. But in lap 9 Wills overtook Halusa again and took the chequered flag two seconds ahead of Halusa. Roger Wills took the overall win and the Stirling Moss Trophy while Lukas Halusa celebrated the win of the Woodcote Trophy. Ben Mitchell and Dion Kremer finished overall third in a Lotus 17.                                                                                                              </li> <li><strong>Historic Formula Junior</strong><br />Another grid with a great number of entries, 43 cars drove a race on Friday and Saturday. The number of manufacturers of these 1100cc single-seaters from the early sixties is astonishing. Marques like Alexis, Condor, Lynx, Britannia Donford, Gemini, Stanguellini, Caravelle,Elva, and of course Brabham, Lotus and Cooper were present on the entry list. Race 1 on Friday was dominated by the Lotus type 22. Clive Richards finished 0.122 seconds before Manfredo Rossi di Montelera and Lukas Halusa. The Alexis Mk4 of Stuart Roach finished fourth. Race 2 on Saturday morning was held on a wet circuit, Rossi di Montelera had a brilliant start and kept the lead closely followed by Stuart Roach and Lukas Halusa. Rossi won the race beating Stuart Roach by 1.248 seconds. Lukas Halusa took third place in the Lotus 22.                                                                                                                                                                   </li> <li><strong>Pre-War Sports Cars</strong><br />Sports cars from the 1920s and 30s represented the oldest historic racing serie at this event. Seventien cars took part in a 40 minutes race early Saturday afternoon again on a wet track. It was Rudiger Friedrichs in the 1933 Alvis Firefly Special who emerged victorious at the end of the 11 lap race, just three seconds ahead of Robert Beebee in the chain-driven 1932 Frazer Nash TT Replica. The stunning Alfa Romeo 8C Monza of Christopher Mann completed the podium. The three-wheeler Morgan Super Aero driven by Sue Darbyshire and Duncan started from seventh position and finished fifth.                                                                                                                                                      </li> <li>Despite the bad weather conditions this year, the Spa Six Hours showed once again that it is one of the best historic racing events on the planet. Haven’t you visited this event I would advise you to drive your car to the Ardennes in the autumn of 2025 for the 32nd edition of the Spa Six Hours.                                                                                                                                                                <em>Pictures by Guus Docen</em></li> </ul></div>]]></description>
			<author>nospam@motormarques.com (Guus Docen)</author>
			<category>European Desk</category>
			<pubDate>Sat, 02 Nov 2024 16:34:43 +0000</pubDate>
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			<title>The 51. Belmot Oldtimer Grand Prix 9-11 August 2024</title>
			<link>https://www.motormarques.com/news/european-desk/item/797-the-51-belmot-oldtimer-grand-prix-9-11-august-2024</link>
			<guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.motormarques.com/news/european-desk/item/797-the-51-belmot-oldtimer-grand-prix-9-11-august-2024</guid>
			<description><![CDATA[<div class="K2FeedImage"><img src="https://www.motormarques.com/media/k2/items/cache/5b74e738223d177a4030153c35f64896_S.jpg" alt="The 51. Belmot Oldtimer Grand Prix 9-11 August 2024" /></div><div class="K2FeedIntroText">Last year the Oldtimer Grand Prix celebrated it’s 50th edition and the organisers realized that it was the moment to reshape the future of the event. That was clearly visible this year with the new main sponsor Belmot (a classic car insurance company), which is bringing a lot of motivation and fresh ideas. It all started on a sunny Friday-morning for all participants with the qualification sessions at the Nürburgring Grand-Prix circuit. But there’s also the traditional track day on the Nordschleife for the owners of vintage sports cars to experience the most beautiful race track in the world, free from any competitive pressure. For visitors there’s the possibility to watch all these beautiful cars close to the track free of charge.</div><div class="K2FeedFullText"><ul> <li>Almost 600 historic racing cars ranging from the late 1920s until the 1990s were competing from early Saturday morning when the weather was even better than Friday. The new organizational approach is also visible in the paddock. Aspen, a manufacturer of high-performance fuels, is involved, which is presenting a new specialised fuel for vintage cars at the Oldtimer Grand Prix. Some selected teams were able to use this fuel for all races over the weekend in order to give direct feedback from practice. The newly developed high-performance fuel from Aspen has a 33 percent admixture of fossil-free components. Aspen’s ambition is to gradually increase the fossil-free mixture up to 100 percent in order to further reduce the environmental footprint.                                                                                               </li> <li><strong>Vintage Cars</strong><br />The oldest racing cars of the weekend took part in the "Vintage Sports Car Trophy", a pure driving event without any competitive ambitients. There were four supercharged Mercedes-Benz SSKs from 1929-1930, several MGs, Bentley’s, Alfa Romeo’s but the cars which got the most attention from the visitors were four American La Frances with 14.5 litre engines and enormous vehicle dimensions. These massive cars were originally built as trucks for fire departments. The oldest La France was from 1918 and all four cars were driven by their owners from the South of Germany to the Nürburgring, that’s almost 500 kilometres !                                                                                                                                                               </li> <li><strong>Historic Grand Prix Cars</strong><br />The Saturday-races of the historic Grand Prix cars from the British Historic Grand Prix Cars Association were devided in a race for front-engined cars and a race for rear-engined cars. Winner of the front-engined cars race was Mark Shaw in the Scarab Offenhauser. The rear-engined cars race was won by Rüdiger Friedrichs in a Cooper T53. Winner of the combined race on Sunday was also Rüdiger Friedrichs.                                                                                         </li> <li><strong>Two-seater racing cars and GTs</strong><br />The two-seater racing cars and GTs up to 1965 are an absolute racing jewel: these sports cars appeared on the starting grid over 70 years ago at legendary long-distance races like Le Mans 24hrs., the Targa Florio and the Sebring 12hrs. The Maserati’s, Ferrari’s, Lotus, Elva, Mercedes, Porsches and two impressive Bizzarini 5300 GTs had a 65-minutes evening race on Saturday with a fireworks display after crossing the finish line. On Sunday another 65-minutes race was held. Winner of both races was Oliver Hartmann in an Elva Mk 7S.                                                                                            </li> <li><strong>Crowd pullers at the weekend - Touring cars, GTs DRM Revival</strong><br />In the field of touring cars of the “Golden Era”, the focus is particularly on former German touring car drivers such as Kris Nissen, Roland Asch, Harald Grohs, Kurt Thiim and many other drivers, who are bringing a great era back to life in these touring cars from the 80s and 90s like the BMW M3, Ford Sierra RS500 Cosworth and Mercedes 190E EVO 2.5-16. Forty-one cars were on the grid for two races. Overall winner was Ronny Scheer in a Ford Sierra Cosworth RS500. <br />The vehicles of the German Racing Championship (DRM Revival) are almost even more legendary, where Group 5 cars like the Ford Capri Turbos, BMW 2002, Porsche 934/5 and even six BMW M1s set the tone.                                                                                                                                                   </li> <li><strong>CanAm Cars & Sportscars</strong><br />The race for the Historic Championship CanAm Cars & Sportscars was quit sensational with three black UOP Can-Am cars from Shadow. These black monstrous machines with their heavy V8 engines were a real feast for the eyes and ears. But also the 8.1 Litre McLarens (driven by Germans Harry Schmidt and Peter Schleifer) and two 5.8 Litres McLarens M1B and M6B were something special.                                                                                                                                           </li> <li><strong>FHR Historic Championship races</strong><br />With around 600 members and around 300 active drivers, the Drivers' Association for Historic Racing (FHR) is Europe's largest racing club in historic motorsport. Two race series were held at this meeting, the Historic Championship ’65 and the Historic Championship '81. Both series are a feast for the eyes for spectators and a challenge for the participants. In the ’65 championship cars like the Jaguar E-Type, Austin Healey 3000, Lotus Elan, Alfa Romeo GTA, Ford GT40 and Porsche 911 are competing. Fifty cars were starting in the pre ’81 championship like BMW 2002, Ford Escort RS1600, Alfa Romeo 1750 GTAm, VW Golf GTi Mk1, Porsche 911 Carrera and even two Lola’s T210.                                                                                                                   </li> <li>With the new main sponsor Belmot, the Oldtimer Grand Prix attracked almost 42,000 spectators at the Nürburgring. The next edition of this event is already being planned and is expected to take place during the first weekend of August 2025.                                                                                                                                                                                                              <em>Pictures by Guus Docen</em></li> </ul></div>]]></description>
			<author>nospam@motormarques.com (Guus Docen)</author>
			<category>European Desk</category>
			<pubDate>Wed, 11 Sep 2024 11:20:49 +0000</pubDate>
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			<title>Nürburgring Classic  24-26 May 2024</title>
			<link>https://www.motormarques.com/news/european-desk/item/796-n%C3%BCrburgring-classic-24-26-may-2024</link>
			<guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.motormarques.com/news/european-desk/item/796-n%C3%BCrburgring-classic-24-26-may-2024</guid>
			<description><![CDATA[<div class="K2FeedImage"><img src="https://www.motormarques.com/media/k2/items/cache/0a47a31ecf1649c40be3821bbc214aed_S.jpg" alt="Nürburgring Classic 24-26 May 2024" /></div><div class="K2FeedIntroText">A week before the ADAC 24 hours endurance race at the Nordschleife, the sixth edition of the ADAC Nürburgring Classic was held from 24 to 26 May on the legendary Nordschleife and Grand Prix Track. Despite the initially changeable weather, over 800 participants took part in seven different racing series and numerous special races on Saturday and Sunday in partly bright sunshine! During this weekend the long version of the Grand Prix was used including the AMG Arena, Goodyear corner and the Veedol chicane.</div><div class="K2FeedFullText"><ul> <li><strong>Touring Cars from the Golden Era</strong><br />In 2022 the race of the touring cars of the golden era was launched as part of the Nürburgring Classic weekend. The high attractiveness of this race series is due to the well-known vehicles from the active years of the touring car racing in Germany from 1984 until 1995. Formerly competing for prominent and well-known racing teams and works teams, the vehicles are now all in collectors' hands and are extensively maintained and "ready to race". Sixty-four cars were competing in two races of which many BMW 3-series and M3s. Both races were won by Yannik Trautwein in a BMW 320i with Kris Nissen in a BMW M3 finishing in second position.                                                                                                                                           </li> <li><strong>Youngtimer Trophy</strong><br />Even after 30 years, the fascination and passion for the Youngtimer Trophy is undiminished. This year, almost eighty drivers were competing in two separate fields. Visitors could experience a unique range of motorsports from the 70s and 80s. The fastest vehicles in this trophy include the Group 5 Porsches, which caused a sensation in the German Racing Championship at the time. But also the highly tuned Opel Kadett GT/E and Ford Escort RS1600 are a pleasure to view from the grandstands. The battles in the individual races went down to the last second and in some cases the finish line was only separated by fractions of a second!                                                                                                             </li> <li><strong>Battle of the Dwarfs</strong><br />In 2013, the club “Battle of the Dwarfs” was founded out of four other race series for small cars: Abarth Coppa Mille, British Car Trophy, NSU TT Trophy and the 1300 Histo Cup. This club currently has about 120 members, 86 of whom are permanently registered for this year’s season. However, guest entrants can also take part in each race. The racing cars that form the basis of the series all have one thing in common, their model year may not be later than 1974. There is also an engine capacity limit of 1300 cc. In the Abarth Coppa Mille, cars such as the Fiat Abarth 1000 TCs, Autobianchi A112 or Fiat 127 with just over a litre of engine capacity start. In the British Car Trophy, the Mini Cooper is the preferred vehicle but there’s also a Hillman Imp! The NSU TT Trophy is for the model 1200 TT. The 1300 Histo-Cup is home to classic touring cars such as the Fiat 128, Simca Rallye or the Simca 1200 S Coupé. This weekend the top three cars were two Mini Coopers (driven by Herbert Wein Jr. and Gregor Nick) and the beautiful Simca 1200 S Coupe driven by Hans März.                                                                                                                                                                                                             </li> <li><strong>Historic Championship '65 and '81</strong><br />This series brings together GTs from the 50s and 60s in sprint races. GTs, touring and racing sports cars built up to 1981 compete in endurance races in the HC-81. Twenty-six cars started a 30 minutes race for HC-65 cars on Saturday. Oliver Hartmann (Elva MK 8) won this race followed by Alexander Kolb in a Shelby Cobra 289. On Sunday the second HC-65 race was held and the both aformentioned drivers finished in the same order. The HC-81 had their 90-minutes race on Sunday with 28 cars on the grid. Felix Haas in a Lola T210 took victory, second place was for the equippe Luco Sanchez - Michael Funke in a Ford GT40.                                                                                                                                                                                       </li> <li><strong>Vintage Meeting</strong><br />An important and very nice issue of this weekend is the vintage meeting of around 100 pre-war cars in the historic paddock of the legendary Nordschleife. This paddock from 1927 is the oldest surviving part of the legendary circuit. There were several Bugattis, Bentleys, Alfa Romeos, Jaguars, Lagondas, Rileys, Wolseleys and MGs but also two Mercedes SSKs, three BMW 328s, an Allard and a Talbot Lago. The vehicles were not only driving on the Grand Prix circuit, their drivers could also enjoy the Nordschleife.                                                                                                        </li> <li><strong>BOSS GP</strong> <br />The abbreviation BOSS stands for Big Open Single Seaters. The top classes from the international single-seater categories past and present will be competing in the races. The F1 class is the top class in which Formula 1 cars from the 1996 season onwards are eligible to compete. The OPEN class is home to IndyCars, ChampCars, prototype single-seaters. Fourteen of these fast and noisy single-seaters were competing at the Grand Prix circuit. German Ulf Ehninger driving a F1 Benetton B197 and Brazilian Antonio Pizzonia in a Dallara World Series V8 scored maximum points for the championship twice.                                                                                                                </li> <li><strong>Historic Monoposto Racing</strong><br />The Historic Monoposto Racing Foundation was founded in 1996 with the aim of keeping the formula cars of the 60s and 70s in racing. The foundation wants to offer customers great races on outstanding tracks with a wonderful atmosphere. For many racing drivers the next step after a successful karting career was very often Formula Vee, Formula Ford 1600, Formula Ford 2000 or Formula 3. Many of these historically significant cars have survived and their owners are keen to drive them again. Thirty-six monoposto’s were racing in two heats during this weekend. Both heats were won by Frank Färber in a 1986 Reynard SF86.                                                                                                                                                                            </li> <li>During this 3-day event the approximately 22,000 visitors were offered close-up motorsport with a unique range of vehicles. A huge firework’s display on Saturday evening and an illuminated Ferris wheel in the paddock attracted the visitors just one week before the 24-hour ADAC race.                                                                                                                                                        <em>                                                                                                                            Pictures by Guus Docen</em></li> </ul></div>]]></description>
			<author>nospam@motormarques.com (Guus Docen)</author>
			<category>European Desk</category>
			<pubDate>Sat, 15 Jun 2024 14:38:59 +0000</pubDate>
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			<title>Spa Classic by Peter Auto -  17-19 May 2024</title>
			<link>https://www.motormarques.com/news/european-desk/item/795-spa-classic-by-peter-auto-17-19-may-2024</link>
			<guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.motormarques.com/news/european-desk/item/795-spa-classic-by-peter-auto-17-19-may-2024</guid>
			<description><![CDATA[<div class="K2FeedImage"><img src="https://www.motormarques.com/media/k2/items/cache/4b0a3f295543bcdb7e84aacab1169fb5_S.jpg" alt="Spa Classic by Peter Auto - 17-19 May 2024" /></div><div class="K2FeedIntroText">Peter Auto specialised in the organisation of races, rallies and events linked to the classic car world, created the Spa-Classic in 2011 on the drivers’ favourite circuit Spa-Francorchamps. This event has grown progressively to become one of Europe’s most important historic racing events. All nine race series organized by Peter Auto were at Spa-Francorchamps to compete, in total 313 racing cars. Each serie has its own clear identity defined by certain period and type of car. These include sports prototypes, touring cars, grand touring cars and sports cars from the 1950s to 2011. It all started with practice sessions and qualifications on Friday in quite bad weather conditions which got so worse around six p.m. that further practices and qualifications were cancelled. Saturday started with a drizzle but during the day the weather got better and better. Sunday started cloudy but in the afternoon the clouds began to drop and the sun got shining brightly.</div><div class="K2FeedFullText"><ul> <li>The<strong> Classic Touring Challenge</strong> is aimed at the first models having participated in the various touring car championships before 1966, starting with the British Saloon Car Championship, created in 1958, and the European Touring Car Championship from 1963. Twenty-three cars turned up at Spa-Francorchamps of which eight cars were Alfa Romeos Sprint GTAs, six Mini-Coopers, three Ford Mustangs, a Ford Falcon, two BMWs and just one Ford Lotus Cortina! No chance for the Lotus Cortina driven by Shaun and Maxwell Lynn as the five GTAs were all top-prepared cars driven by very experienced men like the Banks brothers, Lukas Halusa, Alex Furiani and Frank Stippler. The 60 minutes race was won by the Banks Brothers followed by another four GTAs.                                                                            </li> <li>The <strong>Heritage Touring Cup</strong> has become a successful series amongst the owners and drivers of these saloons, as this cup provides the excitement of the era of the European Touring Car Championship (ETCC) between 1966 and 1985. The most important event of every race-season was the Spa-Francorchamps 24 Hours which became the favourite playing field of the best-known manufacturers and drivers’ majority. During these two decades of touring car racing several manufacturers won this event but BMW was one of the most loyal participants entering a whole string of models ranging from the 1800 Ti in the 60s to the 635 CSi in the 80s. The cars from Munich had several rivals over their long reign and were beaten by the Alfa Romeo GTAs and GTVs, Ford Mustangs and Capri RSs, and Jaguar XJSs. This weekend seventien BMWs, twelve Fords and one Alfa Romeo GTV competed in two 60 minutes races. Yves Scemama scored a double win in his Ford Capri RS3100. On Saturday the BMW 3.0 CSL driven by Michael Kammermann and Sebastian Gläser finished second. On Sunday the Capri driven by Armand Mille followed just 3 seconds behind Scemana.                                                                                                                          </li> <li>The <strong>Sixties’ Endurance</strong>, for pre-63 Sports and pre-66 GTs, offered an impressive grid of 59 cars. A two-hour race on Saturday-evening put together a wide range of cars (E-Type Jaguars, Shelby Cobras, Austin Healeys, Lotus Elans, Morgans SLR and even a Bizzarrini 5300GT). First on the starting grid was the Shelby Cobra 289 driven by the equippe Kadoorie/Perez followed by two E-Types. The race was won by the Jaguar E-Type driven by Jonathan Mitchell. In addition to the traditional overall classification there’s also a weighted classification which favours the smaller cubes and older cars in front of their powerful and younger challengers as the Cobras and E-Types. This gives a very different result as five Lotus Elans are the first classifiers of the race followed by two Morgans SLRs!                                                                 </li> <li>The<strong> Gentlemen Challenge</strong> is open to all cars having marked the major endurance events of the 50’s and early 60’s. Respect and fair-play are the keywords for the drivers in this challenge. Eighty-four cars took part in two 45 minutes races. It’s a rare occasion to see so many iconic GTs and prototypes from the golden age of racing like four Ferraris 250 GT SWB, Lister Jaguars, Lotus XI and 15, Alfa Giulia TZ, Aston Martin DB4 GT, Elva etc. Luc-Pierre Verquin (Lister-Chevrolet) won race 1 on Saturday and James Thorpe (Lister-Jaguar 'Flat Iron') won the race on Sunday.                                                                                                              </li> <li><strong>Classic Endurance Racing 1</strong> echoes one of the most mythical periods in the history of the World Endurance Championship. The racing seasons culminating in the 24 Hours of Le Mans saw the legendary Ford GT40s take on the Ferrari 330 P4, then the Porsche 917s against the Ferrari 512. This was the great era of Sportscars and Prototypes from 1966 to 1971 with Lolas, Chevrons, marques that covered more than half of the starting grids. In GT category Porsches 911 were in the majority. At Francorchamps sixty cars entered the 1 hour race for this championship, twelve Lolas T70, twelve Posches 911, two Ferraris 512 and thirteen Chevrons ranging from a type B8 to a type B19. Father and son Hart from the Netherlands managed to stay ahead of the McLaren M6B 1968 driven by the Banks brothers. In another T70, Armand Mille came in third, followed by the Ferrari 512M of Lukas Halusa and his friend and mechanic Alex Ames. The other Ferrari, a type 312P finished fifth in hands of Remo Lips.<br />The hour race for the <strong>Classic Endurance Racing 2</strong> class showed fewer cars on the grid, twenty-seven cars of which 9 Chevrons, 6 Lola’s, 3 Porsches, 2 Ferrari 512 BBLMs, 2 TOJs and a Cheetah G601. The Lola T298 driven by Stephane Nguyen won the race.                                                                               </li> <li>The most modern cars competing at Francorchamps can be found in the <strong>Endurance Racing Legends</strong>. It brings together machines that young spectators go wild about: GTs and prototypes from the 1990s and 2000s.<br />ERL 1 is intended for GT1 cars such as Aston Martin DBR9, Chevrolet Corvette C4 and Chrysler Vipers GTS-R and prototypes like Bentleys Speed 8, Lola B05/40 and Dome S101. ERL 2 shows cars like the Porsches type 993 GT2, 996 GT3-RSR and 997 GT3 RSR, Ferrari F430 GTC and the Marcos Mantara LM500 and LM600. The abundance of cars in this series was noticeable and made it necessary for Peter Auto to separate the grids into an LMP/GT1 field and a GT2 field, each getting two races. A car with Dutch history took victory in the first LMP/GT1 race: the newly restored Dome-Judd S101 with which Racing for Holland once competed. Alex Müller won on Saturday, but the Dome had to drop out on Sunday with gearbox problems. That gave David & Olivier Hart the opportunity to win the second race in their Courage C60. In the GT2 races, Philip Kadoorie was the strongest in both races: his Ferrari 430 GTC Evo stayed ahead of the Porsche 993 GT2 of Mark Sumpter and another 430 GTC Evo of Le Mans veteran Pierre Ehret.                                                                             </li> <li>The <strong>Group C</strong> regulations, in force between 1982 and 1993, led to the production of legendary cars that wrote some of the most glorious pages in the history of the Le Mans 24 Hours and the Sports Car World Endurance Championship. Group C is arguably a great attraction of Peter Auto’s rolling circus. This year, however, it almost got cancelled because the complete fleet consisted of just fifteen cars. The entry list for Francorchamps showed all fifteen cars but twelve cars qualified of which the Jaguar XJR-11 driven by Olivier Hart was fastest. Greek Kriton Lendoudis, seventh during qualifying, in the silver 1990 Mercedes C11 was too strong for Olivier and won both races.                                                                                                          </li> <li>The <strong>Classic Porsche 911 2.0 Cup</strong> is the only single-make of series by Peter Auto. It is reserved for 2-litre short wheelbase early Porsche 911s prepared in accordance with FIA pre-66 regulations.<br />This grid was created in association with Britons Lee Maxted-Page (Porsche specialist) and James Turner (Sports Purpose). What really makes the difference here is not the car but the driver. The short wheelbase 2.0 litre 911 is a car that you drive with your whole body. It is powered by the rear-engined flat 6 which can result inmassive powersliding in the hairpins. So a car really great fun to drive! Twenty-eight cars drove a 90 minutes race at Spa with the equippe Matthew Holme/Andrew Jordan on top of the podium.                                                                                      </li> <li>The organisers noted over 1000 club cars on display, the Ferrari Drivers Club had a lineup of parked modern-day cars in the centre of the compound. Animation and shows encompassed a wide variety of activities, exhibitions, a parade of old scooters, dancers and vintage make-up artists, offering something for every age group. In the centre of the paddock area was the display of five Porsches 917. In 2023, the Belgian meeting attracted over 22,000 spectators and this year almost 25,000 enthusiasts travelled to the beautiful track of Spa-Francorchamps!                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              <em>Pictures by Guus Docen</em></li> </ul></div>]]></description>
			<author>nospam@motormarques.com (Guus Docen)</author>
			<category>European Desk</category>
			<pubDate>Fri, 07 Jun 2024 19:38:30 +0000</pubDate>
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			<title>Motor Museums in Schramberg, Germany (1) -  The Steim Automobile Collection</title>
			<link>https://www.motormarques.com/news/european-desk/item/794-motor-museums-in-schramberg,-germany-1-the-steim-automobile-collection</link>
			<guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.motormarques.com/news/european-desk/item/794-motor-museums-in-schramberg,-germany-1-the-steim-automobile-collection</guid>
			<description><![CDATA[<div class="K2FeedImage"><img src="https://www.motormarques.com/media/k2/items/cache/59107b985636086705aabc0c717a42ae_S.jpg" alt="Motor Museums in Schramberg, Germany (1) - The Steim Automobile Collection" /></div><div class="K2FeedIntroText">Schramberg is a town situated in the eastern Black Forest. As with many other black forest communities, industrialisation began in Schramberg in the 19th century. In 1861 the Junghans clock factory was founded in Schramberg. At the beginning of the 20th century Junghans became the biggest clock factory worldwide with 3000 employees. The founder of the Steim car collection is the entrepreneur Hans-Jochem Steim from Schramberg. Steim is no stranger to the watch industry or the company, having made his fortune through a business manufacturing high precision springs, which had been supplying Nivarox hairsprings to Junghans since the 1930s. Steim, already enthusiastic about automobiles from his youth, bought his first vintage car (a 1928 Ford model A) in the United States in 1977. Gradually, numerous vehicles from various automobile manufacturers from 1902 to the present day were added to his collection.</div><div class="K2FeedFullText"><ul> <li>Another milestone in the history of the Steim car collection was the takeover of the Andrew Adler collection from Toledo (Ohio, USA) in the spring of 2005. This ultimately gave the Steim family reason to make the vehicles available to the public in their hometown of Schramberg. In 2006, the former building of the watch spring factory was reconstructed, creating a museum with an exhibition area of 3,000 square meters divided over two floors. The museum was officially opened in May 2007. In addition to the Steim family's vehicles, loans are also on display. About 150 cars are exhibited with good information boards. The special thing about this collection is not only the variety of different brands, but also the fact that most vehicles are ready to be used.                                                                                                 </li> <li>The story of a 1910 Brasier CM2 Tourer is spectacular. It starts tragically with an accident in 1916. The car ends up in Swiss Zuger lake due to an evasive maneuver, killing the 62-year-old driver and his 26-year-old son. In 1967, a diving club from Zürich discovered the wreck. It was located at a depth of 25 meters. The idea arises to fish it up. With much effort, the remains of the Brasier literally surfaces two years later. Due to the constant temperature of 5 degrees Celsius in which the car was been kept all these years, the wooden parts were reasonably well preserved, even the wheels were still intact. After an extensive ten-year restoration project, the car was able to drive the road again. Just 150 six-cylinder Brasiers were built and this car is the last remaining six-cylinder Brasier in the world. So the rescue operation was definitely worth it.                                                                             </li> <li>The Adler Super Trumpf from 1937 was one of the cars which participated in the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the 24 hours of Spa in 1938. In preparation for the 1939 Le Mans race the car was modified with a 2 litre engine and a smaller radiator grille. For some reason the car wasn’t entered for the race and in 1939 the Alder factory sold the car. The owner kept the car until 1947 when it was sold to an American Air Force Colonel. The car was shipped to the United States and in 1954 a certain Mr. Adler (already mentioned above and no relationship with the marque!) acquired the car and kept it for a long time. In the 70s he decided to have the body of car in it’s original color again and started sanding of the dark blue paint. The project stalled and Mr.Adler died in 2004. The car was sold and in October 2005 it was shipped back to Europe and mechanically prepared to be shown at the Le Mans Classic that year. The body of the Adler is still as it was when Mr.Adler sanded it down.                                                                                          </li> <li>Mr. Adler was a serious classic car collector as he also owned the 1935 Mercedes-Benz 500K which is on display in the museum. In 1935 the car was ordered at the Mercedes-Benz factory by the manager of the Ritz Hotel in London. The car was shipped without body to the UK and the British company Windovers designed and fabricated the body. The company was a trusted bodymaker for Rolls-Royce, hence the similarity of this car with Rolls Royces from the same period. In 1999 Mr.Steim was so fortunate to buy the 500K from the Andrew Adler. The restoration took 13 years.                                                                                              </li> <li>Another highlight of the collection is the Maybach DS8 Zeppelin from 1932. The brown and beige car is in impeccable condition The bodywork by Spohn from Ravensburg is impressive and chic at the same time. DS is an abbreviation of Doppel Sechs (double six), a reference to the twelve-cylinder engine. The capacity is 8 liters, the power is 210 hp. The car was ordered by a female bank owner from Paris with right-hand drive so the chauffeur could quickly open the door and let her out.                                                                                                   <br />Other rarities are the 1959 Mercedes 300 of former Federal President Heinrich Lübke, a De Dion Bouton from 1902, the 1914 Simplex La France and the 1922 Mercer Series 5 Raceabout. The Museum is open from Tuesday until Sunday from 10.00 h. to 17.00 h.</li> </ul></div>]]></description>
			<author>nospam@motormarques.com (Guus Docen)</author>
			<category>European Desk</category>
			<pubDate>Thu, 18 Jan 2024 11:25:04 +0000</pubDate>
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			<title>30th Spa Six Hours - Francorchamps 27 September-1 October 2023</title>
			<link>https://www.motormarques.com/news/european-desk/item/793-30th-spa-six-hours-francorchamps-27-september-1-october-2023</link>
			<guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.motormarques.com/news/european-desk/item/793-30th-spa-six-hours-francorchamps-27-september-1-october-2023</guid>
			<description><![CDATA[<div class="K2FeedImage"><img src="https://www.motormarques.com/media/k2/items/cache/d1b649d7a1dd257acec4d62941b366d2_S.jpg" alt="30th Spa Six Hours - Francorchamps 27 September-1 October 2023" /></div><div class="K2FeedIntroText">For the 30th edition of the Spa Six Hours Meeting the format and time schedule got a facelift and the event was now spread over 5 days. On Wednesday the 27th, the circuit was available for drivers to experience the track during non-timed free practice sessions, while qualifying took place on Thursday the 28th. Friday and Saturday the races were held. Sunday the BEHVA (BElgian Historic Vehicle Association) and organizer Roadbook joined forces to allow oldtimer owners and drivers to enjoy the track.</div><div class="K2FeedFullText"><ul> <li><strong>The Spa Six Hours 6-hour race</strong><br />Eighty-seven cars were registered for the six hours endurance race. The best chance to secure yourself from a result in the top ten is to enter the race in a Ford GT40. There were eighteen of these successful long-distance racing vehicles on the starting grid in the GTP+ class. The other classes were filled with various Lotus Elans, Ford Mustangs and Falcons, Shelby Cobras, Shelby Daytona Coupes, Jaguar E-Types, Porsche 911s, MGBs, Triumphs TR4 and even a Fiat-Abarth 1000 TC with three Italian drivers. With a best training time of 3.07.361 minutes, Marcus Graf von Oeynhausen was the fastest GT40 driver, followed by Oliver Bryant in second place with a time of 3.09.602 minutes. In third place behind the Graf was Nikolaus Ditting with a time of 3.10.519 minutes , next to him David Hart with 3.11.991 minutes. During the first 13 laps the equippe Oeynhausen/Verdonck (Ford GT40) were in the lead. From lap 14 the GT40 equippe Griffiths/Shedden/Priaulx took over the lead. True to tradition of this endurance race there were several race incidents with cars going of track. There were eight safety car periods and several GT40-teams, including Bryant-Cottingham, Hart-Hart-Pastorelli, Ditting-Hancock and Pearson-Brundle weren’t able to finish the race. The order of the teams in second and third position was changing constantly. In the last hour the Oeynhausen/Verdonck GT40 was in second place but a severe brake failure forced them to make a pitstop and it appeared the mechanics weren’t able to solve the problem within a few minutes so they decided to finish the race at a much slower pace. The Lotus Elan of the Jordan-Tordoff-Dorlin had already made much progress, from starting position 31 as they moved their tiny Lotus flawlessly through the field of Ford GT 40s when they finally managed to get in second place in front of the poor braking GT40. In the penultimate lap also the Wood-Nuthall-Lyons GT40 team were able to pass the Oeynhausen/Verdonck GT40. So Griffiths/Shedden/Priaulx won the race followed by the Jordan-Tordoff-Dorlin equippe in the Lotus Elan and a third place on the podium for Wood-Nuthall-Lyons. A notable result was that the Tessaro brothers from Italy finishing in a 57th position in their small Fiat-Abarth 1000 TC! Would be great if more small touring cars enter the Six Hours race next year.</li> <li><strong>HGPCA - Pre '66 Grand Prix Car</strong>s<strong>                                                                                            </strong>Friday afternoon the first race of the Historic Grand Prix Cars Association was held and they had to deal with rain midway through the race. This led to countless pirouettes. The Coopers T53 and T79 dominated in the provisional top 6 and it was Tim Child's Brabham BT3/4 that emerged to win ahead of Michael Gans (Cooper T79) and Rudi Friedrichs (Cooper T53). Friedrichs had been leading for a long time but encountered gearbox problems at the very end of the race. It was expected that from the started front-engined cars, the Maserati 250F driven by John Spiers would end up in the top ten but he ran off track at Les Combes, allowing Mark Shaw to win in the American Scarab Offenhauser, ahead of the two Cooper Bristol Mk2s of Ian Nuthall and Paul Grant. After the victory of Tim Child's Brabham BT3/4 the day before, the Coopers took a dazzling revenge on Saturday. It was Michael Gans who took the lead, taking a fine victory in the Cooper T79. Gans held off Justin Maeers' Cooper T53 to the finish, while Briton Andy Middlehurst, in an ex-Jim Clark Lotus 25, got the better of Tim Child, whose car suffered engine problems. John Spiers made a comeback in the front-engined category, winning ahead of the Cooper Bristol Mk2s of Ian Nuthall and Paul Grant.</li> <li><strong>Belcar Historic Cup</strong><br />While the weather forecasts were rather optimistic for Friday, a torrential downpour hit the circuit during Race 1 in the afternoon ! In these very tricky conditions, the impressive Belcar Historic Cup field experienced some very intense moments, with repeated tyre changes and countless incidents. Having opted for slicks, Guy Fastres (BMW M3 E30) retained the lead until the Bavarian car crashed into the guard rail just before the Double Left corner! With other incidents occurring at the same time, the red flag was waved... and Fastres was declared the winner ahead of Eric Nulens (Porsche 964) and Italian Ilaria Stalliviera driving a first-generation Renault Clio equipped with conventional tyres! A few hours later, a salvo of penalties changed the classification once again, and it was Ilaria Stalliviera who was declared the winner! Michel Kowaleski (Ford Escort Mk2) won the Oldtimers category ahead of Eric Damseaux (Mini Cooper S) and Britain's Harry Barton (BMW 2002)! After the severe weather conditions of Friday, the second race on Saturday was held under optimal conditions. The powerful Ford Capri 3100 RS driven by Dutchman Wim Kuijl was back to the front within two laps followed by the Corvette C4 of the Belgian Luc Branckaerts. Dutchman Kuijl won the race ahead of Luc Branckaerts. Erik Qvick's BMW 320i E36 STW finished third.</li> <li><strong>Pre-war on Sunday</strong><br />The field of pre-war vehicles offered some pretty cars of which most of them were Bentleys. Although the 1921 GN Parker of Justin and Charles Maeers had taken pole position, technical problems caused that they feld back in the field of '20s and '30s sportscars. Rudi Friedrichs (Alvis Firefly Special) and Gareth Burnett (Talbot 105) both benefitted from these circumstances as they successively topped the standings... until they got into trouble themselves! Ross Keeling and Callum Lockie then won with their magnificent Delahaye 135 ahead of Christopher Mann's Alfa Romeo 8C Monza and Martin Halusa's Bugatti Type 35!</li> <li><strong>Masters Gentlemen Drivers & Pre-66 Touring Cars</strong><br />Saturday-morning began with a 90-minutes semi-endurance race. A fierce battle occured between some Jaguar E-Types, two TVR Griffiths, a Shelby Cobra Daytona and a Lotus Elan 26R. Starting from pole position, John Spiers' TVR held on to the leading group, before Nigel Greensall (also a TVR Griffith) propelled himself to the top of the standings to take a superb victory ahead of the Jaguar E-Type of Gary and John Pearson and the Lotus Elan 26R of Giles Dawson. In the 60 minutes touring car race, Sam Tordoff won by force majeure in his Ford Falcon Sprint, ahead of the Ford Mustang of Jake Hill and Rob Fenn, and the Ford Falcon of Richard McAlpine.</li> <li><strong>Masters Sports Car Legends</strong><br />The Lolas dominated the race of the Masters Sports Cars Legends, even though American Kyle Tilley tried to interfere with his Chevron B23. Unfortunately, brake problems propelled the car into the Les Combes emergency lane, before it retired to the pitlane. Diogo Ferrao from Portugal drove his Lola T292 together with Briton Martin Stretton to victory ahead of the Lola T70s of Jason Wright and the Stephan Joebstl-Andy Willys duo. Alexander Furiani and Belgian François Fabri took 4th place in a Chevron B19.</li> <li><strong>Masters Racing Legends – Formula 1 Cars 66-85</strong><br />It started raining just before fifteen formula 1 cars (dating from 1971 to 1982) drove their formation lap In the game of tyre roulette, some opted for slicks, others for rain tyres. Although poleman Mike Cantillon (Williams FW07C) got off to the best start, the Irishman made a mistake shortly after passing La Source, allowing Nick Padmore (Lotus 711) to take the lead. After a Safety Car period caused by Yutaka Toriba (Williams FW05) running off the track, Cantillon caught up with the leading pack and went on to impose his ex-Keke Rosberg car ahead of Padmore's ex-Gunnar Nilsson Lotus and Ken Tyrrell (Tyrrell 011). It was Maximilian Werner who totally dominated race 2 on Saturday of the historic F1 cars at the wheel of the ex-Nelson Piquet Brabham BT49, in front of the Tyrrell 011 of American Ken Tyrrell and the Williams FW07-C of Irishman Mike Cantillon. In the non-ground-effect single-seaters category, it was Nick Padmore's Lotus 77 that took another victory, well ahead of Ewen Sergison's Surtees TS9B.</li> <li><strong>Masters Endurance Legends</strong> <br />A more impressive starting grid for the Masters Endurance Legends, with 19 cars on the grid. In the absence of Christian Gläsel's Pescarolo-Judd, which crashed during qualifying, the race was led in the opening laps by the two Peugeot 90Xs of Steve Brooks and Stuart Wiltshire. Brooks crashed his Peugeot in lap 5 and the safety car entered the track. When the track was clear, Wiltshire took off to win ahead of Olivier Galant's HPD ARX03 and Antoine d'Ansembourg's Dallara Oreca. In the GT category, the Chrysler Viper GTS-R of Christophe Van Riet and Eric Mestdagh led for a long time, before the Aston Martin Vantage GT3 of Claude Bovet and David McDonald took the lead to win the GT category. The Belgian national anthem sounded on Saturday morning at the end of Race 2 as Antoine d'Ansembourg won the race in his ex-Didier Theys Dallara-Oreca ahead of the Lola-Judd of Briton Steve Tandy and the Zytek 09S of Canadian Keith Frieser. In the GT category, another win for the Aston Martin Vantage GT3 of Swiss driver Claude Bovet and Briton David McDonald, who again beat the Chrysler Viper GTS-R of Belgian drivers Christophe Van Riet and Eric Mestdagh.</li> <li><strong>Sport Proto 2000</strong><br />The smallest starting field of the weekend and actually a bit of a shame with only seven cars on the grid for a 60 minutes race ! Four of those seven cars were Chevron B8s. The Roadbook organization decided to turn the raceclock back to 45 minutes ! It seems SportProto2000 is a new series organized by Germans that will fully unfold in 2024….                                                                 </li> <li>The first edition of this event in 1993 was a race on Sunday with training in the morning and the actual race in the afternoon with just 40 cars. The growth of this event went quickly, especially due to the participation of the British racing clubs. During the years more than 70 percent of the drivers and racing teams at the Six Hours event came from Britain. Since Brexit this number has dropped significantely because of the financial and administrative hassle to travel to the European mainland and back with a racing car on a trailer. No Formula Junior Lurani Trophy or RAC Woodcote Trophy & The Stirling Moss Trophy this year. Already 5 years ago the Historic Sport Cars Club had their last touring car race at the Spa Six Hours. Understandable when you can also drive your racing car on various nice circuits in your home country. All European classic racing organizers suffer from Brexit. For every organizer a big challenge to have a fully booked event which will attract many visitors…                                                                                                                          <em>Pictures Guus Docen</em></li> </ul></div>]]></description>
			<author>nospam@motormarques.com (Guus Docen)</author>
			<category>European Desk</category>
			<pubDate>Fri, 20 Oct 2023 15:59:44 +0000</pubDate>
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			<title>Oldtimer Grand Prix 11-13 August 2023</title>
			<link>https://www.motormarques.com/news/european-desk/item/791-oldtimer-grand-prix-11-13-august-2023</link>
			<guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.motormarques.com/news/european-desk/item/791-oldtimer-grand-prix-11-13-august-2023</guid>
			<description><![CDATA[<div class="K2FeedImage"><img src="https://www.motormarques.com/media/k2/items/cache/e1a325047b148c9441be2b14c42dc196_S.jpg" alt="Oldtimer Grand Prix 11-13 August 2023" /></div><div class="K2FeedIntroText">The Oldtimer Grand Prix is "Back on Track". After the cancellation of the event in 2021 due to the flood disaster in the Ahrtal valley there was a restart in 2022 with the 49th edition of this classic race event. From 2022 the AvD (Automobile Club of Germany) stopped organizing this event and two other clubs (CHRSN and HMSC) that already supported this event from the start in 1973, took over the organization. Approximately 500 historic racing cars from almost all eras competed in some exciting races. Weather conditions were fine on Friday with much sunshine, Saturday started with rain but late in the morning the sky cleared and from the afternoon it remained dry. Sunday was cloudy but without rain.</div><div class="K2FeedFullText"><ul> <li><strong>Pre-war Cars in the old paddock</strong><br />The main attraction of this event are of course the races at the Grand Prix circuit but also the old paddock area is worth a visit. The finest racing cars of bygone eras stood here in the historic garages or in the middle of the old paddock guarded by their 'gentleman owners', who were happy to provide information about their precious cars from the pre-war period like a Mercedes-Benz SSKL which had won the opening race in 1927 driven by Rudolf Caracciola. These cars could be seen on the legendary Nordschleife on Friday for some demo rounds. One of these Gentlemen owners German Uli Sauer owning a pre-war BMW 328, was honoured by the organizers as the most loyal and only participant, who had attended this event each year since its debut in 1973. The Nürburgring and the event community dedicated a tree to him along the Rolf-Stommelen road, the connecting road between the historic paddock and the modern Grand Prix paddock, where a small park honours selected people with a very special connection to the Eifel track.                                                                                                                                   </li> <li><strong>Touring cars of the “Golden Era”</strong><br />One of the highlights were the two runs for the Touring cars of the “Golden Era” with 41 starters. Amongst the drivers were professionals from the “good old days", the two Danes Kris Nissen (Le Mans winner and former VW head of sport) and Kurt Thiim (1985 DTM champion). While Nissen drove at the front and even finished fourth in the second race in a BMW M3 E30, his compatriot Kurt Thiim retired after 3 laps with technical problems, he was driving a huge Volvo 240 GRA. Former professionals Roland Asch, Harald Grohs and Olaf Manthey also competed in this race. Another eye-catcher was the Opel Manta with a fox tail as the special trademark. The Swiss Michael Kammermann won both races driving a 1976 BMW 3.0 CSL.                                                                                                                                                                                       </li> <li><strong>German Racing Championship Revival</strong><br />Another great field of cars could be seen in the races of the DRM Revival. This German Racing Championship was founded in 1972 but during all the years of extensive development these Group 5 racing cars became far too expensive in the early 1980s and this championship was stopped. A good example is the Ford Capri Turbo, with which Klaus Ludwig became DRM champion in 1982. This Ford Capri was a kind of "Überauto", built by the company Zakspeed in Niederzissen. The engine is based on a 1.3 litre 4-cylinder Cosworth BDA-engine but is enlarged by Zakspeed to 1740 cc. and was turbocharged developing 540 Bhp. Weight of the car is just 880 kg. This car is restored for classic racing events and is now being driven by father and son Mücke from Berlin.                                                                                                                                 </li> <li><strong>Single Seaters</strong><br />Entrants from the UK where much less than in previous years but the Historic Sports Car Club from the UK were present with their Formula 2 championship, although only 9 cars were at the start on Saturday and on Sunday even less with just 8 cars. More single seater races could be seen in the Formula Junior Lurani Trophy with a strong field of more than 40 cars. Also the Historic Grand Prix Car Association was present with 46 cars on the starting grid.                                                                                                                                                      </li> <li>These three days at the Nürburgring proved again the unbroken fascination for classic cars and racing historic cars from the 1920s to the early 1990s. Sorely missed, not only by the media but also by many of the visitors, were the large hospitality tents and display areas from the German major automobile manufacturers like Porsche, Mercedes-Benz, BMW or Ford. At the Goodwood Festival of Speed in Goodwood the money is spent lavishly by these companies to offer visitors a mega show but they didn’t show up at the 50th anniversary of the most renowned classic race event in Germany! <br />With 50,000 visitors it’s still a successful event that deserves to be continued. The 51st AvD Oldtimer Grand Prix is expected to take place the second weekend in August 2024.                                                                                                                                                                              <em>Pictures by Guus Docen</em>                                                                                                                             </li> </ul></div>]]></description>
			<author>nospam@motormarques.com (Guus Docen)</author>
			<category>European Desk</category>
			<pubDate>Wed, 30 Aug 2023 19:55:06 +0000</pubDate>
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			<title>Spa-Francorchamps Summer Classic 7-9 July 2023</title>
			<link>https://www.motormarques.com/news/european-desk/item/790-spa-francorchamps-summer-classic-7-9-july-2023</link>
			<guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.motormarques.com/news/european-desk/item/790-spa-francorchamps-summer-classic-7-9-july-2023</guid>
			<description><![CDATA[<div class="K2FeedImage"><img src="https://www.motormarques.com/media/k2/items/cache/7c7b96f53ac4e184df929c559e57af26_S.jpg" alt="Spa-Francorchamps Summer Classic 7-9 July 2023" /></div><div class="K2FeedIntroText">The 15th edition of Spa Summer Classic was again an eclectic event as the programme featured cars from the '60s, '70s, '80s, '90s and even the early 2000s. The most important race of the weekend was again the Spa 3 Hours, starting at 19.00 h. and a finish at nightfall. Considered as the 'little sister' of the Spa Six Hours Endurance race, this race welcomes touring cars and GTs built until 1976. The public was be able to visit this event without paying entry fee with access to the whole circuit, including the new stands at the Raidillon curve and the Endurance zone.</div><div class="K2FeedFullText"><ul> <li>The Spa 3 Hours race welcomed 67 racing teams with a crew of professional mechanics in the pits. Winners in 2021 and 2022 Christophe Van Riet and Fred Bouvy (Shelby Cobra) didn’t participate this year. The Ginetta G4R driven by Palle Pedersen/Nicolai Kjaergaard (Denmark) took the pole position followed by the Porsche 911 3.0 RS driven by Lars Rolner (DK) and Pierre-Alain Thibaut (Be). After 8 laps the Ginetta was out of the race and for the next six laps the lead was in hands of Rolner/Thibaut. From lap 38 the British equippe Tordoff/Jordan (Lotus Elan) were able to catch up an impressive number of cars and in lap 40 they took the lead and won the three hours race. Last year this equippe was also very succesfull as they steered the same Lotus to an impressive sixth overall in the Six Hours race. Can’t wait to see them in the 2023 Spa Six Hours !</li> <li>The Bimmer Race Car Challenge (BRCC) made its debut this weekend at Francorchamps, and promises to present spectacle races for fans of the German brand. Organized by the same team behind the Youngtimer Touring Car Challenge (YTCC), the BRCC hosts a range of competition BMWs up to 1991. 'Bimmer' is a nickname commonly used to describe BMW cars. The name Bimmer originated in the 1970s in the United States. It is derived from "Beemer" or "Beamer", nicknames for BMW motorbikes that originated in the UK. There were Fortythree BMWs on the grid, most of 3-series including M3 (E30 and E36), 325i but also an M1 Procar.</li> <li>Sixty six cars started in the Colmore Youngtimer Touring Car Challenge, a series for Touring Cars, GTs, Sports Cars, Prototypes and even Le Mans and Imsa cars until 1990. In 1993 this racing series started as the Youngtimer Trophy in the Netherlands and during the years it has become much more a European series so in 2008 it was decided to rename the Youngtimer Trophy into Youngtimer Touring Car Challenge or YTCC. The YTCC has now become a non-championship international racing series with participants from the Netherlands, Germany, Great-Britain, Sweden, Denmark and Switzerland. At Spa two races were won by the German Walter Hoffmann in a McLaren MC1. The third race on Sunday was won by the German Christian Nowak in a CN-Cobra.</li> <li>The combined series Dutch GTs&Touring Cars Championship and German Triumph Competition & British HTGT had two races with 47 cars on the grid. The TVR Griffith driven by Oliver and Nigel Reuben were on pole position and won both races. The striking Plymouth Barracuda driven by Swede Jari Konola finished third in both races.</li> <li>The Belcar Historic & Youngtimer Cup is a championship suited for youngtimers built until 2000. On the grid was a various mix of brands, in total 50 cars. BMW E30 M3, Ford Capri RS3100, Ford Escort RS2000, Renault Alpine A110, Mini Cooper S but also a Volvo 240 Turbo and a Toyota Celica ! Belgium Wim Kuijl (Ford Capri RS3100) won the race on Saturday and Luc Moortgat (Porsche 964) finished first in race two on Sunday.</li> <li>The only single seater open wheel racing cars competing this weekend were the Formula 3 cars from the Drexler Formula Cup. More than 35 cars started in two exciting races, most of them Dallara’s with a 2 litre 4 cylinder engine from Mercedes, VW,Fiat and Toyota.</li> <li>Weather conditions were quite extreme this weekend with temperatures rising to 30 degrees Celsius on Saturday. Sunday afternoon it became cloudy and within an hour it started to rain during the second race of the Dutch GTs&Touring Cars Championship and Triumph Competition & British HTGT. The last two races Belcar Historic Cup and Bimmer Challenge could be watched at a more pleasant temperature. Again a very nice classic race-event at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit.</li> </ul></div>]]></description>
			<author>nospam@motormarques.com (Guus Docen)</author>
			<category>European Desk</category>
			<pubDate>Sat, 22 Jul 2023 18:06:02 +0000</pubDate>
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			<title>Nürburgring Classic  26-28 May 2023</title>
			<link>https://www.motormarques.com/news/european-desk/item/789-n%C3%BCrburgring-classic-26-28-may-2023</link>
			<guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.motormarques.com/news/european-desk/item/789-n%C3%BCrburgring-classic-26-28-may-2023</guid>
			<description><![CDATA[<div class="K2FeedImage"><img src="https://www.motormarques.com/media/k2/items/cache/c3562f2e9521020de502f370ac3fbe48_S.jpg" alt="Nürburgring Classic 26-28 May 2023" /></div><div class="K2FeedIntroText">Just one week after the ADAC 24 hours endurance race at the Nordschleife, the fifth edition of the ADAC Nürburgring Classic was held from May 26 to 28 May on the legendary Nordschleife and Grand Prix Track. The weather conditions couldn’t be better, sunshine and 20 degrees Celsius. Regularity runs as well as races were held on the 5.4 km long Grand Prix course. They was a great gathering of the German Ford Capri Club and the British BMW M3 Club. The owners could drive the Nordschleife for 30 minutes.</div><div class="K2FeedFullText"><ul> <li>The old paddock was filled with more than hundred racing cars from the pre-war era. The owners could drive their precious cars on the Nordschleife on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. In total four hours of enjoyment on this legendary track !                                                                                                                      </li> <li>For this event it seems to be difficult to get full and therefore attractive starting fields onto the track. For instance in the CanAm & Sportscars + Group C race just twelve cars were registered. Formula 1 cars in general are the spectators magnet of a classic racing event, unfortunately a real race wasn’t in the programme. There was a demonstration run of the FORCE F1 Legends with eight cars from the 1970s to the 1990s. Three of the cars were Ferraris from Modena Motorsport of which the ex-Jacky Ickx type 312 B2 from 1972 was the most special.                                                                                                                                                                 </li> <li>The successful series of touring cars and GTs, the Youngtimer Trophy, was devided in two starting grids. Grid 1 with the 52 touring cars from the sixties and seventies up to 2000 cc. like the NSU TT, Opel Kadett C Coupé, VW Golf Mark I, VW Scirocco, Mini Cooper and even a Chevrolet Camaro and Lada 2101 ! The other grid were 34 fast cars over 2000 cc. from the seventies and eighties like the Porsche Carrera RSR, BMW M3 and BMWs of the E36 series.                                                                                                    </li> <li>Biggest starting grid of this event were the small cars from the racing series Battle of the Dwarfs. In total 54 cars like Mini Cooper, NSU TT, Simca Rally 2, Fiat Abarth 1000 TC, Autobianchi A112, Fiat 128 Coupé and also a Simca 1200 S Coupé, Alfa Romeo 1300 GTA and Renault Alpine A110 1300. These cars performed a great show on Saturday but sadly the race on Sunday-afternoon ended with a fatal accident. A Dutch Mini driver suffered a heart attack on the start-finish straight and crashed into the tyre wall behind the chicane.  A sad end of a nice historic racing weekend. The ADAC Nürburgring Classic is still a not-to-be missed event for the classic car enthusiast !</li> </ul></div>]]></description>
			<author>nospam@motormarques.com (Guus Docen)</author>
			<category>European Desk</category>
			<pubDate>Wed, 21 Jun 2023 10:40:14 +0000</pubDate>
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			<title>The Unimog Museum in Germany</title>
			<link>https://www.motormarques.com/news/european-desk/item/788-the-unimog-museum-in-germany</link>
			<guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.motormarques.com/news/european-desk/item/788-the-unimog-museum-in-germany</guid>
			<description><![CDATA[<div class="K2FeedImage"><img src="https://www.motormarques.com/media/k2/items/cache/116c4a6f4a9ff848cca05952e5c3c420_S.jpg" alt="The Unimog Museum in Germany" /></div><div class="K2FeedIntroText">The first Unimog model was designed by Boehringer shortly after World War II to be used in agriculture as a self-propelled machine providing a power take-off to operate saws in forests or harvesting machines on fields. It was designed with permanent all-wheel drive, with equal-size wheels, in order to be driven on roads at higher speeds than standard farm tractors. Daimler-Benz took over manufacture of the Unimog in 1951, and first produced it in their Gaggenau plant under the Mercedes-Benz brand. However, the first Unimog to feature the three-pointed Mercedes-Benz star was only introduced in 1953. The Murgtal in Gaggenau had been the home of Mercedes-Benz Unimog production for decades, before production was relocated to Wörth. But the people of the city Gaggenau (state Baden-Württemberg) were so attached to the Unimog that in 2006 the Unimog Museum was founded by private citizens.</div><div class="K2FeedFullText">The exhibition, tracing the history of the vehicles themselves and major world events since 1945, is a loving tribute to the “Universalmotorgerät” or Unimog. The vehicles represent the various decades of Unimog history. In many cases, the vehicles have a variety of attachments demonstrating the full range of uses to which they were put.<br />Unimogs feature a flexible frame that allows the tires a wide range of vertical movement to allow the truck to comfortably drive over extremely uneven terrain, even boulders of one metre in height. Due to their off-road capabilities, Unimogs can be found in mountains, deserts and jungles, as military vehicles, fire fighters and expedition campers. In Western Europe, they are commonly used as snowploughs, municipal equipment carriers, agricultural implements, construction equipment and road-rail vehicles.<br />A guided tour of the museum offers visitors the chance to discover amazing stories and developments, experience as a passenger a sensational Unimog tour on the test circuit or take part in a driver training session. The museum combines pure Unimog experience for all the family – with good cuisine, and a museum shop.                                                                                                               <em>Pictures by Guus Docen</em></div>]]></description>
			<author>nospam@motormarques.com (Guus Docen)</author>
			<category>European Desk</category>
			<pubDate>Sat, 04 Mar 2023 11:36:23 +0000</pubDate>
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			<title>DAF Museum in the Netherlands</title>
			<link>https://www.motormarques.com/news/european-desk/item/787-daf-museum</link>
			<guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.motormarques.com/news/european-desk/item/787-daf-museum</guid>
			<description><![CDATA[<div class="K2FeedImage"><img src="https://www.motormarques.com/media/k2/items/cache/90c57ca8306bf148ef75c82407e738af_S.jpg" alt="DAF Museum in the Netherlands" /></div><div class="K2FeedIntroText">DAF is the abbreviation of Van Doorne’s Automobiel Fabriek (Van Doorne Car Factory). DAF’s history goes back to 1928 when the brothers Hub and Wim van Doorne formed the basis of their car factory in the city of Eindhoven, the Netherlands. What started as a small engineering and forging workshop developed itself the production of trailers in 1932 and the production of trucks in 1949. The production of passenger cars started with the model 600 in 1958. It was a small family car and the first production car to have a continuously variable transmission (CVT) - the innovative DAF Variomatic. The 600 was presented at the Amsterdam Motor Show in February 1958 and was in production by 1959.</div><div class="K2FeedFullText"><ul> <li>The museum, which opened its doors in 1993, is located on the spot where Hub and Wim van Doorne started their business in 1928, in the workshop of a brewery from 1884, in the entre of city Eindhoven. In 2019 the DAF museum has undergone an eighteen months renovation and modernization. There’s a completely new entrance area, a nice restaurant and a gift shop. However, the biggest change becomes obvious once you enter the exhibition space — a completely new wing has been added, providing no less than 1,100 m2 of extra space. With almost 60,000 recorded visitors per year, the DAF Museum is one of the most popular museums in the Eindhoven region.                                                                                                                                                                                                                 </li> <li>The ground floor accommodates a pleasant village square, with shops from the 1930s, a welcoming pub, a period garage and a replica of the Van Doornes' office. From here you can start your tour through the museum to discover the many aspects of the DAF product.<br />The so-called Trucknasium teaches children about vehicles, road safety, and the environment with interactive exhibits. Older children can even take classes on traffic safety or learn about how automobiles are designed and manufactured.<br />The trucks are displayed downstairs and special attention is paid to busses, firetrucks and militairy vehicles. The upstairs gallery holds an extraordinary collection of cars including some interesting prototypes that were not taken into production.<br />The history of DAF’s cars takes you past a diverse range of historic cars, with a strong focus on DAF’s revolutionary Variomatic continuously variable transmission. Exploded models in the components gallery show the many possibilities of the stepless transmission. From the Variomatic to the ultramodern Continuously Variable Transmission (CVT) that is today seen and used worldwide. DAF’s excellent performance in the world of racing and rallying is demonstrated by the unique cars on display, from the DAF 55 that took part in the London-Sydney rally to Formula 3 racing cars. The unique Williams Formula 1 racing car with CVT can also be seen here.                                                                                                                                                    </li> <li>Until the end of March 2023 there’s a unique exhibition in the DAF Museum, historic trucks and passenger cars from the Czech car brand TATRA. In 2022 TATRA celebrated it’s 125 years anniversary. TATRA is currently a producer of special trucks that are known for their special drive technology with unique off-road qualities. DAF has been cooperating with TATRA for years and supplies engines and cabins to TATRA. DAF and TATRA also work together in the field of drive technology.<br />In addition to trucks Tatra also produced very special passenger cars until the 90s. These luxurious cars were famous for their air-cooled V8 engines. Some of these models can be seen in Eindhoven and come from the Technicke Muzeum Tatra in Kopřivnice, where the current Tatra factories are located. The exhibition also shows a very special collection of scale models, some of which are handmade.</li> </ul></div>]]></description>
			<author>nospam@motormarques.com (Guus Docen)</author>
			<category>European Desk</category>
			<pubDate>Mon, 09 Jan 2023 09:56:32 +0000</pubDate>
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			<title>29th Spa Six Hours - Francorchamps 29 September-2 October 2022</title>
			<link>https://www.motormarques.com/news/european-desk/item/786-29th-spa-six-hours-francorchamps-29-september-2-october-2022</link>
			<guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.motormarques.com/news/european-desk/item/786-29th-spa-six-hours-francorchamps-29-september-2-october-2022</guid>
			<description><![CDATA[<div class="K2FeedImage"><img src="https://www.motormarques.com/media/k2/items/cache/3cc3ea028ec2c5bc49d14fb381a9929f_S.jpg" alt="29th Spa Six Hours - Francorchamps 29 September-2 October 2022" /></div><div class="K2FeedIntroText">The Spa Six Hours definitely rangs itself in the top 5 of the most important and attractive European historic racing car meetings. For the spectators this event is most enjoyable as there is access to almost all areas. Paddocks are open and viewing the mechanics working on the cars is always interesting. The Pit Bar Restaurant, located at the top of the pit building, is the ideal place to have a drink and enjoy the “all-you-can-eat” buffet dinner. Next to the restaurant is the terrace which offers a breathtaking panoramic view of the most beautiful parts of the circuit, overlooking the pits, the finish line, the hairpin and the famous L’Eau Rouge. Just like last year the racing-weekend was characterized by erratic weather conditions. Friday remained dry but Saturday started very cloudly and there several showers during the day. On Sunday it rained constantly until half past three in the afternoon. For all participants there’s the possibility of a non-timed free practice and testing on Thursday with more restricted noise standards. Friday is the official beginning of the meeting with qualifications for each race class.</div><div class="K2FeedFullText"><ul> <li><strong>Dutch victory in the Spa Six Hours Race</strong><br />To stand a chance of winning the Six-Hour race at Spa, it is inevitable to start with a Ford GT40. Among the 90 registered vehicles, 18 were Ford GT40s. Last year there were 12 GT40s competing is in this race. Eight AC Cobra’s and Shelby Cobra’s were entered this year (ten last year) but this year the Lotus Elan is the most popular car to compete in this race. Compared with last year the number of Elans has almost doubled, 17 Elans appeared on the starting grid, last year there were 9 Elans entered in this race. Other marques appearing in this endurance race were Jaguar E-types, Ford Mustangs, Porsche 911s, Ford Falcon Sprint, MGBs, Triumph TR4s, Marcos, TVR, Morgan, Aston Martin, Ginetta and even a Ferrari 250 SWB.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          The Dutch GT40 team David Hart, son Oliver and Nicky Pastorelli put their GT 40 on pole position with a time of 2:40.709 minutes, followed by the second GT40 driven by E. Breitmayer / C. van Riet / F. Bouvy in 2:41.712 minutes. The first 14 positions on the starting grid were GT40s, before the first Jaguar E-Type could squeeze in between the mighty Fords.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         From the start David Hart took the lead just ahead of Cristophe van Riet. Immediately in the first bend on a slightly damp road, van Riet spun the Gipimotor GT40 and fell back to ninth position. However, during an impressive catch-up race, he quickly fought his way back to the front and was in first place after the end of lap eleven. Unfortunately, his team had to withdraw the GT40 in lap 89 due to engine problems.                                                                                                                                                                                                                           After 3 hours the Dutch team of Hart/Hart/Pastorelli dominated the race and even increased the pace in the second half of the race when Oliver drove the orange GT40, avoiding any mistakes and claiming an undisputed victory for the Dutch team. It was David Hart's second victory in the Six Hours Race, 15 years after his first victory with a Ford Mustang. For the fifth time in a row, a Ford GT40 team topped the podium at the Six Hours of Spa. It was finally the excellent Frenchmen Olivier Galant and Nicolas Minassian who grabbed 2nd place ahead of the 2021 winners, Oliver Bryant and James Cottingham. In 29 editions of this grueling endurance race the Ford GT40 won for the 15th time !                                                                                                                                                                                    The adverse weather conditions during the evening were in favour of the light and nimble Lotus Elan 26R manned by Sam Tordoff, John Tordoff and BTCC racer Andrew Jordan. They steered their Elan to an impressive sixth overall, first non-GT40, and obviously class winner.                                                                                                                                                                                                        </li> <li><strong>Belcar Historic Cup </strong>The Belcar Historic & Youngtimer Cup is a championship suited for historic racing cars and youngtimers built until 2000. The Belcar Historic Cup was the first race on Saturday morning … under a downpour! In qualifying session Dutchman Wim Kuijl (Ford Capri RS 3100) had claimed pole position but in the race he was soon passed by Erik Bruynoghe (Porsche 964) and Erik Qvick (BMW 320 Turbo Gr.5). Finally the victory was for Bruynoghe as the BMW 320 Turbo was forced to retire due to engine problems. The weather conditions weren’t much better on Sunday-afternoon for race 2, and several cars didn’t enter the race. Luc Moortgat (Porsche 964) grabbed the lead and cruised to victory, while behind him the battle between the Dutchman Fred Krab and the Belgian Guy Fastres (both BMW M3 E30) continued through to the end. Finally Fred Krab finished second and Guyy Fastres third.                                                                                                                                      </li> <li><strong>Historic Grand Prix Cars</strong> <br />On Saturday morning when the Pre-66 Grand Prix cars started their first race the weather remained grey and miserable. The rear-engined Cooper machines setted the tone with Charlie Martin (T53), 5th on the grid, climbing to the top of the ranking to claim victory ahead of pole holder Michael Gans (T59) and Justin Maeers (T53). Same scenario on Sunday-afternoon concerning the weather conditions with Charlie Martin imposing his Cooper T53 for the second time ahead of Michael Gans. Tim Child completed the top 3 in the former Graham Hill Brabham BT3/4.                                                                                             </li> <li><strong>Woodcote Trophy & Stirling Moss Trophy                                                               </strong>Saturday afternoon the combined Woodcote Trophy and Stirling Moss Trophy brought twenty-five classic sports cars on the grid. Under rainy conditions Nigel Greensall (Lister Knobbly) took the lead in the sixty-one minute race, quickly pulling away from the tiny Lotus XV driven by Michael Gans. (Lotus XV) and Tony Wood (Lister Knobbly). In the second part of the race, Tony Woods teammate Will Nuthall took the lead and the overall win. The overall podium and that of the Stirling Moss Trophy was completed by the Lotus XV of Michael Gans. Rudi Friedrichs won the Woodcote Trophy in a Jaguar C-Type, ahead of the Allard J2 of the Llewellyn family and the Lotus MkX of Paul and Bourne.                                                                                                                                </li> <li><strong>Historic Formula Junior</strong><br />The fast and lightweight Formula Junior cars can’t be missed at the Spa Six Hours weekend and a great field of 28 cars enjoyed the visitors around the track. Although the Lotus cars had dominated the qualifying sessions, the Alexis of Stuart Roach provided the show during the race on Saturday and drove to victory followed by Manfredo Rossi di Montelera in a Lotus 22. Unfortunately, the second race on Sunday morning had to driven under heavy rain. This time it was Manfredo Rossi di Montelera winning the race from Stuart Roach.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          </li> <li><strong>Pre-War Sports Cars</strong> <br />The oldest cars on the track this weekend were the pre-war sports cars from the ‘20s and ‘30s. These amazing machines with their unique sound are always greatly appreciated by the public. Favorites to win the race were the GN Parker driven by the Maeers brothers and the mighty Bentley 3/8 driven by father and son Llewellyn. For several laps the Bentley was in the lead but suddenly the engine got smokey because of a burst oil gauge pipe. Also engine failure stopped Ben and Justin Maeers’s GN Parker from finishing the race. The lead and victory was taken by Gareth Burnett in the 2-litre 1939 Alta Sports followed by the Talbot AV105 Brooklands of Michael Birch and the Bentley 3/4 ½ of Clive and James Morley.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             </li> <li><strong>Masters Gentlemen Drivers</strong><br />The races of the Pre-1966 Touring Cars and the GT Cars of the Masters Gentlemen Drivers were combined into a single grid. Their single race was held on Sunday morning under very rainy conditions. The Touring Cars had a 60 minutes race and the GT cars drove another 30 minutes longer. Both turquoise Jaguar E-types of the Gotcha racing team set the GT cars tempo. Andy Newall had to drive Rhea Sautter’s Gotch E-Type all by himself as Rhea was to exhausted from all her pit work on the Gotcha cars during the Six Hours race. He drove to victory followed by Marcus Graf von Oeynhausen in the other Gotcha E-Type. The Touring car race was won by Olivier Hart in a Alfa Romeo Giulia Sprint GTA.                                                                                                                                     </li> <li><strong>Masters Sports Cars Legends</strong><br />Just a small number of cars showed up on Sunday morning for the 61 minutes Masters Sports Cars Legends race as the driving conditions were extremely tricky because of the rain-soaked track. The Lola T70 of Hart-Hart and Minshaw-Keen, as also the McLaren M1A of Shaw were absent at the start. The race was started under Safety Car conditions. Tom Bradshaw (Chevron B19) won ahead of Manfredo Rossi di Montelera (Abarth Osella PA1) and Michael Gans (Lola T290).                                                                                                                                                                </li> <li>Despite the bad weather conditions it was a pleasure to attend the Spa Six Hours event. <br />All tribute to Alain Defalle, Vincent Collard and Jean-Marc Hardy from the Roadbook Organization for this amazing event!</li> </ul></div>]]></description>
			<author>nospam@motormarques.com (Guus Docen)</author>
			<category>European Desk</category>
			<pubDate>Wed, 19 Oct 2022 14:44:19 +0000</pubDate>
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			<title>Historic Grand Prix Zandvoort 15-17 July 2022</title>
			<link>https://www.motormarques.com/news/european-desk/item/785-historic-grand-prix-zandvoort-15-17-july-2022</link>
			<guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.motormarques.com/news/european-desk/item/785-historic-grand-prix-zandvoort-15-17-july-2022</guid>
			<description><![CDATA[<div class="K2FeedImage"><img src="https://www.motormarques.com/media/k2/items/cache/0445f454d93c4fcc0efc1c70de029529_S.jpg" alt="Historic Grand Prix Zandvoort 15-17 July 2022" /></div><div class="K2FeedIntroText">The Historic Grand Prix at Zandvoort held this year can be considered as the 10th edition as the event from last year had to be completely changed because of Covid and also the event’s name was changed into Zandvoort Race Classics and no visitors were allowed. This year the original name was back and spectators were welcomed again at circuit Zandvoort.</div><div class="K2FeedFullText"><ul> <li>Most important races of this weekend were the five race series from the Masters Historic Racing. Masters Historic Racing is by far the major British organizer of race series. From the start of the Historic Grand Prix in 2012 the Masters Race series were the main attraction of the event. Also this year they were present with the Masters Racing Legends, formula One cars from 1966 through to 1985 with mainly the 8-cylinder 3 litre Cosworth DFV engine as the drive unit. Sixteen F1 cars were on the grid from which the Tyrrell P-34 six-wheeler got the most attention from the visitors and photographers. Other Masters race series were the Endurance Legends with more recent Le Mans cars from 1995 through 2016, the Sports Car Legends (Le Mans-style) sports cars and Group 4 period cars from 1962 up to 1974, the Pre-66 Touring Cars Series (with a disappointing 10 entries) and finally the Masters Gentlemen Drivers which turned out to be an interesting 90-minutes race on Sunday with 18 entries.</li> <li>This year the FIA Historic Formula 3 European Cup returned to Zandvoort again with seventeen cars. There were two categories, category 1 for cars built from 1971 up to 1978 and category 2 for cars built from 1979 up to 1984.</li> <li>What would be the Historic Grand Prix Zandvoort without the participation of the Historic Grand Prix Cars Association ? Yes of course they came to Zandvoort ! Thirty nine cars (Coopers T45/T53, Lotus 18/21/24, Brabhams, Cooper Bristols etc) were entered in two very exciting races.</li> <li>The Dutch classic racing club HARC were responsible for the two largest racing grids this weekend. The Hankook Dutch National Championship, a championship for touring cars and Coupés from the 1982 up to 1990, 45 cars entered the two races. The other race series the RECO NK GTTC (a championship for touring cars and GTs from 1966 to 1981) saw 35 entries from which the Ferrari 512 BB LM was a real head turner.</li> <li>There were several demonstration runs during this event of which the BMW and Porsche demos were less interesting as there were just a few cars on the tarmac and the types showed could also be seen on the parking terrains around the track. The demo of the 1958-1962 Le Mans cars was more interesting and the regularity run of the Dutch Vintage Sports Car Club showed some very nice pre-war cars like Bugattis, Alvis, MGs and Alfa Romeos. On Saturday there was a parade of the Dutch Jaguar Club and DAF club.</li> <li>The first edition of the Historic Grand Prix Zandvoort was held in 2012. The second edition in 2013 attracted 31,500 visitors. The fourth edition in 2016 was the most succesful edition with more than 50,000 visitors ! The past two years have been tough for organizing an historic racing event but will it be possible to get these great starting fields and nice atmosphere from the fourth edition back again at Zandvoort in 2023 ? An important point of improvement for the organization are the spots from where the visitors can see the action on the track. The popular grandstand at turn 11 was not accessible this year. Several factors will influence the interest of the European historic racing clubs/series to attend the circuit of Zandvoort next year again. The number of historic racing events has grown considerably over the last eight years and the decision by the European historic racing clubs/series to commit itself to a certain event abroad in 2023 will be influenced by a forthcoming economic recession resulting in high fuel costs and travel costs. The UK racing drivers have the possibility to participate in their own country with the great events like the Donington Historic Festival, Silverstone Classic, Goodwood Revival and the Oulton Park Historic Gold Cup.</li> <li>There are still opportunities to make the 2023 Historic Grand Prix Zandvoort a great event again ! The Lurani Trophy, the race series of the German Fahrergemeinschaft Historischer Rennsport (FHR) or the race series Battle of the Dwarfs just to name a few will attract the real classic racing enthusiasts. Also the stands of car clubs, marque specialists, spare parts, accessories and models wil contribute to an atmosphere where historic car enthusiasts enjoy themselves and will discover the things they are passionate about.                                  <em>Pictures by Guus Docen and Trevor Noble</em></li> </ul></div>]]></description>
			<author>nospam@motormarques.com (Guus Docen)</author>
			<category>European Desk</category>
			<pubDate>Wed, 27 Jul 2022 14:36:52 +0000</pubDate>
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