by Rosemarijn Atalante Veenenbos
It doesn’t end with the Historic GP at Zandvoort, because soon after it was already time for the British Racing Festival plus the Vintage Revival, each organized by the Dutch Vintage Sports Car Club. This year was a bit more quiet than last year and the last day was a bit wet, but this was a great track party! The old formula beasts had the chance to show off their glory again, super fast Mini’s of which a modern really cool FJCW turbo monster, a nice selection of vintage cars, the Jaguar, Lotus and Morgan clubs, etc.
Obviously my main focus was on the vintage section, but Morgan was calling for my attention too. Sadly Amillion was not ready to join, because there is a painful crack in the engine block in between 2 intake valves… Last year I told everyone that this year I would join them with my own vintage sports car, and I almost made it! Instead a very dear friend offered me to get on the track with his Morgan Babydoll, which is a very original one with good track history. Another very cool experience was my co-pilot experience in a T35B R; damn that is a good feeling even without windscreen and rain, love it!
The great thing about such events is that you meet all your great friends again and obviously also make many new friends. Unlimited time to catch up and chat about nothing else but cars. The dinner was a BBQ right next to the cars and since we were at the British Racing Festival of course many cigars and white overalls. I always call them painters with their white overalls. To really get the mood you need an original vintage UK flag which was the case in a huge Sunbeam.
There is something in my agenda most of you will not know about… At the track there was a great opportunity for some recordings, but the rest remains a secret for now. Obviously there were many fine sports cars and racers such as an 8C Monza, Lagonda Monoposto, T35C, T35B, Amilcar CGSs, Rally, a super sexy BMW, etc.! Everyone is busy working on their cars and warming them up, which is not that easy with a racer. The Lagonda was warming up on racks as many racers do due to the shocks. The Salmson driver was also busy with fixing things to get his car running well. This Salmson engine is not just simple cyclecar mechanics, it is quite refined! My knowledge is at this moment not good enough to explain you all of it, but I promise I will do next year.
To end the day, I had my first MG experience, original engine and prewar, those are the MG’s you want to get into. And last but not least a short impression of a real works sport Mini, I changed my mind about Minis, because this one was not as innocent as you might expect!
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