For me, Race Retro is the first event of the season and a must visit for any enthusiast of historic motorsport. If you are thinking of getting into motorsport then you can literally apply for your licence, take your medical, find a race or rally series and buy a car. But the best part is that once you get tired of touring the exhibition stands, you can watch a live action rally stage with many legends of the retro rallying world.
The exhibition halls are packed with all sorts of companies that can get you on the track. Specialist engineering companies, clubs and rare race cars. There are interviews with legendary figures from the world of racing. One of these legends was Alex Brundle who I was anxious to meet.
Alex is a successful Endurance racer and often competes in historic racing with a GT40 and an E Type Jaguar. Alex also manages his own race preparation company. For those of you who are regular readers of Classic Yorkshire you will know that I used to own a Toyota Celica owned and raced by the Brundle (senior) family. I sold it a long time ago but I kept an eye on it.
Andy Harrison from Acespeed let me know that Alex had bought the car and planned to restore it to the specification from when his dad Martin, grandad John and uncle Robin raced it. After his Race Retro interview I managed to catch Alex and we had a good chat about the car and his plans for restoration. And I think that says a lot about what a friendly and approachable industry this is.
In addition to the exhibition hall there was an autojumble with everything from broken wing mirrors to model cars. Another highlight of the show is the Iconic Auction with 150 cars and 160 motorcycles available. All these cars are classics, many prepared for motorsport. There were some fine examples including Lancia Integrale, Renault 5 Turbo’s as well as classic road cars from Mercedes and Bentley. Bidding was strong and most of the lots sold. Some cars could be had for around £10 000 other fetched hundreds of thousands. Once again the fast fords did well with £132 000 being paid for a 1996 Ford Escort Cosworth with just over 3 000 miles on the clock.
For those who are interested in celebrity cars there were a few. Rowan Atkinson was selling a Toyota Aygo and Richard Hammond was selling his racing Mgb which featured on his Smallest Cog programme.
Fortunately the weather remained dry for the rally stage (at least on Saturday) though the ground was still waterlogged from the previous wet weather. Cars taking part ranged from a number of Mini’s to the legendary Audi Quatro. For me driver of the day was in a Talbot Sunbeam who was getting the rear end out on all the corners.
There was one serious incident when a Ford Anglia burst into flames and the driver suffered superficial injuries. The safety team responded quickly preventing serious injury. But it is a timely reminder of the excellent work the volunteers and safety teams do at this and many other events throughout the year.
I have no doubt that Race Retro is the show for people who work in Motorsport, though it also has plenty for the casual enthusiast. There are lots of rare cars in the exhibition hall, auction and rally track and a chance to listen to leaders in their field.