People love classic cars because these vintage cars operate from an entirely different plane than the rest. Whereas the high point of modern vehicles is their speed and efficiency, vintage cars relish universal and timeless car features across various styles, designs, and uniqueness.
One event that increases the appeal of classic cars is vintage racing events across the globe. These events have multiplied the appeal of classic cars by more than tenfold in the eyes of fans, journalists, and sports betting enthusiasts in different countries around the world.
Moreover, vintage racing events permit vehicle owners to show off their cars and excite fans as they watch antique vehicles push down the race tracks to their limits.
Why Vintage Racing Is The Best Form Of Racing
Vintage racing events certainly have a different atmosphere than modern motorsports. Often, older drivers are familiar with one another, and racing occurs in a friendly atmosphere with no one taking things too seriously.
This time around, it isn’t the modern turbo V6s or V8s zooming seemingly against their limits – vintage racing showcases straight eights buzzing and wailing intermittently along the tracks.
Many of these events take place across the world week in, week out, with categories including various classes of vintage racers. Of course, the weekly events are different from annual racing events at different individual racetracks.
Top Vintage Racing Events In The World
Check out some of the best vintage motorsport’s events around the world below.
1. Rolex Monterey Motorsport Reunion
The Rolex Monterey Motorsport Reunion is the prime vehicle racing event during the famous Monterey Classic Car Week. Over 500 cars get an invitation into the race based on different criteria, including correctness with the race’s period, authenticity, and race prevalence.
The world’s premier motoring event, the Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion features about 14 race classifications. Some of the best classic cars the road has ever seen often show up in this event, including vehicles dating back to the early 1900s.
2. Classic 24 Hour at Daytona
The Classic 24 Hour at Daytona is one of the most coveted vintage and historic racing events by motorsports fans and contestants across the world. Founded in 2014, the vintage racing events showcase different legendary race cars from the 1950s and pitch them against one another over 24 hours.
Organized by the Historic Sportscar Racing (HSR), the Classic 24-Hour event occurs at the Daytona International Speedway, among several other Daytona Historic events. Other HSR events aside from the Classic 24-Hour race include the Endurance Series and Sprint Races.
3. US Vintage Grand Prix
The US Vintage Grand Prix is one of the most renowned racing events in Watkins Glens. Apart from the US Vintage Grand Prix, Watkins Glens had played host to many successful racing events, including the USA F1 Grand Prix, the IndyCar Series, the NASCAR Cup Series, and more.
This iconic event helps to uphold the legacy of US motorsports racing, featuring hundreds of vintage vehicles across different models, ages, and manufacturers. The US Vintage Grand Prix also includes the Trans-Am championship.
4. Masters Historic Formula One Championship
The Masters Historic F1 Championship relishes the golden age vehicles in Formula One. Here’s the event to find 3-litre cars from 1966 to 1985 racing against one another before the jeers and cheers of many vintage racing events fans.
Introduced in 2013, the Masters Historic Formula One Championship features four-year-based classification teams and occurs over a three-day weekend.
To get admitted into this race, all cars have to drive below 10,000rpm and operate on Cosworth DFV engines. Additionally, all drivers must hold a current FIA Historic Technical Passport and an international level racing license. The race promises to incite nostalgia as it showcases spectacular sounds and sights and brings back the memory of the mid-90s.
5. Monza Historic
Also called the Temple of Speed, the Autodromo Nazionale di Monza is a special motor racing circuit that has largely kept to its initial layout. It got its nickname, ‘Temple of Speed,’ because it typically showcases a straight track, with limited corners that may slow vehicles down, allowing vintage cars to push their horsepower to the limits.
The Monza Historic integrates different historical ages in motorsports, including GTs, Prototypes, Touring cars, and Sports Cars, from the 1950’s to the 2000s. Pierre-Alain and Raymond Narac drove a 1990 Nissan R90CK to a historic 190.3mph during the 2019 edition.
6. Peking to Paris Motor Challenge
The Peking to Paris Motor Challenge is quite different from the more familiar vintage car racing events. Drivers of this motoring adventure have a tough terrain to wade through that goes through the Mongolian desert. Taking over thirty-six days, the Peking to Paris Motor Challenge covers 8500 miles, with cars covering about 250 miles daily and a few 400-mile races in-between the race.
Since 1907, the Peking to Paris Motor Challenge has featured the same route and has become the cream of the pack of endurance motoring events globally. The event features vintage and classic cars, including vintage cars like Porsche 911s, Datsun 240Zs, and the Chevrolets of the 1930s.
7. Le Mans Classic
Introduced in 2002, the Le Mans Classic is a major historical event that displays automobile technological advances the racetrack witnessed over the years. Only cars made before 1979 qualify and can partake in this event divided across six different period groups.
The event takes place over four days, hosting about 200 exhibitors and 1000 vintage car drivers. Moreover, the Le Mans Classic welcomes the largest gathering of vintage cars in front of 195,000 spectators. The track receives six hundred cars while 8500 classic machines are displayed in special enclosures.
Conclusion
Vintage racing is exciting and fun and represents a chance to relish the amazing auto-advancements of yesteryears. Many of these events occur annually in different parts of the world.
If you are a fan of the races and want to know some of the best you can follow or attend, we have provided you with seven options in this article. They are the best and most prestigious vintage motor events globally.
