javier romagosa
One more year, and with this there are already five, the Circuit de Catalunya has been the scene of the festival "Spirit of Montjuic". For yet another year, opinions on the correctness of his approach have been the most disparate.
There is no doubt that the classic races that take place within it they are quite a show, to the taste of any classic car fan. A large number of teams, most of them from abroad, bring their best vintage machines and squeeze them thoroughly to the delight of some stands ... which for the most part are almost empty.
This year the highlight was a huge gathering of historic Formula 1 cars. Indeed, the number of these beasts has been growing year after year in the spirit until reaching colossal proportions. For 2015 the organization promised a big exhibition on Saturday morning in which it planned to break nothing more and nothing less than a Guinness record.
That memorable morning, 65 cars from all eras gathered on the track with the aim of completing two full laps of the track. A fantastic display that was almost insufficient to achieve the long-awaited record.
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No compromises
Still, no one could complain about the F1 races held in Montmeló over the weekend. Divided into two categories - the FIA Masters Historic Formula One Championship for those cars built between 1966 and 1985, and the Historic Grand Prix Car Association for the pre-65s-, they were the queens of the pageant.
The first and most spectacular had in its two sets on Saturday and Sunday the same protagonists: Loic Deman, with the Tyrrell 010 ex Derek Daly from 1980; and Gregory Thornton, with a Lotus 91/5 driven in 1982 by Elio de Angelis, who took turns in the top two places on the podium.
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In addition, Sunday's race confirmed that in these Revival It runs very seriously: With just a few seconds left in the race, the red flag indicated the accident starring J. Hagan, whose Ensign MN177 broke the engine in the middle of the finish line.
He spun while skidding on his own oil and, unfortunately, the car behind him, Mike Cantillon's 05 Williams FW1976, was also unable to dodge the lubricant and ended up crashing into the wall. Fortunately there was no personal injury to regret.
The other F1 category, the one dedicated to the Pre-65s, had to deal with inclement weather; Spring weather was enjoyed for much of the weekend, but at the last minute an intense downpour put the riders in this discipline in trouble.
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“Nobody could complain about the F1 races held in Montmeló over the weekend. Divided into two categories, they were the queens of the contest ... »
“Nobody could complain about the F1 races held in Montmeló over the weekend. Divided into two categories, they were the queens of the contest ... »
“Nobody could complain about the F1 races held in Montmeló over the weekend. Divided into two categories, they were the queens of the contest ... »
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And yet, despite the bad weather, the winner of the two pre-65 heats was the same rider, Briton Jon Fairley on his Brabham BT11, who did not seem to mind whether the road was dry or wet. The performance was also remarkable by the Spanish Guillermo Fierro who, at the wheel of one of the three Maserati 250 Fs present, made a great comeback until finishing in a creditable 4th place.
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The unbeatable Lola
If the kings were the F1, the princes of the track were the participants of the Historic Sports Car Championship, championship contested by prototypes and GT's built between 1962 and 1974. In the race held on Sunday the Greek-British team of Leo Voyazides and Simon Hadfield, who raced with the Lola T70 MK3B that in 1968 piloted the legendary Emerson Fittipaldi, they started from the pole position with all the options to revalidate the triumph they reaped last year.
Unfortunately, a mechanical problem relegated the promising team to 12th place, although from there they made a great comeback to second place, only behind Jason Wright, who won at the controls of another Lola T70 MK3B.
For its part, the legendary Group C races of the 80s and 90s were dominated by the Jaguar XJR14 of the Belgian Christophe D'Ansembourg, in a tough fight with the Mercedes C11 of the Greek Kriton Lendoudis and the Nissan R90CK of the Japanese driver Katsu Kubota , which came to snatch the victory in the second sleeve.
Old acquaintances
As for the production car races, those of Gentlemen Drivers and Pre-66 Touring Cars intermingled producing a curious variety of 22 Grand Touring Cars before 1966. In them small Mini Cooper competed against light Lotus Elan, massive Ford Galaxie against brutal AC Cobra, among other contenders. The winners were the aforementioned Voyazides-Hadfield, this time at the wheel of a spectacular Shelby Daytona.
Finally, in terms of racing, the Javier del Arco Trophy was also affected by Sunday's downpour, to the point that it was suspended with few laps to go. With a Spanish flavor and more ordinary cars, the winner was Manuel Hermida with his 30 BMW E3 M1986, which was the leader at the time of the interruption ahead of Luis López's 911 Porsche 3.0 1975 RS and the Ford Sierra Cosworth of 1986 by Juan Antonio Miranda.
"One more year, a 10 for the races and for the pit environment, but a much lower grade for the rest of the Espiritu de Montjuïc offer ..."
"One more year, a 10 for the races and for the pit environment, but a much lower grade for the rest of the Espiritu de Montjuïc offer ..."
"One more year, a 10 for the races and for the pit environment, but a much lower grade for the rest of the Espiritu de Montjuïc offer ..."
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An unnecessary contrast
If we talk about the incentives off the track, there are still points for improvement that mean that not all fans are willing to spend the money that the entrance to an event of these characteristics is worth. The paddock this year was full of tents and trailers for sports teams; It thus gave the visual sensation of being full, but in reality there were few spaces dedicated to our hobby. They shone with their own light, yes, the Auto Storica stalls or the Seat marquee, full of interesting prototypes.
On the other hand, the parking for the assistants who arrived with their classic was in a separate esplanade from the paddock, so you almost had to look for her ... Once located, it seemed to us that, without being a bad kind, the quantity, quantity and quality of the machinery it had decreased compared to previous editions. Due to its exclusivity and rarity we would like to highlight the Volkswagen Rometsch from France that you can see in the set of photos immediately above.
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We believe that Espíritu de Montjuic, races aside, is intended more as a family activity than as an event for the old car enthusiast. And the truth is that we do not understand why, since in the paddock there is plenty of room for everything.
In addition, it seems to us that, at times, the organization is excessively optimistic when communicating its program: For example, in the catalog that it published as a guide, the elegance contest is presented as "The best in Spain", when in fact there were only eight vehicles, some of which were little or not at all worthy of participating.
In short, one more year ten for the races and for the pit environment -which it was possible to access without restrictions, a privilege-, but a much lower grade for the rest of the festival offer. And, if they want to achieve massive assistance, its architects must focus on what really matters.
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* We thank Unai Ona and GentlemenDrive Magazine for providing the photographic material.
