The Zolder Historic Grand Prix was a fixture for the oldtimer enthusiast in the 80s and 90s. With a combination of a racing program complemented by the presence of many old-timer clubs and associations, many spectators flocked to Terlamen. At the beginning of this century the organization was put on hold for the time being. In 2017 it was restarted.
After a few editions, there was even an agreement with the English Masters to organize another Historic Formula 1 race at the Zolder circuit in 2021. However, Covid came to throw a spanner in the works and due to travel restrictions and quarantines, this unfortunately could not take place.
FORMULE 1 – CAIRA DEMO
Nevertheless, Formula 1 cars will appear on the tarmac in 2022. With the cooperation of Caira, five F1 cars in demo form will provide the necessary atmosphere. A Red Bull Sauber Petronas V10, a Jordan Peugeot V10, a Copersucar FA 5, an Arrows A6 Cosworth and a Simtek S951. The sound the V10 engines produced was phenomenal. Unfortunately, they were the first to be forced to retire due to technical problems and on Sunday only the cars equipped with the old “Cosworth V8” engine remained.
On Saturday, all the F1 cars were nicely lined up with a starting lineup. The public present was invited for a grid-walk. This allowed the spectators to admire these unique cars up close.
KAMPF DER ZWERGE
The rest of the program proceeded with real games. The most congenial series of the weekend was undoubtedly the “Kampf der Zwerge” or the battle of the dwarfs in our language. The name suggests it: it is a German organization. Very small cars with engines up to 1300 cc fight each other. A very varied starting field with several Mini Cooper’s, NSU TT’s, Fiat Abarth’s, a Renault Alpine, a Simca Rally 2 and even a Fiat X1/9. Diversity at its best with more than 35 cars at the start.
The battle was fought in two races and it did get fierce with nice duels and door to door battles. Both races were won by Gregor Nick at the wheel of his Mini Cooper.
YOUNGTIMER TROPHY
This Youngtimer Trophy is again a German organization and is run in two series. A class up to 2000cc and a class above 2000cc. We find mainly German brands such as Porsche, BMW, Ford and Opel. Again, large starting fields with lots of diversity and very nicely finished cars. Some were even carried out in a beautiful decoration. Among the BMWs we saw several E36 models in a Bastos ( Spa 24h ), San Miguel ( Macau ) and Listerine ( BTCC ) besides the many M versions. Most Opel’s drove in their, from that period, black / yellow factory version.
Both races were won the Busch brothers. In the small class with their Ford Escort and in the large with a mighty Porsche 911 RSR in Group 5 look. The first four places were for identical cars. This 911 RSR is clearly too strong for the other competitors.
The smaller cars provide the necessary spectacle and several times we saw them pass by with one or even two wheels in the air!
LURANI TROPHY
These small formula cars provided the only single-seater races of the weekend. Unfortunately, there was only a starting field of only 14 participants. These were both won, without a problem, by the Wren FJ of Martin Bullock
BELCAR HISTORIC CUP
Of course, the Belcar Historic Cup could not be absent at this Zolder Historic GP. Two races were scheduled. With 42 starters, we saw a nice list of participants. It was a bit smaller than the previous weekend at the Spa Summer Classic. Some teams or drivers had opted to participate in Le Mans Classic or the Classic DTM races at the Norisring.
Belcar Historic has grown in five years to become the most popular circuit organization in Belgium. The level and the number of participants have risen continuously in recent years. The regulations allow both touring cars and GTs and that makes for a special mix. Touring cars like the BMW M3 or 325i, Ford Capri, Volvo 240 turbo, BMW 635CSi, Mercedes 190E Evo and BMW 2002 compete against GT’s like the Porsche 964, Ford GT40 and even a Chevrolet Corvette. And “Classic” races are on the rise, not only in Belgium but all over the world.
Among the regular participants there is also an ex BTCC Nissan Primera Supertourer. This was once driven by the lamented David Leslie. An ex Pirro Audi 80 Competition from the Italian championship will also soon join the gang. We can only applaud this.
Among the other participants there were also very nice finished cars. For example, we saw two beautiful Ford Capri’s: one in the 2600 RS version until 1973 and a second 3100 RS which was used from 1974 in the European Championship and the DRM.
On Saturday the win was for the Porsche 964 of Moortgat and on Sunday it was the BMW M3 of Qvick that crossed the finish line first.
And there was not only fighting on the track but sometimes it was too narrow and the gravel pit was used as the “ideal line”.
The smallest visitors could have fun on a bouncy castle in the paddock.
In the same paddock, the shuttle service for the spectators was provided by a Stanley dating from 1913, quite original!
50 YEARS OF BMW M
Traditionally there is also a “Concours d’ élégance” at the Historic Grand Prix. This year, the largest participating class was the series with racing BMWs from the history of 50 years BMW M. We found there both proto’s, touring cars and a real Williams FW 26 Formula 1 that we had already come across last winter at the expo 100 years Francorchamps in Autoworld.
The M1 Procar in attendance was awarded first prize in this class by the jury. This was no easy decision, because the other participants were not the least bit interesting: a real ex-Lemans V12 LM, an impressive Imsa March 85 GTP turbo and the championship winning DTM Schnitzer 320 turbo were also considered.
JAMES BOND
Given his very good taste for beautiful cars, agent 007 of the British intelligence service MI 6 is certainly our favourite secret agent. Apart from a few BMWs, it is mainly Aston Martin’s that are used as official cars for 007’s usually spectacular assignments. The Vanquish, the DBS, the Vantage appeared once or even several times on the silver screen. The founder of this series is the now legendary Aston Martin DB5, which, in the magical year of 1964, helped Bond in the fight against the villainous Auric Goldfinger.
This DB5 had built-in guns, an ejector seat, rotating number plates, a smoke system, bumpers that had a ram function and a bulletproof shield that came out of the boot lid. Apart from the ejector seat, all these Q gadgets could be found on the present DB5 Goldfinger Continuation. The guns, of course, are not real!
Continuation. We don’t really like hearing the word. British brands in particular use it to breathe new life into their legendary models of yesteryear. Jaguar started this series with 25 of their D-type models. This was followed by 9 XKSS and 6 E Type Lightweight successors.
We can do that too, they thought at Aston Martin and they built a new series of their DB4 GT ( 25 pieces ) and their DB4 GT Zagato ( 19 pieces ). The latter could only be ordered in combination with a new DBS Zagato. As a third model they also brought their DB5 back to life. Also in 25 pieces and as James Bond Goldfinger edition. All the cars mentioned are of course built by hand and they are sold at astronomical prices ranging from 2 to 3 million euros. For the factories, of course, this is a bit of a “grab the dough show”. And whether the owners of the original models are very happy with it, we doubt.
Approval for public roads is also out of the question. The emission standards of the engines of that time no longer meet today’s standards.
After all this negative criticism, we must also mention some positive points. The DB5 “Goldfinger” did look beautiful and it will certainly be a much better DB5 than the slightly less than 1000 original ones from that time. The finishing quality today is of course much better and also the reliability will be much higher than it was back then. The silver-grey metallic paint also looks like it did in the sixties. Perhaps less beautiful than today, but certainly as it was then. And that just goes with this car. The DB5 was certainly a nice appearance at the Historic Grand Prix.
On Sunday, the prizes of the competition were handed out by our ex F1 pilot Thierry Boutsen who has become a regular visitor of this event for several years now. We also want to present a prize for the most original transporter in the paddock: an ex fire engine Mercedes used for the transport of a formula car. Very original!
After a difficult start, we have to conclude that the level of the Historic Grand Prix in Zolder is rising every year. The paddocks are well filled, there is an animated race programme and a pleasant atmosphere. The Zolder Historic Grand Prix is definitely going in the right direction.
Report & photos: Joris de Cock
