Groeten uit Zandvoort! For those who don’t read Dutch it means “Greetings from Zandvoort”. This weekend is the Historical Grand Prix weekend on Circuit Zandvoort. A weekend full of historical autosport. Heaven if you ask me, others may describe it as pure ear porn. Any way here is a little blog post about the first day we were at the circuits for the best Autosport event in the Netherlands. The 2022 Historical Grand Prix.
Today we arrived around 12:30 at the circuit, when we entered the circuit they were unable to scan my tickets. Don’t know why, though even from a second phone they were unable to scan the QR code. This will be interesting for tomorrow and Sunday when more people come to the circuit. Though that’s not my problem is it?
Eventually they gave me my paper bracelet so I could happily enter heaven. As soon we arrived at the paddock of Circuit Zandvoort we uncovered a little peace of guilty pleasure. Out of sudden, there it was, the Forti Corse FG03. Fitted with the Shannon livery! Included with the Fin First Group logo! For those who don’t know it. Fin First Group was a investment company that had several teams with their Shannon branding, in several race series. In 1996 they would sponsor the Forti Corse team. Anyway they never paid and it was a scam of course.
Even better, there was also the Simtek S951 from Schiattarella. What a beautiful car this is! The same car Jos Verstappen drove that amazing Grand Prix with in Brazil 1995. Sadly, the team folded in 1995 after the Monaco Grand Prix. Just imagine if the team would have survived that year. Anyway, what a great start of the Historical Grand Prix weekend on Zandvoort this was! Two Formule Hopeloos cars, this is a reference for a book that will appear by the way, this is amazing! Next to it was the Benetton B192 from Michael Schumacher and the two Arrows cars powered by the Megatron!
After this mind-blowing entry we believed it was time for a beer. So lets get a beer! Well a small beer was 4 euro, a big beer was 6,50 euro’s. What a bummer. Anyway, we needed beer so we got the big one as well who cares.
While yapping about the Formula One we went on top of the Paddock and there those amazing Formule Hopeloos cars appeared on the track for a demo! The Simtek S951 went smoothly! However, the Forti FG03, as in the days, didn’t do much and just stalled in the pits without moving an inch. The good old days revived in 2022!
Eventually after moving through the paddock we decided to go to the Audi-S Bocht, I know it is named different though for us it is still that! When we went through the port some guy told us, while it was open, we could not go there as they were building stands for the Dutch Grand Prix. Why are you building them now? It’s like the Dutch Railways working on the tracks while everyone has holiday and wants to get out by train.
Anyway, while we still don’t understand it, we went through the other paddock before we decided to go to the grandstand. We enjoyed there some great brutal power of the 50s and 60s Formula One cars. Especially the Ferrari and Maserati went insane with their sound. Later on the 80s and 70s cars came. Well I believe I became deaf because of it. Oh as well the Formula Maxx produced some beautiful sound. Oh and the sound of the Tyrrell P34… what a beautiful sound!
Also forgot that there Oreca cars we saw were marvellous!
Perhaps the best part of today were the paddocks where you could actually touch the cars and look at them in depth. Having talks with the owners, all enthusiasts, it was perfect. It is really a weekend you have to visit when you love the history of autosport! It’s time for a beer and see you all tomorrow!
