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NEVER MIND THE WEATHER,
throw another log on the fire and think about where you
are going to watch some classic racing this summer. Because if you are spectating at a motor
sport event, chances are that it'll be Historics.
With the exception of the British Grand Prix, Historic racing is motor sport's biggest (and
certainly its fastest-growing) spectacle. Attendance at last year's Silverstone Classic bust
through 100,000, Goodwood's Revival is pegged at nearly 138,000 and the Festival at about
150,000 - while this July's F1 show at Silverstone will be lucky to muster more than 140,000.
In 20 years classic cars have turned from a quaint hobby into a massive money-making
industry and, with ultra-low interest rates and bond and equities values plunging like
stricken horses, race meetings and their attendant auctions are the shop window for the
burgeoning trade and the spiralling investment values of the cars. In 2011, the Federation of
British Historic Vehicle Clubs (FBHVC) valued the classic car industry's value at £4.3
billion, worth £1 billion in exports and providing jobs for 28,000. And in the race game, the
costs, values and standards of presentation are soaring, too. The cars are faster, handle better
and look amazing, and the racing is more exciting and, er, professional.
The big-ticket events are major money-spinners, too. According to another FBHVC report,
the 2012 Goodwood Revival made £13.6 million gross, cost £7.48 million in direct costs,
and an additional £4.08 million in overheads, with net profit of £2.04 million or 15%. So as
you stand alongside hundreds of like-minded enthusiasts on the bank at Redgate, Abbey, or
Madgwick, in your recently purchased flat hat, clutching your expensive admission ticket,
watching the cars scrabble past to the accompaniment of a crackling exhaust soundtrack, it's
all tickety-boo, isn't it? Nothing rotten in the racing State of Denmark, is there?
Well no, Historic motor sport isn't altogether OK, and the unedifying sound of two
ex-Touring Car Champions squabbling over a Goodwood eligible Historic saloon the other
day set the hairs on the back of my neck prickling. You don't need a spade to dig up issues,
either.
Club-level meetings are struggling to fill grids as amateur drivers are put off by spiralling
costs, petty-fogging regulation and a tick-box safety culture. And, as values increase ever
upwards, there's a steady stream of long-standing club racers being converted back into road
cars, thus erasing a palimpsest of how things used to be.
'The situation with development and safety is out of control,' said one former senior official
with the FIA. 'Pragmatism has gone out of the window.'
Racing cars tend to be like George Washington's axe or the Argo in Greek mythology, in
that the process of doing what they are built to do means sooner or later everything gets
replaced. Safety and modern materials mean some things get changed, yet if you walk round
the paddock marvelling at cars that look brand new; you might be surprised to learn that, in
fact, some are exactly that, with just a chassis plate linking them to the identity under which
they masquerade. Last year I counted three cars in a grid of 30 Jaguars that might
Everything you were afraid to know about
HISTORIC MOTOR SPORT but wanted to ask
This multi-billion-pound industry has never been so valuable, never been more popular with the
public, and never attracted so many big names from the racing world. But that also means it's in
grave danger of legislating itself out of contention for many grass-roots enthusiasts
-
and those
who prize originality above victory. Andrew English investigates.
Originally published in the July 2016 issue of Octane magazine. Reproduced here by permission.