Eventful October

Drivers are heading south to cheat the onset of winter for a number of attractive events

You are probably reading this at the end of September/early October and there are still a number of race meetings on the calendar before the season ends.  First of these is the Dijon Motors Cup on 5-6 October where, amongst others, the Dutch NKHTGT and the HSCC Historic Formula 2 series will finish their season and choose their champions.  Youngtimers, Triumph Competition and British HTGT and some more modern races will complete the programme. www.hvmracing.f

One week later the Estoril Classic will run for the second time, giving the Iberian Endurance cars and local historic championships a chance to enjoy the hospitality of Cascais and Estoril.  Also on the programme are Spirit of Speed motorbikes, the HGPCA Grand Prix cars, Historic Formula 1 – for cars up to 1985 in a one-off race organised by the HSCC – a pair of 40-minute 1000km sports car races for prototypes and GTS cars up to 1975 and the last 2019 round of the FIA Lurani Trophy for Formula Juniors.  All this in a context of a ‘Speed Week’ that includes concours, exhibitions, rallies, tours and parties, with large numbers of enthusiastic spectators.  estorilclassics.com

Moving on from there racing trucks will be driving to southern France and the Paul Ricard circuit where the annual Dix Mille Tours will be underway on the weekend of 18-20 October with all the Peter Auto grids in attendance for their end of season finale. peterauto.peter.fr

The action then moves west to Val de Vienne on the following weekend of 25-27 October for the final Historic Tour showdown for the all the French championships, amongst which are ASAVÉ Racing, F3 Classic, Challenge Formula Ford Historic, SportsProtosCup, Maxi 1300, Youngtimers, etc.  From these grids the two French National Historic Champions will emerge.  www.hvmracing.fr

But there is still more.  On the weekend of 1-3 November comes the long-standing Algarve Classic Festival, running slightly later than usual this year.  Here will be held the last rounds of the GT & Sports Car Cup, the Legends HTCC, U2TC, Pre-‘63 GT, Iberian Endurance, as well as local championships, and non-championship races for Legends 50s Sportscars, Algarve Pre-‘75 Sports Cars, Formula Junior and Historic Grand Prix Cars Association.  algarveclassicfestival.com