Where do I begin?
It’s the best Classic/Historic event in the World! Imagine Goodwood FoS times a thousand.
The amount, the quality, the friendships and much much more is incredible and the good news is they’ve now decided to host it every year whereas before you had to wait every other year……how great is that.
Even at the very start of our journey driving down to Folkstone to catch the Shuttle, we could feel the excitement building. When we pulled up at the terminal……that was like a car show in itself, some truly wonderful cars all headed to Le Mans.
We had no delays which was great, didn’t want to waste a minute! Some 30 mins later we disembarked at Calais and were on our way. We decided to do the toll motorway for the journey and it was the right choice as that turned out to be stress-free, smooth and hardly any traffic – amazing.
Once we found the site and parked up we decided to go straight into the circuit. The weather was fantastically hot and as we walked through the array of cars Pat and I were like “two rabbits in the headlights” you didn’t know where to look next.
We were surrounded by all these beautiful historic and classic cars simply driving around, it really took us both back in time. The atmosphere was friendly and welcoming and it had a real buzz about it. After walking some 9k or so taking in the sights and sounds we headed back to the site for a well-earned cold beer, some food and good night’s sleep.
Second day started with a full English breakfast (when in France!) then it was off into the paddock again. We were not disappointed. The Paddocks were divided up into years (50-60’s, 70-80’s etc) and the display of cars was breathtaking, I have never seen so many stunning cars in one place it was a sight to behold. You could get right upclose to all the cars too, taking in their smell, their sound and you had the opportunity to talk to the drivers of the cars and their mechanics. It was a truly immersive experience.
I didn’t even try counting the amount of historic 328’s, M1’s, Bentley’s, Alfa’s, Porsche’s, Jaguar’s, Ford’s, Mercedes, Lagonda’s and Aston Martins to name a few. We managed to find a a great spot over-looking the pits to watch the cars leaving and race past the start line.
We found the BMW Car Club France which had a lovely mix of BMW’s on their stand, but sadly no 02’s 🙁 Apparently the old French 02 Club Horizon is no more which was very sad to hear. However, all was not lost and we found two gorgeous Polaris Silver 1600GT’s to drool over.
Other delights include the replication of the old races including the old running across the finish/start grid and jumping into the old race cars and off they go. Lots of more choices for food and drinks now, I recall years ago it was just burgers or pizza, but now its artisan coffees, crepes and wraps. If you were looking for some retail therapy while you were there you were well catered for with plenty of shops and stalls selling everything from pictures, models, memorabilia, clothing and other oddities.
If I could pick a few highlights, it would have to be seeing all those incredible M1’s, 328’s, CSL’s and 02 in the paddock, being able to smell, touch and listen to the cars and talk to the crews was awe inspiring. Everyone is so friendly and just enjoying the whole weekend.
Arnage city centre is another great place to be, to see classics going up and down the street to cheers from the crowds and everywhere you looked you see classics parked, it’s like going back in time to a better era.
Apparently over a quarter of a million people attend this event from all over the world.
For anyone thinking of making the journey to this event…..what are you waiting for, do it!
“You can start your engines” now for 2026 – the dates are 2nd to 5th July.
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