DRINK BEER, SMOKE FAGS, DRIVE FAST CARS

Guinness and Rizla, now that is the sort of sponsors you do not see too often today. The safety Nazis do not allow you to see such dangerous images.  

The Espiritu de Montjuic historic festival at the Circuit de Catalunya provides a glimpse of how motor racing used to be, when cars and motorcycles screamed around the old street circuit at Montjuic in Barcelona.  

The weekend meeting featured F1s, GTs, Can Ams, sportcars, touring cars and motorcycles, all hitting the tarmac in anger.

For any motor racing fan, there was the great selection of truly historic cars to spot, including my personal favourite the F1 JPS Lotus. 

 

Pretty much every famous marquee was represneted, with a particular preponderance of Minis, and, inevitably, Ferraris, old and new for the track and for the road. (Is it just me or are Ferraris beconing common and cliched?) 

For those who do not quite get the appeal of man and machine in balletic battle with opponents and physics, the paddock featured a goodly variety of distractions including classic car displays, a smal fun fair, a Beatles tribute band, stalls and the opportunity for some period posing.

Too rare these days, the pits were open for the public to go gawp and kick tyres. 

The old Montjuic circuit is too dangerous for a large scale revivial, but the Espiritu de Montjuic festival, looks set to become an annual event. It perhaps lacks the gloss and depth of some other historic racing festivals, but for easy-going openess I do not think it can be beat.