New Zandvoort fesitival

Organisers of a major new historic festival at Zandvoort have pledged to gather all surviving winning cars and drivers from grands prix held at the Dutch circuit for the event’s headline feature in September.

This seaside venue hosted the Dutch Grand Prix between 1948-85, the last of which was won by Niki Lauda in a McLaren MP4/2B.

Zandvoort’s Historic Race Festival will take place over the weekend of September 25/26, and it is being backed by Dutch former F1 racers Jan Lammers, Michael Bleekemolen and Gijs van Lennep.

HGPCA, the FORCE, Group C and the VSCC are all being targeted to provide races for the event, which will be free of the draconian silencing restrictions that have dogged the track in recent times.

The HGPCA had two races there in September 2003 and has already confirmed its support for the Festival. The association will take two grids, one for grand prix cars and one for drum-braked 1950s sportscars.

“We will certainly be going — Zandvoort is one of the tracks that our people really enjoy,” said the HGPCA’s Martin Grant-Peterkin. “I’d hope to get 30 grand prix cars and 25 sportscars to make the trip.”

The plan is to establish the Festival as an annual event.