Martin Stubbs attends the last outing at Rob Roy for 2012.

Carol Corliss                                                                                                                                                            As one of the organising committee of the day, I cannot give an entirely unbiased and objective version of the event, but even allowing for any exaggeration, it was a splendid day, made up of the input of drivers, car owners and the public combining to create an electric atmosphere which lit up this small market town for a moment in history.As some will remember, we had organised a similar event in 1999 to mark a triple anniversary of Raymond May’s centenary, 50 years of BRM and 65 years of ERA. That event began in our minds as maybe a static display of the cars in a town centre car park and maybe a dinner and exhibition of artifacts.  Like Topsy, it grew and grew and our somewhat tentative enquiry regarding the streets being closed off, was to our surprise given the o.k., and the whole characteristic mode of the day changed. The resulting spectacle of the cars running through the town was considered a great success and an exhausted committee of 5 practically collapsed in a heap and said “Never Again!”

 The 20th edition of the Spa Six Hours weekend was like every year before, a most impressive event with more than 600 cars and more than 1000 drivers. Within the circles of the classic racing scene this event is highly praised and it has become a fixed date in many racers agendas. It’s a rare opportunity for the owners of pre-1965 GT and Touring cars to run their cars over a longer distance and into the night. Not only the cars are forced to their limits but also the drivers !

Circuit Park Zandvoort is a racing track located in the dunes north of the town of Zandvoort, in the Netherlands, near the North Sea coast. The circuit was inaugurated on August 7th 1948. In 1955 the first Formula 1 race counting for the World Championship was held at Zandvoort. Until 1985 the Formula One Grand Prix was part of the calendar every year. From 1985 several problems manifested themselves mainly caused by inhabitants of Zandvoort living near to the track complaining about the noise from the track. For the next fifteen years the continuation of the races at Zandvoort were troublesome but thanks to the persistence of some real race-enthusiasts and businessmen the track was redesigned to a 4.3 kilometers long circuit and a new pits building and a new grandstand were realized. The noise restrictions still make it impossible to organise many race events but this year the circuit received a permit for 12 decibel-free days, which allows the organisation to run unsilenced cars all weekend, so it was possible to organise this historic race event. 

Rob Roy 20 viii 2012