Clubs at the Brno Grand Prix Revival
The nicest and most comprehensive club exhibition of historic and classic cars up to the year of production 1990 is coming to the Brno Grand Prix Revival. The participants of the club zone will be the only ones, apart from the racing series, to be on the circuit on Friday, when it will still be closed to the public. The clubs will have at their disposal a safe exhibition space directly in the paddock of the Masaryk circuit and their own "social" space and space for tents. During the entire weekend, racing and vintage cars meeting specific conditions will have the option of four free drives around the track.
Ondřej Hrůza and Karel Kostroň began their preparations following the example of major motoring events such as the Le Mans Classic. I asked them a simple question. What made you two decide to organize a club show at Revival? And here are the answers.
Ondra: Karel was the first to say it here. All races like MotoGP, Ferrari Challenge and others that people used to watch gradually disappeared from Brno. Due to the situation at the fairgrounds, there would not even be a Revival this year, and motorsport would completely disappear from the traditional city of motorsport. Some motocross in Vranov or world championship of powerboats in Jedovnice cannot be counted.
Karel brought together a group of people who didn't care and started thinking about what to do with it. The idea of organizing races on the old track for the anniversary of the Masaryk circuit turned out to be intractable. It was a beautiful dream, but we found out that there are so many people against it that no one wants to do it. The second idea was to use the Brno velodrome for a chase race of historic vehicles. That could be a nice event. But Karel Kupka stepped in to say that Revival is returning to the Brno circuit.
For me personally, everything happened during a visit to the Le Mans Classic, where I understood that it is possible to do things completely differently. You will see things there that you only knew from pictures. With what the people from ČAMS have arranged, all those racing series, we can say that we can experience such a Le Mans Classic in Brno and for completely different money. In addition, similar events are not held in the surrounding countries either, so Revival becomes a very attractive business not only for us, but also for enthusiasts from the surrounding countries. I think it can revive the perception of motorsport, maybe in a few years it won't work anymore.
We just want it to be good. The people who take care of the presentations of the clubs do it only out of enthusiasm, without any claim to any fee. At the same time, it is a huge piece of work to organize it. And you want those people to come and make it big.
Karel: I would not like to act as a main character. An important figure is Karel Kupka. We missed the first year of the Revival because we just went to the Le Mans Classic. It was on the same date and we were terribly sorry that it didn't work out. When I joined the veterans club about eighteen years ago, the Fordever club had been in operation for some time. At that time, most of my friends made fun of those "lawnboys" and they didn't take us seriously. At the first meeting of the veteran club, I had to say something about myself. So I started, but only a few people were listening and the others started talking. Karel shouted at them to be quiet and listen to what the younger generation was doing. That was important to me because it was the first time that someone didn't tell me that I was interested in young cars and what I was doing there. And I want this Karel and the people around him to prepare such events so that they enjoy doing it. Because I want to go to such events. I want a reason to keep those old vergles alive.
I really appreciate the fact that I can close the track at the Brno–Soběšice races. This is a fantastic event with a huge history. We enjoyed the friendly atmosphere at the Revivals held at the fairgrounds, we were there with everyone, in the middle of the city, it was fantastic. But you didn't drive. The car was getting a lot of work there. When I heard from Karel Kupka that he didn't want to continue with it because a lot of people were throwing sticks under his feet, I realized that we had to do something. In addition, there were positive changes at the Brno circuit, and full of impressions from the Le Mans Classic, we thought that this was it.
Ondra: There is interest in the idea. It turns out that when people don't have to organize it themselves and get it on a plate, there is interest. It's interesting that the first reaction to some basic information we dropped about the event is "is that a fact?". People don't want to believe that something like this could happen in our country. It spreads on social networks and people gradually understand that they will see something here that they have not seen live before. And they have it right under their noses, on the Masaryk circuit.
Karel: A club stand organized in this way, with the possibility to ride on the race track or just be there, is another dimension that Revival will get. At the much-remembered Le Mans Classic, of course, there are racing cars on the track and you can be right there in the paddock. A separate chapter is the camps full of historic cars, where it lives. In fact, one would not even have to leave the camp and would leave full of experiences. Then there are various attractions such as a shooting range, carousel, and even dance classes, and last but not least, an exhibition of clubs. We will put our work into it. A couple of guys from the Fordever club will work it out and the reason is to get this club dimension to the Revival so that in the end we can say that it makes sense to repeat it.
Ondra: We aim to invite all active clubs. But the goal is not to fill an area. We care about quality. Sports and racing cars should be on display. If someone has a rally Ford Escort in their garage that their dad or grandfather used to drive, it would be great to get it to this event. We have a ceiling of 25 clubs that we are able to get there, but when there are fifteen of them, we will say that we have had a successful year. We will see who applies, because one of the first to respond was a club from Slovakia, to which we did not send any information.
Karel: It would probably be good to emphasize that if certain conditions are met, the participants of the club exhibition can ride on the circuit, and not once, but four times. This is way above standard compared to other events in the world. In Le Mans, you can only drive 1.5 laps on Saturday morning for about 5 thousand crowns. By those conditions I mean, for example, four-point seat belts, an electrical switch, a fire extinguisher, and racing overalls are strongly recommended.
Ondra: Revival is a great event and it's a motorsport that I enjoy. It will be an event for young guys who keep cars at home and need to see some of that history live. As well as a chance for everyone who could only watch such races on TV. For me, this is the number one motoring event of the season. Everyone who likes motorsport simply has to be there.
Karel: Old cars and motorbikes belong on the racing circuit. It's on every circuit from Monza, through Le Mans, Spa, Nürburgring to the Hungaroring, so there's no reason why it shouldn't be successful in Brno.
For Motor Journal written by Jiří Mewald
Photo: Fordever club, Peter Auto
