Estoril Classics 2023 – Review & Coverage

Once again we had the opportunity to attend the Estoril Classics, an event which has grown in size and relevance since its inception a few years ago and which is steadily becoming a “can’t miss” weekend on the European historic racing calendar. Right off the bat, we’d like to make it clear that due to the organizer’s criteria in this particular domain, AV has not been granted a press pass to this or any past edition of the event, despite being one of the (if not, the) only independent mediums which visually covers the Estoril Classics consistently. As such, we’ve always experienced the event like any other member of the general public does and, in that experience, there are some issues.

Over the last couple of years, admittance prices have increased quite a bit and although you do get quite a lot of bang for your buck with an entrance fee which still falls far short from the values of tickets to massive events like the Goodwood Revival, the situation does make one more alert to the shortcomings in the overall experience. Now, we all know racing isn’t really meant for the public, it’s meant for the racers and their guests; the public just happens to be there. However, if people do indeed go and enthusiastically pay for their ticket, it would be nice to feel like some measure of consideration has been put into their experience, something which doesn’t seem to really happen, not successfully anyway. Let’s look at a couple of very basic examples. Take the access to the viewpoints above the pit lane; one used to have a vast extent to watch the action from but now, with the set up of guest areas there, that extent has been cut down to a very small stretch where people uncomfortably pile up and hope to be able to catch a glimpse of…anything at all. Food and beverages inside the circuit are also quite problematic, with a very weak offering, paired with some pretty egregious price gouging from the few food truck vendors on site. Now, we know full well this isn’t at all a situation exclusive to the Estoril Classics, but alternatives should definitely be made available.

Because the weather has still been quite summer-like at the dates of the event, the beautiful sunshine is both a blessing and a curse; on one hand, it’s lovely weather for pictures, on the other, it also tends to be scorching hot. Given the aforementioned price issue for sodas, waters and alike (which still run out because of the intense heat), it would certainly be nice to have some sort of water refilling stations spread around. Doesn’t need to be anything fancy, any IBC water container would do. Also, it seems counter intuitive not to have a place to sit down for a few at a world famous track, but there really isn’t. Once you get into the circuit, you can either walk half a km to the stand at turn one, which is open to the elements anyway, or you can backtrack, leave the circuit and go through the outside up to the grand stand, which is indeed sheltered, but entirely removed from the backstage action. We know space is at a premium during this sort of event, but If a kind soul would envision something as basic as a couple of function tents by the food area with a few hay bales or something equally cheap underneath just so one can sit down in the shade for 5 minutes and regain composure, it would be great.

Again, we have zero contact with the event’s organization or the track administrators, so we have no idea whom would have the responsibility or authority to look into these issues, but it still feels relevant to, at least, make these suggestions/observations publically because perhaps if others share them, maybe things can improve in the future as just one single observation from one single person/medium is unlikely to demonstrate a greater general perception.

Another thing we’d like to point out, a positive aspect, is how nice and helpful the staff at the Estoril Circuit is. For instance, we’ve had an issue with a dead camera battery and one member of the staff interrupted their lunch to provide us access to an office where we could plug it in and charge it, otherwise we wouldn’t have been able to work for the rest of the day. This attitude contrasted to the others demonstrated by some of the racing teams members which this year seemed particularly done with the public. Don’t get us wrong, these folks deal with a lot and people can be too much…pushy, blatantly in the way – especially around the pits and pit lane – and mostly, rude, stepping in everywhere without asking for permission while folks are doing their jobs. You do get quite a broad sense of access in this event (both legitimate, implied, and frankly, abused) and we fear that in time, this sort of attitude will cause the teams to demand a lock down of those areas. In contrast, there are team members which go absolutely out of their way to be the kindest souls and facilitate you access to pretty much everything, but others, perhaps through a cumulative effect of being fed up with the same kinds of behaviors, do respond negatively, even to unrelated situations. This year, we’ve experienced both cases.

All in all, the Estoril Classics remains a treasure trove of interesting and rare cars as you’ll be able to see in our coverage of the event bellow and we hope that, for future editions, some extra mindfulness of the public’s experience can be had and make it even that more special and enjoyable to everyone, not just the VIPs.