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2007 MSA EUROCLASSIC Iberian Adventure - Newsletter #2 February 2007
Event Director Pete Wellington returned from his second recce in Portugal at the end of January and reports that he now has the overall shape of the event established. Although there is a lot more detail to come, as roads and venues are checked out on his next major visit in March, we can now publish an overall event itinerary.
The need to find hotels of sufficient quality and quantity has dictated a few changes to our original ideas, but we are confident that we now have an even better route and event timetable. Accommodation information and booking forms will be forwarded in March.
The most obvious change is that we will not be using Bilbao as our finish city, but we will be spending two days in both Porto and Lisbon, allowing the two feature circuit experiences to be enjoyed on low mileage loops from these two cities with luggage left safely in your hotel room. The outline route is as follows:
Monday October 1st. Start of event in Santander to coincide with the arrival of the 16.00 September 30th Brittany Ferries sailing from Plymouth. From Santander to León via the spectacular Picos de Europa National Park. Welcome meal and overnight stay in León. León has a long history and a fine architectural heritage; the most notable monuments being the Rayonnant gothic cathedral with its excellent stain glassed windows and the Basilica de San Isidoro, with its Romanesque paintings.
Tuesday October 2nd. León to Porto, the capital of northern Portugal and the centre of the Port wine industry, via Bragança and the high border roads between Spain and Portugal. Two nights in Porto.
Wednesday October 3rd. Circular route to the Vasco Sameiro circuit near Braga followed by a light lunch at a hotel overlooking the spectacular Sanctuary of Bom Jesus do Monte. Return to Porto by mid afternoon for sight-seeing. Mid-event dinner in the Taylor’s port caves.
Thursday October 4th. Porto to the capital, Lisbon, on a coastal route via Aveiro and Batalha. Two nights in Lisbon.
Friday October 5th. Circular route to Estoril circuit and then to the spectacular Sintra Palace. Plenty of time for sight-seeing.
Saturday October 6th. Lisbon to Viseu via Tomar, Coimbra, Portugal’s oldest seat of learning, and Caramulo. Caramulo is a former spa town and has a renowned museum which features both classic cars and fine art by artists including Picasso and Dali. The name Viseu comes from the Latin viso meaning good view, indicating its Roman foundations and is today distinguished as the largest European city with no rail connections!
Sunday October 7th. Viseu to León via Vila Real and the border high ground and scenic roads. Final event dinner. Vila Real once hosted the Portuguese Grand Prix on its quirky street circuit which featured a level crossing amongst other diversions. This small city is in the wine region and occupies a spectacular location between the gorges of the Corgo and Cabril Rivers.
Monday October 8th. León to Santander by an inland route, to coincide with the 16.00 return ferry to Plymouth. Event ends.
We will be able to fill in more of the route detail and give news about further lunch and rest stops as Pete’s work continues and we are also planning drives around the refurbished street circuit at Porto and the old GP street circuit at Vila Real.
Two days of the route fall outside the usual Euroclassic daily mileage guide of 200 miles: from León to Porto and Viseu to León. This is because of the rural nature of the highland area between Spain and Portugal. You get great roads but few towns, let alone cities with quality hotels! On these days expect to cover 250 miles and Pete will make judicious use of the Autoroute to ease the strain. The good news is that both days are bracketed by “easy” ones!
Pete visited the Vasco Sameiro circuit near Braga on this trip and reports an enthusiastic welcome from the owners, the local flying club. It will be no surprise, then, to hear that the track is airfield based with an active airstrip in the centre as well as a very well known kart circuit, much used by UK teams for winter testing. The outer car circuit is, according to Pete, “flat, twisty and great fun”, so it sounds ideal! At just over 3 kilometres in length it is regularly used for National car and bike events and is named after the Portuguese driver who won the 1937 Portuguese Grand Prix at Vila Real in an Alfa Romeo Monza.
Pete continues to be impressed with the reception he has received from the Mayors and town officials en route and we can expect a whole new catalogue of town and city square receptions to add to the long and illustrious Euroclassic collection.
We are now pleased to be able to report that the 2007 entry has reached its maximum entry level and we have started a reserve list. This bodes well for a fantastic experience in Spain and Portugal and our ambition to re-establish the Euroclassic as a must-do annual event.
Click on the button below to download a PDF of this Newsletter for your reference and feel free to email it to anyone else that you think will be interested in the 2007 Euroclassic.