Classic Racing School in Spain: behind the scenes of our new winter experience
This is the big news of the season. In 2024, Classic Racing School launched its historic driving programs in the middle of winter with its winter experience on the Castelloli circuit in Spain. Find out more about this unique event behind the scenes.
CLASSIC RACING SCHOOL IN SPAIN: AIMING TO EXTEND THE CALENDAR
When we launched our historic racing school, we chose to base our programs on the Charade circuit. The decision was a natural one: this track has an exceptional history, and its technical nature means that all the unique sensations of driving a historic single-seater can be multiplied tenfold. Situated on the heights of Clermont-Ferrand and just a few minutes from its airport, Charade is a circuit accessible to all.
However, its geographical position makes it impracticable to hold driving experiences during the winter. Charade is a mountain circuit, at the foot of the majestic Puy de Dôme, and from December to March, the track is more suited to sledging and snowball fights than to single-seater racing!
Until now, the Classic Racing School calendar has run from April to October, during the warmer months. But with the desire to offer our unique experiences all year round, our team had to move. Thus was born the idea of crossing the Pyrenees and taking Classic Racing School to Spain.
THE CASTELLOLI CIRCUIT: AN OBVIOUS CHOICE
Spain is a country rich in circuits. For our Classic Racing School program in Spain, our future destination had to meet certain criteria, the main ones being not to be too far from the French border to remain accessible to most of our customers, and to be sufficiently technical to arouse the emotions of driving a Crosslé 90F. A trip to a world-famous circuit like Catalunya or Aragón was out of the question, as the long straights there are not suited to our Formula Fords.
Castelloli was the obvious choice. Nestled in the Catalan landscape, the circuit offers awesome gradient, with the track reaching 9%. Its fast curves and figure-of-eight layout make it a highly atypical track. On paper, Castelloli has many similarities with Charade, and is ideally suited to the characteristics of our single-seaters. Located 40 minutes from Barcelona airport and less than two hours from the French border, its geographical position was ideal.
A LOGISTICAL CHALLENGE TO MOVING CLASSIC RACING SCHOOL TO SPAIN
Once the choice of circuit had been made, our team had to think about the atmosphere in the pits. The Classic Racing School experience goes far beyond a simple driving course: it’s an entire universe, a real journey back in time that accompanies drivers throughout their program. So the move to a new circuit had to include the transposition of our school’s own vintage universe.
This led to the decision to recreate our private lounge on the Charade circuit, directly in the Castelloli boxes. Large canvas walls were printed to create a cosy area in which drivers would feel right at home. Retro dressing room with all the usual vintage equipment, catering area with snacks, drinks and coffee, boutique, chesterfields with TV for the various briefings during the day, period decor…
And what about the cars? Sylvain, who joined our school’s mechanical team in 2023, has modified his semi-trailer to carry as many single-seaters as possible. For him, the journey from Clermont-Ferrand to Spain was a little longer, but all our single-seaters were able to reach Castelloli in a single trip. All in all, no fewer than three trucks brought the entire Classic Racing School universe to Spain over a period of four days!
TIME TO SHOOT SOME PHOTOS AND MOVIES
A new country means a new audience! For two days, the Castelloli circuit became a film set to showcase our racing school. On Friday February 2, members of the DriveMe Barcelona club were the first to discover the unique sensations of driving our historic single-seaters on this track. Photographer and videographer Jandro de la Puente immortalized the day with his cameras and drones.
The team of photographers on site also immortalized our first racing sessions at Castelloli with various travellings, to obtain unique shots of our cars at close quarters. These are the very first photos of our cars on this circuit, and will serve both to feed our social networks and to dress up our website for the seasons to come.
The following day, teams from Revista Cars, Spain’s leading motoring magazine, visited our school. A video report will soon appear in their various publications, introducing our school to the Spanish public who are passionate about vintage motor sports. For the occasion, one of our Crosslé 90Fs was equipped with microphones and cameras to capture all the sensations of the historic single-seater.
JUST LIKE AT HOME, WITH A FEW EXTRA DEGREES
The major advantage of having moved the whole of our school’s universe to this new circuit was that the way our days worked remained the same. Whether it was the morning briefing sessions to explain the circuit and the handling of the Crosslé 90F single-seater, the reconnaissance laps in the sedan, the installation of the drivers, the video debriefing sessions or even the lunch break, everything happened naturally. New drivers were able to discover the quality of our service and the ever-higher standards we strive to set. For customers who had already been to Charade, they felt right at home in the heart of Catalonia.
During their stay in Spain, our drivers enjoyed ideal weather conditions. After all, that was the reason we came to this circuit in the middle of winter: to let our customers enjoy our unique, historic single-seaters earlier in the year. Bright blue skies and mercury in excess of 10 degrees celsius accompanied our days, something unimaginable at Charade at this time of the season. And to finish on a high note, nature treated us to magnificent sunsets over Montserrat, the mythical Catalan mountain at the foot of which the Castelloli circuit is located. Another point in common with Charade, although the Puy de Dôme will always be our favorite…
