This year, treat you and your classic to one of these 85 great adventures – from a day in the Cheshire countryside to three weeks in Japan
With more events to choose from than ever before, 2017 is the perfect year to start touring or competing in your classic car. Here’s our definitive guide
No one with an interest in old cars can have failed to notice how the scene has grown in recent years. You can see TV programmes on buying, selling and restoring classics every night of the week, while major car shows and historic motor sport meetings jostle to find a summer weekend that isn’t already bagged by a rival event. But owning a classic car should be about more than just watching other people talking about them and driving them, shouldn’t it?
Happily, the range of organised tours and classic rallies has grown alongside every other facet of the hobby. There are now far more of them than we could ever hope to include – Scenic & Continental Car Tours alone is offering more than 250 trips this year – but we’ve chosen a tempting cross- section with the emphasis on the UK and Europe. You’ll find an immense range of events between a single day out in a scenic corner of the British Isles and at the other extreme a threeweek luxury motoring holiday in Japan using global car- shipping companies and the finest hotels. Likewise, rally enthusiasts can choose any point on a sliding scale between an inexpensive Sunday spent skidding around cones in a farmyard to fullblown trans- continental competitive epics. In every case, the organisers can advise you about licensing requirements, insurance and car preparation, if any is needed. And if you’ve read this far and you’re not a classic car owner, don’t despair – some companies such as HERO (Historic Endurance Rallying Organisation) offer ‘arrive and drive’ packages that include the rental of a classic, and there are tours set up that incorporate the use of an interesting car – a Fiat 500 or a classic army Jeep, for instance. All you have to do is block a few days out of your calendar, get out there and have some fun.