The Zoute GP opened its gates on Thursday and awaits visitors with many activities until Sunday. The Zoute takes a special place in our hearts, as it combines all the right elements for a true petrolhead event. Its open space layout made it the fittest for survival in the era of dying car shows.
So much so that Zoute was listed as our very favourite car event of 2021. And we were not the only ones, as Zoute was crowned winner in the category Historic Motoring Event of the Year at the Historic Motoring awards.
The Zoute Grand Prix comprises five events held throughout the four days at various locations: the Zoute Top Marques show, the Zoute Rally, the Zoute Sale by Bonhams Auction, the Zoute Concours d’Elegance and the closing Zoute GT Tour. Some of these events are public like the tours on the beachside boardwalk. Others might require additional investments from the spectators, especially the Concours and the VIP tickets.
Prado Zoute (the “car show”)
The Prado Zoute is the heart of the event, acting as event headquarters and starting grid and finish line for the rallies. The beachside hosting the show rounds and parades hosts a few selected cars from various marques.
The main hall is a large pavilion tent built on the beach, hosting a high-end car show with contemporary super and hypercars along with concepts and a few selected classics. The tent also hosts the primary hospitality services, with restaurants and art corners.
The Prado car show might not be a match for the big international ones, but the smaller stages can pack a massive punch of adrenaline even with a 3-5 car line-up.
You get to see pretty decent efforts from brands that otherwise shine away from most big car shows. Companies like Lotus or McLaren came with impressive supercars and novelties surrounded by appropriate decoration. Well, when you have a Valkyre, you don’t need that much deco, but the stages were really well decorated.
The organisers promise 21 premium car partners ranging from small high-end manufacturers to mainstream premium companies. We did not count them all, but we saw more noble brands than in IAA Munich 2022 or Paris Mondiale 2018. They presented their most beautiful and latest car designs and technical innovations with European or Belgian premieres.
Especially the British brands, hard hit by Brexit showed a clear rebound, thanks to newly established European headquarters, and appropriate representation by Belgian or Dutch flagship importers.
Some of the cars might be familiar from Chantilly, but as far as we know, most of these brands will not show up in Paris in two weeks.
ZOUTE SALE (Bonhams)
This year, the official auction of the Zoute Grand Prix will be housed in their own pavilion, some 100 metres away from the Prado HQ. Between the two sites, you will get a lovely walk on the beach in this weather.
The auction is organised by their trusted auction house Bonhams. Over the years their Zoute Auction has become a very successful event. In 2021, the auction ended with a total amount of €12,700,000, the best result so far.
This year’s edition will not disappoint either, as the organisers promise over €20,000,000 worth of unique classics and supercars cars. For an overview of all cars up for auction, have a look at the BONHAMS website.
Over 75 cars and motorcycles were listed for sale this year, including unique specimens like coachbuilt granturismo cars from the ’60s, an iconic Ferrari 288 GTO Coupe from 1985 and a white BMW 507 as particular highlights.
The modern car offering includes supercars and hypercars of the past decade and a few unique coachbuilt rarities, like the Rolls Royce Silver Specter Shooting Brake, designed by the Dutch coachbuilder Niels van Roij.
After the auction, we will come back with the results and our favourites.
Zoute Concours d’Elegance
The Concours d’Elegance is a traditional highlight of the Zoute GP week. On Saturday and Sunday, the Golf Club in Knokke Heist hosts dozens of timeless classics competing sorted into a particular theme. Visitors can get guided tours, but it’s already a spectacle to see the referees doing their work, while the proud owner shows them around.
In a few categories, the selection honoured a collector representing their cherished masterpieces or cars that used to belong to them once. Other themes honour a brand or a particular model, usually those having a round anniversary.
This year the Concours celebrates the 75th anniversary of Ferrari with over 20 exclusive Ferraris, but there were a few other birthday boys, like Auto Union and the first Alpine A110.
A novelty of this year was the participation of major traders (like Axel Schuette and Aaldering) and specialists (e.g HK Engineering and Jaguar’s European classic specialist from Essen) in two larger tents.
Zoute Rallye
In addition to the decorations and the cars exhibited on the boardwalk, the 225 historic cars participating in the Zoute Rallye on Thursday, Friday and Saturday can also be admired in the streets and on the boardwalk of the seaside resort.
This rally remains the highlight of the event and has been a major crowd-puller for years. The cars, which may not be ‘younger’ than 56 years old, are all gems of technology and automotive history.
Usually, they leave from the starting grid at the Prado Pavilion, but each day holds a different agenda. On Thursday, October 6, all 225 participating cars will be subject to official scrutineering. On Friday, October 7, and Saturday, October 8 all cars will depart from the boardwalk at the Prado Zoute between 8 am and 10:30 and will return again after 15.30.
Zoute GT Tour
The highlight for fans of the ‘modern’ dream cars will certainly be the return of the ZOUTE GT TOUR to Knokke-Heist, which finishes on the boardwalk on Sunday, October 9, between 3.30 pm and 5.30 pm. This ralley is reserved for owners of exclusive Gran Turismo cars not older than 20 years.
