Timeless classics in their natural environment at the Zoute Rallye

The Zoute Rallye is one of the main attractions during the Zoute Grand Prix days. The Rallye consists of two sections, a regularity rally and a touring Rallye.

The regularity rally includes a 250 km daily drive paired with speed and skill tests. The touring rallye is a three-day drive at the driver’s own pace, with plenty of stops at original locations, like downtown Bruges.

These rallies take place on open roads accessible to the public for taking photos. During the Zoute week, many bloggers went on scouting trails to take great pictures. For such photos, I recommend paying a visit to Car Pictures Lady or Classic Car Collections around the World. Therefore we only provide our impressions now, along with some thoughts and audio-visual impressions.

For visitors with limited time,  I recommend starting with the parade in Knokke Heist. Every morning, the participating cars made a tour around the city centre (through Albertplein, the beach walk of the city) as a warmup for the Rallye.

The starting grid was built up by the Prado tent, but it also bordered the public area of Knokke Heist, and their main parking site was also located in a public access zone.  Of course, a selected few were parked by the entrance of the Prado tent.

This programme proved to be an ultimate car spotting experience, where we could see legendary classic cars in action.

The participants were lining up for the starting grid, and even that part was a great spectacle. Even at low revs, a grey Ferrari 275 waiting to be lined up or a Porsche 550 Speedster manoeuvring to the starting grid is a spectacle on its own.

A few selected cars were parked by the Prado tent. These were rare exotics even by Belgian standards, like the white 1953 Siata 208S Spider or the Ferrari 250 Short Wheelbase version.

Once passing the gates of the restricted area, cars entered are Rallye were parked along the sidewalk, in the public access area.

Cars falling from grace included quite some rarities, sometimes well north of one million euros. BMW 507, Gullwings, early Porsche models, pre-war monsters like several Bentleys.

These were all casually lined up in the external parking, and passengers could admire the preparations. For a pre-war Bentley, this is quite a spectacle on its own.

Several dozen cars were parked outside, and the line was so long that by the end of the row, one could hardly see the Prado tent with the starting grid.

The selection of cars also ensured a wide variety in terms of origin, epoch and purpose. 550 Speedster, Volvo P1800 pre-war classics, with two-three modern cars (like a Polestar 1) dropped into the mix.

This scene was so surreal, like when a child was kipping over its toy chest. It just can’t be real…

For an overview of the Zoute GP, have a look at the landing article with link to all our reports:

And for an overview of this years car events, check out Egzostive’s ultimate European automotive bucket list!