Euroclassic takes in the best of Europe

| 23 Sep 2011

Runners on the 2011 MSA Euroclassic gave the event a unanimous thumbs-up. The eight-day, non-competitive route was the 19th running of the transcontinental blast and started in the spa town of Contrexéville in western France on 4 September.

It then headed through some of Europe’s most spectacular scenery – the Black Forest in Germany, the Swiss Alps and the Italian Lakes – before heading south as far as the ‘Eternal City’ of Rome.

The teams then turned north through the rolling hills of Tuscany for the finish in the historic town of Parma, renowned for its hams and cheeses.

The 1425-mile road trip featured overnight halts and sightseeing stop-offs as well as visits to Brescia, Bologna, Livorno, Perugia, Pisa, San Marino, Siena, St Moritz, Venice and Verona.

Participants also took advantage of exclusive track time at no fewer than four different circuits, plus visits to the Mille Miglia Museum and the official Museo Ferrari.

While the organisers opened up a few places to more contemporary classic cars, the vast majority of those taking part were driving cars that conformed to the MSA Euroclassic’s traditional criterion of being more than 20-years old.

Predictably, all the great legendary British and Italian sports car marques were well represented, with a wide range of Aston Martin, Austin-Healey, Bentley, Ferrari, Jaguar, Lamborghini, Lotus and MG models wowing the crowds along the way.

“The MSA Euroclassic is widely hailed as the premier continental tour of its genre and, as predicted, this year’s journey through the supercar heartlands and historic cities of northern Italy was one of the most special yet,” said Andrew Coe, chief executive of organiser International Motor Sports. “It will be a hard act to follow, but next year marks the event’s 20th anniversary so we are already well advanced with our planning. Full details will be revealed later, but the outline route will start in Spain and end in the glittering Principality of Monte-Carlo, the perfect place for us to celebrate 20 superb years of the MSA Euroclassic.”

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