The ‘Espiritu de Montjuich: the Catalan Classic Revival’ is a new event from Masters Historic Racing, to be held on the Barcelona Grand Prix circuit next spring. The race meeting, to take place on 8-10 April 2011, will pay homage to Barcelona’s former street circuit at Montjuich Park with a full selection of GP, Le Mans, sports-racing, GT and historic Touring Car grids.

A fatal accident at the Grand Prix in 1975 finally closed the street circuit and led ultimately to the building of today’s modern track, which will host the Masters event.

Much attention will also be paid to local history, including the achievements of the famous local Escuderia Montjuich 1960s/1970s racing team, and there will be a strong Spanish flavour to proceedings. As Christopher Tate, series director for Masters, points out, “Just recently, we became the first-ever UK group to co-promote under Spanish Federation rules a historic race meeting in Spain; that was at our season-closer at Monteblanco near Seville, which was something of a dress rehearsal for Barcelona.

“Very few historic racers across Europe have ever been able to sample the Circuit de Catalunya and, until now, there has never been a true classic festival held there. With the imagination and experience of our Spanish partner, Jesús Pozo, and with the enthusiastic participation of the management team at Circuit de Catalunya, we look forward to a really exciting start to our 2011 racing season.”

Jesús Pozo, creator of the top Spanish classic car shows, as well as the Martini Legends event at Montjuich and a collector himself, adds, “Spain, and the Catalan region in particular, has a great racing history from exactly the period which Masters regularly celebrates, the 1960s and 1970s. We will be displaying some of Escuderia Montjuich’s surviving team cars, as well as taking competitors and visitors around the old circuit on guided tours with team drivers of that era.”

Entry applications for the Catalan Classic will open on 1 December, and Masters anticipates enthusiasm from historic drivers to race on the full GP circuit (not using the latest FOM chicanes) – and all of it just a short distance from a city which is now Europe’s most popular tourist destination.

For further information, see www.themastersseries.com.

Text: Classic Driver
Photos: Masters