What goes around comes around. It’s hard motherf***ing fact of life, but it’s a fact of life most racing series around the world are gonna have to get realistic about. Some are more realistic, some are not.

Count V de V as one of the most down-to-earth international championships in Europe that  over the years (roughly 20) has developed into an extremely attractive proposition for a grass-roots hard-core modor racing fan like yer somewhat humble servant.

V de V brings a lot of loud racing cars/quiet racing stars to my backyard, Estoril, and when it happens chaos and creation are guaranteed, in massive numbers I gotta tell ya. Sparks fly from the cars hitting the historic curbs of the former F1 (albeit recently modified) circuit; my camera overheats in the heat of the moment, memory cards get changed every 50 minutes. What’s also uber cool is total access to everything and everyone: drivers often invite you inside their garages and give you a quick tour of their amazing cars if you spend too much time drooling over a Ferrari or a Porsche rear end. The front’s nice too!

The formula is not new though: V de V mixes gentleman drivers with pros, represented on this occasion by none other than Andrea Montermini in a Ferrari F458 GT3 (wot a lovely car indeed, thank you very much). A bit of 1990s F1 4 you.

Plus-size 6-hour GT races are good fun under any circumstances, even in heavy rain as was the case once again in 2014 (MotoGP 2010 levels of rainfall would be a good comparison). Refuelling, pit stops, driver changes… I totally love that stuff! You can hide under the roof on top of garages anyway and observe, take in the smell of petrol, the scream of the proper engines (compared to Playstation toys on wheels in many other series, I won’t mention names).

We informed you in our previous post about all the necessary links regarding the race itself (race report and results), cLICK HERE if you missed it.

Now I’d like you to concentrate on the massage, pardon – message from the V de V founder and organiser, Eric van de Vyver. It’s loud and clear even in French, although you can view the same message in English on the Englishman’s version of the official V de V website.

Deliver the message!

The things Eric Ivan says are extremely relevant to me: racing for the sake of it, good fun, parties, passion for racing, camaraderie, affordability, to mention a few. Where did that go among sponsor activation and corporate hospitality, VIPs with plastic smiles and shady businessmen, paddock passes and pay-per-view TV?

I get my kicks from simple things in racing, like free live streaming on the internet, open paddock, driver-fan interface situations, etc.. I’m not saying other championships around the world are not doing the same thing (Le Man’s a good example, for sure, you know), but… V de V is a great model for the 21st century’s approach to motorsport.

Please don’t waste any more time and don’t enjoy my gallery of photos on Flickr by not clicking HERE.

V de V!!!