Three young classic car lovers went on an adventurous trip to Classic Days Schloss Dyck

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Once again three young classic car lovers went on an adventure. This time to report about the famous Classic Days organized at Schloss Dyck.

Saturday the 3rd of August

As the sun was rising and the birds started singing, we were already on our way from our campsite to Classic Days at Schloss Dyck. As we got closer to the event more and more PreWarCars and PostWarClassics drove by, making us even more excited than we already were! As we arrived, we immediately felt the relaxed atmosphere. With this we mean that it does not matter who you are or how much you know about cars, as long as you are enthusiastic about classic cars you will enjoy the event. The first field we walked on was filled with many beautiful Bentleys, showing British pride. Besides the Bentley's, there were also some Bugatti’s, one, in particular, was very special. The incredibly long reconstructed Bugatti Diatto AVIO 8C, with a 14.5 litre Aero-engine (see pictures). Furthermore, there were also several theme fields, for example, the American field which had a mini beach and plenty of food trucks to have lunch or a snack. The camper field displayed adorable combinations of classic campers belonging to an equally styled classic car. These campers were accompanied by their owners dressed up period correctly.

But the main attraction was the castle itself. Because of the different rustic areas inside, displaying some exclusive cars, such as the German Protos NAG racing car from 1920 and an early wonderfully restored Benz with a bi-block engine, the experience created here was not to be compared with the other areas at the venue. The cars were not only lined up, but from time to time cars entered and left the castle, providing some liveliness and lovely sounds empowered by the high walls of the building. Across the bridge, you could find the Concours d'Elegance, a place where we ended up spending most of our Saturday since this day the award ceremony was held. We would like to briefly say something about some of the winning cars of de Concours d'Elegance. In our opinion, the eyecatcher of them all was the Alfa Romeo 6c2300 Aerospider 1937, which has a three-seater sofa with the steering wheel in the middle (see pictures). One of the prices it received was the title ‘best of class extraordinary cars of the golden years.’ Another exciting car was the six-cylinder Mercedes-Benz SSK 710 from 1929. Its appearance, with its deep black colour and well-known exhaust-pipe, makes it a deserved price winner. The two Bentley's, a beautifully restored 1930 Speed-six Le Mans tourer and the overall winner (number seven) Bentley 4,5 Vanden Plas team car-Birkin might have been the ones that stood out to us the most. The restoration of the Le Mans tourer, which was perfectly done, and on the other hand, the patina of number seven, showed how varied the Concours d'Elegance at Schloss Dyck is.

Sunday the 4th of August

Since Saturday we spent most of our time at the Concours d'Elegance, on Sunday we decided to see more of the races that were being held at the event. We took the opportunity to go into the paddock were some of the 50s and 60s racing cars prepared to enter the racetrack. This was of course paired with lots of smoke and roaring engines, making the crowd pumped up for some hot laps. The races were short and mainly about ending up having the fastest lap. Because of the high speed of these cars and the ongoing competitiveness between the drivers, this race was probably the most serious and exciting of all. Never the less we were actually the most enthusiastic about the Bentley race. It was very noticeable that the drivers driving the Bentleys had much fun doing so. The low growl of the 6-cylinder cars was a distinguishable sound which was to be heard from great distances (have a look at the pictures and this video). The fact that almost all seats in every car were taken, made it an even more relaxed and personal race for everyone. After the races, we ended up having a beer in the sun at the PreWarCar.com and PostWarClassic.com stand to reflect on a successful weekend for the team.

To conclude we would definitely recommend youngsters to visit Classic Days Schloss Dyck. But in fact, it is a wonderful event for people of all ages. We have seen lots of people who displayed their cars at the event bringing along their entire family. Also if you are not so familiar in the classic cars world there is enough to see and learn. Especially at the Concours d'Elegance there is a lot of information about the differences in style of the classic cars and other additional information about the cars that can be admired. One minor issue we would like to point out is that the information given throughout the event is mostly in German. Nonetheless, the overall experience of Classic Days at Schloss Dyck is definitely worth visiting next year!

Words and photographs by Yentel van Hemert, Nilo Smit and Milton Laarman.

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