If your automotive industry is on the back foot, you will be more eager than ever to celebrate its glorious past. We saw it in France, where tens and tens of thousands turned up for the their historic Grand Prix at Paul Ricard – and the same happened in Germany, which is equally lacking a modern Grand Prix. Again, people swamped the paddock and the grandstands during a sunny and bright spring weekend. This time, it wasn't about Renault, Citroën and Peugeot. Here, BMW, Audi, Mercedes and Opel and their motorsport prowess of the past took centre stage. So was the ADAC Hockenheim Historic, otherwise known as ‘Das Jim Clark Revival', an Ersatz experience to compensate for an actual German Prix? Or did the legions of spectators turn up to revel in the purity of history?

This year’s Grand Prix de France Historique at the Paul Ricard circuit was even more about the stars rather than the sport. However, organiser HVM made the right financial bet, as no fewer than 90,000 French spectators forked out a considerable sum of money to catch a glimpse of a parade of celebrities from Formula 1 past and present. It was instantly the most well-attended historic event of the year, apart from the Goodwood Revival that’s still coming up and where the same adage is so successfully exploited.

Despite being held on the Südschleife (and not on the dreaded Nordschleife), the 1967 edition of the Eifelrennen deserves the title of having been, to date, the only major race held at the Nürburgring under snowy conditions. Furthermore, the entry list, full of well-known names from the 1960s motorsport, leaves no doubt about the importance of the event in the context of the time.