Rømø Motor Festival: A good excuse to take a trip to Denmark
This article was first published in Finansavisen.
VETERAN CAR: In record time, with no other marketing than word of mouth and Facebook, the Rømø Motor Festival has become a cult event which last year attracted 40,000 spectators to a fantastic beach party with classic cars and motorcycles in the centre.
100 years of history
The festival has gone from a local party of friends to an international success with well over 100 participants from all over Europe on Lakholk Strand on the island of Rømø a few miles south of Esbjerg.
The inspiration is the speed record races on Fanø Strand from 1919 until well into the 1920s. Not just local speed heroes, but also factory teams and international racers flocked to the beach as word spread of the fantastic long and wide beaches’ opportunities to drive fast. Really fast.
Tribute
It is this history that the group of friends of a handful of enthusiasts wanted to honor with a historic beach race. Since Fanø can only be reached by boat, the choice fell on Rømø a little further south, but with the same huge beaches.
The most important thing for the organizers was to create a free, low-threshold offer that does not require too much organization. The beach was clear, and with a track length of 1/8 mile, 202 meters, the speed would be limited, especially since all the participating cars and motorcycles had to be older than 1947.
The dunes along the beach are natural grandstands, so with a «little» organization of parking and safe audience areas you could welcome the first party in 2016. Since then it has only grown.