Pre-1986 Formula 1 cars race at Estoril from 18 September (and the grandstand is free)
The tenth Estoril Classics runs 18 to 20 September at the Estoril circuit, with the Endurance Racing Legends grid back on the programme. Schedule, what to see on each day, and what you pay.
Most classic car events are a parade. This one is a race meeting: Formula 1 single-seaters from the 1970s and 1980s driven hard, on a circuit where a good number of them once competed for real. The tenth Estoril Classics runs from 18 to 20 September and the full timetable is now published.
The addition this year is the return of Endurance Racing Legends, Peter Auto’s grid of GTs and prototypes from the 1990s and 2000s. In practice that means a Maserati MC12 GT1, a Chrysler Viper GTS-R, Porsche 993 GT2 and 997 GT3 RSR, a Ferrari F430 GTC. Cars worth serious money, being raced rather than displayed.
Which day of the Estoril Classics 2026 should you pick?
Friday the 18th is practice and qualifying. Classic GP, the grid reserved for pre-1986 Formula 1 machinery, takes to the track between 10.35 and 11.00, then qualifies at 15.20.
Saturday the 19th is the busiest day by some distance. Racing opens at 13.45 with Endurance Racing Legends 1, Classic GP goes out at 15.40, and the programme runs deep into the evening: Sixties’ Endurance from 17.20 to 19.20, then the 2.0L Cup closing things between 19.20 and 21.00. Gentlemen Challenge, Classic Endurance Racing, the Heritage Touring Cup and Iberian Historic Endurance fill the gaps.
Sunday the 20th starts at 10.30, brings Classic GP back out at 14.00, and finishes with Iberian Historic Endurance at 16.55.
What it costs
Nothing, if the main-straight grandstand is enough for you. That is open to everyone, and the earth car park is free too, subject to space. What you pay for is the paddock, where you walk among the teams and stand inches from the cars, and those tickets have sold out for six editions running. They are on sale through BoL, Worten and Fnac, as day tickets or a three-day pass, and they include the grandstand. Tickets are required from age 16; under-15s go free with an adult, up to two per adult.
That weekend is competitive, mind: Rock & Dão has its first edition in Viseu on the 18th and 19th, and Cascais has spent the summer handing out free concerts a few kilometres up the coast. The circuit is the cheapest of the three if engines are what you are after.
Image: Race Ready / Estoril Classics
