This year’s Tour de Espana started from Madrid’s Retiro Park on 6 November. Flagged away by Carlos Sainz and the Mayor of Madrid on a gloomy Monday morning, there was at least the prospect for sun and fun down the road for the participants.

The Tour de Espana runs two classes, Regularity and Competition, both follow the same route but with three races for the competition class. Some 16 Ferraris were entered for the regularity section, from the exquisite 1953 250 GT Europa of Spanish classic dealer Pueche Duran to a 1978 308GTB, taking in Dinos, Lussos, 275s, Daytonas on the way. Only three Ferraris were risking the races of the competition class, 275 GTBs for Veerbeeck/Van Looy (B) and Tandy/Chambers (GB) backed up by the exquisite Gp4 308GTB of Dudley/Dudley (GB).

This year’s route was a reminder of the fine driving to be had in Spain, where investment in the last 25 years has developed a road system which actually moves people from A to B, (no talk so far of congestion charging, could be a moral here….). Even off the beaten track, surfaces are generally good and the driving experience is enhanced by the general lack of other traffic. Starting in Madrid, finishing in Valencia, the Tour took in races at Jarama, Albacete (night race) and Cartagena, with overnight stops in Cuenca, Albacete, Murcia and Alicante. As well as the three races, there were 13 timed closed road sections of up to 13 kms. The regularity runners enjoy the same circuits and stages, just more slowly.

Watching the final stage, a 12 mile hillclimb and descent above the village of Beniares, just in the mountains that divide Alicante and Valencia, was like revisiting the pages of Motor Sport in the early 70s - a Targa Florio experience without the crowds. Racing engines zinging up the valley, sunlight on the village church down below, confirmation that the devil has the best tunes - and that they’re usually Italian.