Unlike the UK’s Pendine Sands Hot Rod Races, the Vintage Hot Rod Association’s straight-line, top-speed event with a number of distinct classes, the Rømø Motor Festival in Denmark offers side-by-side 1/8th-mile drag races. Here there are no class separations: each competitor can simply nod their head or waggle their finger to invite another to race. This often produces very close action and the occasional dead heat – as the recent 2024 staging of this remarkable event proved.
In the past, Denmark’s more northerly island of Fanø was famous for its long, smooth, sandy beach. There, people such as Sir Malcolm Campbell with his 350hp Sunbeam, and Edward Scarisbrick, who raced a copy of Zborowski’s Chitty II, competed for top-speed honours. The event was held only between 1919 and 1924.
The variety of both cars and nationalities at the Rømø Motor Festival is fascinating
There was an attempt to recreate the races in 2003, but the organiser borrowed an Alfa Romeo 8C from a competitor and, unfortunately, when returning to the paddock he hit the centre throttle instead of the brake. He badly damaged the Alfa and two other cars, but mercifully he did not hit a single spectator. However, because this incident was witnessed by the local police, the event was never allowed to run again.
Just a few islands south of Fanø is Rømø, which has two magnificent beaches. It was here that a couple of enterprising Danish vintage hot rod enthusiasts, Thomas Bredahl and Carsten Bech, persuaded the local authorities to allow them to run an annual beach race on the Lakolk Strand beach. Unlike Pendine in Wales, this is not a beach that is covered by the sea at each high tide, meaning there is less wet, salty sand eating away at your car after only a couple of runs.
Most competitors at the Rømø Motor Festival have at least a dozen races; the really keen types a good few more. The racers are all totally engaged with the period look that Thomas and Carsten hope for – and three things were particularly interesting at this year’s event: among the 25,000 spectators and contestants, no one dressed to celebrate war; there was not even a sweet wrapper left on the beach after the event; and more than a third of the drivers were women.
The island of Rømø is a beautiful location, connected to the mainland by a 6km causeway. There are a number of well preserved ancient historic buildings, charming and welcoming locals, and a more relaxed and informal atmosphere than is exuded by some vintage events today. The variety of both cars and nationalities at the Motor Festival is fascinating: mad Swedish riders of 1920s Harley-Davidsons; Finnish hot rodders; highly competitive Danes; ‘Not a Harley’ motorcyclists; laughing Germans; long-distance-travelling Austrians, Swiss and French; and a handful of Brits – myself included.
There will be another beach race at the end of August 2025, so there is the opportunity to enjoy the races, the parties and the warmth of Danish hospitality for anyone who fancies attending or participating in this very different kind of event.
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