Oct 2024 • By Tony Thacker
Presented by HandhFlatheads.com & USAutomotive.co.uk

I just made my second pilgrimage to the Mecca of European beach racing—the Rømø Motor Festival (RMF) that in 2024 attracted somewhere between 20,000 and 50,000 people from all over the world for the one-day event.

RMF takes place on that clear patch of beach to the right, the rest of the beach is covered with spectators—they say between 20,000 and 50,000 people. Although the race is only one day attendees do go to Denmark for a week or more and make a vacation of it.

Danish beach racing began on August 23, 1919, when Sven Simmelkjær organized the first event but only after the beach had been cleared of World War I mines. In 1923, Sir Malcolm Campbell driving his “Bluebird” set the fastest time to date of 149mph (240 kph). Unfortunately, the following year, Campbell blew a tire that killed a spectator and that, sadly, was the end of that.

In 2016, Danish beach racing was revived by Thomas Toft Bredahl, Carsten Bech, Steffen Sonnberg, Finn Andresen and Holger Sonnberg on another, even more expansive beach just south of Fanø on the west coast of Denmark. Of the original organizers only Carsten and Thomas remain involved but the event continues to grow.

Once again, I tagged along with McLaren F1 designer Peter Stevens who this time raced his Alexander Special, a ’25 T powered by a Model B banger with and Alexander ohv conversion. At Pendine, a similar beach race in the UK, Peter runs about 86 mph, however, that is a flying 1/16-mile event with a ½-mile run up. We were expecting a reasonable result at Rømø where the racing requirements beyond period correct, Pre-WWII-style clothing and a safe vehicle with pre-’47 speed equipment are fairly loose. It’s simple stuff with the emphasis on fun. Fastest speed of the day was set by Carl and Henrik Fasmer in their ’33 Chevy special with a speed of 120.01kph (75.19mph).

Above: Phil Wells drove his banger-powered ’25 all the way to and from England and raced while he was there with only minor issues that included a cop looking for a front plate.

This time we were joined by Brit rodders Phil Wells driving his ’25 T and Jamie Taylor riding shotgun. To get to Rømø, we took a six-hour ferry from Harwich, England to the Hook of Holland and then drove 470 miles north through the Netherlands and Germany into Denmark. There’s plenty to see but the wide-open throttle autobahns with endless Porsches, Mercs, Bimmers and ubiquitous white vans rocketing by at top speed gets your attention. We didn’t try to keep up but Phil did a magnificent job keeping up and at times pushing us.

Denmark is a step back in time. Its Legoland, of course, known for cutting-edge design but out on the west coast facing the North Sea and bleak Britain, it’s a step back to simpler times where there is no trash and the English-speaking people are trusting and friendly.

Tech inspection takes place on the Friday before the event on the mainland in the small town of Skærbæk which means that you get to meet many of the participants and see all the entries crusin’ the streets. After tech, a few of us drove out to another endless beach at Sønderstrand for an impromptu photo shoot.

There’s only one causeway from the mainland out to Rømø and Lakolk Strand (the beach) and you can imagine with thousands of people arriving from all over Europe in American cars, trucks and trailers the two-laner gets congested as do the few narrow roads leading to the beach but somehow everybody arrives and leaves with minimum hassle.

The race is actually held on a public road albeit on the beach so there is no entry fee for the public, that’s right, the spectators pay nothing to see this event which is an 1/8-mile drag race on sand. The only income for the organizers is from race entries, vendors, merch and sponsors. Because it’s a public beach, the organizers don’t have pre-event access to the beach and therefore set-up doesn’t begin before 5 am on the day of the race and at the end everything has to be returned to the way it was by 5 pm.

Due to the time needed to prep the course, racing does not begin until a civilized 10 am giving everybody time to breakfast leisurely. As there’s little official presence most of the race cars were driven onto the beach and lined up behind the start. There really aren’t many groupings, you just choose off who you want to race and go for it, however, the runs are timed and you can see the results on their web site.

Unlike some beach races that are perhaps too selective, Rømø attracts an eclectic mix of motorcycles and race cars including the expected field of American-engined early Ford hot rods. Perhaps my favorite car was Johan Karlsson’s V-12 ’38 Chevy roadster that was actually powered by two Chevy Stovebolt sixes meshed together—noisy but fast.

Eventually, our long day on the beach came to an end and our new-found friends departed for the far reaches of Europe. As we bid them adieu we couldn’t help but wonder how climate change and rising sea levels could affect this stunning venue. My advice, best go before it’s too late.