The ambitious Bourgoo family wants to transform the prestigious Knokke-Heist Zoute Grand Prix into the most important event in the world for luxury cars. But financially, things are difficult. Some discreet millionaires are preparing to intervene.
The billionaire couple Gino De Raedt and Frederica Verheyden drive a Maserati. Investors’ sons Filip Balcaen and Paul Thiers ride in a 1956 AC Cobra. Builder Bart Versluys and his wife ride in their Ferrari. And François Fornieri, the fallen founder of the pharmaceutical company Mithra, shows up in his 1947 Cisitalia 202 MM.
The richest Belgians and the finest veterans will be in attendance at the Knokke-Heist Zoute Grand Prix this week. Over the past decade, the automotive event has grown into one of the country’s premier networking venues. The event was founded in 2010 by three Knokke’s friends. Car salesmen Filip and David Bourgoo and the tent rental company Philippe Van de Ryse then organized the first Zoute Rally for a group of friends.
The veterans’ rally, which ends on Saturday, is still the focus of the story. But the Zoute Grand Prix includes much more than just the Zoute Rally. During the Zoute Sale, Bonhams auction house hopes to sell 80 veterans for € 20 million. At the Royal Zoute Golf Club, a jury judges a series of unique cars for the Concours d’Elegance. And on Saturday night there is the golf gala dinner, for which there is a long waiting list. “If a bomb falls there, there will be no Flemish industry anymore,” chuckles one attendee.
21 luxury car brands, including Lamborghini and Rolls-Royce, also have a booth in Knokke, where they connect with current and potential customers. “What the Brussels Motor Show is for volume brands, Knokke must be for luxury brands,” says Filip Bourgoo confidently. If the Geneva, Paris and Frankfurt motor shows are canceled after the crown crisis, Knokke could become the European automotive center. All the luxury brands have followed us blindly. ‘
Knokke could become the European center of the automobile.
Filippo Bourgoo
Zoute Grand Prix organizer
Brothers Filip and David Bourgoo have been working full-time with the Zoute Rally since 2018. So the family sold their garage, including real estate, in the coveted Natiënlaan in Knokke to Volkswagen importer D’Ieteren. The company behind the low-profit garage had struggled with negative equity for years.
ATM
A year later, the Zoute Rally resulted in a painful split between founders Philippe Van de Ryse and Filip Bourgoo. “We were with two captains. It was better for one of us to step aside, ”says Van de Ryse, who has since disappeared from any communication about the Zoute Grand Prix.
Yvan Vindevogel, a mutual friend of both founders, rushed to the rescue. The co-founder of Omega Pharma bought a quarter of the shares. Today the rest is with the Bourgoo brothers. “I do it to help the brothers,” says Vindevogel. “I don’t have a vintage car. I don’t lose sleep during the Zoute Rally. But I’m proud of it. ‘
I don’t have a classic car. I don’t lose sleep during the Zoute Rally. But I’m proud of it.
Yvan Vindevogel
Shareholder Zoute Grand Prix
The Zoute Grand Prix looks like an ATM. Participation in the four-day rally costs 225 participants 2,872 euros per person. A day VIP ticket costs 295 euros, excluding VAT. The organization expects 10,000 VIPs and more than 300,000 visitors. All kinds of merchandise are also on sale on the Zoute Grand Prix website. Fans can order a € 170 “leg warmer vest” by email.
Despite this revenue stream, the Zoute Grand Prix is in the red. The latest annual accounts show that the company lost 1.46 million euros net last year. Due to the lack of past financial reserves, the company is struggling with negative equity of 1.4 million euros. The balance sheet shows 4 million euros of debt in one year.
‘One word: covid’, Filip Bourgoo explains the losses. In 2020, the rally fell into water due to the pandemic. Last year, the organization received the green light from the government just two weeks before the event. “We only managed to sell a third of our tickets,” says Bourgoo. “We see that loss as an investment in the future.”
government support
The exclusive Zoute Grand Prix has a lot of government support. Flemish public investment firm PMV and state-owned bank Belfius granted the company a standard loan of € 700,000 in 2019. According to Bourgoo, that money was used to redeem his former partner Van de Ryse.
Knokke-Heist municipality is also in favor of the event. This year the organization will receive € 250,000 in subsidy for the ‘promotion of the event in Knokke-Heist and to a wide and international audience’. In return, the city council will receive 100 VIP tickets, according to the contract that De Tijd was able to view.
In 2021, the Flemish Agency for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (Vlaio) granted the Zoute Grand Prix an advance of € 1.8 million in preparation for uncertain events due to the corona pandemic. Along with Tomorrowland, the Zoute Rally was the event that received the most support. Since the demonstration eventually went on, the organization has to repay the advance to Vlaio. At the end of the negotiations, the Zoute Grand Prix can repay the aid granted in installments.
But even before the crown crisis, the Zoute Rally wasn’t a big pot. Except for the peak year of 2019, when the company made a net profit of € 250,000, the Zoute Grand Prix barely raised any money. According to critics, Filip Bourgoo, with a reputation as an ambitious and stubborn man, costs too much. “Filip always shows how things are going, but the reality is completely different,” says a partner of the Zoute Grand Prix. “We all think he’s very megalomaniac.” Renting three gigantic tents for weeks alone costs millions of euros. “A bottle of champagne does not look more or less.”
Filip Bourgoo sweeps that criticism off the table. “Just to be clear, we don’t have any financial problems,” he says. “It could take a year or two to fix things. But we are financially very healthy. ‘ In the first half of the year, the company recorded a positive result with some minor events. Vindevogel is also not worried. “I think most of the assets will be liquidated after this year’s edition,” he says. “We check everything closely”.
However, the Zoute Grand Prix reports in its annual accounts that negotiations are underway with investors “in order to restore a substantial part of the net worth”. “For the moment it is not like that,” says Filip Bourgoo.
Who’s Who
But according to information from De Tijd, the mobilization is taking place in one of the most exclusive networks in the country: the Zoute Automobile Club. This non-profit association has about a hundred wealthy old-time enthusiasts and can be summed up as the who is who of the Belgian business community. Leopold Lippens, the late mayor of Knokke-Heist, was president of the Zoute Automobile Club for many years. His close friend Philippe Van de Vyvere (Sea-Invest) subsequently assumed the presidency.
The port entrepreneur recently asked about ten members of his club for financial support for the Zoute Rally. De Tijd learned this from various sources. Van de Vyvere is said to have asked Marc Coucke (Alychlo), Gino De Raedt (Straco) and Dirk Cavens (Triple Living) among others if they were willing to donate money to the event if needed. According to one there is an amount of 100,000 euros per person, according to the other the amount can still be moved. Van de Vyvere did not answer the questions.
Nobody dares to raise concerns about the Zoute Gathering money out loud. For many discreet businessmen, their involvement in the classic car event is more emotional than financial. “The Club also thrives on the success of the Zoute Rally,” says one member. “This is a matter of prestige.”
