Historic F1 has a date in the desert.

When today's F1 championship steps foot on the sands of the Middle East at the end of this month it will be the first forage into a new world that will include China within months and, in the next decade, more new world territories than Schumacher has championships.

History though is the chassis of today's global gladiators on four wheels. After all, what made the Ferrari emblem such an iconic symbol? Did Saudia's sponsorship of the lowly British Williams team come at the critical moment in their corporate existence to help it on the way to being one of the greatest racing outfits around? The sport's rich history, the legends of yesteryear, all give credibility to the spectacle on offer today.

The depth of Grand Prix racing history is deep and colourful - names such Nuvolarli, Fangio, Hawthorn, Moss & McLaren and team such as Lotus, Brabham, & Tyrrell; Senna, Mansell, Silverstone, Nurburgring and Ecclestone. All part of a rich, rich tapestry that delivers pedigree and performance.

The sport constantly evolves, now Bahrain - tomorrow Moscow. Each new venue meeting the needs of enthusiasts in growing economies who still want to see and know the fastest cars, the slickest teams and the bravest men.

Sunday morning at the Bahrain GP will focus on 25 cars that represent everything that has made F1 today's spectacle.
The FIA Thoroughbred Grand Prix Championship is the ultimate nostalgic motor racing pageant. Featuring cars that carried legends like Gilles Villeneuve and Ronnie Peterson to glory or heartbreak will be on track once again.

Now, 30 years old and with pilots showing the same maturity (but also the same spirit), will illustrate the glory of the 70's & 80's - times when British innovations ruled the GP world - times when dedicated owners risked the everything to be the greatest.

Before the might of the motor manufacturers delivered budgets and horsepower in equal volumes, the clever Brabhams of the F1 world built chassis to die for - literally. As Sir 'Black Jack' Brabham himself says: "It's all changed. Sex was safe in those days. Now its all back to front."

The iconic Ford Cosworth DFV 3-litre engine, still the most successful power unit to grace the F1 stage, revolutionised the world of F1 racing. Now, 30 years on and 20 years since the last DFV came off the production lines, Cosworth - the major supporters of the FIA TGP World Championship - have decided to remanufacture the DFV's core components to service an ongoing demand for the engine driven by the TGP and the continued growth of historic motorsport.

The sound of a full grid of DFV engines howling at the lights is an experience that once experienced, will not be forgotten and is just another facet of the greatest era of GO racing that the Thoroughbred Grand Prix World Championship recreates.

TGP races reflect the ethos that powers today's GP series. Ecclestone bought Brabham from the Aussie racer - and found the pressure too much from the likes of Chapman's Lotus and decided running the whole show was better than trying to be a star. Bernie has a collection of famous GP cars - sadly rarely shown. Williams has a museum full and Ron Dennis spends fortunes hoarding McLaren's history.

Watching the TGP race in Bahrain will challenge them all - the current drivers own their cars, most valued at a cool quarter of a million a piece - and pay a fortune to race them together. And they're there to race not demonstrate.

"It's a fantastic time for the Championship" says series co-ordinator, Oliver McCrudden. "From an enthusiasts point of view, it's F1 where the car's the star and where fans can get up close to the machines and drivers. From a racing point of view, we've got all the excitement of F1 racing with plenty of overtaking by cars that evoke memories of a legendary era of motorsport. To be invited to Bahrain by Mr Ecclestone is a great reflection on how successful the championship has become in the last few years.

More and more drivers are registering, more and more cars are coming out of museums and garages to be used for the purpose they were designed for: to be driven extremely fast."

The multi-millionaire TGP drivers travel across the globe to compete & like today's young stars, many travel in their own private jets. TGP attracts the ultimate business players to the game. People like Tony Smith - manager of Phil Collins & Genesis (and McLaren landlord), Fredy Kumschick - a Swiss Lotus dealer who walks 200km a week in the hills. Richard Eyre, a steel magnate from Essex whose vast stock has reportedly sank Canvey Island six inches into the Thames. Joaquin Folch, an aristocratic Spaniard who has been an international motorbike racer with a collection of 200 two-wheeled machines and owner of the biggest private paint company in Europe.

Reigning TGP Champion Mike Wrigley is a Yorkshire-based textile baron whilst Nico Bindels is Luxembourg's leading property constructor. And a visitor to the readily accessible TGP paddock and pit lane will not fail to notice Hubertus Bahlsen, a member of the Bahlsen biscuit dynasty.

They're all adequately funded enthusiasts who race their cars 8 weekends a year in 8 different countries. Bahrain is expansion, courtesy of Eccelstone's invitation, but next year's calendar looks to include a race at Watkins Glen, the iconic New York raceway where F1 maintained a presence for many years and which may ring once again to the sound of Thoroughbred Grand Prix cars.

If the Middle East wants to understand F1, the TGP race on Grand Prix morning will give them 30 years of education - cars that built the names and reputations of today's marques. Frank Williams will have one of his 80s creations in Bahrain for the official opening of the circuit later this month - a thank you to the Saudi's who accepted his pitch that F1 would move them into the real world - and the rest of the grid flies out a week before the Grand Prix. It's bringing F1 history to the desert with cars for which the sands of time haven't yet run out.