Broughton Castle, Near Banbury, Oxfordshire July 01, 2001
Second Time Around
The Ferrari Owners’ Club chose the ancestral home of Lord and Lady Saye and Sele,
the magnificent moated Broughton Castle in rural Oxfordshire, as the setting for its
annual concours for the second time in three years. The beautiful stone building and
its large moat formed an imposing backdrop for the proceedings, which were held on
a very hot and humid First of July. The occasional dark cloud fluttered overhead, but to
the relief of all present the day remained dry.
Quantity and Quality
As with the last gathering at this venue two years ago, a large number of club
members with their steeds were in attendance, the central location proving very
popular. Those counting on the gate eventually lost track of total numbers, as the
count approached four hundred and fifty Ferraris, a ten per cent increase on the
previous figure at this venue. As with most club gatherings world wide, the majority of
models present were those from the modern mid-engined era, although ”modern” is a
relative term, as this era now goes back some thirty plus years!
The quality of the concours entries was to a very high standard, giving the class
judges a difficult task in arriving at a decision, as the system used is that of class
winner, second, etc, rather than the system used in the United States. In their judging
procedure each car is judged not against the other cars in the class, but as an entity,
whereby if it is to a required standard it will receive an equal award to another in the
class to the same standard. However, whichever system is operated, the standard of
preparation must be very high to gain the top awards. There was talk of people being
out doing final detailing at five o’clock in the morning, such was their dedication, and
determination to win a prize!
Let The Music Play
A novel feature of the gathering was a strolling jazz quartet called ”Fidgety Feet” who
wandered the concours field during the day playing as they went, and joking along the
way with the entrants and viewing public. At lunchtime they had a break while a military
marching band, the 150 Yorkshire Transport Regiment RLC (V), gave a display on the
lawn across the water from the concours field. Two very different forms of music, both
of which were widely appreciated by all in attendance.
Golden Oldies
As previously mentioned early examples were relatively thin on the ground in
percentage terms to overall numbers. However, there was a nice selection, with the
earliest being the 166 MM/53 Vignale Spider of Bernard Worth, closely followed by Sir
Anthony Bamford’s 375 MM Pinin Farina berlinetta. In the 250 GT series the biggest
surprise was to see the early 250 GT LWB California Spider of Jonas Linden brought
on his behalf by Peter Jaye, which looked very attractive with its dark metallic turqoise
paintwork. Another rare spider was the 275 GTB/4 NART Spider of Bernie Carl, freshly
repainted in Metallic Ruby to resemble the example featured in the film ”The Thomas
Crown Affair”. The rarest model present was the 365P 3 Posti, the mid-engined road
car with central driving position, owned by Luigi Chinetti Jnr, who entrusted it to Terry
Hoyle to display, which attracted a great deal of attention.
Goodies
Aside from the cars there was an Italian classsic motorcycle display, plus a vendor
marquee with a wide variety of Ferrari related models, books, club memorabilia and
artwork for delectation and purchase. Ferrari U.K. and Graypaul Motors also had their
own sales outlets and displays adjacent to the concours area, with further specialist
vendors around the perimeter. If your pocket was deep enough Girard-Perregaux had
an enticing display of watches in the main club hospitality marquee. All in all
something for every Ferrari enthusiast.
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