Cernobbio, 20 December, 2019

Just five months before the launch of the Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este 2020, the field of the classic cars being presented on the shores of Lake Como is beginning to take shape. The Selecting Committee of the world’s most exclusive and traditional heritage beauty contest for Historic Cars and Motorcycles has accepted its first vehicle registrations and at the same time defined another category. Endurance racing cars from the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s will also be lining up at the start of the contest for historically significant automobiles from 22 to 24 May 2020.

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The class “From Swinging Sixties to Awesome Eighties: Two Decades of Endurance Racing” brings the heyday of 12 and 24 hour races to life again. This was an era when spectacular prototypes and custom sports cars specially designed for marathon competitions battled against and around the clock in a fierce contest. Today, these racing cars continue to exert fascination with their shapes designed entirely for the functionality of endurance racing and the crescendo of sound roaring from their muscular engines.

The appearance of the motor-sport legends will further extend the diversity of the field of participants at the beauty contest staged jointly by BMW Group Classic and the Grand Hotel Villa d’Este. A total of some 50 rare gems from across all eras of automobile history will be appraised by the expert Jury and the public at Cernobbio in northern Italy as they compete for one of the highly coveted trophies.

Three award classes had been previously defined by the Selecting Committee. Open-top sports cars from the early days of the automobile will compete in the category of “Pre-war Roadsters”. The class “Cops and Robbers – Fast Cars from Both Sides of the Law” focuses on vehicles with a history of spectacular car chases on screen or in reality. Then exceptional automobiles from the last decade of the previous century are presented for the first time in the category “Hypercars of the 1990s”. Other classes in the contest will be announced shortly. The Selecting Committee is continuing to accept nominations – for the vehicle classes already defined and for different vehicles. Owners of outstanding classic cars can register their vehicles online at the event website www.concorsodeleganzavilladeste.com.

After the major success at its premiere last year, the organisers are inviting all the entrants in the contest to launch the Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este 2020 by going on an outing together. The Villa d’Este Prelude Tour will take the nominated automobiles and their owners on a tour through the scenic heartland around Cernobbio and further into the countryside bordering Lake Como on Thursday 21 May 2020. The carefully selected itinerary and a stop with culinary highlights will contribute to an atmospheric start to the weekend of classic cars.

Alongside vehicle owners and fans of classic cars from all over the world, the Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este 2020 will also be hosting media representatives from many different countries. Once again, a media centre will be available to support them in their work at the event venue. Press accreditations to the Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este 2020 are now being accepted online at the event website. The corresponding registration phase for journalists begins at the end of January 2020.

Images Peter Singhof
www.ClassicCarPhotography.de