The Quail Lodge - 16th of August
One of the many highlights during the Monterey Car Week is the
annual Quail Motorsport Gathering, traditionally held on Friday at
the Quail Lodge in Carmel Valley. Now in its 11th edition the very
exclusive event was again sold out well in advance despite high
entrance fees but the visitors get a lot for their money. Unlike the
other events during the week this garden party is not only about
classic cars but more about luxury life style in general including
good food and wine, luxury accessories and supercars. Attracting
a wealthy public this is also the place for the sports car
manufacturer to show their latest toys.
As in previous years Bugatti used the exclusive surrounding in
front of the Lodge to introduce their latest special edition of the
Bugatti Veyron Grand Sport, the Jean-Pierre Wimille. Inspired by
the Le Mans winning Bugatti T57 Tank brought over from the
Simeone Collection in Philadelphia the first of a small series of
Veyrons livered in two tone blue featured some styling elements
in the interior to remember the Bugatti history including the Le
Mans track layout between the seats or the famous Elephant of
the Royale styled by Rembrandt Bugatti.
Just next to it the VW-brands sister Bentley presented their new
model range with the 2002 Le Mans entry Bentley EXP Speed 8
as eye catcher in front. Just on the other side of the field the
latest Le Mans prototype of Audi, the R18 E-tron Ultra Lightweight
could be seen.
Other supercars included the new Lamborghini Veneno, the
McLaren MP4-12C or a the Galpin GTR1, based on the Ford GT
this car has more than 1000 hp. BMW even took the chance to
unveil their latest concept, the BMW M4 during the gathering
showing the importance of the event.
But certainly the centre of interest for many of the car addicted
visitors was again the superb line-up of classics in the middle of
the show field. Although not seriously a concours in the common
sense there were some classes including pre and post war sports
and racing car but also special classes. To build the bridge from
the surrounding new models to the classics was the supercar
class including some of the most interesting high performance
cars of the past year. This included the very rare Ferrari F50 GT
and the car on show was the first of a small production of 3
examples. Once developed for racing in the GT class the car
never made it to the track but was rather sold to some prominent
Ferrari collectors. Just next to the F50 GT was the main
attraction of the class, the two one-off Ferrari P4/5.
Commissioned by Jim Glickenhaus at Pininfarina the road going
P4/5 is based on the Ferrari Enzo and is a well-known entry on
various shows in the past. After the success of the road version
the Scuderia Glickenhaus built a race version that was entered at
the Nürburgring 24 hours in 2011 and 2012 with an impressive
12th place for a private team.
Two more Ferrari were entered in this class with a 288 GTO and
more important the 288 GTO Evoluzione model that shares some
history with the F50 GT as it was also intended for race purposes
but never drove in anger. The car was built to Group B
specification based on the normal 288 GTO serving as
homologation series but unfortunately the Group B faded
existence due to several severe accidents before the Evoluzione
finished development. On the other side the Evoluzione later
served as base for the upcoming F40 as one can easily see from
the exterior.
Ferrari itself had again its own class named “The Great Ferrari”
including coach build models from the early 1950s to the serial
production cars from the early 1970s. The earliest car was a 1950
166 Inter featuring the stylish Touring Berlinetta design on a
chassis intended for road use. Following the 2 litre version of the
166 was the 2.5 Litre model of the 212 Inter (Road cars) and
Export (Race chassis). One of each was presented at the Quail
with the wonderful 212 Export Vignale Coupe (0092E) that was
once raced by Phil Hill in the Carrera Panamericana and the 212
Inter Pinin Farina Cabriolet (0235EU). The later car was restored
by Ferrari Classiche a few year ago and was shown since on
several Concours and shows for its owner or to demonstrate the
work of the Ferrari Classiche restoration department.
One of the most iconic models of the early Ferrari history is
without doubt the 250 TR Pontoon Fender named TestaRossa
due to the red competition cylinder head covers of the race
model. Chassis 0756TR has an all American race history and
today used in vintage racing by the present owner and awarded
with the Best in Class this Friday in Carmel. In addition to the
early cars two 250 GT Series II Cabriolet were shown plus a line-
up of 5 275 GTB in different colours.
But another highlight for the Ferraristi was presented before the
winners’ ceremony as 7 times F1 world champion Michael
Schumacher had one of its rare appearances at classic car
events. Together with his former Team Manager and toady´s FIA
president Jean Todt he was chatting on the main stage
interviewed by Alain de Cadenet. When seeing him later walking
the streets in Monterey following the RM evening Auction it is
easy to see why Schumacher prefers the US for vacation as he
could walk here very incognito just recognized by European
tourists as few Americans are really into F1. Nevertheless most of
the spectators at the Quail were pleasant surprised by his casual
and sovereign appearance dealing with the questions from the
public.
But certainly not just Ferrari had its own class as just as in
Pebble Beach later that week both Aston Martin and Lamborghini
celebrated their jubilees, without the strict directive of the
concours the displays even span a wider range of the history of
both manufacturers.
Lamborghini featured the most important models including a 350
GT, no less than 3 Miura, a duo of Countach and a Diablo. Best
in class was the dark metallic blue Miura S of the host himself,
Sir Michael Kadoorie.
A larger display was the 100 years celebration of Aston Martin.
Unfortunately just one pre-war car was on show but the displayed
T-Model is a very interesting early example of the Bertelli year.
Built in 1928 this car lead from the long chassis tourer versions to
the later short chassis International, as this is based on the
touring chassis, but shorter to fit a sporting 2 seater body. The
car was found in a very sorry estate some years ago and is
restored back to its original specification.
The first car after the war bearing the David Brown initials was the
DB2, no less than 3 of them were presented including two Drop
Head Coupe. Being a very early and a very late example one
could see the design development of the first cars from a three
piece grill to the later one piece that was also used on the later
DB2/4 versions. The DB2/4 was represented by a very special
bodied Touring Spider (AM300/1163), being one of just three
examples this was the first cooperation of Aston Martin and
Touring that should lead to the later DB4 series.
The racing line of Aston Martin was represented with the second
factory team car DB3S. Together with the first and the last one of
the DB3S shown in Pebble this might have been the first time all
these cars were that close together during these days at
Monterey.
After the official race program of the 1950s Aston Martin built
customer GT cars for private teams based on the new DB4. The
DB4 GT today is one of the most sought after GT cars with good
examples well over 2 Million $ as shown by RM in the evening
and the Quail had three of them including an even rarer Zagato
variation. The display was rounded off by three Convertible
versions of the DB4 and DB5, all of them in red.
Another special display was designated to the work of designer
Peter Brock. Brock was a young student at the Art Center
College of Design in Los Angeles when he became the youngest
designer at General Motors. His first styling study became the
prototype of the later Corvette Stingray; the racer based on his
early design was shown at the Quail. After leaving GM Brock
joined Carroll Shelby in his newly founded Shelby American to
design logos, accessories (for the Shelby GT350) and more
famous the Daytona Coupé. Carroll Shelby was running the Cobra
project on the international circuits and soon realized that the
open version had disadvantages against the competing Ferrari on
fast tracks. Over the winter of 1964 six cars were prepared for the
1965 racing season, one of them was presented at the Quail,
more important this car was awarded Best of Show at the end of
the days with a proud Peter Brock accepting the trophy for his
work.
Within the last decade the Motorsport Gathering became one of
the “must see “events during the car week. Although it is one of
the most exclusive and most expensive with very limited tickets
on pre-sale it is well worth the visit as one could enjoy a great
variety of cars in a very relaxing atmosphere. Unlike the other
events it is less crowded and one could actually see the cars
between all the people. With good food and some wine aside this
is also a place to visit by those who are less into cars or a good
possibility to bring the history of some of the classics to those
more interested in the modern supercars. In association with the
Quail Bonhams was again the official auction of the event with its
sale on Friday afternoon giving a good result including several
high profile lots that might be a welcome entrant at next year’s
events.
As the Concorso Italiano will move to another day (Saturday
instead of Friday) next year people will even have the possibility
to visit both events although they do not really attract the same
public.
Report & Images … Peter Singhof
www.ClassicCarPhotography.de
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