It is a truly magnificent setting and backdrop to what is an impressive garden party in the heart of rural
England, with a lobster lunch quaffed down with Pommery Champagne, followed by quintessentially English
afternoon tea. This year the event started for entrants with a Concours Tour Dinner, which was held on the
Tuesday evening at Raymond Blanc’s renowned 2 Michelin Star Restaurant and Hotel, where breakfast was
also taken prior to the tour through the Cotswolds on the Wednesday. The scenic drive featured a coffee stop
overlooking the famous White Horse Hill carving, followed by lunch at the picturesque “The Slaughters”
country inn, before heading back to placement of the cars on the show field at Blenheim Palace in the late
afternoon.
The premier part of the gathering is theChubb Insurance Concours d’Elégance on the Thursday, followed
by Boodles Ladies Day on the Friday, with Concours Masters on the Saturday. On the Sunday the
action moves to the Palace courtyard for the Blenheim Classic & Supercar show, which incorporated the 4th
running of the Pirelli Prestige & Performance competition. Apart from all the cars and motorcycles in the main
concours, there were also plenty of other examples on display on the manufacturer and dealer displays
including the first UK public showing of the new Lamborghini Aventador SVJ, the Brabham BT62 track only
car, the Bugatti Chiron from H.R. Owen, and the new Wiesmann range. Then there were Ferraris courtesy of
official dealer Dick Lovett , including a 488 Challenge car and a 365 GTC as part of the Classiche programme,
the Dendrobium all electric hypercar, the new Alpine A110, plus Honda NSXs old and new, Mclaren, Aston
Martin, Bentley and Rolls Royce with a Dawn and the Cullinan SUV. On the dealer front both DK Engineering
and Dyal Miles had impressive displays, and then there were all the impressive lifestyle booths around the
perimeter of the show field if one tired of looking at cars.
The international judging team was headed by Derek Bell MBE, and included Louis De Fabribeckers Head of
Design at Touring Superleggera, Supermodel & Designer Yasmin Le Bon, and Giles Taylor, former Director of
Design at Rolls Royce Motorcars, whilst the motorcycles had their own dedicated judging team. There were a
total of ten classes including three for motorcycles, A, B & C, whilst in the car classes class D was
“Preservation at its Best”, class E was “Pre-War Bugattis”, class F was “Pre-War Luxury Tourers”, class G
was for “Grand Tourers of the 50s & 60s, class H was “Wind in Your Hair”, whilst class I was “Best of British
at Blenheim Palace”. The remaining classes were class J for “Streamlined Closed Sports Cars”, class K for
“50 Years of The Dino”, class L for “Supercars of The Seventies” and class M for “Competition Cars”. The
whole entry ran to 20 motorcycles and 55 cars, encompassing a wide variety of motor transport history, from
an in-line 4 cylinder 1910 Pierce 4 to a transverse 6 cylinder 1979 Honda CBX1000 in the motorcycle classes,
and from a 1920 Bugatti Type 13 Brescia to a 1989 Ferrari F40 GT/LM in the car classes. With such a diverse
array of automobiles to choose from, the selection of the Best of Show award was an unenviable task for the
judges, but at the end of the day it went to the 1933 Bugatti Type 55 Roadster, chassis # 55234, widely
regarded as the most original example in existence due to it never having been restored, and given its age,
low mileage of less than 50,000. The runner-up was a magnificent and opulent 1937Chapron bodied Delage
D8-120 Cabriolet, with a Lamborghini Polo Storico restored 1971 Miura S taking the final “podium” spot.
On the Friday evening the Chubb Concours cars were replaced on the lawn by the entrants in the Concours
Masters Celebration – 70 Years of Porsche, which took place on the Saturday, with its team of specialist
judges. There were a variety of awards on offer, and one of the largest award recipients was the 1955 550 RS
model that had won class M “Competition Cars” and the “Most Unique Bodywork” award in the Chubb
Concours on the Thursday, picking up another three awards on the Saturday.
The Blenheim Classic & Supercar Sunday saw a fine array of cars in eight classes presented in the
courtyard, with a vast number of club and trade cars on the lawns around the perimeter of the Palace. There
were too many Porsches to count, and at least 40 McLarens models plus a wide selection of other exotica on
display. This part of the gathering attracts the public in droves, with over 15,000 visitors being recorded during
the course of the day. Apart from the individual class awards, there are two main awards, the Best of Show
chosen by the jury, and the People’s Choicely Award based on votes cast by the public. The net result was a
win for the truly spectacular Pagani Zonda Oliver Evolution, a One of One example, as Best of Show, whilst
the People’s Choice award went to a McLaren 675LT MSO.
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