The event started with its traditional tour through the byways of the beautiful countryside for which
the Cotswolds area is famous, together with its quaint villages and small towns, starting from Blenheim
Palace and ending with lunch at The Bear, in Woodstock. In the afternoon participants had the opportunity to
see the unveiling of Numerous premieres on the manufacturer stands around the perimeter of the show field.
These included the world premiere of Touring’s Superleggera Aero 3, which uses a Ferrari F12 as its motive
base.
The cars entered in the concours provided a truly broad spectrum of both road and race machinery, on
both two and four wheels, ranging from a towering 1904 Napier L49 to Classics of the Future, that class being
won by a 2006 Pagani Zonda F Roadster. Along the way there was a 1919 Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost, which
was built in the marque’s Springfield, Massachusetts factory, and which played a starring role in the 1974 film
adaptation of The Great Gatsby, starring Robert Redford and Mia Farrow. Then there was the actual 1936 SS
Jaguar 100 that was used as the basis for a Matchbox scale model, whilst 110 years of Alfa Romeo history
was celebrated with a dedicated category that was won by an ex-Scuderia Ferrari Alfa Romeo 8C 2300
Monza Zagato, driven in period by the legendary Italian racing driver Tazio Nuvolari. Amongst the post-war
examples there was the 1949 Le Mans race winning Ferrari 166 MM Barchetta, the unique Ferrari 166 MM/53
Pinin Farina Berlinetta, together with a very art deco 1960 Citroen ID19 LeParis by Henri Chapron. The class
winners and runners-up were announced during the Wednesday afternoon, with the Best of Show award
being, chosen from the class winners, held over until Boodles Ladies day on the Thursday. After 24 hours of
suspense for the class winning entrants, all was revealed during the afternoon, when the 1931 Alfa Romeo 8C
2300 Monza Zagato of Ian Livingstone took the coveted award, beating the 1949 Ferrari 166 MM Touring
Barchetta by a hair’s breadth.
For the Friday the main concours cars had departed and been replaced by those entered in the
Masters part of the event, the theme for this year being the “Evolution of the Supercar”, spanning from the
sixties to the new millennium, with a class for each of the five decades. For this part of the concours the main
judging was done by the owners of the cars themselves, with additional awards from the Duke of Marlborough
and the Chairman. At the end of the day the Owners’ Choice Award went to a 1979 BMW M1 resplendent in
red, with Duke of Marlborough choosing a white Lotus Esprit Turbo HC from 1987, whilst the Chairman opted
for silver 1997 Ferrari F50.
The final day of the gathering was on the Saturday for Masters Day, when eight prestigious car clubs,
namely Aston Martin, Bentley, Ferrari, Jaguar, Lamborghini, Maserati, McLaren and Porsche, assembled
their finery on the lawns to the rear of the main concours field, jointly bringing some 1100 cars to display in
their respective areas. Each marque had awards for the Manufacturer’s and Secretary’s choice prizes,
deliberated by an independent panel, the results of which are appended below.
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