The top five things you wish you’d seen at the 2019 Concours of Elegance!

Bentley Collection

For any motorsport lover the story of the Bentley Boys is a path well-trodden. Though witnessing some of the most significant Cricklewood-era Bentleys lined up in formation remained compelling, especially ahead of the all-Bentley race - the Brooklands Trophy - at Goodwood Revival this weekend.

Pride of place was given to the Speed Six ‘Blue Train Special’. A special car despite the misnomer. No, this is not the actual car used by Bentley Chairman Woolf Baranato in the infamous Le Train Bleu sleeper train race through France to London. In truth, this low roofline beauty was penned by Barnato on the back of an envelope and commissioned from British coach-builder Gurney Nutting in 1930 as tribute to the Speed Six that won the race and his £100 wager. His winnings went some way to covering the speeding fines he picked up from the French Gendarmerie!

There it was, a deity among lesser beasts: Bentley’s ‘Old No. 1’. During its racing career from 1929 to 1932 ownership passed between the Bentley factory and Barnato himself, frequently received upgrades and modifications to keep it competitive. Ultimately, this led to its great successes, clocking up overall victories at Le Mans in 1929 and 1930 with other success at Brooklands and the Irish GP. The grey legend retains the Barnato-installed 8.0-litre engine upgrade and its 1932 Brooklands 500 Mile body. Arguably the ultimate piece of Bentley history.

Then came the line of Bentley ‘Blowers’. First, chassis number FR5189, the earliest supercharged Bentley, the only supercharged 3.0-litre and the only Bentley to be supercharged at Cricklewood. This was mainly down to W.O. Bentley’s disdain for forced induction. In his own words: “to supercharge a Bentley engine was to pervert its design and corrupt its performance”. Despite Bentley’s opposition, when FR5189 rebuilt with a supercharger in 1927, it was one of the fastest cars in the world.

Next on display was Tim Birkin’s 4.5-litre, single-seater ‘Bentley Blower No.1’, the spiritual successor to the FR5189. ‘Bentley Boys’ Birkin and Barnato were pivotal in convincing W.O. that supercharging was the way forward for Bentley in motorsport and ‘Blower No. 1’ was the car that signalled this change. Clad in red, the aluminium Reid Railton body and prominent Amherst Villiers supercharger make this Blower one of the most recognisable Bentleys at the Concours. 

Finally – sitting in its all-original glory – there was the 4.5-litre Blower Birkin ‘Team Car’ otherwise known as ‘Blower No. 2’. (Imaginative lot these Bentley Boys weren’t they?) The 90-year-old was the very car that played a key role in securing Bentley’s 1930 Le Mans victory. Driven by Birkin himself, ‘Blower No. 2’ acted as a lure for Bentley’s stiffest competition, namely Rudolf Caracciola’s supercharged Mercedes SSK. This tactic not only successfully broke the SSK, but actually helped Birkin achieve a lap record of 89.69mph before ‘Blower No. 2’ faced con-rod failure and its own retirement allowing ‘Old No. 1’ victory.

What a collection!

Aston Martin Zagato Collection

Zagato and Aston Martin celebrate their 58^th year of collaboration in 2019, and the cohort assembled to represent their partnership at the Concours of Elegance couldn’t have been more spectacular. From the famous DB4GT Zagato ‘1 VEV’, through the odd-ball 1986 V8 Zagato, one-off 2004 Vanquish Zagato to the various Zagato shooting-brakes, it was hard not to be star-struck, staring longingly, mouth agape.

Ian Callum’s Vanquish 25

On a plinth at the entrance to the Members Area sat Ian Callum’s reimagined Vanquish prototype. Callum, the man responsible for designing the first generation V12 Vanquish, is finally giving the old Bond car the modern-day refresh we’ve all been waiting for. Subtle yet tasteful design-tweaks to the exterior leave the best bits of the original Vanquish in place, whilst under-the-bonnet improvements yield a boost to around 580bhp. The interior is where the update was most needed and the complete Callum Vanquish re-trim does not disappoint! Limited to 25 units the Callum cars will be built from customer or factory donor vehicles. We’re still waiting for the snow spikes and invisibility Q gave 007’s 2002 Vanquish Concept in Die Another Day, but as aftermarket conversions go, this might be one of the best.

Ferrari 166 MM Barchetta Display

Upon launch in 1948 the Ferrari 166 was lauded as revolutionary in automotive design and soon after proved itself to be a dominant force on the track. Indeed, 166s went on to win every event they were entered into in 1949, quickly establishing Ferrari’s legendary status in motorsport.

The Concours of Elegance assembled no fewer than four Ferrari 166 MM Barchettas to celebrate 70 years since Ferrari’s mega-success with the model. The most important of the three works cars present was perhaps chassis number 0008M – the very car that won Le Mans and the Mille Miglia in 1949. 

The second works 166 MM won the Spa-Francorchamps 24 Hours in 1949 in the hands of Luigi Chinetti. Chinetti didn’t trust his co-driver’s skills behind the wheel and so famously drove a mega 23-hour stint to victory! The same car finished second behind 0008M in the 1949 Mille Miglia and was entered – but retired – in that year’s Le Mans.

It’s great to see such history remembered in such style.

Ecurie Ecosse LM69

The Ecurie Ecosse LM69 is one of the most interesting ‘what if’ projects to surface for a while. Imagine the Ecurie Ecosse team dusted off the abandoned Jaguar XJ13 project in 1966, with the intention of racing at Le Mans in 1969, after three years of testing and development. Now imagine that same car, was produced to be road legal for 2020…  Interested?

Somehow the aero modifications haven’t sacrificed the beauty of the original XJ13 that underpins this reimagination, yet the new silhouette is recognisably similar to that of the Porsche 908LHs and Matra-Simcas it would have raced against in ‘69. While the car on display was an empty shell, the real deal will retain the mid-mounted, quad-cam Jaguar V12, first in original 5.0-litre form and later in bored and stroked 7.3-litre “GT40 beater” form. Improvements and testing – seemingly with none other than 1969 Le Mans winner Jackie Oliver – will continue into October before a moving LM69 is shown to the public.  Personally, I can’t wait.

Photography by James Lynch.