This is a concours where a McLaren F1 isn’t the main event | GRR
The Concours of Elegance has a very simple recipe. Take some extraordinary cars, put them in the grounds of Hampton Court Palace and judge them.
This year, in the glorious sunshine of the start of September, we were treated to some truly spectacular machines on display. Taking part in the main concours event was a Porsche Carrera GT Zagato, and a racing-spec longtail McLaren F1. And that’s just to mention a couple of cars that didn’t win.
The winner, since we should probably get this out of the way, was a stunning Maserati A6G Zagato. A trending theme through the event seemingly being that the work of said coachbuilders was drawing the most attention, the winner was set right next to a newly restored Aston Martin DB4 GT… Zagato.
But it would be churlish to try and say that only the Zagatos were worthy of your attention. The concours brought together the cars you expect – Ferrari 250s SWB and GTO, Porsche 917k – and those you might not. In a small display showcasing the history of the event was the quite astonishing Dubonnet H6B Xenia, a car which looks like it’s come straight out of the Jetsons, but was actually built in 1938.
Perhaps the star of the cars from the Prancing Horse – sat quietly between the 250s – was a one-of-two Ferrari 365P Berlinette ‘Tre Posti’. If you don’t read Italian it is an exceedingly wide machine based on the 365 P, but with a three-seater layout that long predated the McLaren F1. In its cream paint and with silver bumpers it seemed to be attempting not to draw attention to itself, almost pretending to be “just” another Dino. Only a proper second look drew the eye to the extraordinary width and then on to that three-seater layout.
We’ll let you explore the gallery of the cars, and to encourage you we’ll point out that we haven’t even mentioned the Bentley Blue Train, or a Ferrari F50, or the UK debut of the Bentley Batur or.. or.. or…
Photography by Joe Harding.