2010 Concours of America
Best of Show Euro & American
Last weekend the Concours d'Elegance of America at Meadow Brook brought together one of the most impressive collection of cars in recent times. Along with two world class choices for Best of Show, some expertly curated classes made this year even more distinct from the last.
One of the most immediately impressive displays was reserved for the AF/X drag racers from the mid-sixties. Super Dutys, Z11s, 427s and Gas Ronda's Mustang were some of the highlights. Another show stopper was the collection of Joe Bortz who brought four GM concept cars for a central display.
Not limited to just classics, the show also had space for modern supercars including the current lineup from Lingenfelter. Much of their collection also filled out the supercar display which had a very original Vector W8, a Lamborghini Reventon and a Rossion.
Our gallery from the Concours of America will be growing over the next week but we wanted to get this up as soon as possible. Next year the concours will be relocating to Plymouth, Michigan so we wonder how much different the show will look.
More Top Lots for Monterey
Porsche 917 Interserie Spyder
The Monterey auctions will set many precedents this year and one of them will probably be this Porsche 917. It's offered as part of a large Porsche collection at Bonhams' sale at the Quail. The untypical roadster body was built to group 7 specification for the Interseries, a European version of the can-am.
This year Monterey might have more top cars on offer than the market can swallow. RM Auctions has put together a stellar list of Ferraris. Some of the latest cars include a rare Ferrari 375 MM Berlinetta, a FXX Evolution, a 250 Testa Rossa and a 500 Mondial Berlinetta. As if that wasn't enough, Gooding & Company will have one of the ultimate SWBs known as the SEFAC Hot Rod
This upcoming weekend is the Concours d'Elegance at Meadow Brook which is now know as the Concours d'Elegance of America. They will have a special section dedicated to GM concept cars including the restoration debut of Joe Bortz's Chevrolet Biscayne. RM will also sell one of the first Chrsyler-Ghias known as the Thomas Special.
Artcurial @ Le Mans
1994 McLaren F1 GTR 05R
At last weekend's Le Mans Classic, Artcurial held an inaugural auction with some impressive lots. None was more spectacular than the McLaren F1 GTR which failed to find a new owner with a top bid of €1,800,000.
Our gallery by Dirk de Jager includes most of the cars and their realized prices. All future auctions on Supercars.net will be treated in a similar way. Top sale went to a silver Ferrari 275 GTB/4 which fetched €837,474.
Yesterday, Montreal's up and coming Concours d'Elegance brought out some impressive cars. Among many show stoppers was a Mercedes-Benz 300 SL Alloy Coupé in very original condition. The rest of the show can be found here.
2010 Le Mans Classic
Start of Grid 4
Last weekend, the bi-annual Le Mans Classic was as epic as it was grueling. Not even 100ºF/38ºC heat stopped 100,000 fans and 470 historic cars from centering in on Le Mans for three days of nostalgia.
This year six classes of 65 entrants raced all night and day in 40 minute heats. Some of the highlights included seven pre-war Talbots in factory racing colors and the return of cars like E2A and Ferrari 330 TRI/LM. Many of the heavy hitters were also present like the Porsche 917, Ford GT40 and Ferrari 330 P3.
The event's success is largely tied to organization. Each grid has their own paddock/tent area which eliminates the RV/tent chaos of other races. To garner even more support, all the local clubs are encouraged to park at the far end of the Bugatti circuit and create 'shows within a show' that span over 7000 cars. Other areas this year were reserved for a Le Mans Concours, Porsche Le Mans display, Ferrari Classiche and an inaugural Artcurial auction which we will feature later this week.
At 800 images, our gallery for the event is quite large, but unlike elsewhere it is fully labeled and organized by grid. Dirk de Jager did a tremendous job of capturing the cars day and night.
2010 Goodwood Festival of Speed
GTbyCITROËN on Turn 1
Yesterday the Goodwood Festival of Speed wrapped up after four days of successful runs. With no rain, 150,000 fans were able to clearly admire the supercars, F1 racers and classic sports cars that were driven up hill. Fastest time of the day went to Roger Wills who took 47.15-seconds to reach the top with his Williams-Cosworth FW05. Not far behind was a Toyota Celica sprint car and a Cargo Van built from an old XJ220 race car.
This year Goodwood celebrated the Alfa Romeo Centenary with great dedication. Along with many cars from the Alfa Romeo Museum, the organizers assembled a line of 8Cs for the Concours and also put together a row Tipo 33s in the paddock. There was an equal amount of conceptual prototypes and a recently recreated 8C 2300 Zagato Spider.
Fans of more modern cars could appreciate a striking McLaren F1 GTR Long Tail, or Ken Block drifting up the entire course in his Ford Focus. For those into classic single seaters, nothing was better than seeing Jim Clark's Lotus Type 38 which won the 1965 Indianapolis 500 outright.
Our comprehensive gallery has many highlights from the weekend. So far we have included contributions from Tim Scott of Fluid Images, Andrew Coates of globalsupercars.co.uk and flickr users Richard Bets, Xenia Baxter and Mike Garland.
267mph Veyron Super Sport
Super Sport on Ehra-Lessien
Today Bugatti proudly released details of what will become the ultimate Veyron. With over 1200 bhp, the new model achieved a two-way average speed of 267.81 mph. This quite easily makes it the fastest production car in the world.
Not limited to a one-of, Bugatti will make a series of the Super Sport available for sale. Already five cars known as the 'World Record Edition' have been sold and we suspect more special editions are on the horizon.
Bugatti has wisely chosen the Monterey Week to showcase their record-setting car. It will appear at the Motorsports Reunion at Laguna Seca, the Quail Gathering and the Pebble Beach Councours d'Elegance.
Supercars from Goodwood
Britian's Best Bugatti?
As a prelude to our comprehensive coverage of Goodwood, we have prepared a gallery of the popular Supercar Run. Not specifically timed, practically all the world's current supercars were paraded up the hill and back again.
Probably the biggest story from this lot was the McLaren MP4-12C which could be heard and admired by the public for the first time. Other notable cars included a dark green RUF CTR3 #3, GTbyCITROËN, the new Porsche GT2 RS and the Koenigsegg Agera.
Today the Supercar Run comes to us from Tim Scott of Fluid Images. In a couple days we will post his full roster of photos including the 'Cartier et Luxe' Concours and the many race cars which ran up the hill.
Alfa Romeo Centenary
Impressive 100X100 Display in Novegro
Last weekend Alfa Romeo officially celebrated its 100th anniversary in Milan, Italy. This included several key events in and around the area with a dedicated track day at Monza. Even with Goodwood and Pebble Beach on the horizon, we can confidently say this was the biggest centenary celebration of 2010.
The official event started with thousands of Alfa Romeos converging at Fiera di Milano to celebrate a new statue in the shape of a Disco Volante. Many others drove into the town center to see the official display of 100 cars. Others participated in what was probably the world's largest Alfa Romeo track day at Monza.
Not too far off in Novegro, a week-long show was curated by local groups in conjunction with the museum. With a one-of-everything approach, the show was called '100X100 Alfa per Cent'anni' and had a comprehensive display of Alfa Romeo's history with cars, trucks and boats. Dirk de Jager kindly provided us with images from this part of the festivities for our feature gallery. Included is an unrestored Alfa Romeo 159 which hasn't been seen in a long, long time.
