Salon Privé is the most prestigious motor show on the British calendar – its Concours d’Elégance now the highest regarded of all held on home shores.
Running from 23-26 September at Blenheim Palace, the show is now in its 15th year – and the series of events have become a must-attend for any car aficionados.
Wednesday kicks off the Concours d’Elégance by AXA; Thursday is also Ladies’ Day by Boodles; Friday hosts the Salon Privé Masters by Pirelli and Lockton; and Saturday is the Classic & Supercar day featuring the Salon Privé Club Trophy.
As a sneak preview, we have compiled a round-up of some of the most exciting cars on display at this year’s show. Get your motors running…
Tickets: 0808 100 2205; salonpriveconcours.com
Modern
Bugatti Chiron Super Sport 300+
Bugatti has once again shown what it’s capable of. Driving the Bugatti Chiron Super Sport 300+, Le Mans winner and Bugatti test driver Andy Wallace reached the top speed of exactly 490.484 km/h (304.773 mph) on August 2, 2019 on the test track at Ehra-Lessien in Lower Saxony. With this new record, we enter again uncharted territory – never before has a series manufacturer reached this high speed. Salon Privé is the first time to see the record breaking car in the UK, still in its original condition from the record attempt.
Ferrari Roma
Ferrari will be showcasing its latest models during Salon Privé Week. The all-new Ferrari Roma continues a long tradition of sublime GT cars from Maranello and features a front-mid-mounted turbocharged V8 engine packing more than 600bhp. With its distinctive flair and style, the Roma is a contemporary representation of the carefree, pleasurable way of life that characterised Rome in the 1950s and 1960s. Test drives will be available for clients who have pre-registered with their local official dealer.
Zenvo TSR-S
The flagship TSR-S model from Danish hypercar manufacturer Zenvo utilises a lightweight carbon-fibre body produced in-house, a 1,177bhp twin supercharged flat-plane V8, and class-leading aerodynamics including Zenvo’s patented centripetal rear wing, which reacts to steering inputs to create high levels of downforce while cornering. This example of the TSR-S model – the street legal variant of the TSR track car – has received numerous bespoke touches and is the first car to receive full fragmented carbon-fibre wheels designed, developed and built in-house by Zenvo, as well as individual weave designs within the exposed carbon fibre body sections.
Koenigsegg Gemera
The world’s first ‘mega GT’ Koenigsegg is set to star at Salon Privé with the ground-breaking new Gemera. Its name is derived from the Swedish words for ‘give more’ and is engineered to provide megacar performance but with a spacious interior and next-generation environmental technology. The revolutionary new vehicle that can power four people and their carry-on luggage from 0-62mph in 1.9 seconds. The Gemera’s two-litre, three-cylinder engine named the ‘Tiny Friendly Giant’ – or TFG for short – is able to run on conventional petrol as well as the very latest CO2-neutral renewable fuels, and designed to be super-efficient, give exceptionally low emissions and able to be packaged in super small spaces. The TFG features three electric motors and its combined powertrain gives a total output of 1,700bhp and an immense 3,500Nm of torque. Simply staggering for a four-seater.
Bentley Mulliner Bacalar
Earlier this year, Bentley Mulliner revealed the new Bacalar. The rarest two-door Bentley of the modern era, and the ultimate expression of two-seat, open-air luxury, this definitive Grand Tourer spearheads a return to coachbuilding by Bentley Mulliner – the oldest coachbuilder in the world. Just 12 examples of this striking, limited edition model are being created, guaranteeing rarity and exclusivity, and offering supreme luxury and breath-taking performance. Bacalar launches a new Bentley Mulliner operation, offering three different portfolios to customers: Classic, Collections and Coachbuilt. Salon Privé 2020 will host the first members of each of those portfolios, including the Bacalar.
Lotus Evija
The Lotus Evija is a bold statement of intent which marks the start of an exciting new chapter in the history of the iconic and much-loved British sports car brand. This is the first all-electric British hypercar, the first hypercar from Lotus, and the company’s first model with an electrified powertrain. The Evija has a target power output of 2,000PS, making it the most powerful production road car ever built and setting a new high standard in the global hypercar market. The mid-mounted position of the battery pack echoes the celebrated powertrain layout of many Lotus cars past and present. It will be able to hit 62 mph (0-100km/h) in under three seconds, with a top speed in excess of 200 mph. The production will be limited 130 cars – in tribute to its Lotus ‘Type’ number, 130. Good luck getting your hands on one.
Classics
1933 Lancia Astura Bocca
The most prestigious coachbuilders of the 1930s worked closely with Lancia to complement its high-quality cars with beautiful body designs, which became increasingly exotic and streamlined with each next Series. Pinin Farina made the coachwork for a number of Astura 3rd Series, but a very special batch of four to five cars was made as Astura Pinin Farina Cabriolet “Bocca”, a most extravagant design created for Pinin Farina by famous Italian designer Revelli de Beaumont for LANCIA dealer Ernesto Bocca. It features the classic Lancia radiator shell, a very long bonnet, aerodynamic pontoon wings, a very rear section, fold-down windscreen and a number of further unusual design details. This design is considered to be one of the most elegant of all times for any Italian open luxury automobile.
1934 Hispano Suiza J12 Vanvooren Cabriolet
One of only eight open J12s ever built, this car is powered by one of the first V12 engines offered to the public on a non-competition model. It was arguably the cleanest, quietest, and most powerful engine of its era, carefully crafted to maximize driver experience. The J12’s engine enables it to go from zero to sixty in twelve seconds with a chassis designed to accommodate coachwork that could seat nine in limousine fashion. At the time of its debut in 1931, it was considered Hispano-Suiza owner Marc Birkigt’s masterpiece. So much so that Charles Faroux, journalist and founding member of the 24 hour Le Mans, set out to prove the car’s pristine engineering by driving from Paris to the French Riviera and back. On return to a showroom on the Champs Elysées, he positioned the car over a white sheet, where it left not a single drop of oil.
1948 Delahaye 135M
Owned by Prince Birabongse of Siam, the famed racing driver, this Delahaye 135 is finished in black with dark mauve accents on the wings. The interior is mauve leather with matching carpets giving the vehicle a very striking appearance. Coachwork is by Pennock to a design penned by Chapron. It takes the form of a versatile three-position drophead. Spats fitted to the rear wheels accentuate the voluptuous lines of the car. The engine is a sporty 3.6-litre six-cylinder, which gives the car tremendous performance, close to that of a Bugatti type 57. The Cotal Electro-magnetic automatic gearbox makes the car a delight to drive and is seamless in its operation; similar, in fact, to a preselector ‘box but without the preselect bit. After pulling away, one simply flicks the miniscule H pattern gear switch to the appropriate gear and it instantly and smoothly engages. Make no mistake, it’s fast, too – with 100 mph attainable, which is rare for a pre-war car.
1966 Ford GT 40 Mk 1 Prototype / 1034
One of 31 GT40 Mark I road cars, 1034 was delivered to its owner on 17 March 1966. Being the fourth purpose-built road car, it was notably the first delivered into private hands; the three earlier cars being used by Ford for promotional purposes. The Production Car Record Sheet for 1034 lists its “non-standard/special fittings” as a heated windscreen, wing mirrors, two fuel gauges and, unusually, a dash-mounted electric clock. The car was painted in the subtle shade of Pine Green (without stripes and lettering on the sills) with a black leather interior. Unlike all the Mark I cars before it, 1034 was delivered with grilles fitted over the radiator air exhaust ducts on top of the nose, an immediate distinguishing feature. Furthermore, the “F.O.R.D” lettering on the nose was positioned differently to every other GT40 produced, making it unique to the marque. Described by renowned GT40 expert, Ronnie Spain, as “one of the most original GT40s out there”, chassis 1034 is an important landmark in the birth of the modern mid-engine sports car.
2019 McLaren Senna
The McLaren Senna is the is the most track-focused road car ever built by McLaren, legalised for road use, but not sanitised to suit it. Nothing else matters but to deliver the most intense driving experience around a circuit. Inspired by one of McLaren’s greatest racing drivers, the McLaren Senna is utterly dedicated to allowing the driver to be the best they can possibly be. It is undoubtedly a classic of the future.
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