Salon Prive celebrates its 10th anniversary this yearThree-day motoring festival celebrates its 10-year anniversary and will take place at the UNESCO World Heritage Site in Oxfordshire from 3-5 September
The three-day motoring festival, Salon Prive, will be held at Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire from 3 to 5 September this year, celebrating its 10th anniversary.
This is the first year the event, first started in 2006 by brothers David and Andrew Bagley, will be held outside of London and offers manufacturers and owners alike an opportunity to showcase luxury motoring.
The three days include regular events such as the Chubb Insurance Concours judging day on the Thursday and the Ladies’ Boodles day on Friday – where an £8500 ring will be awarded to the best-dressed woman – but also some new features such as the Speed & Style supercar competition on the public day on Saturday, featuring supercars from 1975 to the present.
At the media day ahead of the event in September, the Bagley brothers confirmed that manufacturers participating in the super-luxury event include Aston Martin, Ferrari, Jensen and ad Tramontana, but Lamborghini won’t be present this year because of long-term commitments elsewhere. Hypercars on show include the Ferrari LaFerrari, Porsche 918 Spyder and McLaren P1, as well as the GTA Spano, Zenvo, Koenigsegg Regera and a prototype of the new Ford GT.
The team of judges on the day will be led by five-time Le Mans winner Derek Bell.
Visitors this year will, for the first time, be able to test drive some of the cars on a five-mile pre-planned route on the roads around Blenheim Palace, and an auction will also be held at the event. Around £9.9 million was spent in the first year of the auction held at Salon Prive, and more cars will be going under the hammer at this year’s event. The full list of cars up for grabs will be released closer to September.
To mark the 10th anniversary of the event, the Concours d’Elegance will consist of 10 classes including Pre-war Luxury & Touring as well as Pininfarina & The Prancing Horse. Sponsor of the concours, Chubb Insurance, has recently signed a new five-year deal to support the event.
Among the entries for this year’s 10 classes is the Bentley Speed Six (Old Number Three), a Ferrari 250 Tour De France from 1958, a 1967 Jaguar E-Type owned by Diana Ross and a 1938 Lagonda Rapide Drophead Coupe.
Cars will also battle for the title of Best of Show. The 2014 title was awarded to the 1954 Jaguar D-Type OKV 1 that was raced at Le Mans in 1954 by Duncan Hamilton and Tony Rolt.
The 2000-acre site at Blenheim Palace is the birthplace of Sir Winston Churchill and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Salon Prive organisers David and Andrew sought a move out of London to achieve greater national accessibility, citing excellent transport links via road, train and air as a key factor in deciding to move to Blenheim Palace.
Get the latest car news, reviews and galleries from Autocar direct to your inbox every week. Enter your email address below:
from Autocar RSS Feed http://ift.tt/1bCWFR5
via AGYA
