Salon Privé enters its tenth year in 2015. This year promises to be bigger and better than ever before with a new venue, an expanded concours competition and a brand new set of classes for modern supercars and hypercars. The event will get underway on Thursday this week and will last until Saturday evening.
Thursday will be dedicated to the concours competition, Friday will be a traditional Ladies Day and Saturday will be dedicated to a more modern style of performance concours. The entrants have now been announced and we can now provide you with a preview. Here’s what you need to know about Salon Privé 2015.
The Event
Salon Privé is celebrating its tenth anniversary this year. The first event took place in 2006, organised by two brothers, Andrew and David Bagley. Unlike many other events, Salon Privé is ultra-exclusive, attracting only true enthusiasts. This allows a unique, no-barriers approach to the traditional Conours setup. It now ranks alongside Pebble Beach and Villa d’Este as one of the best events of the year.
As a traditional Concours event, Salon Prive entrants are placed into categories which allow for a panel of judges to determine winners across a variety of entrants. Naturally, there is a “best in show” award which is the one that everyone wants to win. Classic, Super, Hyper, Mega and Concept cars as well as Motorcycles; Salon Privé caters for all tastes!
As you would expect from such an exclusive event, there is a dress code which attendees are expected to observe. The attire is determined by the day; thankfully the organisers have created this fantastic image:
The Venue
The very first Salon Privé was held at The Hurlingham Club in central London. Throughout the course of five years, Salon Privé outgrew this venue. It moved to Syon Park in its sixth year before securing the prestigious Blenheim Palace as the venue for its 2015 event.
Blenheim Palace is the largest privately owned house in the United Kingdom. Now owned by the Spencer-Churchill family, it was the birth place of iconic British Prime Minister Winston Churchill. His ancestor, the Duke of Marlborough, John Churchill was gifted the Palace as a reward for leading the British army to victory against the French in the War of the Spanish Succession.
The Palace sits in 2,000 acres of parkland and gardens which makes it the ideal location for a classic concours event. Its iconic English Baroque style construction and manicured gardens should make for a stunning backdrop to this unique event.
The Concours Competition
Salon Privé 2015 is split between two sets of events. The classic car concours and an event for modern machinery.
Concours D’Elegance
The Chubb Insurance Salon Privé Concours d’Elegance is split into nine classes. Seven celebrate the motorcar, two celebrate the motor bike.
The Pre-war Luxury & Touring class includes some of the most iconic designs such pre-war names as Delahaye and Voisin. The Wind in Your Hair category moves into the exciting post-war categories with plenty of sensational Italian designs. The Competition Cars span both pre and post war eras.
There are separate classes which also celebrate the collaboration between the Pininfarina design house and the Ferrari brand; fixed head coupe’s of the 1950’s and 60’s and road-legal track day GT cars. The final category is a celebration of post war coachwork which includes entrants demonstrating the works of Jacques Saoutchik among others.
The exceptional motorcycles classes are split between pre-war and everything that came after. Ariel, Vincent, Norton and Triumph are among some of the big name displays. We don’t normally cover motorcycles, however, these two categories sound amazing so we will be sure to bring you some photos and details.
Prestige & Performance Competition
New to Salon Privé 2015 is a category for performance cars. The categories have already been announced and we can tell you, it will be incredible!
The first category is called 40 Years of the Iconic Ferrari 308 GTB. The concours will gather six examples of this 70’s classic together in celebration. Built for Speed will include some of the more common supercars of the era including the Lamborghini Aventador and the Ferrari 458 Speciale.
Feel the Breeze includes eminent convertible supercars from the likes of Jaguar and Lamborghini; among others. Pre-Millennium Supercars include the stunning Lamborghini Diablo GT and the iconic Bugatti EB110 SS. It’s successor will also be celebrated by a three-car class celebrating 10 years in production of the Bugatti Veyron
The final three will be called Grace & Pace, Road & Race and Blink and it’s Gone. These will include everything from a BAC Mono to a Koenigsegg One:1.
What to look out for
In terms of classics, we are most excited to see the Delahaye 135MS Cabriolet and the Voisin Type C27 Roadster, both of which are on tour from the Mullin Museum in Los Angeles whilst they finish the rebuild. We’re also excited about the Lancia Auerlia B24 Spyder and the Goldmanini.
Modern supercars will include the Koenigsegg One:1 and the Lamborghini Reventon Roadster, two of the rarest cars UK registered supercars (or megacars as Koenigsegg would prefer). A Pagani Zonda, a Maserati MC12 Stradale, McLaren F1 and Ferrari FXX have all been confirmed. Finally, you will get to see the current hypercar trio, the McLaren P1, Porsche 918 Spyder and LaFerrari.
Enough reasons to wish you were going?
Thats not all. Manufacturer displays will also afford the opportunity for visitors to explore brand new cars and concepts. The displays will include the brand new Ferrari FXXK, the McLaren P1 GTR and the Aston Martin Vulcan. Concepts will include the Tramontana R, Toroidion 1MW and the Spania GTA.
Auction
Preview: Silverstone Auctions at Salon Privé 2015 features some pretty fantastic lots. It is being run in conjunction with Silverstone Auctions who have managed to pull together some interesting lots. More than 50 cars will pass the auction block.
Star lots include an Aston Martin DB6 Vantage Volante, one of just 29 cars produced. A 2011 Porsche 997 GT3 RS 4.0 litre will test the market alongside a GT2 RS. We’re also interested in the one of three UK right have drive Lamborghini Diablo SV’s finished in Blue Scuro.
Our Coverage
GTspirit is the official digital media partner for the event. We will be bringing you the best live coverage on our frontpage, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram channels from all three days. Make sure to check out our Salon Prive News for the latest updates from Blenheim Palace!
