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Ferrari Owners’ Club Concours

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3/6/2019, 1:19:17 PM cet

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Broughton Castle, Near Banbury, Oxfordshire July 01, 2001

Second Time Around
The Ferrari Owners’ Club chose the ancestral home of Lord and Lady Saye and Sele, the magnificent moated Broughton Castle in rural Oxfordshire, as the setting for its annual concours for the second time in three years. The beautiful stone building and its large moat formed an imposing backdrop for the proceedings, which were held on a very hot and humid First of July. The occasional dark cloud fluttered overhead, but to the relief of all present the day remained dry.

Quantity and Quality
As with the last gathering at this venue two years ago, a large number of club members with their steeds were in attendance, the central location proving very popular. Those counting on the gate eventually lost track of total numbers, as the count approached four hundred and fifty Ferraris, a ten per cent increase on the previous figure at this venue. As with most club gatherings world wide, the majority of models present were those from the modern mid-engined era, although ”modern” is a relative term, as this era now goes back some thirty plus years!

The quality of the concours entries was to a very high standard, giving the class judges a difficult task in arriving at a decision, as the system used is that of class winner, second, etc, rather than the system used in the United States. In their judging procedure each car is judged not against the other cars in the class, but as an entity, whereby if it is to a required standard it will receive an equal award to another in the class to the same standard. However, whichever system is operated, the standard of preparation must be very high to gain the top awards. There was talk of people being out doing final detailing at five o’clock in the morning, such was their dedication, and determination to win a prize!

Let The Music Play
A novel feature of the gathering was a strolling jazz quartet called ”Fidgety Feet” who wandered the concours field during the day playing as they went, and joking along the way with the entrants and viewing public. At lunchtime they had a break while a military marching band, the 150 Yorkshire Transport Regiment RLC (V), gave a display on the lawn across the water from the concours field. Two very different forms of music, both of which were widely appreciated by  all in attendance.

Golden Oldies
As previously mentioned early examples were relatively thin on the ground in percentage terms to overall numbers. However, there was a nice selection, with the earliest being the 166 MM/53 Vignale Spider of Bernard Worth, closely followed by Sir Anthony Bamford’s 375 MM Pinin Farina berlinetta.  In the 250 GT series the biggest surprise was to see the early 250 GT LWB California Spider of Jonas Linden brought on his behalf by Peter Jaye, which looked very attractive with its dark metallic turqoise paintwork. Another rare spider was the 275 GTB/4 NART Spider of Bernie Carl, freshly repainted in Metallic Ruby to resemble the example featured in the film ”The Thomas Crown Affair”. The rarest model present was the 365P 3 Posti, the mid-engined road car with central driving position, owned by Luigi Chinetti Jnr, who entrusted it to Terry Hoyle to display, which attracted a great deal of attention.

Goodies
Aside from the cars there was an Italian classsic motorcycle display, plus a vendor marquee with a wide variety of Ferrari related models, books, club memorabilia and artwork for delectation and purchase. Ferrari U.K. and Graypaul Motors also had their own sales outlets and displays adjacent to the concours area, with further specialist vendors around the perimeter. If your pocket was deep enough Girard-Perregaux had an enticing display of watches in the main club hospitality marquee. All in all something for every Ferrari enthusiast.

Ferrari 250 GT SWB Berlinetta s/n 3037GT
412
F50 Yellow s/n 105066 & F50 Red s/n 104772
Military marching band, the 150 Yorkshire Transport Regiment RLC (V)
Ferrari 375 MM Pinin Farina Berlinetta s/n 0320AM
Ferrari 166 MM/53 Vignale Spyder s/n 0308M
365P 3 Posti s/n 8971