=
Vintage Car Oasis
2018 London Concours

The new trend of central-city Concours car shows may run in a slightly smaller scale compared to the legendary Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este, for example, but the convenient location allows for a quick visit that can eat up a couple of hours, as opposed to an entire day or more. London Courcours was held on 7 June to 8 June at the Honourable Artillery Company, a five-acre section of green land in Central London.

The second year of the event, the London Concours gathered around 125 cars, ranging from 1898 pioneers to the latest hypercars of today, all displayed in a celebration of speed. The oldest car in the concours was a 120-year-old Panhard et Levassor ‘Paris-to-Amsterdam’ car, which was designed as a race car and raced over 950 miles in six stages. Renowned models that were once the fastest car of their time, such as the Jaguar XK120 OTS and Mercedes 300SL Gullwing, were also on display on the lawn.

Interestingly, the classic cars from the main concours event were divided into six classes, namely ‘Fast’, ‘Faster’, ‘Very Fast’, ‘Superfast’, ‘Hyperfast’ and ‘Era Defining’. Within each section there were models from different decades but of a similar purpose. The winners were selected by expert judges and announced on the first day of the event.

The Best in Show award, selected from a total of over 80 exceptional cars, went to the infamous Fiat S76 that also grabbed the Very Fast class award. The ‘Beast of Turin’ is the only remaining Fiat S76 land speed record car in existence, as the other example was dismantled by Fiat after World War One. The 300-hp, 28.5-litre inline-four engine is the largest purpose-built engine ever fitted to an automobile. It achieved a two-way speed of 116 mph in 1911 while off the record, it supposedly once achieved 135 mph. In recent years it was fully restored after a decade-long effort.

The following are the the award winners in the concours:

Best of Show, Very Fast – 1911 Fiat S76 ‘Beast of Turin’

 

Fast – 1964 Alfa Romeo Giulia Sprint Speciale

 

Faster – 1952 Ferrari 212 Inter Berlinetta

 

Superfast – 2003 Lamborghini Murcielago

 

Hyperfast – 1961 Ferrari 250GT SWB ‘Sefac Hot Rod’

 

Era Defining – 1977 Aston Martin V8 Vantage
Previously /