Meet the owners at the 2015 Concours of Elegance

An event such as the Tour of Elegance, which culminates in the Royal Concours that begins today, is as much about socialising with like-minded enthusiasts as it is about the driving. Classic Driver met some of the prominent personalities and, of course, their very special cars…

HRH Prince Michael of Kent and the Bentley 4¼ Litre

His Royal Highness Prince Michael not only lends his name to the patronage of the event, but is also actively involved in its organisation and took part in the tour – followed everywhere by two Q-cars full of Royal Protection Officers, of course. Fittingly, he completed the tour in one of the concours cars, a 1937 Bentley 4¼ Litre Vanden Plas Tourer owned by Paul Wood, the co-founder of renowned marque specialist P&A Wood. “I find it quite interesting that while Mr Wood is one of the leading Bentley restorers in the world,” His Royal Highness told Classic Driver, “he’s left his own car in the most wonderfully original condition.” 

Clive Beecham and his long-nose Jaguar D-type

We first met Clive Beecham when shooting his ex-Agnelli Ferrari 166 MM earlier this year. He’s brought something equally special (and fitting) to the Edinburgh Concours: a long-nose Jaguar D-type with Works and Ecurie Ecosse provenance (if you look in the right places, you’ll be able to see the original green paint beneath the Ecosse blue). This car placed second at the famous clean-sweep at Le Mans in 1957, and is probably the most original example of the eight remaining Long-Nose factory team cars.

Tom Hartley Jnr. and his Lamborghini Miura S

As a renowned dealer, Tom Hartley Jnr. can often be seen at the major events in something special – but none are more beloved to him than his personal (hence the numberplate) 1970 Miura S. It has just 14,000 miles or so from new (a few hundred more were spiritedly added during the pre-Concours tour), and the car’s original orange paintwork is as vibrant as ever, even 45 years on. This magnificent Miura will certainly be one of the crowd favourites…

The Schäfer family and their 1930 Mercedes-Benz 710 SS Tourer

Back after winning the ‘Most Elegant Lady Driver’ award at Hampton Court last year, Sonja Schäfer and her family have travelled to the Edinburgh Concours from Germany, this time bringing along the 1930 Mercedes-Benz 710 SS Tourer Sonja co-owns with her two sisters. The car’s former owners include a Paris Match director and a Nobel Prize winner – and its appearance at the Holyrood Concours of Elegance comes 50 years after it was first shown at Pebble Beach.

Jon Shirley and his Ferrari 275 GTS/4 N.A.R.T. Spyder

As one of the most respected collectors in the world, Jon Shirley is no stranger to the Concours circuit; he won Best in Show at the 2014 Pebble Beach Concours with his Ferrari 375 MM. This year, he’s brought another of his prized Ferraris to Edinburgh: one of the two alloy-bodied 275 GTS/4 N.A.R.T. Spyders ever built. The ex-Microsoft president has owned the car for more than 20 years (how about that for an appreciating asset…), proving that he’s earned his stripes as a genuine enthusiast as well an astute businessman.

Gregor Fisken and his prototype Jaguar E-type Lightweight

Entering two cars into the Holyrood concours, Gregor Fisken is certainly embracing his Scottish roots. Alongside a Bentley S1 Continental Drophead, he has also taken along the prototype Jaguar E-type Lightweight that Briggs Cunningham (another Scotsman) campaigned to victory at the 1962 Sebring 12 Hours. “Before this, the car hasn’t turned a wheel for more that 20 years,” Gregor told us during the pre-concours tour, “but she runs like a dream.”

Stephen Brauer and his short-chassis Aston Martin DB6 Volante

Wine importer Stephen Brauer clearly has great taste, proved by the exquisite short-chassis DB6 Volante (one of 37) he and his wife Camilla have brought over from Missourri. It’s by no means the car’s first top-level competition: it has also completed several Copperstate Rallies and Louis Vuitton tours. “It’s the ideal car in which to compete in a rally or tour. Although it has a solid rear axle, it’s probably the nicest to drive of all my cars.”

Jeff Pope and his father’s Maserati A6G 2000 Zagato

This rare Maserati (one of only 21 A6s given Zagato coachwork) was chaperoned from Arizona by Jeff Pope – son of noted collector Bill Pope – and is the only example with period U.S. racing history. As beautiful as it is (it previously won Best in Class at Pebble Beach), it’s still used as intended, evidenced by Jeff’s spirited driving on the tour.

Photos: Tom Shaxson for Classic Driver © 2015

Joining the Royal road trip to the 2015 Concours of Elegance

Sights don’t come much more surreal than glancing in your rear-view mirror, and seeing Sir Jackie Stewart readying his Gullwing to blast past you and disappear off into the Scottish Highlands. We joined the 2015 Tour of Elegance…

A road trip to remember

Considering the roads in Scotland are among the most scenic in the world, it was almost a formality that an official driving tour would be integrated into the 2015 Concours of Elegance programme. Spread across two days, the 250-mile Highlands Tour incorporated some of the most stunning views and driving roads in the country, interspersed with pit-stops at some of Scotland’s most iconic locations.

No ordinary XJS...

The majority of owners were brave enough to pilot the cars that they are displaying at the Concours – whether a 1903 Mercedes 60HP Simplex or a 2015 LaFerrari – although some took the option of taking another car that was perhaps better suited to the undulating Highlands roads, hence the additional Carrera 2.7 RS that appeared in the convoy, for example. Our mount was the Jaguar XJS V12 Convertible in which Princess Diana covered 55,000 miles from new, made all the more special by the fact it had just over 56,000 when we collected the keys. To onlookers, a humble XJS might have looked a little out of its depth among such a valuable cavalcade, but we felt quite comfortable knowing we’d be arriving at Holyrood Palace in a loyal, Royal servant. Plus, it doubled up as the perfect photography workhorse, the welded-in rear section of the roof (one of the princess’ special requests, along with the unique seats) providing adequate protection from the cool Scottish winds, yet allowing the photographer to pop up through the roof and snap away when necessary.

Spirit of camaraderie

Also along for the ride were the event’s patrons: Sir Jackie Stewart and Prince Michael of Kent, the latter’s elegant, Vanden Plas-bodied 4¼ Litre Bentley providing a stark contrast to his menacing, blacked-out escort vehicles. Widely known to be a car lover, evidenced by the enthusiasm with which he spoke of his steed and the tour as a whole, the Prince fully immersed himself in the spirit of camaraderie present throughout the tour. One particularly memorable example of fellowship saw collector Adam Lindermann stop to help another tour participant, duly completing a ‘petrol run’ in his short-nosed Ecurie Ecosse D-type in order to rescue the stranded pre-War car. We thought the sight of Sir Jackie and his Gullwing in our mirror was surreal, until we saw one of the most legendary Scottish cars in history slide out of a petrol station to complete its mission – very different to the one that saw it take first place at Goodwood in 1956.

A traditional welcome brigade

Among the scheduled stops were Inverary Castle, the stunning Kinross house, and the Rest and Be Thankful hillclimb, the latter tackled particularly enthusiastically by Jeff Pope in the Zagato-bodied Maserati A6 G. But the most poignant stop-off destination for many participants was the Dollar Academy, a 197-year-old school that laid on a spectacular welcoming display of bagpipers. Here, the pupils swarmed the cars with youthful glee, proving just how alluring these timeless machines are even to those not yet in the know (although, naturally, the LaFerrari commanded the most attention). As the cars exited once the Prince had presented awards to some of the star students, we were excitedly waved off by the youngest pupils of the school, their soprano-pitched exclamations and wide-eyed gawps creating one of the most memorable moments of the tour.

The Royal seal of approval

Blessed with glorious, un-Scottish-like weather throughout (the locals said we’d brought good conditions with us, as it was apparently a wet summer otherwise), the Tour really couldn’t have been any more glorious. It was perhaps best summarised by His Royal Highness himself: “This is the fourth year of the Concours of Elegance, and third year I’ve been the Royal patron. It’s truly the best one yet – it takes a huge effort to put together an event like this as a one-off, as it was originally planned, but to do it annually is nothing short of remarkable. This year, we wanted to include a tour and the roads up here are one of the main reasons we chose to hold the event in Scotland. I was involved in planning the route, and I have never had a more enjoyable drive.” One would be inclined to agree.

Photos: Tom Shaxson for Classic Driver © 2015

It’s all design – Vitra Design Museum celebrates Bauhaus with a major exhibition

It was nearly 100 years ago that Walter Gropius founded the Bauhaus art school in Weimar. The work of architects, artists and designers from the Bauhaus is still influential today, and a major dedicated exhibition opens at the Vitra Design Museum in September.

The long arm of the Bauhaus designer

The term ‘Bauhaus’ is so familiar and so well-used that it has, dare we say it, become a bit of a cliché in the world of design. However, the major dedicated exhibition that opens in September – four years before the centenary of the founding of Bauhaus – comes as a pleasant surprise. It not only exhibits work that exemplifies the legendary Bauhaus style, but the curators of the Vitra Design Museum in Weil am Rhein have also examined its influence on contemporary artists, designers and architects. Under the title of ‘The Bauhaus #itsalldesign’, the exhibition will display works by Walter Gropius and Marcel Breuer, Marianne Brandt, Lyonel Feininger and Wassily Kandinsky, juxtaposed with current design trends and modern designers such as Olaf Nicolai, Konstantin Grcic and Lord Norman Foster. The full bandwidth of Bauhaus influence will be visible – from automotive design at Mercedes-Benz to the furniture of Muji and Thonet, who were inspired by Marcel Breuer.

A laboratory of modernity

With its historic aim of transforming society through active artwork, the Bauhaus movement has a crucial influence on the design profession of today. In modern-day discussions concerning socially relevant design and responsibility – ‘social design’ and ‘open design’ are just two catchphrases from this discourse – the stated positions of  Bauhaus design apostles is found to be relevant time and time again. Yet in addition to the historical and social contexts, the exhibition also deals quite specifically with the histories of both famous and lesser-known designs. 

Not just history

Finally, there is a section of the exhibition dedicated to the communication of the Bauhaus method through film and photography. It is to be hoped that ‘The Bauhaus #itsalldesign’ theme not only takes the history of Bauhaus seriously, but also helps to inspire young designers to learn from the free-spirited designers of the past. 

The exhibition ‘The Bauhaus #itsalldesign’ can be seen from 26 September 2015 to 28 February 2016 at the Vitra Design Museum in Weil am Rhein. For more information, see design-museum.de.

Fly to Goodwood for the 2015 Revival in a JU 52 with Classic Driver

Forget your classic Jaguar or MG – the most stylish way to travel to Goodwood for this year’s Revival is aboard a historic JU 52. Tauscher Tours and Classic Driver offer this timeless transport as an exclusive, complete package.

“We’ve been able to organise a particularly stylish trip to Goodwood this year,” says rally and tour operator Egon Tauscher. “We will be flying in one of the most famous vintage machines, the JU 52 with its characteristic corrugated metal skin. Apart from a few museum pieces worldwide, there are only eight airworthy machines.” The JU 52 starts in Dübendorf near Zurich, has a stopover in France, and then heads across the Channel to Goodwood.

From an aircraft museum to the Goodwood Revival

The capacity of the JU 52 is limited and almost all seats are already booked – however, there is now an exclusive opportunity for Classic Driver readers to book a Goodwood Revival package at a last-minute price. Including a return flight, two nights at Lythe Hill Hotel & Spa in Haslemere, full English breakfast and dinner, as well as transfer to the race track, tickets and grandstand seats, along with on-site support, will cost Classic Driver readers just 5,500 euros (instead of 5,800 euros). You can register here. When registering, please state that you are a Classic Driver reader and want to take advantage of this offer.

Fotos: Getty Images / Rémi Dargegen