Our review of the 2022 Concours of Elegance

This post is much later that I would have liked to have published it, but life is busy, when you are a workaholic like me. How else will I be able to earn enough money to buy all these cars I would like to own/ drive?

Anyway, we attended the 2022 Concours of Elegance on the Friday as we do most years. This year was the 10 year anniversary and this classic car show was as great as ever and will remain a must attend show for me. The 10th anniversary event welcomed a record number of guests to the immaculate Palace gardens, for the most spectacular display of rare and significant motorcars yet, cementing the event’s reputation as one of the UK’s top Concours d’Elegance event. A shame that this year there was no show poster to purchase, which was a shame in our opinion, we like to purchase and display on our garage wall.

Close to 1000 classic cars were on display across the three-day event. One of the highlights included:

75 years of Ferrari at Concours of Elegance.

Check out this video (below) which highlights the six Ferrari’s featured, what a beautiful collection of cars. Can you name them all?

You can see a great many more videos from the Concours of Elegance through the years here on our You Tube playlist.

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The Concours Winners

The Concours winners that I loved were as follows:

Best In Show: 1938 Delage D8-120 ‘de Villars’

The Best in Show winner – uniquely chosen by the Concours car owners themselves – was the truly exceptional 1938 Delage D8-120 ‘de Villars’, which enchanted the voters with its elegance, beauty and 1930s design flair. You can see our walk around this car here.

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1940s & 1950s: 1956 Maserati A6G Zagato

For the 1940s and 1950s class, it was a very special Maserati that took the top prize – the stunning Zagato-bodied A6G. This was the ultimate evolution of Maserati’s A6 series, the marque’s first post-war sports car. Based on a lightweight tube-frame chassis, the A6G borrowed several features from the A6GCS sports racing car, including many of its motorsport-proven braking, steering, and suspension components. The all-aluminium twin-cam 150 bhp 2.0-litre six-cylinder engine originally designed by Gioacchino Colombo for racing was adapted by Vittorio Bellentani to create a dual-purpose car that blended GT civility with thrilling performance.

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1960s: 1961 Aston Martin DB4 GT Zagato

In the hotly contested 1960s category, the winner was a truly exceptional Aston Martin – to many the most beautiful of all: the hallowed DB4 GT Zagato. Combining the proven, high-performance DB4 GT mechanicals with a stunningly stylish – and light – aluminium body by Italian coachbuilding house Zagato – the DB4 GT Zagato represented the best of all worlds; the ultimate 1960s road and racing Aston Martin. The winning car, chassis number 1093/R, was the third of the MP209 ‘ultra-lightweight’ motorsport orientated examples, finished in the arresting hue of French Racing Blue. Built in 1962, the lightened special was delivered new to committed Aston Martin enthusiast and racer Jean Kerguen and raced at Le Mans, where the 3.7-litre straight-six powered machine could hit 170mph on the Mulsanne straight.

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1970s: 1971 Lamborghini Miura SV

In the 1970s class, it was perhaps the most iconic supercar of all, a 1971 Lamborghini Miura SV, that won the hearts of voters. Unveiled at the 1966 Geneva Motor Show, the futuristic supercar – penned by Marcello Gandini – was, predictably, a sensation. Gandini’s seductive shape went into production in 1966, using the 3.9-litre V12 from the 400GT. This first model, the P400, ran from 1966 to 1968, and delivered a peak output of 345bhp. The ultimate version of the Miura – the SV – appeared in 1971, with altered Weber carburettors and different cam timing, which pushed output to 385bhp and torque to 295lb ft. In total, just 150 SVs were built out of a total Miura production run of 764.

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1980s onwards: 1994 Bugatti EB110 SS

There was another fierce contest in the post-1980 category, with a special RHD Bugatti EB110 SS from 1994 taking the top prize. The Lamborghini Countach’s crafter, Marcello Gandini had a meaningful influence on how the EB110 looked, with the design refined into its finished form by Giampaolo Benedini. The brutalist yet sleek aluminium-carbon body cloaked truly cutting-edge mechanicals. Power from an outlandish quad-turbo, 60 valve 3.5-litre V12 was sent to all four wheels via a manual transmission. The EB110 also featured innovative double wishbone suspension front and rear – it was a real technical tour de force; a certain Michael Schumacher even bought one. This example is perhaps the most special of the 139 EB110s built – the only right-hand drive example, built for the 1994 British Motor Show. It was fitted with a prototype ‘SuperSport’ engine as well as prototype SS body parts, and was used to develop the higher-performance variant. It left the factory with 603bhp.

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Ferrari 75th Anniversary Award – 1966 Ferrari 365P Berlinetta Speciale ‘Tre Posti’

For 2022 the Concours was celebrating the 75th anniversary of Ferrari with a very special category, assembling perhaps the finest selection of machines from Maranello ever seen in the UK. From the astonishing line-up, it was the one-of-two, nigh-mythical Ferrari 365P Berlinetta Speciale – more commonly known as the ‘Tre Posti’ that took victory. The wide, low, and arrestingly sleek 365 P, originally conceived to form the basis of a Le Mans racer, was revealed to the world at the 1966 Paris Motor Show. It subsequently toured the globe, wowing audiences with its futuristic Pininfarina body, outrageous three-seater cabin, and mid-mounted V12 – the first Ferrari road-car to be so configured. With only two in existence, this highly significant Ferrari is also among the rarest and most valuable.

You can see all the winners from the show here.

As always a truly exceptional event. Much respect has to go to all involved in the event organisation and those that bring their exquisite cars to show. I am looking forward to 2023 already, starting with the London Concours first, then the Concours of Elegance later in the year.

Here’s our walk around the show (below) in case you did not attend, or maybe you did attend the show and you’ll see yourself, your car or someone you know. Hope you like the video, and do subscribe to our YouTube channel and social media for more classic car, supercar and hypercar news, views, reviews, galleries, competitions and more.

You can see more Concours of Elegance news, reviews, videos and galleries here, including many featured cars and their history.

Have you seen this article: Our Top 10 desired cars from the Concours of Elegance 2022

The Concours of Elegance will return to Hampton Court Palace from the 1^st to 3^rd September 2023. Maybe I’ll see you there.

Make sure that you are subscribed to our newsletter (see below link) or following us on social media (@mycarheaven) to be updated of our competitions and more. Recent competitions have included winning tickets to Silverstone Classic, Concours of Elegance, Petrolheadonism Live and the NEC Classic Motor Show, and right now you can be in with a chance of winning tickets to the 2023 Race Retro show, click here.

See you around.