The Concours of Elegance has announced that this year’s show will celebrate the golden age of sports car racing by displaying highly significant 1950s competition machinery.
Legendary racing cars from the most storied marques—including Ferrari, Jaguar, and Lagonda—will line up in the stunning grounds of Hampton Court Palace from August 30 to September 1 for the 13th edition of Europe’s premier concours d’elegance event.
The sports car selection will include the following cars, joining a display of over 60 of the rarest and most significant motor cars drawn from leading private collections worldwide.
1953 Le Mans Winning Jaguar C-type
The display will be led by arguably the most significant sports racing car of the 1950s, the 1953 Le Mans-winning Jaguar C-type. With ‘c’ standing for competition, the C-type was designed to be competitive against the clock on the track and road courses worldwide.
It combined running gear derived from the XK120 road car with a lightweight tubular spaceframe chassis. Jaguar Chief Engineer William Heynes designed the aerodynamic aluminium body, while Heynes, R J (Bob) Knight, and later Malcolm Sayer jointly developed the cutting-edge spaceframe.
The car that will be displayed is the most significant of the 53 C-types built between 1951 and 1953: the 1953 Le Mans-winning Jaguar Works car, driven to victory by Tony Rolt and Duncan Hamilton against solid opposition. The vehicle in question, chassis XKC 051, was one of three lightweight C-types built by Jaguar for the 1953 Le Mans 24 Hours.
Remarkably, it averaged 105.87mph over the race distance – the first car to breach the 100mph barrier – covering over 2500 miles over the course of the race. The ‘Works’ C-types were given several upgrades over the other C-types competing that year, with thinner gauge aluminium bodywork, a lighter fuel tank and very powerful disc brakes – the non-Works cars had to do with drums.
The in-line six engine was also more potent thanks to its Weber carburettors – feeding more fuel into the engine and giving it more power than the standard SU carb-equipped cars. In the ‘Works’ trim, the C-types put out over 220bhp, giving the featherweight machines very strong performance. Now part of a significant collection that includes several other Le Mans winners, this genuine piece of British motorsport history is all set to star at this year’s show.
1956 Jaguar D-type – Once Sold by Bernie Ecclestone
The show will also welcome a fine example of Jaguar’s similarly iconic D-type racer, a car with a colourful backstory. The D-type was the car that followed the C-type in the lineage of great competition, the Jaguars. The vehicle that will be on show at Hampton Court, XKD518, was unusual in that it was finished in red – one of just two or three to be so specified. It has been suggested, somewhat humorously, by one Jaguar historian that this was done to break into the Italian privateer racing market.
XKD518’s first private owner, racer Peter Blond, purchased the car for £3500 from a certain Bernie Ecclestone, who presumably drove a hard bargain. In Blond’s ownership, the car competed at events around the UK in ’56 and ’57, racing at Goodwood, Silverstone, and Oulton Park.
The car later passed between enthusiast owners before being bought by Led Zeppelin manager Peter Grant, who kept it until the early 1980s, when it was exported to the USA. In the past few years, it has been treated to a sympathetic restoration and now presents in excellent condition whilst also standing out as one of the few D-types with a complete ownership history from now on.
Lagonda V12 DP115 Racers Reunited
Also on show will be unique: a brace of particularly special pioneering competition Lagondas – appearing together in the UK for the first time following a complete restoration. The Lagonda DP115 was created by the then new Aston Martin and Lagonda boss David Brown to be a ‘Ferrari beater’, and the car that would re-establish the Lagonda name in the upper echelons of the automotive world. Lagonda had won at Le Mans fewer than 10 years earlier, and Brown wanted it to rival marques such as Bentley once again – both on track and on the road.
Based on the sweet-handling six-cylinder Aston Martin DB3S—which had always been outgunned power-wise at Le Mans by larger-engined machines—DP115 was introduced with a newly developed V12—an engine Brown envisaged powering both Lagonda’s competition machinery and its luxury road cars. Lagonda’s pre-war designer ‘Willie’ Watson, was hired to lead the development of an all-new, aluminium 4.5-litre V12 motor that put out over 280bhp, driving through a 4-speed box, all housed in a lengthened DB3S chassis.
While it packed the firepower to rival the larger engine machines for overall victory at Le Mans and other top events, the modifications to the DB3S chassis led to somewhat unbalanced, unpredictable handling. As a result, DP115 saw limited success on track.
At Le Mans in 1954, the first of the two cars was sitting 3rd after two hours before it left the road in bad weather and had to retire. Just one further DP115 was built, competing more sparingly. This year’s show will re-unite these fascinating pieces of British automotive history, displaying them in public for what is thought to be the first time.
1954 Ferrari Monza 250 Sport Barchetta by Scaglietti
A 1950s sportscar lineup wouldn’t be complete without representation from Maranello. The concours field at Hampton Court will include a particularly special Ferrari—the ultrarare 250 Monza Sport Barchetta from 1954. The car combined the legendary 3.0-litre Colombo V12 in a tubular steel chassis derived from the four-cylinder 500 Mondial. The sweet, small-capacity V12 was suitable for around 240nhp at a heady 7,200rpm through a four-speed manual gearbox.
The example on show at the palace, chassis 0442M, is one of only four ever produced and the only one with a body by Scaglietti. It has a fascinating early race history, with highlights including a 5th overall finish at the 1954 Carrera Panamericana in 1954, driven by its first owner, Franco Cornacchia, and Gerino Gerini; this would prove to be the final running of the legendary.
It is a highly attritional race. 0442M is one of the most coveted Ferraris in the competition. Having just undergone a multi-year, money-no-object restoration by Ferrari Classiche, this car is in genuinely sensational condition and will return to the public eye at the Palace.
1959 Ferrari Dino 196 S Spider
The show will feature another exceptionally rare Ferrari race car—the first to receive the ‘Dino’ V6 engine—the 1959 196 S ‘Dino’. The new engine was named after Enzo Ferrari’s late son, Alfredino, who was affectionately known as Dino. He had worked on multiple projects at Maranello despite his poor health, the last of which was said to be the V6 development programme.
The 196 S was introduced in 1959, conceived to compete in the 2-litre class in the World Sports Car Championship, powered by a 2-litre, twin-cam 60-degree version of the ‘Dino’ V6. The machine that will be on show at Hampton Court, chassis 0776, was bodied by Carrozzeria Fantuzzi and was delivered new to US East Coast Distributor Luigi Chinetti in New York, who sold it to his customer Don Pedro Rodriguez of Mexico City.
S/n 0776 was subsequently raced by Rodriguez’s sons, Pedro and Ricardo, generally under the NART banner. The brothers competed first at Bahamas Speed Week in December 1959, then, the following year, at the Targa Florio, after a complete rebuild of #0776, the Ferrari factory. Luck was firmly on their side during the race: despite rolling the car twice during a significant ‘off’, the car landed back on its wheels and drove to the finish line, where they finished a commendable 7th overall.
S/N 0776 has since been owned by some of the world’s pre-eminent collectors. Today, it presents just as it was delivered to Mexico City in 1959. One of just two remaining Fantuzzi-bodied 196 S Dinos, the Concours of Elegance will offer a chance to marvel at this supremely rare, beautiful competition Ferrari.
The 1950s sports racing cars display will star alongside 60 other Concours cars drawn from leading private collections worldwide. Outside of the main Concours display, there will be several unique features, including the Levitt Concours – dedicated to the most passionate female owners – the 30UNDER30, which celebrates enthusiastic owners under 30 years of age and the Club Trophy, which gathers the very best examples of models from the nation’s best car clubs.
Away from the automotive displays, Concours of Elegance 2024 will again be an occasion of pure luxury, with champagne provided by Charles Heidsieck, picnics by Fortnum & Mason, and a collection of art, jewellery and fashion displays. Presenting Partner A. Lange & Söhne will once again showcase some of its most intricate timepieces.
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