A fantastic line-up of pre and post war cars gathered in Lugano, Switzerland for the 2nd annual Lonville Classic, held 3-5 September 2010. Seven different nationalities participated while one entry from the US shipped their car across for the event.
The three-day event combined regularity and special stages on the shores and mountain roads surrounding the gorgeous lakes of Lugano, Como and Maggiore. Just like last year’s inaugural event, participants were treated to exceptional food in unique locations.
Raving feedback from participants suggests the Lonville Classic strikes the right balance between regularity (timed stages, tulip navigation, special stages), free drives where the crew can relax and enjoy the great scenery, as well as time for culinary delights.
“My wife is Italian, she would not allow me to organise anything without memorable food,” said Lonville Classic organiser Joost Vreeswijk. “The deliberate small scale of the Lonville Classic (20-25 cars) means this does not feel like an organised event, but more like a group of friends away on a glorious week-end enjoying their shared passion for classic cars in one of the most beautiful locations in Europe. And that is exactly how we like it”
Friday’s navigated stage took Lonville Classic 2010 participants from Lugano through tight mountain roads to Lake Como. A ferry crossing to Belaggio offered the first ‘open road’ stage where both boy-racers and lake-lovers marveled at the largely empty winding lake side roads and old villages. Saturday’s focus was all about navigation around Lago Maggiore, with the obligatory decadent lunch stop at Villa Aminta. Sunday featured more trials and navigation around Lugano and its beautiful lake, while participants were all dressed to match their cars.
Vreeswijk commented, “We borrowed this idea from our friends at Goodwood Revival and it was a lot of fun to see ladies with their vintage dresses in the pre-war cars, while the 1970s Alfa attracted some ‘hippie’ attention. I think we stopped the traffic in chique Lugano!”
A gorgeous local Aston Martin DB5 (1964) driven by Allesandro Rossi and Marco Colombo dueled for first overall place at Lonville Classic 2010 with the Dutch entered, purposeful-looking, Austin-Healey 100M of Rob and Hans van der Leeuw. With near identical results on the timed stages and very different results on the trials and Sunday dress style, the outcome was a shared overall first place. In good tradition this means next year’s event vintage-style poster by Guy Allen will feature both of these cars.
During Saturday night’s dinner the Lonville Virage (watch limed to series of 18) was introduced to participants. Virage is themed ‘breaking 50 years of silence’ and is a tribute to the 137 year old brand’s absence of the world of luxury watch making for over 50 years.
“Our passion for classic cars and mechanical watches has brought all this about. It took us three years to reach this point and we are very proud of the positive feedback. Lonville is our parallel universe, not our day job. The Lonville Classic and Virage are driven by our hearts. I think this explains the enthusiasm of people that joined our little magical week-end on the lake,” said Vreeswijk.
For more information, visit www.lonville.com.
Lonville Classic 2010 – Photo Gallery (click image for larger photo and description)
