With the gracious permission of Her Majesty The Queen, the Windsor Castle opened its gates to some of the world’s rarest cars for the Windsor Castle Concours of Elegance 2016, held 1-4 September on the grounds of one of the UK’s most incredible Royal Palaces.
Established in 2012, the inaugural Concours of Elegance was also held within Windsor Castle to mark the diamond jubilee of Her Majesty The Queen’s reign. The Concours of Elegance has continued to grow, with the exceptional settings of St James’s Palace in 2013, Hampton Court Palace in 2014 and Edinburgh’s Palace of Holyroodhouse in 2015.The sixty automobiles competing in the 2016 UK Concours of Elegance arrived after completing the final leg of the Great West Tour from Guards Polo Club to the picturesque castle quadrangle — led by His Royal Highness Prince Michael of Kent.
Notable entries at this year’s event included the following:
- Ferrari 250 GT SWB Berlinetta Competizione — Stirling Moss won three times in this car, chassis number 2119 GT, including at the Goodwood Tourist Trophy in 1960 where he famously switched on the radio to the listen to the live race commentary
- Audi Front UW Roadster — The first Audi to be launched after the formation of the Auto Union group, which brought together Audi, Horch, Wanderer and DKW in 1932. It features an all-aluminium six-cylinder engine, while its roadster body is a unique creation of Berlin coachbuilders Erdmann and Rossi
- Rolls-Royce Phantom III Four-Seater Sports Tourer — Only three roadsters were built on the Phantom III chassis, and this unique Thrupp and Maberley designed model is one of them, originally commissioned for the Shal of Bopal in 1936
- Ferrari 250 GTO — The only 250 GTO finished in white, this particular car, chassis 3729 GT, was driven to second place in the 1962 and 1963 Goodwood Tourist Trophy by Graham Hill and Mike Parkes, respectively
- Mercedes-Benz 300SC Pinin Farina Coupe — Based on the 300SC two-door, Pinin Farina crafted a more contemporary pillarless coupe body
- Hispano-Suiza Dubonnet Xenia — One-off masterpiece is fitted with stunning art deco, aircraft-inspired bodywork and clever parallel sliding doors by coahcbuilders, Saoutchik.
As its name suggests, a traditional Concours would normally include a judging panel briefed to scrutinise each entry and select a ‘winning’ car. Not so at the Windsor Castle Concours of Elegance whose organisers maintained that if a car had been invited to Windsor, it was already a winner. However, the owners of the sixty Concours cars were asked to vote for the car they would ‘Most Like To Drive Home In’ and thereby selected the ‘Best In Show’. The winner of the 2016 Windsor Castle Concours of Elegance Trophy was Peter Mullin with his 1938 Hispano-Suiza H6B Dubonnet Xenia. The Hispano-Suiza was also a favourite with the public, having won the Public Choice award as well.
In addition to the headline 2016 Concours of Elegance entrants parked in the Quadrangle at Windsor Castle, hundreds more cars were on display within the grounds of Windsor Castle over the weekend. The free-to-view area on the Long Walk leading up to the Cambridge Gate consisted of more than 800 models from the UK car clubs, including the Ferrari, Aston Martin, Lamborghini, Jaguar and Bentley owners’ clubs.
—
In addition to Pavel Novitski’s gallery, Senior Photographer Julien Mahiels also offers the following perspective from the Windsor Castle Concours 2016. We split up Julien’s photos into two galleries. The first gallery starting below features our favorite images, while the second gallery can be found on the last page of the article and gives a comprehensive view of all the photographs. To see more from Julien, visit julienmahiels.net.
Windsor Castle Concours of Elegance 2016 – Featured Picture Gallery
[full_width_banners]
The unauthorized use and/or duplication of any editorial or photographic content from sportscardigest.com without express and written permission from the publisher is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to sportscardigest.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
Windsor Castle Concours of Elegance 2016 – Featured Picture Gallery Page Two
[full_width_banners]
The unauthorized use and/or duplication of any editorial or photographic content from sportscardigest.com without express and written permission from the publisher is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to sportscardigest.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
Windsor Castle Concours of Elegance 2016 – Featured Picture Gallery Page Three
[full_width_banners]
The unauthorized use and/or duplication of any editorial or photographic content from sportscardigest.com without express and written permission from the publisher is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to sportscardigest.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
Windsor Castle Concours of Elegance 2016 – Featured Picture Gallery Page Four
[full_width_banners]
The unauthorized use and/or duplication of any editorial or photographic content from sportscardigest.com without express and written permission from the publisher is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to sportscardigest.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
Windsor Castle Concours of Elegance 2016 – Featured Picture Gallery Page Five
[full_width_banners]
The unauthorized use and/or duplication of any editorial or photographic content from sportscardigest.com without express and written permission from the publisher is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to sportscardigest.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
Windsor Castle Concours of Elegance 2016 – Featured Picture Gallery Page Six
[full_width_banners]
The unauthorized use and/or duplication of any editorial or photographic content from sportscardigest.com without express and written permission from the publisher is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to sportscardigest.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
Windsor Castle Concours of Elegance 2016 – Featured Picture Gallery Page Seven
[full_width_banners]
The unauthorized use and/or duplication of any editorial or photographic content from sportscardigest.com without express and written permission from the publisher is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to sportscardigest.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
Windsor Castle Concours of Elegance 2016 – Featured Picture Gallery Page Eight
[full_width_banners]
The unauthorized use and/or duplication of any editorial or photographic content from sportscardigest.com without express and written permission from the publisher is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to sportscardigest.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
Windsor Castle Concours of Elegance 2016 – Featured Picture Gallery Page Nine
[full_width_banners]
The unauthorized use and/or duplication of any editorial or photographic content from sportscardigest.com without express and written permission from the publisher is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to sportscardigest.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
Windsor Castle Concours of Elegance 2016 – Featured Picture Gallery Page Ten
[full_width_banners]
The unauthorized use and/or duplication of any editorial or photographic content from sportscardigest.com without express and written permission from the publisher is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to sportscardigest.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
Windsor Castle Concours of Elegance 2016 – Featured Picture Gallery Page Eleven
[full_width_banners]
The unauthorized use and/or duplication of any editorial or photographic content from sportscardigest.com without express and written permission from the publisher is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to sportscardigest.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
Windsor Castle Concours of Elegance 2016 – Main Picture Gallery (click image for larger photo and description)
[nggallery id=946 images=15]
[full_width_banners]
The unauthorized use and/or duplication of any editorial or photographic content from sportscardigest.com without express and written permission from the publisher is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to sportscardigest.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
[Source: Concours of Elegance; photos: Julien Mahiels]
The car half way down page 11 is an SS (Jaguar) not a Rokks-Royce
As usual…..the photography made the story. Did do a double take when the 1952 Cunningham came up on screen with Florida tags!
Image No. 33 .1929 Mercedes Benz SS 27 Ex Sultan of JohorE
PAGE 3 : the Bugatti 57 is not a 57S Corsica but a 57 cabriolet