Tag Archives: F1

Concorde Classics Car Show – A Garden Party for Car Enthusiasts!

On Sunday 11th September 2022 will be the 13th Concorde Classics Car Show held at the Concorde Club in Eastleigh. The show first started in 2008 when a group of like-minded people wanted to support local businesses, as well as raise money for worthy causes.

It was decided to utilise the lovely grounds around the Concorde Club to stage a charity car show, little did the small organising team realise what a great success the show would become and now features as one of the best Car Shows in the area. Many visitors describe the show as a garden party for car enthusiasts.

The show in the first year featured a few cars on display and was really just for owners and their vehicles taking part. After two years of running the show, the organising committee teamed up with Naomi House Children’s Hospice to make the show primarily about supporting and raising funds for Hospice. In fact, every penny made from the show goes to the charity.

Naomi House is a children’s hospice providing a professional palliative care service for families whose children and young people have a life limiting illness and their families from central southern England. The charity provides care to families living in communities across the seven counties of Berkshire, Dorset, Hampshire, Isle of Wight, Surrey, West Sussex and Wiltshire. The children’s charity has two specialist units, Naomi House for children, and jacksplace for young people. Each unit is purpose built and provides an appropriate environment for each age group. It costs around £4.5million a year to run the two units. The vast amount of money for running the hospice come from donations and fund raising like Concorde Classics Car Show. In the last 12 years the Car Show has now raised over £107,000 for the charity and in November 2019 was awarded the Dr Peter Lee Award for long term support to Naomi and jacksplace.

As the word spread, and the show changed from not just a show for owners but for visitors as well and began growing in popularity. Today the show attracts over 3,000 visitors with around 160 cars on display at any one time. The cars on display vary from vintage right the way up to modern supercars and is very family orientated.

Being family orientated the organizers understand how expensive it can be for a family day out and therefore set the entry cost to visitors low, being £5 per adult, £1 for a child under 12 and children under 3 can get in for free. Tickets are purchased on the day only at the entry gate, and payment by cash is requested. All display vehicles need to prebook, and the show is so popular most of the display places go by June before the show. Display owners pay £8 per car to display. During every show the public vote for their ‘Car of the Show’ and the winner has a lovely photograph taken of their vehicle and awarded a trophy. In 2019, the last full normal show before Covid, the winner was beautiful Jaguar E-Type.

 

 

Every year the organizers want to have a special attraction for people and over the years we have had an array of attractions like Michael Schumacher’s Benetton winning F1 car, Dragsters, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Batman and his Batmobile and much more

 

          

The show always attracts a lot of attention, and the show often gets celebrities attending to help support the show. The TV chef James Martin is a big petrol head and has a wonderful array of classics cars and often attends the show with one of his beauties. The photograph shows James being interviewed with his beautiful Ferrari 275 GTBC. You will often see ‘The Stig’ at the show, although don’t expect him to talk to you, but he does enjoy sitting in people’s cars.

Whilst wondering around the show you will see a great selection of cars, treasured by their owners all willing to chat about their cars and what they have and do to maintain them, whilst relaxing and enjoying the show themselves. The show has a Ferrari and Super Car section, often sporting the newest Super cars on display for visitors to see. At intervals during the show you will hear the ‘Sound Off’ competition and this is great to hear the rumble of V8 and V12 engines.

The show has a large marquee with trade stands, and you can have a go on a large Scalextric track, the fastest person around the track over a number of laps will win a prize.  If you’re hungry then there is a BBQ, Ice Cream Van, Bar and Coffee van. Attention to detail is the show organizers wish and they are always looking for new and exciting things to bring enjoyment and fun to all who attend.

If you fancy a ride out in a car, then the show has Sporting Bears Charity running ‘dream rides’ for a donation to the show charity. You will be taken on a 10-mile drive to experience an array of different cars and is a must do for any visitor, so make sure you book your slot on the day early as places go quickly. Visitors attending the show are directed to nearby car parks and the show runs a Park & Ride scheme as well, so look out for the signs when arriving. To help transport people across the car parks they have Trigger the Train which you can ride on for free, the kids love this experience

This year the show is being sponsored by Airsports Insurance Bureau (AiB) in Chandlers Ford and the show organizers are planning a special show to welcome people back after the recent pandemic. The show this year will feature a Movie and TV car and bike display. The show will have a wonderful ‘Back to the Future’ DeLorean, Herbie the Love Bug, James Bond’s Aston Martin DB5 and many more.

To find out more about the show visit www.concordeclassics.co.uk

 

 

911 Targa 4S Heritage Design by Porsche Exclusive Manufaktur.

In a world of headlines reserved for the powerhouse GT2, GT3, RS, Turbo and Turbo S models,how do you make that bread and butter 911 Carrera special, you call Porsche Exclusive Manufaktur. The all-new 2020 Porsche 911 (Generation 992) Targa 4S Heritage Design is the first of 4 classic-inspired special editions and announces the expansion of Porsche’s ‘bespoke tailoring’ Exclusive Manufaktur division.

 

The expansion of Porsche Exclusive Manufaktur follows on from the global success of the limited-edition 911 (Generation 991) Speedster Heritage Design, which since its launch have been trading at upwards of £300k (£200k list price). The Speedster’s Heritage Design concept provided a perfect testbed for how the design features would work on Porsche fans and customers. Porsche are planning 4 special editions from Exclusive Manufaktur over the course of the 992-generation 911’s lifetime. These will appear on different 911 variants and celebrating different designs from the 911’s history, blending modern 911 technology with design elements of the past.

 

The 992 Targa was the perfect model with its retro Targa styling to be the first Heritage Design production model. It is launched with details from the 50s and 60s, with an exclusive Cherry Red paintwork, inspired by the early shades of the Classic 50’s Porsche 356. The Porsche logo is in its old font and brake callipers in black, as back in the 50sthere weren’t any red or yellow brake callipers. A major design feature is the historical white livery and lollipop number stickers on the doors, where customers can specify any numbers. The Heritage Design continues into the interior with red leather and corduroy seats, as used in the 356, along with interior and exterior parts in gold trim as they once were. A unique badge on the rear lid has been reintroduced, which were given back in the day to 356 owners who had reached 100,000km in their cars.

 

The 911 Targa 4S Heritage Design is limited to 992 global units, which is the eighth-generation 911’s internal designation. UK prices start from £136,643, with UK deliveries expected to start in the autumn. It is £26,918 more than a standard Targa 4S, with customer likely to add a sizeable number of additional cost options extras to their final specifications. It shares the same mechanical unchanged specification from the Targa 4S’s chassis and powertrain, paired with either the eight-speed PDK or seven-speed manual transmission. Deploying it’s 444bhp 3-litre twin-turbocharged flat-six engine and all-wheel-drive system to 189mph and a 0-62mph in 3.6 seconds.

 

The Porsche Exclusive Manufaktur team expect the future rollout of these bespoke models to be up to two years before the next car. Porsche Exclusive stands for passion and craftsmanship, so keeping these models exclusive is key to that strategy. The future range expected to look back at the 60s, 70s and 80s based on other 911 variants. These special editions appeal to customers who are fascinated by Porsche’s rich heritage, its classic design features and want these in modern cars. This might also inspire people who have not considered a Porsche 911 with this heritage style that brings back something cool from the past.