Salon Privé, the most exclusive of British motoring events, took place at Blenheim Palace basked in the last of England’s summer sun. As well as traditional aristocratic history, the UNESCO World Heritage Site also hosted vehicular heritage for three days with icons of the motoring world in attendance.
Legendary manufacturers such as Roll’s Royce, Aston Martin, Lotus, Ferrari, McLaren, Jaguar, Bentley, Bugatti, and more all had a presence as well as smaller design houses such as Touring Superleggera and Morgan, both of whom unveiled their latest creations.
At an event where standing out from the crowd is the norm, the appearances from historically significant racecars still were noteworthy. The first production Jaguar D-type joined the Le Mans-winning Ferrari 166MM. For something a little more recent, an Ayrton Senna-inspired livery honored the McLaren F1 GTR and its 24-hour achievements.
For a show steeped in such history, there were glimpses of the future too. A fair amount of new models of car enjoyed various debuts in the grounds of Blenheim Palace. Many of them hybrid or fully electric as the supercar world pioneers new technologies. Lotus presented their Evija, which will be the first fully-electric British hypercar. Japan’s equivalent, the Aspark Owl, also held its first European outing. Ferrari’s SF90 and Koenigsegg’s new Gemera were also proudly shown to the few visitors.
Our presence at Salon Privé 2020 was lighter than we wanted due to the COVID situation. Hopefully, by next year’s event, all that will be a distant memory and we’ll be able to cover every day of the event in full.
