Posted on 16th August 2014
Wilton House Classic and Supercar Day 2014
Unfortunately Driving For Pleasure was not able to attend the spectacular Wilton House Classic and Supercar Day 2014, but long time Twitter follower Simon Searle @iamsimonsearle kindly offered to stand in and give a flavour of this great event.
Sunday 10 August 2014 was my first visit to the extremely popular automotive event held in the fabulous grounds of Wilton House.
The 'Classic and Supercar Day' is held every year and a variety of – both old and new – exotica can be found on display in the grounds of the house.
I arrived at the venue around 9:00am to find the weather slightly unfavourable, the skies were grey and there was some light rain. I had come prepared though with some chunky boots and an umbrella, so I was keen to get stuck in and see what stunning machinery had braved the weather.
Once inside the grounds I wasn't disappointed and it was clear that the rain had not put anyone off, there was already a good crowd of people wandering about and there were plenty of cars that caught my eye.
One of the first was a purple Lamborghini Diablo SE30 Jota which had the most obscene exhaust system I've ever heard on a road car. Things were off to a great start!
Next up was Derek Bell's Porsche 962, such an evocative machine, I must've spent a good 20 minutes soaking up all the details. As I wandered further along I spotted a Ford GT40, these are sensational looking cars and one of my personal favourites.
After the 962 there was Porsche's legendary 959 just sat on its own. It looked incredible in its stunning silver paintwork. The 959 showcased the best of Porsche's technical ability at the time. The car featured an aluminium and Kevlar body, PSK active all-wheel-drive system and it was powered by a twin-turbocharged 6-cylinder Boxer engine. The 959 was a very important car for Porsche.
Possibly my favourite car of the show was a gorgeous classic Bentley, an Embiricos Bentley to be precise. Well, an amazing recreation in any case of the one-off Embiricos. It was built using incredible craftsmanship between 2001 and 2009, and is an absolute beauty of a motor car.
More info can be found by following the link below –
http://www.classicandperformancecar.com/features/octane_features/248461/embiricos_bentley.html
**There was also a head-to-head arena which was fantastic and featured original supercars versus today's newest rivals. From an iconic Ferrari 288 GTO to a monstrous 599 GTO, a classic Lamborghini Miura to the all-new Huracán and the legendary McLaren F1 to the incredible P1.
Around midday the weather picked up, the dark rain clouds disappeared and sunshine filled the now blue skies – just in time for the Supercar parade where cars slowly drive past just inches in front of you, with the majority revving their engines to the delight of the crowd.
It's an absolutely magical event and if you haven't yet been I can highly recommend it. I'll definitely be going back next year!
Big thanks to Matt from Speedmonkey.co.uk and Catrol Edge for my tickets to the event.
