The ICE
Driven from the frozen St. Moritz lake by massive snowfall, The ICE spontaneously held its concours in the nearby parking garage. And while we missed the winter action, the sight of the fantastic cars lined up for the jurors certainly saved our weekend. Oh, and the spontaneously invented, inaugural ‘Down-Top’ bobsleigh and classic car run was equally fantastic. We cannot wait for the next edition of The ICE – whatever it may bring.
Bugatti Type 35 100th Anniversary Tour
If things don’t work out as planned, our photo reporter Rémi Dargegen can be a grumpy fellow. But after driving all across France with 49 classic racecars during the 100th anniversary tour of the Bugatti Type 35, he simply couldn’t stop smiling.
Como Car Week
With anniversary classes for Maserati and Rolls-Royce, as well as a line-up of quirky one-offs and video-generation supercars, the Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este once again defended its title as the quintessential collector car event of the year. Meanwhile, British racing cars were celebrated at FuoriConcorso while vintage Alfa Romeo racing boats made waves all across Lake Como. To close an amazing weekend, we enjoyed a private gathering with Officine Fioravanti and joined the first test drive of the AGTZ Twin-Tail.
Le Mans 24 Hours
They say through hardship comes strength – and after a gruelling 24-hour-race filled with blistering pace, huge accidents and constant on-track drama, BMW may be the strongest team in the world right now. Classic Driver journalist Elliot Newton joined the maiden race of the 20th BMW Art Car – an experience he won’t forget anytime soon.
Aurora Concours
In early July, Båstad in Sweden welcomed dozens of hypercars and pristine classics for the first edition of The Aurora Concours that turned a Swedish dream mansion into hypercar heaven. Classic Driver supported the new must-attend concours as the official media partner while our front man J.P. Rathgen hosted the event as the official master of ceremony. Together with our Scandinavian friends we’re already working on the next edition, so stay tuned!
Goodwood Festival of Speed
It has now been 31 years since the very first Festival of Speed, and the Goodwood Estate knows just how to bring together the world’s best personalities and machinery from the automotive world. Classic Driver supported Audi Tradition in the unveiling of the recently recreated Auto Union Type 52 – the fastest car they never built, until now –, and saw plenty of tyre smoke along the way!
Concours of Elegance Germany
In July, the charming Gut Kaltenbrunn at Lake Tegernsee in Bavaria welcomed over 200 of the finest collector cars on the planet for the first-ever Concours of Elegance Germany, and it certainly didn’t disappoint! Classic Driver supported the new landmark event behind the scenes while our J.P. Rathgen proudly served as the event’s Honorary Concours Director.
Luftgekühlt
With three international editions this year, the Luftgekühlt event series is turning into a global franchise for Porsche lovers. Together with our friends from Rennmeister – a tribute project we have helped create with our creative agency CD Works – we brought a fleet of orange racing cars to the inaugural Luftgekühlt events in the Polish city of Wrocław as well as in Copenhagen, Denmark and celebrated Porsche culture with our buddy Magnus Walker.
Monterey Car Week
Monterey Car Week is always a highlight of the season. And this year, we had the pleasure to support our friends from Touring Superleggera on the launch of their all-new Veloce 12 at the Quail and during an early-morning drive on 17-Mile-Drive. Meanwhile at the Pebble Beach Concours of Elegance, we marvelled at the greatest concept cars of the wedge age united on the lawn and applauded Fritz Burkard for winning the Best of Show trophy with his remarkable Bugatti Type 59.
Tutto Bene
“Slow Down to Go Fast” was the motto of the first Tutto Bene hillclimb, a new private racing event masterminded by our pals from the Milanese design studio BorromeoDeSilva and Californian creative agency Race Service. In true Classic Driver fashion, we showed up in a half-a-million-euro Series II Rolls-Royce Cullinan and an ex-Jägermeister Racing Alfa Romeo 155 DTM racer representing Rennmeister.
Marks & Cars
The automotive world lost a legend this year when the influential car designer Marcello Gandini passed away in March at age 85. In September, Marks and Classic Driver celebrated the late design master Marcello Gandini and his impact on wedge design at the second Marks & Cars event in Munich.
Curvistan Bangkok
Everything, everywhere, all at once: with Curvistan Bangkok, creative mastermind Stefan Bogner and Thai entrepreneur Chanond Ruangkritya take their vision of an alternative Porsche universe to the next level. We joined our friends for an unforgettable opening weekend of "The Porsche Design Manifesto", an exhibition co-curated by our Creative Director Jan Baedeker.
Concurso de Elegancia Costa del Sol
In late September, hypercars, restomods and unicorn classics assembled in Marbella for the Concurso de Elegancia Costa del Sol. Of course it was an event Classic Driver could not miss.
Pirate Radio Rennmeister
Rave on Thursday, Race on Sunday: In early November, Rennmeister, Duke of London and Classic Driver took London’s contemporary car scene on a trip back in time to the 1990s – the golden age of pumping beats, warehouse raves, pirate radio stations and full-on DTM races. So apologies if we did not return to the editorial office until Monday.
The Blueprint
Closing an exciting year, Pininfarina and Classic Driver paid tribute to the Ferrari Testarossa on its 40th anniversary at our capsule event “The Blueprint”. Together with design master Leonardo Fioravanti, we traced back the iconic car’s evolution during a period-correct design review full of surprises.
