Salon Prive

[IanF]

Anyone going to Blenheim ? I’m there on the 31st

[Jimexpl]

How was it? You get quite a mixed crowd of enthusiasts and people you want to avoid at all costs.

I’ve displayed there a few times with two former employers and while it was good fun and a piss up we never sold anything.
The first year they had Peter Stevens and as a speaker for the evening do and people at the tables had no respect and kept talking over him which was irritating.
Not car related, but when it was at the Hurlingham the charity cricket match - Had a good time with Phil Tufnell and Jamie Theakston (drinking far too much) while they were waiting to bat.

[IanF]

I enjoyed myself immensely. My partner enjoyed it less so! She’s pointed out that between Goodwood, Royal Artillery in London and now this, we’ve done quite a few “car events”.. I told her I’d take someone else next time if she prefers and she hasn’t mentioned it since!

Anyway, as I said, I enjoyed it and liked how there were no barriers around vehicles so you could get as close as you wished.. interestingly, my mind created a barrier around certain cars to ensure I don’t touch them accidentally. However, I was all over the McMurty car, (because it looked used and abused I guess), and everywhere I went there were polite, well-informed staff willing to chat. I ignored the Rolls Royce (wacky colours aren’t my thing), Bugatti, Genesis , BBJ stands, but the rest was very good.

I had a good look around the Lambo Gallardo Tecnica, the Mc Artura and there were some interesting prototypes with silly hp. Ugliest headlights competition was won by the Nardone 928.

However, I’m now officially old as I was more interested in vintage vehicles and not the next hypercar. I especially liked how you could watch the obscure start sequences of the the pre-war cars, and there was a lovely aroma of burnt hydro-carbons to boot. The amount of info given as they drove onto the stage was fantastic for car geeks like us and hearing them drive off just proved that elec cars have a long way to go before they replace ICE cars for me. Spitfire flying overhead was the cherry on top.

250 GTO was immaculate, McLaren F1s were stunning but back in reality, the E-Type was the best looking car there imho. I worry the driving experience would let it down, but as a thing to look at , I kept coming back to it.

I’d certainly go again, it felt special driving up the avenue to park amongst some stunning machinery, is a lot smaller and more relaxed than even the MM at Goodwood and Blenheim Palace is a fantastic back drop.

I’ve some pics (not many), but they’re mostly from the Beany school of photography but I’ll try and show a couple. The fact they organised all the silver(ish) cars around a central area of the pavilions worked really well in reality but looks rubbish in my pics!

[dinny_g]

I enjoyed myself immensely. My partner enjoyed it less so! She’s pointed out that between Goodwood, Royal Artillery in London and now this, we’ve done quite a few “car events”.. I told her I’d take someone else next time if she prefers and she hasn’t mentioned it since!

I suspect you may have missed the point - I'm guessing you'll be attending Clothes Show Live, Crufts, Badminton or whatever she's into and be expected to pay. Sherpa any bags and not to complain...

Edit - although not a Horse person at all, I've always wanted to go to Badminton

[PaulJ]

I enjoyed myself immensely. My partner enjoyed it less so! She’s pointed out that between Goodwood, Royal Artillery in London and now this, we’ve done quite a few “car events”.. I told her I’d take someone else next time if she prefers and she hasn’t mentioned it since!

I suspect you may have missed the point - I'm guessing you'll be attending Clothes Show Live, Crufts, Badminton or whatever she's into and be expected to pay. Sherpa any bags and not to complain...

Edit - although not a Horse person at all, I've always wanted to go to Badminton

Forget the horse - they're expensive and fart a lot, just get a racket and shuttlecock, you'll be fine.

[IanF]

I enjoyed myself immensely. My partner enjoyed it less so! She’s pointed out that between Goodwood, Royal Artillery in London and now this, we’ve done quite a few “car events”.. I told her I’d take someone else next time if she prefers and she hasn’t mentioned it since!

I suspect you may have missed the point - I'm guessing you'll be attending Clothes Show Live, Crufts, Badminton or whatever she's into and be expected to pay. Sherpa any bags and not to complain...

Edit - although not a Horse person at all, I've always wanted to go to Badminton

Not at all, have done plenty of restaurant openings/VIP gig things aswell, just don’t see the hardship of being driven in a Ferrari to a hospitality suite with unlimited champagne, music, food all day..

Hurlingham club can be good fun.. been there a few times, there was a black tie event with cars (dammit) before Covid that made me properly lust after a Pantera. I should’ve taken the number plate “OIL #”as a warning though!

[IanF]

[IanF]

Okay.. I was pissed, the oil plate was on something else..