Le Mans and Concours d'Elegance - do they go together?
05/27/2012
At this year's Concorso d'Eleganza Villa d'Este, the organizers also set up a "Heroes of Le Mans" vehicle category. In other words, racing cars were judged on their beauty. Of course, you might ask yourself whether this makes sense. After all, racing cars are not designed for aesthetics, but for efficiency and speed.
However, design elements were invented time and again in racing car construction, often out of necessity (e.g. aerodynamics), which later found their way into special bodies and production vehicles. Examples of this include shuttered headlights, gullwing doors and designs such as the Barchetta.
Well, six vehicles representing 13 years of racing history were on display in Cernobbio: Jaguar D-Type (1956), Aston Martin DBR1 (1959), Ferrari 250 GTO (1962), Ferrari 250 LM (1964), Ford GT 40 Mk 3 (1968) and Porsche 917K (1969). Each of these cars also impresses the aesthete, even if the Porsche in particular can of course never compete with the almost supernatural beauty of the Ferrari 250 GTO and LM models, it is too much designed for top speed and racing efficiency. In any case, people were not at all bothered by the loud and aggressive racing companions. And the Porsche 917 also won a prize for being kept so close to its original condition.
Of course, we are on site and will soon be writing a comprehensive report with lots of pictures (of all 50 or so participating vehicles) on the Concorso d'Eleganza Villa d'Este 2012.
