Historic Motoring Awards
The Sydney Harbour Concours d’Elegance did not win the Concours Event of the Year at the Historic Motoring Awards in London, but being a finalist and a runner up to The Quail – A Motorsports Gathering was a pretty good achievement none the less. If you want to be part of one of the top Concours events world wide, a limited number of tickets for 4th and 5th March 2022 are available by following this link https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/2022-axa-sydney-harbour-concours-delegance-tickets-171687952287
Glamour at the Historic Motoring Awards and the Aston Bulldog
The Image Business
Before I did what I do now and worked in a ‘real’ job, I was the Vice President, Asia Pacific for Getty Images and prior to that the International Director of Marketing for Allsport Photographic. I was very pleased to receive and read a newly published book by my old boss Steve Powell, entitled The Image Business, get the picture, tell the story.
It really is a very interesting read about the business and how images arrive on your web page or your daily newspaper and a thousand other ways in which we view images each and every minute of our lives in the screen age in which we live. It is well worth the read and I am glad to say I get a couple of mentions in it too!
Going for Gold!
It gives me great pleasure to announce that my event, the Sydney Harbour Concours d’Elegance has been selected as a finalist in the Concours Event of the Year category at The Historic Motoring Awards 2021. We are in exalted company as the four others on the shortlist are the Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance, the Concours of Elegance at Hampton Court, The Quail, A Motorsports Gathering, and Salon Privé held at Blenheim Palace. Wow! It is going to be tough to beat those heavy hitters that is for sure. All will be revealed however on the evening of Thursday 18th November at the celebratory dinner at The Rosewood Hotel in London. Thank you to everyone who helped us get this far. Fingers crossed!
Better Late Than Never
Good Afternoon Drivers and Passengers!
Lockdown/stay at home restrictions have lifted in Sydney at last and it is time to get this show on the road (literally!). The new official date of The Sydney Distinguished Gentleman’s Drive, will now be Sunday, November 14th, 2021. This means drivers and passengers have just a few weeks to get into gear, prepare their outfits, raise some funds and join in for what will be the start of something extremely special.
Of over 100 cities that have already ‘driven’ and the goal of fundraising has been set by Adelaide who had their event on the original date of 26th September. Adelaide raised $28,500.00 and now wear the DGD crown. Sydney is currently on $8000.00. Sydney is the birthplace of The Distinguished Gentleman’s Ride and Drive, the organisers would be lying if they didn’t say they wanted it to be the world’s highest fundraising drive. All funds are raised for charity partner Movember and are tax-deductible.
Learn more and how to make a donation here https://www.gentlemansdrive.com/sponsor
Auction Yearbook
The latest, and 26th, issue of the Classic Car Auction Yearbook is almost ready. This fantastic, and for me essential, reference book by Adolfo Orsi and Raffaele Gazzi will soon be with us. I am taking advance orders now, so if you would like to order a copy please send me an email at james@marinamarini.com.au
The 26th edition of the Classic Car Auction Yearbook covers the most important auctions from 1st September 2020 to 31st August 2021: 5.407 cars of 334 different makes, illustrated by 834 color and b/w photos. Each car is listed with year, model, bodybuilder, chassis number, estimate, hammer price in GB£, US$ and €, sale date and place, lot number and auction house, and a short description; furthermore, it reports the results in US$ achieved by the same car if offered at auction in the last 27 years. Considered by many “the Bible in the field”, the Yearbook contains the market analysis by the representatives of the most important auction houses, the authors comment with graphs and statistics of the last 28 auction seasons, the most coveted marques, countries and periods, total auction sales turnover, percentage of cars sold, average price achieved by some iconic models and, at the end, the Top 5 cars and the overall Top 20 since the 1993/1994 season. An absolute must for every professional, collector and enthusiast.
Internationale St. Moritzer Automobilwoche
The international St Moritz automobile week is underway as I write and I am somewhat disappointed in not being allowed to travel from Australia to take part, especially as I am an international ambassador for one of the integral events, the Bernina Gran Turismo.
It was not until the mid-1920s that motor vehicles were allowed on the roads of the Engadine. The potential benefit of the motor car for tourism though was immediately obvious and so the first International St. Moritz Automobile Week was launched in 1929. It was financed by appropriate donations from the local tourist industry of the time, which benefitted from the fact that the automobile could be used to attract completely new target groups.
The automobile week consisted of a rally, the kilometer race, a skill race, a beauty competition and finally the Bernina race. The new edition of this hillclimb race, the Bernina Gran Turismo, has, since 2015, earned a position among the world’s best motoring events and is now rightly considered one of the most beautiful in the historic racing calendar.
The International St. Moritz Automobile Weeks of 1929 and 1930 were each opened by the so-called Kilometer Race on the Shell Road. The dead-straight section of road between Samedan and Punt Muragl was the first asphalted road in the Engadine and the venue for this spectacular race, in which the only thing that mattered was the maximum speed that could be achieved. The new edition of the “International St. Moritz Automobile Week” will also be heralded with a sprint race, the “Kilomètre Lancé – Alpine 1000”, but on the runway of Engadin Airport, which has been specially closed for this purpose.
The Automotive Film Festival St. Moritz is offering cinematic delicacies from past decades that fit the theme, for the first time this year with films from the car and motorcycle genres.
The historic “beauty contest” would be a Concours d’Elegance today – but the new “Motorsport Rendezvous” is rather a relaxed car garden party with the park in front of the Kempinski Grand Hotel des Bains providing a worthy setting. Embedded between the Motorsport Rendezvous and the Bernina Gran Turismo, an auction by RM Sotheby’s will also take place on the grounds of the Kempinski Grand Hotel des Bains.
The new International St. Moritz Automobile Week will be crowned by the Bernina Race, the Bernina Gran Turismo. The technical vehicle scrutineering will take place in front of the Kempinski Grand Hotel des Bains, offering the opportunity to observe the racing vehicles up close before the Automobile Week literally reaches its climax on the magnificent race track, the Bernina Pass road between La Rösa and the top of the pass. Check out its 50+ curves in this link from last year https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fHfF_os9Zs&t=87s and look out for more from me from this year’s event soon…
Father’s Day – the News
Please read on, and eventually you will come to a bit about me. It takes six columns but it is worth the read.
Politics
I do not delve into the murky world of politics or current affairs too often, but herewith a recent piece by me from a week or two ago in the Australian edition of The Spectator, the oldest weekly magazine first published in 1828 and over 10,000 issues…Make of it what you will.
The Playlist (Lockdown Blues)
Well it feels like spring is almost upon us here in Australia but the crazy politics and politicians have the country in lockdown. This is week eight for Sydney and it is starting to wear a bit thin to find ourselves some two years behind the rest of the world. So in order to keep myself sane and to share a little love and sunshine, herewith my Marina Marini play list of the music I am listening to at the moment. I hope you enjoy it: and once we can go out and enjoy events and life once again, normal service will be resumed.
Chicago Auto Show
Herewith some early images from the Chicago Auto Show which caught my fancy…..I thought fire trucks and little Corvettes were supposed to be red!
