Concours D'Elegance 2019
On Sunday the 15th of September, Fagan Park, which is located about 45 minutes north-west of the Sydney CBD, was once again host to the Club’s Concours D’Elegance. 2016 was my most recent year of attendance and that was unfortunately raining for most of the event, this years event however couldn’t have been more the opposite, the sun was out and so were all the passionate Porsche lovers of New South Wales. Even individuals from overseas were in attendance, including; Sam Movizio, a special guest and highly qualified judge from Pebble Beach, California.
The day every year starts off nice and early in order to get all the competitors’ cars inside the park in a timely fashion, also enabling the competition to enjoy a sunrise drive to the event in their pride and joy. Once inside the cars get organised into their categories for the day, which comprises of various Wash & Polish groups including one for modified vehicles and of course the Open class Concours. As well as the specific category awards their are also awards that can be given to anyone of the Porsche’s competing on the day, those awards are; the People’s Choice, Spirit of Porsche and the Brian Reed Trophy Concours Outright.
Once the cars were all parked up on the grass around the pond of Fagan Park and the glorious sounds of flat-six engines had started to fade out, it meant it was time for me to start my first lap of walking around and appreciating the automotive art that is Porsche. It is worth mentioning that there is seriously little more one can desire than the sound of a flat-six engine roaring early in the morning.
To begin with the Open Class Concourse cars were among some of what I was most fascinated in. In this class you really do see examples that look as if they just rolled off the showroom floor, however this isn’t the case, some of the cars are over 30 years old with the kilometres on the clock to match and all original, while others have had every nut and bolt replaced in what is an amazing restoration job. Whether original or restored there is an appreciation for the time and effort that has gone into both, but to have a car that looks like a restored vehicle but is all original is just hard to get one’s head around, that takes decades or miraculous care and attention to detail to achieve, and this was on full display with this years Open Class winning 1989 944 S2 - a true representation of a time capsule from the 1980s.
Further down the path was a very impressive lot of Wash & Polish entries from all years of Porsche, a nice mix of both standard and tastefully modified. From a custom built 1 of 1 1964 911 Spyder and 1967 911R to a brand new 2019 991.2 GT3 Touring and a 2016 911R and of course everything rare and sort after in-between such as; a 924 Carrera GT, a couple of 993 Carrera RS’, an ultra rare 993 Turbo S to name a few, and of course my personal favourite a 981 Cayman GT4 looking sharp in Guards Red with racing decals and all alcantara interior.
The Cayman for me has always been about the essence of handling, it is the benchmark with its superb mid-engine layout and excellent taught chassis. The GT4 of course being the top trim for the Cayman lineup came with an amazing sounding and powerful naturally aspirated 3.8 litre flat-6 engine derived from the 991 Carrera S, it is a car I hope one day I am privileged enough to own myself.
It goes without saying, when looking at Porsche’s of the past compared to those of the present (including the brand new 2020 992 911 Carrera S on display) that not a lot visually has changed over the 70 years of the company, its easy to tell that the original 356’s have had much inspiration over the present styling of 911’s, Cayman’s and Boxster’s, the mentality of; if its not broke, don’t fix it. Porsche too is the only manufacture to achieve such a feat of consistency in the automotive world and that was on full display at this years Concours D’Elegance.
Almost coming full circle towards the end were some Outlaw inspired 911’s and 356’s which looked the part, I’m sure Magnus Walker would approve. Just next to the Outlaws’ could be found some race setup Porsche’s, with a few boasting a nice grey and green livery, one of which undoubtably stood out from the rest; a very impressive 906 (or Carrera 6) replica which had a roof line lower than my hip and weighs in at under 600 kilograms!
Before the winners for the day were to be announced, the 906 replica was moved out into the open and fired up, it wasn’t long before it had an audience, filming on phones and listening in awe of every rev the car produced from its pure racing derived flat-6 engine, it was indeed glorious. After such an unexpected but pleasant surprise for all in attendance, It was time for everyone to head over to the stand where the awards were to be handed out to the top three of each category (see list of award recipients on next page). A huge congratulations to all who participated on the day, your cars are true representations of top tier automotive quality and the event wouldn’t be what it is today without you.
The Club holds events all year round for all the different variety of automotive enthusiasts, but this day is for those who love to showcase and appreciate other’s and their own pride and joy, a day where those in attendance car see the rarest, most original and completely immaculate examples of almost every Porsche model ever produced.
The atmosphere of such an event is an incomparable one since the Porsche family is so unique in its passion and love for everything Porsche that it just cannot be experienced anywhere else.
Without the diehard fans and owners of the brand combined with the dedicated volunteers making sure everything runs smoothly and sponsors holding stalls, a day like this just couldn’t happen, so a big thank you to firstly the Concours Director Laurence Hodges and secondly to all the others that helped to put such a spectacle together for all of us Porsche aficionados to enjoy this year.
