The 19th Cartier Style et Luxe competiton was held at last weekend’s Goodwood Festival of Speed.
Having been taking place at nearly every festival, the competition is firmly established as part of the Goodwood weekend. Cars (Plus occasionally other vehicles) are entered in a number of classes, sometimes with an overall theme. Entries come from companies, museums and private individuals.
The cars are displayed on the lawn next to the Goodwood house stables and are judged by various people from the automotive and style worlds, many of them celebrities. Last year was a bitof a departure from the other events as to celebrate the diamond jubilee it was dedicated to vehicles used by Queen Elisabeth II.
This year the event was celebrating twenty years of Goodwood and so there were seven classes that had appeared over during past festivals. Plus an additional class adding to the 50th anniversary celebrations of the Porsche 911.
Usually a concours places great importance on the condition of competing cars but this competition is different in that the cars condition isn’t important. Instead the cars are judged on the basis of style and beauty. There are no specific rules over exactly what should win and the judges personal opinion plays a big part. This should mean that every car has an equal chance of winning. There is a prize for each class and then a single car is judged to be best in show.
The competiton this year was particularly tough as it was almost a best of the best event. After much deliberation the winner of best in show was judged to be the Lancia Aurelia B24S spider owned and entered by JD Classics. The Class winners were as follows;
Age of Elegance – 1929 Bugatti Type 41 Royale
Streamlined Sophistication – 1938 Phantom Corsair
Coupé de Grace – 1955 Ferrari 250 GT Special
60s Sensations – Aston Martin DB4 GT Jet
Al Fresco – 1957 Jaguar XKSS
Super Models – 1997 McLaren F1
Show Stoppers – Bertone Lancia Sibilo
911 Nirvana – 1963 Porsche 901 By Marc Waller
