Salon Privé 2011: Wet & Wonderful

Salon Prive 2011 - wet, but wonderful

We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again: Salon Privé is one of our favourite ways to meet cars. Up there with Villa d’Este and Pebble Beach, it’s as civilised a way as you can imagine to soak up the greatest cars in the world.

The greatest cars there are laid out in the sumptuous grounds of Syon Park (new venue; worked well), with food and drink in abundance. What more could you ask? And even non-petrolheads look forward to it.

Sadly, the day was a little soggy. Well, the day we were there wasn’t a little soggy, it was a lot soggy. But the cars were there, the crowds were there and even a smattering of celebs were floating around; Rod & Pen, the Ginger Ferrarista and a few more too. But the cars were the real stars.

For the first time the UK got to see a Bugatti Veyron Super Sport – in the week the last ‘Regular’ Veyron was sold – and the first public viewing of the Lamborghini Aventador and the hard-edged Gallardo Performante.

Maserati and Maybach, BMW and Porsche, Lexus, Spyker and Tesla all made an appearance, but it was a Brit-car show.

Land Rover brought the Evoque and Jaguar tipped up with the Jaguar XKR-S and the 2012 versions of the XK and XF (and the XJ, although it’s hard to see the difference). But Eagle brought the most beautiful Jaguar – the E-Type Speedster Lightweight.

We got to see the final, final production version of the Noble M600, Aston Martin brought along the new Virage, One-77 and Vantage S (although sadly Zig and Zag were too busy in Germany to come) and Rolls Royce brought along the Electric Phantom. Oh, and the new, and still beautiful, Jenson Interceptor.

Throw in a plethora of classic and track cars and you have petrolhead heaven. Even the atrocious weather didn’t cast too big a shadow, although sunshine would have been nice (but it was bound to rain – it’s the first week of Wimbledon).

If you didn’t get to Salon Prive, you missed a treat. But we did grab a gazillion photos of as many supercars and classic cars as we could – resplendent in the rain – and put them in a gallery for your delight.

Do enjoy

(93 photos – click any thumbnail for full gallery)

By Cars UK