Ray's Gigs

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Saturday 03 September 2022

Wed 31 Aug to Sun 04 Sept - SALON PRIVE presents Concours d’Elégance at Blenheim Palace. Blenheim Palace is in the glorious countryside location of Woodstock, Oxfordshire. Celebrating 17 consecutive years of the Concours d’Elégance in 2022, Salon Privé offers an experience for entrants that is truly second-to-none. Gathered on the South Lawn will be the finest collection of classic automobiles available in the UK. Honouring the Past, Celebrating the Future. Welcoming more than 100 stunning cars across carefully curated classes, the Salon Privé Concours d’Elégance presented by Aviva has something for all. Treasured relics from the Edwardian era will return to Britain’s Greatest Palace, joined by some of the rarest and most valuable grand tourers, classic sports racers, era-defining icons and racing legends, alongside the world’s most jaw-dropping supercars and concepts from the present and future. An opportunity to witness manufacturers World, European and UK debuts. Plus, see the Salon Privé Concours d’Elégance featuring more than 100 cars. The Platinum Collection – a specially curated display of cars from the past 70 years, brought together for the first time in honour of The Queen’s Jubilee. Don’t miss the Prodrive Legends feature that will celebrate the British company with a line-up of rally cars, racing cars such as the Ferrari 550 GTS and Aston Martin Vantage GT4, and the new Prodrive Hunter – the world’s first all-terrain hypercar. As a Concours, the reputation of Salon Privé precedes it, with no other event in the UK rivalling the sensational venue, hospitality, brands on display and show-stopping array of classic cars. Wednesday to Saturday are tickets with hospitality only days which includes lunch, afternoon tea and all day champagne......Sunday is general admission to the public. This stunning venue is on the outskirts of Oxford...Lots of car parking space. Trains to Oxford then a 30 mins bus ride or taxi. www.salonpriveconcours.com - Visit their website here, for information on what is happening each day and to buy tickets. ------------------ Wednesday 31 August 2022...press day....11.30am to 5.30pm... A lovely sunny day at this stunning historic 11,500 acre palace and grounds where SIR WINSTON CHURCHILL was born in 1874. Maybe around 1000 smartly dressed guests here including JAMIE BLANDFORD , the current Duke of Marlborough whose home Blenheim Palace is. Also here was F1 racing car driver Lewis Hamiltons dad ANTHONY HAMILTON. The cars were gleaming and looked fantastic parked up, before the parade at 2.30pm. They all purred along really great, when started up. How do they keep those old classic cars in such good condition?...they look pretty amazing. All the iconic brands are here including Aston Martin,Alfa Romeo, Bentley, Bristol, Bugatti, Chrysler, Jaguar,Jensen, Ferrari, Lamborghini, Mercedes-Benz, Maserati, Morgan, McLaren, Porcsche, Rolls-Royce and many more. Pommery champers was flowing all afternoon, along with spirits & mixers, wines and beers. Noon - Lunch was was salmon & roast chicken with sides, along with desserts. 2.30pm - parade of cars for the judges for an hour or so. 4pm - English afternoon tea, with finger sandwiches, pastries and coffee/tea. An excellent day out, and i will go back to this stunning event and location in a couple of days. --------------------------------------- Friday 02 September 2022....Ladies Day...11am to 5.30pm... I went back again to SALON PRIVE at Blenheim Palace. Each day is slightly different. Today is Ladies Day , so there are many more females here today , compared to Wednesday. At 11am for an hour i catch the Official Concours Parade. The compère and the driver do a great job of describing the history of the car. There are some very rare beautiful cars here, some are worth over a million pounds. Some collectors have several rare cars. Jay from Jamiroquai has one of his cars on show here. We see JAMIE BLANDFORD and a nice surprise to see ANDREW RIDGELEY here. We get some photos of them both which will be on my Facebook page soon. At 2.30pm we had the Supercars Parade. We have a go on the car simulators, and visit the Indian motorbikes stand. At 3.30pm was the Best of Show Ceremony. A Navy Blue with white hood 1956 Ferrari GT250 by Zagato won the Best of Show. Later on was Boodles Best Hat competition. Again the Pommery champers flowed freely throughout the day, along with he same food as Wed. Another excellent day out in the countryside to see these stunning cars. Dates have been confirmed for SALON PRIVE 2023 shows....see you there. 20 April - 22 April 2023 Salon Prive London at The Royal Hospital, Chelsea. 30 August - 03 September 2023 Salon Prive at Blenheim Palace.