Following
a couple of nights in Mulhouse, France, which included visits to the
Citie du Train and Citie de l’Automobile “Schlumpf Collection”,
I travelled through Switzerland via train on what became a perfect
day weather wise (blue sky above the snow capped hills) and arrived
back to Como and took a ferry across the lake to the town of Cernobbio,
my home for the next four nights.
The
exploration of the town was to find my bearings of venue locations,
and as importantly, places to drink and eat! It was not long, following
a very nice lunch at Harvey’s Bar that I stumbled on Villa d’Este,
only a five minute walk from the town centre.
Blue
skies still prevailed at this stage, and the security guard let me
in following confirmation that I was to collect my media credentials.
The location for collection though was not clear, so I found myself
roaming the grounds of one of Italy’s great estates, during
which I spotted a gardener standing back from a garden bed of perfectly
arranged rose bushes, studying them, presumably to make sure they
were all in perfect order.
Immediately
behind the Grand Hotel was where I found the sounds of engines and
had stumbled upon the car registration area. Here I was advised that
the BMW Group Media Lounge was located in another building, so unfortunately
had to continue strolling the grounds!
A
moment though to reflect on the first car I saw at the registration
area at this point, Ralph Lauren’s stunning Bugatti T57 SC ‘Atlantic’.
No Ralph in sight, but to see, hear and wander around the most prized
automobile in the world – undoubtedly, was an experience I thought
I would never have. Before this trip I was content with looking at
my 1:18 scale model of the car at home.
In
the stroll I found myself walking past the front of the Grand Hotel
and past the area where the 49 cars would be parked on Saturday before
their inspection of the jury. I eventually found the media lounge,
but was advised that I could not pick up credentials until Friday
at 14:00 hours.
As
I hadn’t being thrown out of the venue, I chose to stay around
and continue my wander, soaking in all of the scenery I’ll most
likely not get the chance to see again for a long time.
This
is when I came across a car with the numberplate Vic1777 and thought,
I know this car. It was the Best of Show winner at the 2012 Motorclassica
in Melbourne, Australia, the Bentley Continental R. A stunningly restored
and prepared car that had just arrived via London, air-freighted in
by Gibson Freight. Unfortunately, on arrival into the UK the car was
left outside with its bonnet up and had suffered from rain water corroding
some engine parts. Some unnecessary detailing work to be done if the
car was to stand up to others in the Concorso.
This
is when, by now about 3:30pm in the afternoon that the clouds started
to roll in, following by drizzle, which was promptly followed by steady
heavy rain for over an hour. As I was in shorts and t-shirt, quickly
sought refuge under the side awning ofa trailer near the main entrance
gate. Inside the trailer I found a highly original and well prepared
BMW M1, the only one I was told that is in the colour grey.
This
is where I met a German-based Englishman, Rofer Scott who looks after
the collection of a German packaging tycoon. Before his drive down
from Frankfurt, he had spent the previous 3 days of solid preparation
of the car, which is not used as a ‘show’ car. This included
getting the 33 year old starches out of the original paintwork, which
started with an intense machine polish, followed by hours and hours
of hand polishing. The car looked brand new.
I
learnt from Roger that he is not in the car preparation business as
a professional, but is a truck driver by day and spends his spare
time on this car collection. I heard some amazing stories about McLaren
F1 road cars, deliveries to high profile people, and much more, all
of which I choose not to share in this article.
Roger
finally decided that the car was going to get wet and he would take
it out of the trailer, so as the rain continued I sought further refuge
at the security office at the main gate. Had a reat conversation here
with the Italian, who spoke little English, but did manage to teach
me quite a lot of Italian words, most of which I have not retained,
but apparently when repeated back at the time it sounded pretty good.
With
the rain easing I chose to leave and head back to the hotel to change
into some more appropriate clothes and find a bar.
Click
here to continue the read for what took place on Friday.
Historic
Racing Australia