The people, businesses, cars, clubs, books, events and museums that help keep the classic car movement thriving are set to be honoured in the eighth annual Historic Motoring Awards at a ceremony and gala dinner at the Sheraton Grand Hotel London Park Lane on Thursday 25th October, an event hosted by sports presenter and TV broadcaster, Steve Rider.
The organisers received hundreds of nominations from experts and enthusiasts across the globe before whittling them down to shortlists for 18 categories. The finalists will now progress to the last stage of the judging process, in which a select committee of specialists and personalities from the motoring world will pick the winners in all the categories bar one. The exception is the CAR OF THE YEAR, which will be decided by a public vote – closing date for voting is 25th September, and you can cast your vote online at www.historicmotoringawards.co.uk.
You will have to choose from the following six cars: Lamborghini Marzal, ‘Jabbeke’ Triumph TR, Aston Martin DB4GT Works Continuation, Bullitt Mustang, Porsche 911 RSR Turbo and the ‘lost’ Land Rover. The Jabbeke TR2 (which is the car that Ken Richardson drove in May 1953 to a world speed record for a production car with a 2-litre engine at 124.889mph and which has recently been restored by Glenn Hewitt and his team at Protek Engineering) is also one of four cars shortlisted for RESTORATION OF THE YEAR. Its rivals there are the Aston Martin Project Vantage, Lancia Flaminia Sport Zagato 3C, Lamborghini Miura (Lamborghini Polo Storico) and McLaren F1 GTR Long Tail (McLaren Special Operations).
Those names will give you an idea of the kind of high end car favoured by the judges.
However, we were delighted to see that one of the nominations for the MOTORING EVENT OF THE YEAR was The Festival of the Unexceptional, an event which celebrates the more workaday end of our motoring heritage. It will, though, face stiff opposition from Concours of Elegance, InterClassics Maastricht, Classic Nostalgia at Shelsley Walsh and Retro Classics Stuttgart.
