This Sunday we had our first visit to Chantilly Art & Elegance 2022, the open-air Concours event of Peter Auto. They are responsible for the best classic car series in the world, so our expectations were quite high. Peter Auto’s open-air events in Chantilly debuted in 2014 and rose to fame with their elegance and stylish flair.
As in previous years, the event was hosted at the Château de Chantilly, which is one of the finest jewels in the crown of France’s cultural heritage. In its hay day, it was home to Henri d’Orléans, who was the son of Louis-Philippe, the last King of France. The site now functions as a museum, providing a perfect venue for the Concours, as its elegant garden park offered a stylish setting. But most importantly these days, it allowed a fairly COVID- resilient programme.
The pandemic changed the car event landscape for good, and by now, the dust seems to settle seeing the permanent cancellation of some indoor events and the rise of more open-air programmes. Chantilly is a fairly recent event but the organisers relied on the vast experience for lining up major exhibitors and participants.
Many high-end brands were present with pavilions and some of their finest products. They brought rarities and concepts paired with predecessors and milestone classics. Some smaller manufacturers were punching above their weight, even compared to their usual presence at the Paris Car Show.
Bugatti brought a dozen cars from their vault, while Lotus presented its Eletre SUV. DS came with the Intense Concept that stole the hearts of many in 2016 (including the jury of Chantilly) and which they use now to test electric drivetrains. But their presence was not limited to exhibits, as they also came with a tent showcasing their complete 2022 offering.
We were actually wondering, what presence these companies would have at the Paris Car Show in October, after so much firecrackers were used up…
There were also thematic exhibitions like the one dedicated to the British Racing Motors that alone could take a prime spot at any cars shows.
The best part of the event was still the Concours with several dedicated topics, like sections dedicated to pre-war and post-war cars tailor-made by Touring Superleggera.
There were two categories for Le Mans cars, and impressive line-ups were dedicated to specific brands or models, like pre-war Hispano Suiza mastodons or leigh-weight Alpine race cars.
The winners were to compete for one of the three grand categories. The Concours d’Élégance saw the most recent concept cars come face to face, charmingly escorted by models from the leading fashion houses.
The Concours d’état was the traditional classic car competition, bringing together some of the most elite cars in the world in a two-stage showdown. First, a contender was chosen in each class and then, from among these winners, the cars for Best of Show were chosen: one pre-war, one post-war and the special prize awarded by the jury. We will come back to the winners in a later post.
The last discipline was the Grand Prix of car Clubs awarded between the car clubs gathering in the backyard of the Chateau. According to the rules of the game, the club members strive to achieve the most elegant possible presentation, including the choice of their cars and the picnic they offer.
In the coming weeks, we will provide more details about our impressions of the event, including the highlights and winners. In the end, our trip was more than worth it, choosing a winner for the car event of the year just got a bit harder…
