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Auto Italia
magazine rounded out another successful year of growth with
a bumper turnout of cars for their season finale event, the
Autumn Italian Car Day, which as has become the
tradition, took place in the grounds of the Heritage Motor
Centre in Warwickshire.
With both the Lancia Motor
Club UK and Lamborghini Club UK choosing to hold their
prestigious annual concours events at the Autumn Italian
Car Day last month, it was always likely to be a great
day for Italian car enthusiasts. And they were not to be
disappointed.
The occasion was given an
extra special tint as this year has seen the Lancia brand
celebrating its 100th anniversary, with the Lancia Motor
Club combining their AGM with the special concours at Gaydon
as a result. Selecting the winners from the massive two
hundred-plus choice of pristine Lancia models available for
judging was always going to be a daunting task, but Ian
Halley’s superb Flaminia was a worthy overall winner. The
rare Integrale-based Hyena also attracted much interest. For
Lamborghini, Stephen Keen’s 400GT was the overall winner. But it wasn’t the only ultra-rare Lamborghini on show; one Jarama had in fact come all the way from Italy for the
event. Alfas and Fiats were thick on the ground too,
including Martyn Smith’s fabulous right-hand drive Fiat
1100D – a car that must surely be unique in the UK. And
there was excellent representation from Iso, De Tomaso,
Innocenti, and even an ultra-scarce Autobianchi Bianchina.
More visitors than ever
before took up the opportunity to take their cars on to the
Premier Automotive Group’s test track (a circuit that’s
usually out-of-bounds for members of the public), while many
visitors also chose to browse the museum and visit the
restaurant facilities.
Autumn Italian Car Day
thus wrapped up another very successful year of events for
Auto Italia, a programme which saw a brand-new date
at the Santa Pod Raceway joining the now-traditional
gatherings at Brooklands (spring) and Stanford Hall
(summer). “The Autumn Italian Car Day was a perfect
way to wrap up an excellent year,” comments Auto Italia
Editor Phil Ward. “The turnout was amazing, it turned out
to be one of the biggest gatherings of Lancias ever seen in
the UK, and the standard on show was terrific. I would like
to thank everyone who joined us this year and I look forward
to seeing everyone – and hopefully many new faces – in 2007
when our programme is really set to go from strength to
strength.”
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