Despite a severe weather warning in the days leading up to this year’s Supercar Showdown and early rain on the morning of the event, over 5,500 visitors arrived at Beaulieu on Sunday, 23rd August, for this popular high-octane event.
Supercar Showdown is now in its fifth year and continues to go from strength to strength, with over 350 top class vehicles on display, covering the full spectrum of Supercar marques including Ferrari, Lamborghini, Aston Martin, Porsche, Jaguar and McLaren.
A special feature for this year was a display of High End Motoring which gathered together some of the most remarkable cars from the last one hundred years of motoring. Examples spanning most years of production from 1915 to 2014 formed a time-line, charting how performance and luxury motoring has developed during the last century. There were vehicles from every decade from the 1910s included a 1928 Packard 645 Dietrich, 1935 Aston Martin Le Mans Mkii, 1966 Jaguar E-Type Series 1, 1972 Lamborghini Miura SV, 1991 Ferrari 348 and the latest 2015 BMWi8.
Beaulieu’s Events Co-ordinator, Andy Ollerenshaw said: “We were delighted both with the number of supercars attending the event this year, up 150 on last year, but also the quality of the vehicles. The cream of the supercar genre was on show, including the coveted Bugatti Veyron and Ferrari F40. The Demonstration Run also greatly adding to the enjoyment and excitement of the day for visitors and drivers alike.”
Twice during the day, a selection of the prestigious supercars was powered up to take part in the Run through the Beaulieu parkland. As the supercars opened up their engines at full throttle, they gave the watching audience a tantalising glimpse of what their powerful engines are really capable of.
Supporting the event were contingents from Porsche Club GB, Aston Martin Owners’ Club, HR Owen Lamborghini and Nissan Westover. Jardine Motors brought along a selection of showroom vehicles from their McLaren, Lamborghini, Aston Martin and Bentley dealerships and invited a number of their clients to join the event in their own vehicles. A super-vehicle of a different style, the Ford Supervan was also on display, courtesy of Ford Heritage.
One particularly eye-catching motor was the new Radical RXC 500 Twin Turbo Eco-Boost – the first, and only, road registered Radical RXC 500 in the UK. Developing 540bhp weighing less than 950kg, it is the quickest road legal car, having recently proven quicker than the Porsche 918 around a well-known UK track. It will be taken to Nurburgring when speed limits are lifted, to achieve the quickest time for any road legal car on road tyres. UK manufactured to do battle with the giants!
During the day there was an opportunity for visitors to meet and chat with the owners of the impressive line-up of supercars and choose their favourite car of the day in the People’s Choice Awards.
Top prize went to a stunning Lamborghini Huracán in an eye-catching Limited Edition colour, Verde Mantis. Owner, Martin Brown from Alton, only took delivery of the car five weeks earlier, replacing his previous Lamborghini, a Murcielago. His every day vehicle is a Ford Transit! He was presented with his winner’s trophy and pack of Autoglym products by Beaulieu’s Managing Director, Russell Bowman.
A worthy runnier up was Bob Jeer with his 6 cylinder, 4 Litre TVR Sagris in Cascade Indigo, one of the last off the production line at Blackpool. The other runner up was a supercharged Dodge Hellcat with a top speed of 200mph, which its owner, Steve Forster imported from the USA just three weeks previously. They both received packs of Autoglym products.
Warm afternoon sunshine, a stunning array of vehicles and an informative commentary by event presenter Kevin Harris, all contributed to the enjoyment of this year’s ‘Showdown’, which was declared by many to be the best yet.
The provisional date for Supercar Showdown 2016 is 21st August.
