2016 Las Vegas Red Rock Concours D’Elegance
This past weekend’s 2nd annual Las Vegas Red Rock Concours D’Elegance provided automotive enthusiasts an awesome escape from their indoor summer retreats. With sunny skies and temperatures in the 80’s, this awesome car show served as a perfect excuse to spend the day outside!
The show was held at the beautiful Red Rock Country Club right on the 18th fairway of the golf course. Proceeds from the show went toward the charity Operation Homefront which offers help to military families struggling to cope with all of life’s challenges including financial assistance, transportation, groceries, home and auto repairs. The Porsche Club of Las Vegas and Gaudin Porsche were two of the sponsors of the show. This setting was the perfect backdrop for an amazing display of automotive excellence with a variety of cars in attendance unlike any other car shows I have ever attended. Approximately 100 vehicles entered the show, there was something to offer for just about everyone’s taste.
Although the show was billed as a concours style show, it resembled more closely popular vote style car shows which more people would be familiar with. A concours show in the strictest sense has cars judged to the standard of how the car appeared and operated as it left the factory brand new. I believe as this show grows over time and more people and cars attend, it will resemble a true concours format. Every attendee received a ballot to vote for their favorite cars and they selected “Best of Show” and “People’s Choice” awards. Some of the cars were judged by a panel of staff judges and the “Top Ten of Show” awards were handed out to the winning cars by total judged points. Cars were judged on appearance, workmanship, originality/authenticity, and functionality. I happened to witness the proud female owner of the beautiful red Auburn Boattail (shown below) demonstrate to the judges that it’s Lycoming straight 8 cylinder engine would in fact start and idle on demand. She later told me the Auburn Boattail gets driven regularly. Knowing that, I wish I would have gotten a ride as it was my favorite car at the show, a remarkable piece of automotive history!
There were more than a few late model exotics on display to wet the appetite of fans of these modern forms of eye candy. These vehicles were mostly display only and not to be judged. No Koenigsegg’s or Bugati’s this year, but I’m optimistic for next year’s show!
Spectator’s enjoyed everything from a 1935 Auburn Boattail to a 2017 Lamborgini Aventador,
or a 1929 Bentley Lemans to a customized DeTomaso Pantera.
If those didn’t peak your interest, there was the unusual 1966 Tatra (built in Czechoslovakia) complete with its original rear mount air cooled 2.5 liter Hemi engine!
Attendees of the show also were graced with the presence of automotive legend Peter Brock. He was there with two of his personal BRE/Superformance “Brock Coupe’s” and his BRE Aerovault Car Hauler, an innovative lightweight aerodynamic enclosed car trailer that promises to cut tow vehicle fuel costs dramatically. The Brock Coupes are the only Shelby authorized Cobra Daytona Coupe replica’s available. They are modernized street versions of the 6 original purpose built race cars from 1964. For those unfamiliar with Peter Brock he designed the body of the original Corvette Stingray. This was a prototype, the XP87 racer and it several years later inspired the final design of the classic 63 Corvette Split-Window Coupe. After leaving General Motors he went to work for Carroll Shelby. At Shelby American Peter Brock was put in charge of making a Cobra that could keep up with Ferrari 250 GTO’s on the Mulsanne Straight during the world renowned 24 hours of Lemans race. Modifying the original 289 Cobra body to incorporate a fastback roof proved successful as it beat the Ferrari’s winning Ford and Shelby the FIA GT World Championship in 1965, the first in history for an American builder and car company.
Only in it’s second year, I think the Red Rock Concours D’Elegance is something Las Vegan’s and automotive aficionado’s can all say is off to an awesome start and look forward to many more great events in the coming years! See more of the show vehicles below:
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