Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este 2016: More categories added to the programme.

Munich/Cernobbio. The programme for the Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este 2016 continues to take shape. The Selecting Committee overseeing the selection of entrants for this beauty contest of historical cars and motorcycles has set out a further two categories at its final meeting of the year. This means almost all of the stations are now in place for this journey through time – to which BMW Group Classic and the Villa d’Este luxury hotel will be inviting owners and enthusiasts of two- and four-wheeled rarities under the motto “Back to the future – the journey continues”.

From 20 – 22 May 2016 historic vehicles of exceptional class and with fascinating stories to tell will compete for the favour of the high-calibre jury and the approval of the public in the northern Italian town of Cernobbio on Lake Como. Every year, the Selecting Committee for the Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este draws up a spread of categories highlighting different aspects of car-building history in this ongoing retrospective. And now another two classes of competition have been finalised for the 2016 event. The category headed “GT Man is back – The golden era of sportscar design, 1950 – 1975” will bring together exclusive representatives of the Gran Turismo genre of cars popular above all in Europe. The “Driven by excess – Cars of the Studio 54 era, 1975 – 1986” class, meanwhile, takes us back to the days when disco ruled, shining the spotlight on models defined by extravagance in both technology and design. This category is the preserve of comparatively young candidates and sees the Selecting Committee once again broadening the spectrum of cars presented at the Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este to appeal to both new entrants and fresh audiences.

All of which means eight classes of vehicle are now in place for the Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este 2016. The category “Rally cars – Heroes of the special stage, 1955 – 1985” will showcase spectacular competition cars from three decades of rally racing; “Daring to be different – Design that pushed the envelope” is the billing for examples of extremely bold, often controversial but pioneering new developments from the spheres of design and technology; and unique cars constructed for highly discerning customers – principally from the 1920s to the 1950s – by renowned manufacturers or coachbuilders are grouped together under the banner “Sur mesure et haute couture – One-offs for the connoisseur”.

Two other categories are dedicated to cars from the pre-war era that are encountered rarely yet always remain in the memory. The category “Pre-war decadence – Flights of automotive fantasy” is all about automobiles bathed in the rakish luxury of the 1920s and 1930s, while “Pre-war supercars – The fast and the flamboyant” focuses on the pursuit of the high performance and thrill of speed that were equally characteristic of this era. Elsewhere on the programme, a class entitled “Cars of the stars – From the silver screen to the studio lot” features vehicles whose story is closely associated with the history of film. On display will be models that once played a leading role in well-known movies or were owned by icons of the screen.

The ninth and last category will be announced at a later stage.