Tenth anniversary
Ten years ago, Peter Auto and Richard Mille staged the first international Concours d'Elegance in France in over a decade. Dubbed the Chantilly Arts & Elegance Richard Mille, the now biennial event was hosted for the seventh time this year in the gardens of the fabulous Château de Chantilly. Located a mere 30 km north of Paris, the French castle not only has a lavish garden, it also boasts a superb art collection and the town of Chantilly is also well worth a visit. During the Chantilly Arts & Elegance, the focus is on cars both old and new. In the good tradition of the period events of this type, the Concours d'Elegance was held for current limited production hypercars and one-off show cars. The classic cars on the main field were entered in a Concours d'Etat, which literally translates to a competition of the condition. A 'Best of Show' was awarded to both a Pre- and Post-War car. In addition to the main field, a vast part of the ground was reserved for enthusiast clubs from which cars are entered in a separate competition. On the Saturday before the main event, participants were also offered the opportunity to complete a 100 km tour through the countryside.
Our photographers were on hand throughout the weekend and their work is compiled in a 150-shot gallery.

Anniversary celebrations
One corner of the field was reserved for Bugatti with the new Tourbillon taking centre stage. In the same corner was a class for the Bugatti Type 35, celebrating the type's 100 anniversary and also as an homage to the great Bugatti enthusiast Peter Mullin, who had sadly passed away last year. Five fascinating examples were shown, which included an early naturally aspirated model, shown by the nephew of the original owner and a beautifully preserved, supercharged Type 35 C that had originally been raced in the Targa Florio.
Another anniversary celebrated was the 50th anniversary of the Lamborghini Countach entering production. The wedge-shaped supercar still looks outlandish today and one can only imagine what it must have looked like for motorists during the 1970s. The full spectrum of the Countach line-up was represented from early, relatively sober LP400 right through to the wild 25th Anniversary version that featured a lavish body-kit designed by none other than Horacio Pagani.

Carlo Chiti Tribute
One of the driving forces behind some of Italy's most successful competition cars of the 1960s and 1970s was engineer Carlo Chiti. He originally worked for Ferrari where he helped develop the dominant sports racers and Grand Prix cars of the early 1960s and then left to create Autodelta, which would become the official competition department of Alfa Romeo. He was born 100 years ago this year, which was reason enough to honour Chiti with a special class. Star of the class was the second Ferrari 250 GTO built, which was driven over the road from London. This trip included crossing the Channel on the Eurotunnel train. Naturally, the class also featured a selection of Alfa Romeos including a highly original GTAm and three distinct Tipo 33 sports racers. After Alfa Romeo curtailed its competition efforts, Chiti offered his services to a variety of companies, including the Monaco-based MCA. He contributed to the development of the Centenaire supercar of the early 1990s. Only a handful were built and two of these very rare machines were shown side-by-side at Chantilly.

Only original once
A welcome trend of the last years is the increased focus on preserving history by keeping cars as original as possible. A car is only original once and sometimes a restoration can do more harm than good. In keeping with this trend, the 2024 Chantilly Arts & Elegance featured two preservation classes; for Pre- and Post-War cars. In the former, our eye was particularly caught by a pair of Bugattis. Especially the Type 44 entered had fabulous patina. That it has survived in such original condition was not a given considering that its Labourdette Faux Cabriolet body partly consisted of fabric. It had benefitted from a mechanical restoration and worked flawlessly during the 100 km tour on Saturday. In the post-War category one of the stand-out cars was an Alfa Romeo Giulietta SZ with 'Coda Tonda' style bodywork. It had been in single ownership in Switzerland for decades and while specialists were aware of the car, it had not been seen for many years. Some fresh fluids were all that was needed to get the engine going again once it emerged from its Swiss hide-out for the first time. Top honours in the class, nevertheless, went to a Citroën SM that had seen extensive use by its first owner but was fastidiously maintained. The Maserati-engined machine was shown at Chantilly by what was only its second owner.

Best of Show
A key part of the event was a class-by-class parade of the cars around the large fountain during the day. At that time, the class winners were announced from which the Best of Show was picked at the end of the day. The ceremony started with by awarding a lovely Talbot Lago T120 Baby Sport as the best car presented by the enthusiast clubs. It was then time for the main event, which saw the Lancia Pu+Ra HPE take top honours. Launched in 2023, this Stratos-inspired show car heralded the return of Lancia. The Pre-War Concours d'Etat was awarded to the beautifully preserved Bugatti Type 35C that had served as a works entry in the 1928 Targa Florio. Interestingly, it was the second time in a month that a preserved Bugatti won Best of Show in a major event. Coincidentally both cars were previously part of the same collection. The final award of the day was for a one-off Talbot Lago T26 GS Antem Coupe that had just been sympathetically restored by its Czech owner. It had been built to custom order for French industrialist Michel-Paul Cavallier who served on the Talbot Lago board at the time. As such, it combines a lightweight body with a competition specification engine. Among the many remarkable features are the front fenders that can fold forward for easy access to the 4.5-litre straight-six engine.

Final thoughts
On Sunday, close to 30,000 spectators visited the Château de Chantilly to get a closer look at the 100 classic road and racing, 10 concept cars and 900 cars brought by the 40 enthusiast clubs. Further highlights included a special display of 1960s and 1970s McLaren racing cars and a demonstration with horses in between the parades. The exquisitely preserved Bugatti Type 35C and meticulously restored Talbot Lago T26 GS, the seventh biennial Chantilly Arts & Elegance had two very well deserved winners. In our 150-shot gallery we have the entire field covered with some additional highlights from the Tour on Saturday.