Scene-stealing Lamborghini Miura and McLaren F1 crowned Best of Show at Salon Privé 2026

Salon Privé has broken with tradition and crowned two Best of Show winners, with a 1969 Lamborghini Miura P400 S taking the Concours d’Elégance title and a 1995 McLaren F1 supercar becoming the first winner of the new Concours d’Excellence.

Held at Blenheim Palace, Salon Privé is one of the UK’s leading gatherings for collector cars, bringing together historic classics, coachbuilt machinery and modern supercars. This year’s concours featured 70 cars across 12 classes, spanning almost a century of automotive history.

The Concours d’Elégance recognises the great classics that have traditionally formed the centrepiece of the event, while the new Concours d’Excellence has been created for contemporary performance cars and the limited-edition supercar and hypercar classes.

Salon Privé has established itself as one of the UK’s leading gatherings for significant collector cars…

Crowning Concours champions

The 1969 Lamborghini Miura P400 S, owned by Amir Ravan and the RLC Collection, claimed the Concours d’Elégance after competing in The Italian Job – 60 Years of the Lamborghini Miura. The Miura remains one of the defining designs of the 1960s, with its mid-engined layout, low-slung proportions and Marcello Gandini styling.

Ravan said: “For me, the Miura represents a genuine turning point in automotive history. The engineering, the proportions and Gandini’s extraordinary design came together to create something that still feels remarkably special nearly sixty years later.

“As a collector, you become very conscious that you’re really a custodian of these cars, and a great deal of thought and care has gone into ensuring this example was presented as it should be. True credit goes to Tom Hartley Junior and his team for their meticulous attention to detail with restoring this car over four years. To have my Miura recognised with Best of Show at Salon Privé, among cars of the highest calibre is enormously rewarding and a real privilege. It is an honour to share this reward with Tom.”

The second Best of Show went to a car from a very different era. Terry Bramall’s 1995 McLaren F1 was named the inaugural Concours d’Excellence winner after competing in Poster Cars – Icons from Our Youth, a class dedicated to early supercars.

The F1, designed by Gordon Murray, has long been regarded as one of the most significant road-going performance cars of its generation. Its three-seat layout, naturally aspirated V12 and meticulous engineering helped establish it as one of the defining collector cars of the modern era.

Bramall said: “I am so thrilled and overwhelmed to have won the inaugural Salon Privé Concours d’Excellence at such a prestigious event. The F1 is such a fabulous car and a testimony to its designer Gordon Murray and its restorers Lanzante.”

Making supercar history at Blenheim Palace

Andrew Bagley, co-founder and Chairman of Salon Privé, said: “The standard of cars on the competition field this year has been incredible, and I think our two winners demonstrate just how much the collector car world has evolved.

“Introducing the Concours d’Excellence Award was a big step for us this year. The great classics will always be at the heart of the Salon Privé Concours, but there’s no question that modern supercars and hypercars are now hugely important to collectors too, and they deserve to be recognised in their own right.

“We’ve had some staggering motors come through the gates at Blenheim Palace this week, and the quality across all classes was outstanding. The Miura is one of the great automotive designs – a car whose presence and proportions remain as captivating today as they were when it was first unveiled. A tremendous amount of care has gone into preserving and presenting this example, and that was ultimately recognised with the highest honour by the judges here at Salon Privé.”

The Miura’s runner-up was Billy Hibbs’ Maserati 3500GT Spyder Prototipo by Vignale, while Gregor Piech’s Porsche 918 Coupé Sonderwunsch was named runner-up in the Concours d’Excellence.

Other major awards included the Chairman’s Award, which went to Jane Dyke’s Porsche Pre-A Speedster by Reutter. The Most Exceptional Coachwork award went to Bill and Nichole Lyon’s Duesenberg SJ Speedster by Gurney Nutting.

The field included some of the most significant names in motoring, among them an Armstrong-Siddeley Special Six, Maserati 8C 3000, Alfa Romeo Sprint Berlinetta, an early Porsche 356 Split Window Coupé, Aston Martin DB3S, Bizzarrini 5300GT, Ferrari 250 GT Series 1 Cabriolet and Bugatti EB110 Prototype.

The modern contingent included the Aston Martin Valiant Prototype and Bugatti Bolide, one of only 40 produced worldwide. The 2025 Rimac Nevera Time Attack also made history as the first fully electric car to compete in the 21-year-old Salon Privé Concours, while Lamborghini’s Sián FKP 37 Prototype 1 added another landmark modern hypercar to the field.

Salon Privé will return in 2027. Dates to be announced.