Every year, for those enthusiasts who love to compete in summer concours d’elegance, there is a difficult question to answer: going on holiday or exhibiting your pride and joy in some of the most glamorous locations in the world? It is a tough choice indeed and many gentlemen drivers cannot decide where to enjoy the most beautiful time of the year.
But now, it seems that there’s a solution to this dilemma: the Poltu Quatu Classic Concours d’Elegance, held in Sardinia. 2018 marks the 3rd edition of this event and it represents perhaps the best compromise between the pleasure of preparing your classic car for an exhibition and properly enjoying summer holidays. 3 days of elegance where participants have the opportunity to fully enjoy the unique atmosphere of Costa Smeralda, staying at Poltu Quatu’s Grand Hotel and having fun driving along some of the best roads of all of Italy.
This year, the 30 attending cars have been divided into 5 different classes, all paying homage to the spirit of the “Dolce Vita”: as a matter of fact, each category was named after a classic movie. Of course, the great collectors were present and they brought some of their finest machinery with them: for example, the Alfa Romeo Giulietta Spider Prototipo by Bertone of the Lopresto Collection, the Maserati 3500 Spider Vignale of Silvia Nicolis and the Ferrari 166MM of Mario Casella.
The parterre also included some ultra-rare cars like the Fiat 1500 Sport Elaborata Stanguellini of Gianni Morandi, the Fiat 1500 by Touring Superleggera and true one-offs like the Alfa Romeo 6C 2500 by De Mola of Daniel Donovan, who drove it to Poltu Quatu all the way from London. Other than this, a beautiful Giallo Modena Ferrari Dino 246 GT was present to celebrate 50 years of this iconic “mini GT”. Giorgetto Giugiaro and his son Fabrizio were also present as guests of honour and designed the Best of Show prize, which was assigned to the ex Nuvolari Alfa Romeo 6C 1750 Zagato.
Aside from admiring the attending cars, the participants could also spend some quality time enjoying the sun of the Costa Smeralda thanks to the ospitality of wine-makers Cantine Surrau and the Phi Beach (where the Concours has stopped during its tour of elegance) as well as exhilarating experiences onboard the Chaudron offshore powerboat, driven by 5 times world champion Aaron Chantar.
Concours d’Elegance are always challenging, as much as holiday’s preparation: however, if your destination is Sardinia, the trouble is always worth it.
Words & Photos: Jacopo Villa for The Outlierman © 2018
