Newport Concours

Anyone attend any of the events in Newport this week. Was curious to hear some opinions.

 

My observations. Attended the cars & coffee Saturday and splurged on a fancy ticket to the Concours Sunday. Not bad for a first time event. The cars were good but not over the top. Audrain needs to work on better communications, signage, and coordination with the city to iron out transportation issues for attendees and the people just visiting. The date they chose coincided with Salve Regina's parents weekend and three cruise ships. A little confusing for a bunch of folks. I understand they had people from Goodwood there who might have been helping out or will chime in with suggestions for improvement.

 

I was there for Saturday and Sunday. Missed you Sam! But the place was a nuthouse though. Couldn't agree more that better signage and communications is needed. Too many events spread out over a bit too much distance. They should have at least had pamphlets indicating which events/displays were happening and where. I have to disagree with you about not being over the top. There was everything from really old super rare Bugatti's to the new Chiron, cars from pre-WWI up to the Koenigsegg Jesko. 1 off cars and cars that you've never heard of. The theme was cars that were extremely rare and unique and I think they nailed it with cars brought in from all over the country. I thought it was an outstanding array of cars overall.

 

How about that beautiful, black Lanz Bulldog 'tractor/car'? Very cool. Single 110 lb piston apparently.

Found this. Don't like rest of vid, but.... (jump to 0:45)

 

Consensus was for the first time out they exceeded expectations, but since I was only at the Concours event on Sunday and couldn't make other events...

a.) the tent shouldn't have been blocking the breakers, took away from the beautiful and majesty of the building.
b.) too many "cars and coffee" quality cars mixed in with some really nice examples. They need to work with more of the higher end car collectors and up the level of competition. They shouldn't settle for being a larger version of the Boston Cup.

With that said, Newport is a perfect location for them to turn this into a potential Monterey of the East. I just wish they could get out of the early October time frame, though that will be tough.

 

Were those "cars and coffee" quality cars part of their '30 Under 30' class? .... 'designed for hobbyists under thirty years of age who have not spent more than $30,000 on their project.'

https://www.audrainconcours.com/participants/30-under-30

 

No BJK - referring to other cars outside of those. As for the idea of the '30 under 30' I wish they expanded on the concept and made it a bigger part of the show / in fact I hate the idea of locking it to just vehicles under $30k or under 30 year olds for that matter. When you look at the demographics that were there, you're pretty much eliminating 30-50 year olds who make up such a huge part of the car culture.

Though I will say this, a few people including myself, argued as to whether or not one or both 2002s should have been considered cars under $30k in value.

 

Kenny,

I did not reach the Breakers until after 2 due to the transportation maze. Parked at Easton's Beach and it took over an hour from there to the mansion. In hindsight I probably could have walked faster or found a spot to park nearby as the traffic was not as bad as I feared. Arrived at the end of the awards, went to the tent for lunch and visit with some friends before viewing the cars. By the time I came out a number of the cars were gone. Still, a fun couple of days. Next year should be much better and I will arrive/eat earlier