OCTANE AND EVO PADDOCK

The London Concours is supported by our friends at Octane and evo magazines, two of the world’s leading monthly automotive titles. They share a dedication to the finest photography and the best writers, but take a subtly different approach in their subject matter. Octane is a celebration of the top-end world of classic cars, while evo is dedicated to the world of performance, both on the road and on the track. Here, in the Octane and evo Paddock, is a curation of cars hand-picked by the magazines’ editors.

Star of the Octane display is the Hispano-Suiza J12 Vanvooren Cabriolet. In the 1930s Hispano-Suiza decided to create the ultimate V12 engine for the ultimate luxury car. That model is the J12; less than 130 were built in total, and this Vanvooren Cabriolet is believed to be just one of eight open-top examples. As with many cars of the era, Hispano-Suiza simply sold the customer the engine and chassis, and the vehicle would be bodied elsewhere – the chassis alone would have cost the same as around 130 Renaults. But what a chassis it was, incorporating a 9.4-litre V12 famed for its refinement.

Crowning the evo display is an ex-Colin McRae Subaru Impreza WRC. Mention the rallying Imprezas nowadays and the name McRae will, quite rightly, pop up before long. The cars, in their Subaru Blue Mica paintwork with yellow livery, were dominant in rallying throughout the 1990s and ’00s, and some of McRae’s drives live on today as among the finest ever seen. The Impreza is, quite simply, an icon of motor sport.

MICHAEL FURMAN