One for the Diary: Chelsea Auto Legends
By Dan Cross | PUBLISHED August 17, 2010
Anyone who has bought a motorsport-related magazine recently may have noticed that there’s something lurking inside of it.
No, not one of those wretched scratch card things that cost you a small fortune in phone calls to discover you’ve won a biro, but a pamphlet advertising the inaugural Chelsea Auto Legends event in… Chelsea. Who’d have thought, eh?
Usually, I would bin such things without a moment’s hesitation, but the Gulf-liveried Porsche 917 on the front caught my attention and on further reading, the event looks like something old school racing fans should definitely be making plans for.
Held on Sunday 5th September in the grounds of the Royal Hospital Chelsea, it features some of the most illustrious sportscars that have ever participated in the Le Mans 24 Hours race. Forty iconic cars that have taken part in the French classic, ranging from 1920s Bentleys to modern day high-tech prototypes, will be on display. Enough to get most sportscar fans salivating, but just in case it doesn’t…
Chelsea Auto Legends will also be celebrating the 40th anniversary of Porsche’s first win in the legendary endurance event, as well as focusing on the Le Mans movie starring Steve McQueen, the ‘King of Cool’, which just so happens to have been filmed 40 years ago as well. The seminal flick will be shown on a big-screen, with several of the drivers involved in the production of the movie in attendance and sharing their memories.
There’s a whole host of other things going on during the day, including a large entourage of expensive supercars on display for us paupers to gawp at (courtesy of the PistonHeads mob), but for me, the Le Mans 24 Hours centrepiece is enough to see me part with my cash.
There is of course more information to be gathered on the Chelsea Auto Legends website, so pop along and see just what’s on offer. Let’s hope it delivers on everything it promises – it certainly looks as though it will.
One to make a note of in the diary, I would have thought…
2 Comments
Martin Lampkin on August 20, 2010 at 7:47 pm.
Well written and well observed thank you foir drawing are attention to this. Actually I have seen this well promoted everywhere, and so it should be. We all like cars with only a throttle cable between the right foot and a few hundred horsepower. These are the cars that were raced when men went to the moon and pushing boundaries was more important the aircon and risk assessments. The cars have aged well but I think we should remember that the drivers of these Fire-breathing dinosaurs are getting older and we should salute them while we can. Much the same as the Chelsea Pensioners.
John Parkins on August 20, 2010 at 8:02 pm.
Yeh this looks good, amazing line up (have you seen the website chelseaautolegends.com?) cracking venue and good cause too. Best of all I can get the kids in free – bring it on!