The Royal Automobile Club adds to its illustrious calendar of flagship motoring events with its first-ever Club Concours
Hosted at the Woodcote Park clubhouse, this brand-new event will take place on Wednesday 9 July 2025
The exclusive curated display is set to feature some of the finest and most desirable cars in the world – in seven concours categories, alongside many unique motoring features and displays
The concours judging panel will consist of some of the most influential people in the industry
The Royal Automobile Club, the country’s oldest motoring organisation, is delighted to announce its inaugural Club Concours. The brand-new event will take place on Wednesday 9 July 2025 and forms an exciting addition to an already illustrious calendar of more than 60 annual motoring events hosted by the Club, including the RM Sotheby’s London to Brighton Veteran Car Run.
Its exclusive Woodcote Park estate and clubhouse will throw open its doors for the first time to welcome Club members, guests and selected car clubs for a glorious celebration of exquisite cars, a line-up of industry interviews, live music and fine dining.
The curated Club Concours will feature over 50 of the world’s finest cars, spanning more than 100 years of motoring history. The distinctive categories include cars under the groupings of Grand Tourers, Riviera, Coachbuilder’s Art, Limousines and the Mille Miglia, with a further category for pioneering London to Brighton veteran cars, and another celebrating 50 years of the Honda Gold Wing motorcycle.
The independent panel of expert concours judges will consist of celebrities and some of the most influential people in the industry, with trophies to be awarded for Category Winners, People’s Choice and the prestigious Best in Show.
Complementing the Concours will be various outstanding features gracing all corners of the Club’s 350-acre estate, lawns and terraces, with one of the Club’s exceptional golf courses providing a scenic backdrop to the day’s proceedings.
Guests at this glorious ‘garden party’ for historic cars are invited to enjoy displays celebrating 75 years of Formula 1 and BRM and 120 years of the Royal Automobile Club’s Tourist Trophy. There will be a display celebrating 100 years of the Rolls-Royce Phantom, and another for 125 years since the Club’s ground-breaking 1000-Mile Trial took place.
Ensuring an exquisite display of the world’s finest automobiles, both the central Club Concours and the accompanying special anniversary showcases will all feature cars cherished by discerning Royal Automobile Club members as well as invited guest entries from further afield.
In addition, Club members will also be bringing their own cars to create a spectacular Member’s Paddock presenting 200 motoring treasures, while the special Members’ Supercar Paddock will be bursting with the latest and most exciting high-performance two-seaters from around the world.
For those who want to add to their collection, there will be the opportunity to peruse the latest offerings from some of the industry’s most respected dealers and manufacturers, many of whom are Club members. The day will be complemented by a series of retail lodges, offering the very best luxury goods.
Duncan Wiltshire, Chairman of the Royal Automobile Club, said: “The Club has a distinguished history of organising some of the finest motoring events, including the RM Sotheby’s London to Brighton Veteran Car Run – the longest-running motoring event in the world. It therefore gives us great pleasure to announce that we’re adding the Club Concours to our stellar line-up.”
“The Club prides itself on an enthusiastic motoring membership, many of whom have some of the world’s most magnificent and enviable car collections. For our Club members this is an opportunity to experience the Club at its very best and showcase their collections amongst fellow members and invited motoring enthusiasts.”
The Woodcote Park clubhouse and estate is a spectacular venue and will provide a rare opportunity for visitors to experience the exclusive life of a Club member. The event is set to give its guests the chance to see rare classics and historic racing cars up close, as well as meeting personalities, owners and like-minded individuals, whilst savouring the Club’s ambience and impeccable fine dining at its signature restaurants.
Concours Categories
Our concours d’elegance is a competitive celebration of the finest automobiles in fascinating and contrasting classes, with an additional section exclusively for motorcycles. Our specially-invited expert judges will select winners in each category, and a Best in Show pinnacle – and everyone will together choose a People’s Choice.
Grand Tourers There and Back
Travelling fast, there and back, across huge continents in style and comfort is what defines a Grand Touring or GT car – exclusivity, power and a faint hint at danger that demands the very best in driving skills. Packing all that into a single car has been a challenge since the 1930s, and became a bygone pleasure once motorways criss-crossed the western world. So our class covers the great GT cars from the late 1930s to the early 1960s.
Riviera Great Rays of Sunshine
The playground of the rich, for cars, means open-top cruising to see and be seen, with a keynote being automotive beauty you can drink in like rays of golden sunshine. But there’s a lighter element too on those lazy days somewhere between Nice and Monte Carlo.
Mille Miglia 1000 Miles on the Clock
The greatest race on public roads the world has ever known, 1000 miles long, the original for 50 years from 1927 to ’57, and the revival from 1977 onwards. This is for genuine cars that have tackled the whole course across the two eras, and we expect every car on display to have a few tales to tell, expressed through its appearance, provenance, and perhaps the odd genuine battle scar.
Coachbuilder’s Art Handmade Perfection
This class is for impressive one-off cars from the 1920s to the 1950s, all sharing a crucial similarity: the gleaming coachwork was painstakingly crafted and finished – by hand – for individuals. A separate chassis is a must, therefore, and the coachbuilt body will be a wonderful expression of the artisan’s work.
Limousines The ‘Being Driven’ Big Beasts
Home James! Well, in this case home will be Woodcote with a stretch as we celebrate the luxury limo in impressive style. We could hope to have everything from a Beatle’s Mercedes 600 to a French president’s Citroen SM landaulet. These cars are big – extremely big – sumptuous and impressive, and just perfect for any red carpet arrival.
Brighton RM Sotheby’s London to Brighton Veteran Cars
For 128 years the world’s veteran cars have converged each November for the annual pilgrimage from the capital to the coast. This class will celebrate the very best of them in, just for a change, a wonderful summer setting, but they’ll all be in working order and rude health. Revel in the very beginnings of motoring in all its glory: these cars are older than the Woodcote Park clubhouse itself!
Motorcycles Terrific Two-Wheelers
Honda’s Gold Wing is a landmark motorcycle that’s set the technical pace ever since it was first revealed. This is a major retrospective of a classic performance machine which tracks the development of the 1000cc-plus touring motorcycle over the last five decades. The six different generations promise to make a fascinating line-up.
Features
The Concours will transform the Royal Automobile Club’s breathtaking Woodcote Park estate into a unique motoring festival for a few precious hours. Alongside the event itself we’re planning a number of very special displays that our visitors can experience absolutely nowhere else, all building into a truly memorable and entertaining day.
75 years of Formula 1
The 1950 British Grand Prix at Silverstone was the first in the season that began the Drivers’ World Championship, so this year sees a celebration of this sacred and sensational start. We have a clutch of significant cars on show that attest to the importance of the Championship, and indeed Britain’s massive, and continued, contribution to the sport.
125 years of 1000-Mile Trial
Getting there – and back – was a very big deal for the car world of 1900, which is why the Royal Automobile Club organised its north-south strength and reliability test. Here you will meet some of the actual pioneer cars that dared to take part, and others very similar to those that tested their mettle over 1000 demanding miles.
120 years of the Tourist Trophy
This fabulous trophy, with its sculptural representation of the Greek god Hermes, has been in the gift of the Royal Automobile Club since 1905 and, like the racing maestros it has rewarded, has been round the track a few times. The Tourist Trophy is the oldest motoring trophy in the world, and its most continuously awarded; here we salute its place in motorsport with a line-up of winners representing its tremendous span through history, from chain-drive to hybrid power.
75 years of British Motoring
The year 1950 was a stellar one for the British motor industry. The Jaguar MKVII and Aston Martin DB2 whetted everyone’s appetite, Rover entered the jet-car age, BRM designed an incredible V16-powered F1 car, and Autosport magazine was published for the first time. Relive that epic year right here.
75 years of BRM
In an era long before McLaren, Williams, Tyrrell and Cosworth came to dominate, plucky British Racing Motors did so much to give the nation a Formula 1 hero car. It brought GP wins for Jackie Stewart and the 1962 World Championship for Graham Hill. Here you can see, and hear, some of the incredible machines that took on the world and won.
100 years of Phantom
Through its many evolutions, the Rolls-Royce Phantom has been a pinnacle of automotive excellence, beloved of royalty and rock stars, and setting the luxury benchmark with distinctive grace like no other car. We have gathered together the eight generations of Phantom for a retrospective that’s perfect for the elegance of Woodcote Park itself.
More event details will be unveiled in the coming weeks!
