Pebble Beach 2012 report

PH gatecrashes the billionaires' party and explores the delights of Pebble Beach

Imagine a hybrid of the Goodwood Festival of Speed and the Revival, then enlarge it by a scale of 10. That might give you some impression as to just how big the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance really is. What began in 1950 as a gathering of well-to-do enthusiasts has morphed into an automotive event of truly epic proportions. Like most things in the US, it comes supersized with a Big Gulp on the side.

Bugatti Veyrons: common as muck

If you're up for the full fat experience, the action begins on the Friday with 'The Quail'. This is where manufacturers and individuals compete to show off their wealth/taste/ostentation. Tickets cost $450 each and are strictly limited - rumour has it that some were changing hands on Ebay for up to $2,000. The clientele is absurdly wealthy: the man from Gulfstream jets who was showing off its new, Mach 0.9 creation, reckoned that 80 per cent of people at Quail had access to a private jet. His new toy costs $64.5m and is sold out until 2017.

That's only marginally more than one wealthy individual has paid for his McLaren X1. Apparently, the 'friend of Ron Dennis' wanted a supercar "he could turn up to the opera in." Three years later, his bespoke creation debuted at Quail. It's based on the MP14-12C but has been completely re-bodied. Even the headlights are bespoke and cost several hundred grand to produce and homologate.

McLaren X1: a supercar for the opera

The X1 made the Lamborghini Sesto Elemento look like a bargain at a mere $2.2M. 20 will be made and it can't be driven on the road, which probably won't please the Quail goers. For them, exclusivity is everything so one can only imagine what the Bugatti Veyron owners felt like when they turned up to find five others in attendance.

Ferrari, Pagani and Koenigsegg were also there, but the real stars were the classics. A plethora of Shelby Cobras paid homage to the recently passed Carroll Shelby, a pair of Ford GT40s nestled together in the California sun, near an exquisite Aston Martin DB4 Zagato.

While the posers sup Champagne, the racers head to the Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion at Laguna Seca. Here you could take your pick of any significant sportscar since the concept was invented. Texan David Duthu was racing a Talbot Lago, a Jaguar XK120 racer and a Jomar MkII, which is based on the fourth chassis that TVR ever built. "I also have a Bugatti Type 35," he said nonchalantly, "but I didn't bring it here."

Handwritten note by Mr Shelby in 250 GT

The racing was gentlemanly enough, but not without incident. There was a communal shriek of horror as a Shelby Daytona coupe hit the barriers. The front right corner was destroyed and the driver hobbled away. The pain from his leg probably means little next to the pain of stuffing a $10m motorcar.

All these events though, are really only a prelude to the headline Concours d'Elegance. The hardy get up early for the so-called 'dawn patrol', witnessing the cars arrive from about 5:30am onwards. This year there were 220 invited cars and all duly lined up on the 18th fairway at the Pebble Beach golf club, regular home of the US Open.

Their combined value was in excess of £1bn and success is all about presentation. Aged billionaires could be seen removing sand from tyre treads with toothbrushes, while special cloths lifted dust from dashboards. It's all about the car as an art form. No Ferrari ever left Maranello looking this good.

Bizarre Maharaja 'Swan car'

Highlights were hard to pick. Everywhere you looked there was the automotive equivalent of Michelangelo's David. A 1956 Fiat 8V Zagato Berlinetta Coupe looked beautifully elegant in yellow, as did a 1957 Ferrari 500 TRC. In the same year Ferrari also produced the 250 GT LWB Scaglietti Berlinetta. It boasts a huge fuel tank in the boot with a hand written note from Carroll Shelby, reading, "Mr Ferrari told me this was the best Ferrari he ever built." Looking at it on the fairway, it was hard to disagree.

It wasn't just Italian exotica though. A special display of the cars of the Maharaja included a 1910 Brook2 25/30 HP Swan Car. This features a 'beak' that sprays steam to clear the road ahead and a rear valve that sprays whitewash over unfortunate peasants for 'added realism.'

Every car is scrutinised by an army of blazer-clad judges who analyse everything from the carbs to the carpet. Eventually they named a 1928 Mercedes-Benz 680S Saoutchik Torpedo as the 'best of show', no doubt adding another '0' to its value.

It would be easy to dismiss the Concours d'Elegance as horribly vulgar were it not for the sheer enthusiasm of those involved. Those in attendance were genuine car geeks. Pebble Beach is all about bobble hatters; it just so happens that most of them are billionaires.

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