Ladies sparkle on Salon Privé Boodles day

Although the sun wasn't shining as much as it was last year, Boodles Ladies day at London's premier motoring event Salon Privé, provided glitz and glamour and some stunning sights and sounds set in the beautiful surroundings of Syon Park. This event likened by some to Pebble Beach features fabulous classics as well as modern exotica, and includes some cars being seen for the first time in public as well as this year a great evening auction hosted by Silverstone Auctions.

Highlights of Salon Privé, are undoubtedly the Concours d'Elégance held on day one and the British Supercar Show on the closing day, plus the constant supply of excellent Pommery Champagne and the delicious Lobster lunch.

Some of the other highlights of the show included, the Lamborghini 5-95 Zagato, based on the Gallardo LP570-4 celebrating 95 years of Zagato coachbuilding and unveiled on Thursday and used to great effect in the Boodles Ladies parade, the car featured a dramatic angular styling and some fabulous design features with matt paint finish.

The aluminium Mini Superleggera Vision electric roadster also made its UK debut at Salon Privé after wowing at the Villa d'Este concours in Italy. I was given a guided tour by head of design, Louis de Fabribeckers who was clearly besotted by the Superleggera, as was I, and there is little doubt that it would be a big hit if it ever went into production. The Union Jack rear lights a particularly unique feature.

Near the entrance and adjoining the Lamborghinis 2014's hypercar line-up included JK's stunning green LaFerrari, a Pagani Huayra, Ruf Clubsport CTR3. Koenigsegg's, Agera R and of course a Bugatti Veyron, whilst elsewhere a McLaren P1 sat beside another LaFerrari, a stunning pair of cars.

The latest Arash was also unveiled by the Suffolk company, the Carbon fibre and aluminium honeycomb chassis of the AF-8 cloaked in a stunning bodywork, and sporting a 7.0 litre 560hp motor which tops 200mph and hits 60 in 3.5 seconds

The Morgan SP1 proved to be a bit of a Marmite car, with its bespoke interior featuring some stunning polished wood. Powered by the 3.7-litre Ford V6, the SP1 bodywork is certainly different. Reaction on Twitter was very mixed.

Another launch at Salon Privé was the Overfinch's take on the Range Rover, this a long wheelbase version with what was undoubtedly one of the most ostentatious interiors on show, a clever electric boot floor saving all the backache of reaching those hard to get items at the back of the boot.

Themes for the Concours d'Elegance this year included, 60 years of Jaguar D-type, 100 years of Maserati and 50 years of the Ferrari 275, all of which were present in some numbers.

The Ferrari owners club were also once again well represented with a stunning Zagato bodied car one of my favourites, in amongst a great selection of owners cars.

The concours d'Elégance parade as always drew the biggest crowds, Peter Neumark's 1954 Jaguar D-Type deservedly winning Best of show, with 'Fit for a King' award going to Graham Dacre's impressive 1970 Mercedes-Benz 600 Pullman-Landaulet. Class L Salon Privé Design Award for 'Concepts & Prototypes ' I'm pleased to say going to The MINI Superleggera™ Vision

But Boodle's ladies day has to be about the Ladies, and the stunning award to the best dressed lady, picked on the day, this year as always produced some stunning entries, and some impressive hats, some only just fitting into the cars on the parade lap. Michael Wainwright presenting this year's winner with a beautiful diamond necklace.

The Inaugural Syon Park sale held by Silverstone Auctions raised nearly £10m, including £130K for the original Range Rover. Both the F40 and F50 remained unsold , as did the Miura P400 and the lovely Elan Sprint DHC, but the overall sales rate was 61 per cent. The beautiful Ferrari Daytona Spider from the Stradale group of cars just exceeded its estimate at £2.27m while the 250 GT Pininfarina S2 sold way above predictions at £707,250.

Once again, a brilliantly organised and run event, and one which presents those of us that love motoring and cars both current and classic, to get up close and personal with some of the coolest metal on the planet, all in a stunning setting. If you haven't experienced Salon Privé yet, then you are missing something special, it gets better and better year by year, make a diary note to keep check www.salonprivelondon.com for latest news and dates for 2015