It’s a matter of days before Wilton House opens its gates for the inaugural Concours des Légendes on 19 June 2026. Running across the weekend of 19-21 June, the three-day motoring extravaganza is a unique addition to the concours calendar, blending a literary festival with a classic car show in the Inigo Jones-designed splendour of the 18th Earl of Pembroke’s Wiltshire estate. Here are nine reasons this year’s event is not to be missed.
Live stages
Captivating storytelling is at the heart of what sets Concours des Légendes apart, taking place across the weekend on three main stages of talks, interviews and Q&As. The Legends Stage will see icons of motor racing recall chapters of their era-defining careers: Derek Bell and Richard Attwood appear together to revisit the challenges of campaigning the Porsche 917, while Valentino Balboni reflects on his four decades as Lamborghini’s chief development driver. Sunday brings television host Tiff Needell and Land Speed Record holder Andy Green, who discusses his tilt at the hydrogen-powered record with the JCB Hydromax.
Designers Frank Stephenson, Peter Stevens, Wayne Burgess and Ken Okuyama offer insight into how landmark cars are conceived, while the Conversation Stage examines the future of mobility, environmental change and the evolving relationship between people and machines. Other big names include Ross Brawn, Nick Mason, Wayne Carini, Stefan Johanssen and James Martin.
Artists Pavilion
Billed as a world first – a gathering of international contemporary artists within an automotive festival – the Artists Pavilion brings together paintings, bronze sculptures, ceramics, screen printing and photography under one roof. Artists have depicted cars since the earliest race posters and the first art cars of the 1920s, through to mainstream names such as Andy Warhol, and the pavilion sets out to tell that story while showcasing the talent working in the field today.
Seventeen contemporary artists feature, drawn from across Europe and the US. Highlights include the Legends Display paintings of Dexter Brown and Peter Hearsey, both veterans of race posters from Formula 1 to Goodwood, alongside Ella Freire’s graphic screenprints, Stefan Johansson’s optical paintings, Anna-Louise Felstead’s evocative work, Gregory Percival’s fluid bronzes and Stokesi’s diamond-encrusted Senna helmets. Alan Reullier even brings his own intricately hand-painted art car. Most pieces are available to acquire.
Dore & Rees Auction
Running alongside the concours, the Dore & Rees auction on Sunday 21 June offers the chance to drive a piece of the weekend home – with an automobilia sale and a jewellery and watch auction scheduled for the day before. The headline lot is the 2013 Aston Martin Bertone Jet 2+2, a unique Rapide-based shooting brake that was the last project completed by the famed Italian house before its 2014 closure (estimate £250,000-350,000).
The eclectic auction catalogue also features a matching-numbers 1958 AC Ace-Bristol with genuine competition history (£200,000-250,000); a 2006 Ford GT pushed by Hennessey to a claimed 1000bhp and 235mph (£270,000-320,000); and a 1970 Alfa Romeo 1750 GTV once registered to Grand Designs’ Kevin McCloud (£50,000-70,000). You can find more auction highlights here.
Skills & Craftsmanship Area
The Skills & Craftsmanship Area is a live celebration of the artisan skills that create and preserve the special machines showcased on the concours lawns. Co-curated by the Heritage Skills Academy and the Association of Heritage Engineers, this living workshop brings master craftspeople and emerging talent together to demonstrate the techniques behind the construction of every great automobile.
Here, visitors will see HSA apprentices shape flat sheet metal into sweeping curves on the wheeling machine around a one-third-scale Napier-Railton, while John of Donkey Well Forge rings the anvil with hot riveting and chassis work alongside his 1909 Hotchkiss. Other highlights include Rag & Bone Man fabricating a chaise longue from the bones of a Morgan, master ash-frame maker Robert Deen, on hand with the 1927 Bentley YF2186, and fourth-generation wheelwright Phill Gregson, whose display is expected to include an Iron Age replica chariot.
Attendees can get hands-on by stamping their own metal bookmarks and dog tags to create unique weekend souvenirs.
Luca: Seeing Red screening
On the evening of Friday 19 June, Concours des Légendes hosts a special screening of the critically acclaimed documentary Luca: Seeing Red, charting the remarkable career of former Ferrari chairman Luca di Montezemolo. The film is the work of Manish Pandey, writer of the award-winning 2010 Senna film, who will be on hand to introduce it in person.
The film combines rare archive footage to tell the story of Montezemolo’s remarkable career, from his little-known rallying exploits to his stint as Scuderia Ferrari team manager in the 1970s. The narrative is shaped with interviews conducted by television presenter Chris Harris and covers not only Montezemolo’s era-defining tenure at Ferrari, but his wider influence on Italian life, from organising the 1990 World Cup to launching the country’s high-speed rail network.
Hagerty Owners’ Stories display
Founded on the idea that the world’s most extraordinary cars are not always the rarest or most valuable but the ones with the best stories to tell, this display pairs an eclectic, rotating cast of machines with the owners on hand to tell their tales. Highlights include a 1966 Porsche 911 that Vic Elford drove to victory in the very first rallycross at Lydden Hill, before racing in the 1967 British Saloon Car Championship against Graham Hill and an 18-year-old Jacky Ickx.
Elsewhere, a 1991 Ferrari F40 sits alongside a 1966 Iso Grifo GL350, which arrives at Wilton House fresh from a near-40-year restoration to mark its 60th birthday. Find more highlights here.
Concours wonders
The centrepiece of the weekend, the Concours des Légendes lawn assembles a showcase of vehicles curated by provenance across 13 themed classes. Among the highlights is Speed Record, featuring the 1957 MG EX181 ‘Roaring Raindrop’ that Stirling Moss drove to a clutch of speed records at Bonneville. Ferrari Greats fields the 1960 250 GT SWB in which Moss won the 1961 Tourist Trophy, alongside John Surtees’s 1965 330 GT and Mike Hawthorn’s 250 GT.
The Racers class is headlined by Porsche 917 chassis 013/034, one of just three lightweight 917s ever built. It ran in Gulf colours for JW Automotive in 1970 and featured in Steve McQueen’s Le Mans – the very car in which David Piper lost the lower part of his right leg during filming – before Pedro Rodríguez took it to wins at Daytona, Monza and Spa in 1971.
The Lamborghini Celebration marks the Miura’s 60th anniversary with a trio led by Rod Stewart’s SV, while Beach Racers showcases authentic American hot rods. The Adventurers class honours some of the world’s most intrepid vehicles, from a Camel Trophy Land Rover to the 1907 Itala and 1926 Bentley of Peking to Paris fame.
Castrol Supercar Drive-In
The three-day event will reach its crescendo on Sunday June 21 when around 75 supercars roll into the grounds of Wilton House, led by the Earl of Pembroke himself. Ferrari dominates, with nearly 30 Prancing Horses – including a pair of F12 TdFs, an 812 Competizione and a Scuderia Spider 16M – taking part.
Porsche will be represented by a pair of Rennsport icons – a 993 RS and a 964 RS – while Lamborghini brings drama with a brace of Aventador SVJs and a rare Huracán Avio. The Drive-In also includes models from the likes of McLaren, Aston Martin and Maserati, as well as a handful of left-of-field machines including a 1967 Bizzarrini 5300 Strada, reputedly bought new by a Sicilian count who never dared drive it for fear of the local Mafia.
Music Stages
The weekend’s soundtrack comes courtesy of the music stages, where live performers will play carefully curated acoustic sets spanning the 1920s to more contemporary genres. The programme leans heavily on the golden age of jazz, with Cordes en Bleu channelling Django Reinhardt and Parisian café culture in a stylish blend of Gypsy Jazz and swing. Joe’s Gypsy Jazz brings Hot Club sophistication and Muriele works through the classic French chansons songbook of the 1930s and 1940s.
Broadening the soundscape is Swing to Soul, a group that moves between jazz, swing and soul, while Vintage Jones draws on everyone from Johnny Cash and Ray Charles to Peggy Lee and Nina Simone. Jamboree James offers a relaxed set of acoustic classics perfect for a warm summer’s day.
