Sunshine, heat and great hospitality. You can see the appeal of a concours event in The Gulf. But they’ve been tried before, and have mostly ended up falling a little flat.
The Royal Bahrain Concours had a secret weapon from the start, though: the Crown Prince and Prime Minister of Bahrain, HRH Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa. It was the Prince who brought Formula 1 to The Gulf region in 2004 by commissioning the Bahrain International Circuit, and it was his enthusiasm for cars that inspired the new Concours.
The Prince commissioned the UK’s Thorough Events, organisers of Concours of Elegance Hampton Court (which the Prince visited this year), Concours of Elegance Tegernsee and London Concours, to create and run the event at the Royal Golf Club in Al Mazrowiah, around 20 minutes drive from Manama, the capital city of Bahrain.
Car culture in the Gulf – that’s Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman and the United Arab Emirates – is mostly based around modern supercars and hypercars, and the accepted etiquette is that cars are usually shown privately among friends rather than at large public events. But to create a truly international concours, local cars of all ages were needed, along with a few cars shipped in for variety from the US, Europe and the UK – though not so many that it would seem like a Western concours parachuted into a Middle East country.
This is where the Prince worked his magic, persuading friends and fellow car collectors to dig deep into their collections for the concours. The result was a number of significant enthusiasts, including several sheiks, displaying a wide variety of cars of all ages – from a 1913 Clement Bayard T to an Aston Martin Valkyrie, with a bit of everything in between.
Laid out in classes on the golf course, the result was impressive. Around 80% of the concours cars were from Bahrain and neighbouring Qatar and Saudi Arabia, with the rest coming from Thorough Event regulars. Fritz Burkard shipped in his bright orange 1955 Lincoln Indianapolis from Switzerland; Dr Jörg Wolle his 1988 Aston Martin Vantage Volante ‘Prince of Wales’ from Switzerland, Malcolm Welford his 1963 Cobra 289 from the US, Gautam Hari Singhania his 1929 Cord L-29 from India… and so on.
Alongside the concours field, local car clubs displayed their best cars: plenty of Porsches (including a lovely early 912), Lamborghinis and American muscle cars but so much more. The six-wheeled open-backed Range Rover was a sight to behold, the MGA tracked down and owned by the nephew of its original buyer was charming, the Alfa Romeo SZ was a welcome surprise… and there were many more.
Car owners were treated to a chance to drive the F1 circuit and explore the local area ahead of the concours on the Friday and Saturday. When the event itself opened on the Friday morning, it soon filled up with visitors, including the Prince and his entourage. By midday, the heat had driven many into the many hospitality areas, but from 2pm-on the heat and the light softened, until we were treated to a spectacular sunset around 5:30pm. In quiet periods, MC Richard Charlesworth chatted over the PA system to Ben ‘The Stig’ Collins about his racing career and his time on Top Gear.
The Saturday was quieter in the morning but livened up early afternoon once again for the prizegiving, the order of which had to be quickly adjusted to enable the Prince to hand over two awards before returning to the circuit where the World Endurance Championship final was in full swing. His Crown Prince Award went to the 2008 Ferrari Zagato Nibbio and the Best of Show to the 1972 Lamborghini Miura SV first owned by the Shah or Iran. The latter was just out of a restoration supervised by renowned test driver Valentino Balboni, who was one of the stars of the concours.
This was a superb event, which seems to capture the imagination of many of the car collector local visitors, who are now more at ease with the idea of sharing their cars next year – and to visit some of the concours outside of the Gulf. It’s likely that timings will change a little next time, to concentrate the proceedings around the afternoons and atmospheric evenings rather than the sweltering mornings, and to tidy up the club display area – but if you want some winter sun, then this will be a great event to find it.
Royal Bahrain Concours full results
Best of Show 1972 Lamborghini Miura SV ‘Shah of Iran’ (Dr Khalid M Abdulrahim).
Hypercars 2025 Mercedes-AMG One (HRH Abdulaziz Bin Turki Al Faisal Al Saud).
Pre 1940 1937 Rolls-Royce Phantom III (Arch. Saad Mohammad Awad Binladen).
Supercars 2006 Porsche Carrera GT (Abdullah Alibrahim).
Sports & Race Classics 1959 Ferrari 250 TR (Michael and Barbara Malone).
Flat Tops 2009 Mercedes-Benz SLR Stirling Moss (Dr Adel Esmat Quttainah).
American Classics 1955 Lincoln Indianapolis (Fritz Burkard / The Pearl Collection).
Modern Classics 2006 Pagani Zonda F Clubsport (HRH Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa).
European Classics 1988 Lamborghini LM002 (Adel Rajab).
British Classics 1988 Aston Martin V8 Vantage Volante ‘Prince of Wales’ (Dr Jörg Wolle).
FEATURE CLASS WINNERS
Restomod/ Modified 1951 Ford F-1
30 Under 30 Porsche 911 SC
4×4 Award Range Rover L322 Six-Wheeler
SPECIAL AWARDS
Crown Prince Award 2008 Ferrari Zagato Nibbio (HRH Prince Faisal A Al Faisal).
Steering Committee Award 1930 Cord L-29 (Gautam Hari Singhania).
AirX Award 1963 Shelby Cobra (Malcolm and Christina Welford).
Club Award Porsche Club of Bahrain
