Yorkshire Elegance returned to Grantley Hall in North Yorkshire to celebrate 140 years of the motor car with an expanded 71-car concours field from 22-24 July, 2025. The eclectic range of vehicles on display spanned 1886 to the present day and competition for the Best of Show crown was as fierce as ever.
Top honours were awarded to a 1964 Ferrari 275 GTB that is believed to be the first right-hand-drive example delivered to the UK. No more than 30 right-hand-drive 275s were built. A deserving winner, the car was stunningly presented fresh from a full restoration by Ferrari Classiche.
Equally eye-catching was the 1931 Bentley 8.0 Litre that claimed first place in the Vintage Class. This large, luxurious pre-war machine was one of only 100 to roll off the production line and is regarded by many as W.O Bentley’s magnum opus. Significantly, it was also the last Bentley designed by W.O before his company was acquired by Rolls-Royce in 1931.
The Classic Category was perhaps the most tightly contested category of the entire event. Featuring everything from a Mercedes-Benz 300 SL Gullwing and an early Chevrolet Corvette C1 to the very first AC Cobra and one of six Maserati 450Ss, it was John Day’s 1968 Lamborghini Islero that came away with the win.
Aston Martin’s legendary David Brown era was honoured with a dedicated class that featured every DB-era model produced between 1947 and 1970. Judges deemed Mark Lewis’s 1965 Aston Martin DB5 as the deserving winner fresh from its restoration by Richards of England.
The Future Classic class win went to a 2005 Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren despite stern competition from the likes of a Ford GT, Bugatti Veyron and Aston Martin Valkyrie. Inspired by the 1950s 300 SLR, the 2005 supercar was a fitting choice on the 70th anniversary year of Stirling Moss’s legendary Mille Miglia victory.
For years, the restomod scene has breathed new life into iconic classics by reimagining them with modern engineering. The Resto Mod class celebrated these intriguing machines, with one of the most radical recent examples – Fifteen Eleven Design’s Porsche 914 – taking top honours. Despite its familiar silhouette, the car shares little with its namesake, being based instead on the powertrain and chassis of a Porsche 987 Cayman S.
The class-winning 914 was presented by Ben Mellors, who also displayed the Williams FW07B that carried Alan Jones to the 1980 Formula 1 World Championship. Other notable cars exhibited away from the concours field included the Ian Callum-designed Wood & Pickett Mini, Eric Clapton’s former Ferrari 612 Scaglietti, and a Jaguar D-type Continuation from Jaguar Land Rover Classic Works.
For further details, see yorkshireelegance.com
