Alfa Romeo and Bugatti Grand Prix racers join Concours of Elegance stars

By Ryan Standen

| 27 Jul 2023

Classic & Sports Car – Grand Prix-winning Alfa Romeo and Bugatti join Concours of Elegance stars

Two Bugattis and a Grand Prix-winning Alfa Romeo 8C-2300 Monza will be among the vehicles from a prolific private collection displayed at this year’s Concours of Elegance, on 1-3 September.

The Switzerland-based Pearl Collection is owned by enthusiast Fritz Burkard.

These are the latest additions to the line-up for September’s event at Hampton Court Palace.

They will join a double Le Mans-winning Ferrari, a Frua-bodied Maserati and a unique Hoffman X-8 in a display of around 60 concours cars.

Classic & Sports Car – Collection of rare cars joins Concours of Elegance line-up

This 1897 Prinetti & Stucchi tricycle (left) and 1934 Type 59 are significant vehicles from Bugatti’s past

The one-of-six 1934 Bugatti Type 59 Grand Prix racer is one of the Pearl Collection’s star cars – and it featured in the November 2008 issue of Classic & Sports Car.

It was later rebuilt with sports-car racing in mind and passed through several owners, including King Leopold III of Belgium.

It will line up with a 1936 Bugatti T57S Atalante, while both will be joined at Concours of Elegance by an 1897 Prinetti & Stucchi tricycle, which represents another key moment in Bugatti’s history.

A young Ettore Bugatti developed the racing version of the modest three-wheeler early in his career.

Drink in the lines of the 1936 Bugatti T57S Atalante at Concours of Elegance on 1-3 September

The aforementioned 1933 Alfa Romeo 8C-2300 Monza, registered to Scuderia Ferrari, is another highlight of this collection that’s coming to the UK this September.

Tazio Nuvolari drove this straight-eight-powered racer in the Monaco Grand Prix, in the hands of Antonio Brivio it won the Swedish Grand Prix in August 1933, and it was campaigned at hillclimbs, the Mille Miglia and the Targa Florio.

More recently it’s been used in historic motorsport, including a race-winning appearance at the Goodwood Revival in 2012 – it was driven to and from Germany for the meeting.

The Alfa Romeo 8C-2300 Monza has a supercharged straight-eight engine (left); the Maserati 4CL Monoposto joined the Pearl Collection in 2019

It’s not the only historic Italian car from the collection heading to Concours of Elegance.

A 1939 Maserati 4CL Monoposto prototype used by the works racing team will be on display, too.

Driven by the likes of Carlo Felice Trossi and Maurice Trintignant in period, more recently it has contested Vintage Sports-Car Club events and it was acquired by its current custodian in 2019.

This six-cylinder, sidevalve-engined Rolls-Royce Phantom II Continental has Park Ward coachwork and is coming to 2023’s Concours of Elegance

A significant British classic coming to Concours of Elegance 2023 from the Pearl Collection is a 1934 Rolls-Royce Phantom II Continental that was exhibited at that year’s Olympia Motor Show.

No stranger to international concours events, it’s been at Pebble Beach and the Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance since it was restored in the early 2000s.

The eye-catching, record-breaking 1960 Abarth 1000 ‘La Principessa’, bodied by Pinin Farina, is another of the collection’s cars confirmed for the Hampton Court Palace event this September.

“We at the Pearl Collection love quirky and unusual models. We show them, we race them and we use them,” said owner Fritz Burkard.

This Abarth 1000 ‘La Principessa’ will be at Concours of Elegance 2023

“From Ettore Bugatti’s first-ever racing machine to its 2022 Centodieci spiritual successor, the selection of vehicles Fritz has chosen to exhibit at the Concours of Elegance embodies British and European automotive history both on-road and on-track,” added James Brooks-Ward, Concours of Elegance CEO.

The collection will join almost 1000 other vehicles on display across the weekend when the event returns to Hampton Court Palace on 1-3 September 2023.

And as a Classic & Sports Car reader, you can enjoy our exclusive 2-for-1 ticket offer – and you can join our tour to the event, too.

Check out our highlights from last year’s edition here.

Images: Concours of Elegance/Tim Scott/Fluid Images/Dino Eisele

Enjoy more of the world’s best classic car content every month when you subscribe to C&SC – get our latest deals here

Alfa Romeo 8C: driving a rare ‘Long Chassis’

Bugatti Type 59 tribute: in homage to a legend

Meet the unique Rolls-Royce Phantom II Continental that thinks it’s a hot rod