Ferrari F40 wins Concours South Africa 2017 at Sun City

A beautifully prepared 1989 Ferrari F40 is the overall winner of Concours South Africa 2017, held at Sun City this past weekend, from 4-6 August.

Brian Joss – The  iconic Ferrari, which celebrated 40 years of Ferrari manufacturer when it was announced in the late 1980s, was also the final project overseen by the great Enzo Ferrari, before his death in 1988. This immaculate example, one of just a handful residing in South Africa, is owned by Keith Rivers, famous in South Africa as one of the founder members of the Tiger Wheels organisation, and also for his exploits in motocross and motorcycle enduros.

Proud moment: Keith Rivers and his winning 1989 Ferrari F40 and the judging panel in the background. Picture: Motorpress

Second place overall went to the unrestored and immaculately-preserved 1968 Shelby Mustang GT350H, owned by Dainfern’s Ravi Chetty. This car was one of the last special Hertz rent-a-car Mustangs produced by Ford and Shelby in 1968 and was imported here from America a couple of years ago.

In a somewhat surprising third place was the immaculate 1970 Porsche 911 S “short-wheelbase” model, owned by Porsche expert Tim Abbot of Johannesburg.

The surprising aspect of this award was that, alongside many more flamboyant and exotic entries, the little Irish Green Porsche looked remarkably understated.

“We have taken a huge step forward with our second Concours South Africa event,” said organiser Paul Kennard. “Not only was the entry well up, but the standard of entries rose exponentially over our inaugural year in 2016.

This year we had guests from New York and the UK, and we have even bigger plans for next year.”

This year the judging panel, headed by Wayne Harley, curator of the Franschhoek Motor Museum, included the CEO of Coys of Kensington, Chris Routledge, and Octane Magazine Editor Robert Coucher.”

“In 2017 we have set the bar very high as far as the judging standards are concerned,” said Harley. “We are taking this event to an international level, and our car restorers in this country can only learn from the input from our panel, which has vast experience in both local and international concours events.”

This year there were some achingly beautiful cars on display, ranging in age from a 1913 Buick to a 1989 Porsche 928 S4. Favourites amongst the public were two recent restorations, a 1971 Dino 246 GTB (the small Ferrari) owned by Vic and Gerhard Campher, and Peter Bailey’s 1970 Lamborghini Miura S.

Chris Routledge remarked that the overall presentation and setting of Concours South Africa was already well up to the standards of the best events internationally. He said a number of cars at Sun City could compete internationally. “One thing I would like to see next year would be a class for South African home-grown specials, such as the Ford Sierra XR8, the Alfa Romeo GTV 3,0 litre and the Capri Perana, cars that were only available in South Africa and nowhere else.”

At a function on the Saturday evening, Concours special guests for 2017 Sarel van der Merwe and Ian Scheckter were inducted into the Hall of Fame at Sun City, with a moving tribute given at the ceremony by racing driver and South African insurance guru Paolo Cavalieri.

Here are the results:

Overall:  Ferrari F40, 1989, owned by Keith Rivers; Shelby Mustang GT350H, 1968, owned by Ravi Chetty; Porsche 911 S, 1970, owned by Tim Abbot.

Class Winners: Class 1 B. SS Jaguar 2,5 Sedan, 1939, owned by Roger Martin and Fiona Hampson-Searle;  Class 2 A. Volvo PV 445 Wagon, 1958, owned by Vic and Gerhard Camphe; Class 2  B. Austin Healey BN6, 1958, owned by Ben Gerber;  Class 3 A/1. Mazda R100 Coupe, 1970, owned by Peanuts Fouche; Class

3 A/2. Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud III, 1964, owned by Gustav Raubenheimer; Class 3 B/1. Shelby Mustang GT350H, 1968, owned by Ravi Chetty; Class 3 B/2.

Porsche 911 S, 1970, owned by Tim Abbot; Class 4 A/2.

Daimler Double Six, 1989, owned by Steve Koterba; Class 4  A/1. Ferrari F40, 1989, owned by Keith Rivers; Class 5 Show and Shine winner. MG Twin Cam, 1958, owned by Neville Conchar and Class 5 Resto Mod winner. 1994 AC Cobra replica, owned by Willem Stieler.

Visit: www.concourssa.co.za or e-mail co-organiser, Paul Kennard on paul@concourssa.co.za or call Paul on 082 851 3300 for more info about next year’s Concours.

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