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Chelsea Auto Legends 2011 – Report and Photo Gallery

Ford GT40

The Chelsea Auto Legends 2011 event was held Sunday, 4th September on the grounds of the Royal Hospital Chelsea in London, with more than 600 classic, competition sports and supercars on display.

Building on the success of last year’s inaugural event, the 2011 edition of Chelsea Auto Legends offered even more to see and do. There were special displays devoted to the Jaguar E-type and Mini Cooper – both celebrating their 50th birthday this year – plus a central display of Le Mans racers and cavalcades of supercars and classic bikes. Despite a poor weather forecast and the predicted heavy downpour of rain around lunchtime, over 8,000 delighted in the show and helped to raise significant funds for the Royal Hospital’s Chelsea Pensioners – a significant increase of more than 50% on the 5,000 who attended the show in 2010.

Among the highlights at the 2011 Chelsea AutoLegends:

  • Le Mans: A selection of racing cars that have competed at the Le Mans 24 Hours, including Bentleys of the 1920s, Jaguar C-types, Ferraris and Ford GT40s of the fifties and sixties, right up the modern era with prototypes from current participants Aston Martin, Audi and Peugeot.
  • Jaguar E-Type: Some of the most important E-types were on display, including I VHP, chassis number 1; ECD 400, the first E-type race winner; and 848 CRY, the E-type that featured in The Italian Job movie.
  • Mini Cooper: Among the giant killers on display were two Monte Carlo Minis celebrating the ‘Little Brick’s’ dominance on the event in the 1960s.
  • Rally cars: Monsters from the Group B era, including the Audi Sport Quattro, Lancia Delta S4 and 037, Metro 6R4, plus other genuine ex-works cars like the Toyota Celica Turbo and the more recent Ford Focus WRC.
  • Track stars: The glory days of 1970s touring car racing were honored with a display of Group 1 and Group 2 racers from BMW, Ford and Alfa Romeo, including a 3.0 CSL ‘Batmobile’, a ‘Cologne’ Capri and an Alfa GTam. There were also famous machines from two great British teams of the fifties and sixties: cars and transporter wearing the metallic blue of Ecurie Ecosse and a host of Fords wearing the red and gold of Alan Mann Racing.
  • Personalities: Some great names from motorsports were present to share memories, including event patron Sir Stirling Moss, bike legend Phil Read, rallying heroes Paddy Hopkirk and Russell Brooks and Le Mans winner Richard Attwood.

“It was our ambition to make this year’s show bigger and even better than last year’s event and clearly we achieved that objective with more amazing cars, an increased show area, more fund raising for the Royal Hospital and, despite the unhelpful weather, a greater public turn-out,” said Eric Verdon-Roe, Chairman of Chelsea AutoLegends.

Photographer Tim Scott documented the 2011 Chelsea Auto Legends, offering the following pictures that capture the selection of cars and stars that were displayed on the South Grounds of the Royal Hospital Chelsea. To see more from Tim, visit fluidimages.co.uk.

Chelsea Auto Legends 2011 – Photo Gallery (click image for larger picture and description)