Andrew again has kindly asked me to do a guest blog on the
wonderful Cavallino Classic Ferrari event at the Breakers Hotel in beautiful
Palm Beach, Florida.
If you want nice weather, spectacular homes and a great car event,
then the annual Cavallino Classic in Palm Beach Florida is a must. This year it
was held January 25 through the 29 at the Breakers Resort Hotel in Palm Beach,
Florida. This year celebrated its 26th anniversary and the five-day even for
Ferrari owners and enthusiasts saw participants and their 400 exotic and
classic cars come from all over the United States and Europe.
The primary goal at the Cavallino Classic has always been to
showcase Ferraris, displaying them in a unique and beautiful setting. The
Breakers Hotel is the perfect setting like Pebble Beach. But even more
important is to bring together as many Ferraris, and Friends of Ferrari as
possible, to enjoy the cars and the comradery.
A two-day track meet at the Palm Beach International Raceway
was the first event of this classic extravaganza with a select field of
competition Ferraris, Maseratis, Alfa Romeos and Bugattis tracking the 11-turn,
2.043 mile race track.
On Thursday, there was the traditional Jet Center event with over 150 Ferraris,
some spectacular Jets, plus boats and women’s furs were on sale from Saks 5th
Ave. 80-degree weather is a great time to buy furs.
Friday was another track day and then there was a Beach
party at the Breakers and the guest of honor was Brian Redman. Looking out at the Atlantic Ocean enjoying
great food and talking about Ferraris is the perfect evening.
The high point of the Cavallino Classic was the Concorso
d’Eleganza on the front lawn of the Breakers Resort Hotel, on Saturday.
Featuring Dinos this year, the field of 150 Ferrari automobiles were judged for
originality and elegance, all vying for Class Awards and the important Major
Cups, along with the Cavallino Cup for Best in Show.
Saturday night was the awards dinner with Lobster and many
fine foods and drink to enjoy. The Best of Show Competition at the Cavallino
Classic 2017 was awarded to a 1994 Ferrari 348 Challenge owned by Chip
Williams, while the Best of Show Gran Turismo Ferrari award was given to the
1951 Ferrari 212 Export Cabriolet Vignale owned by Peter Kalikow. It should be
noted that most of the competition cars, i.e. 250 GTO, 412 MI, etc., were
non-judged, exhibition-only entrants. Additionally, none of the other judged
competition cars achieved the necessary ‘platinum’ status for Best of Show
consideration. However, many Platinum awards were handed out among the many
classes of Ferraris from 246 Dinos to Ferrari 512s.
The finale for the 2017 Cavallino Classic was ‘Classic
Sports Sunday’ at Mar-a-Lago, the Marjorie Merriweather Post mansion in Palm
Beach. The weather was not kind to this event as it rained. I was unable to
attend as I was headed back to California. Overall it was a fun filled event
and one everyone would really enjoy, I can’t wait until next year.
Randy Steyer - Guest Editor
http://www.franklyfrankl.com
