In Donovan’s Dreams
Story and photos by Jonathan Sharp
The 2026 edition of the London Concours held between the 9th and 11th June, was edition number ten! Has it really been that long? YES!
Located on the cricket pitch of the Honourable Artillery Company in the heart of the City of London and surrounded by Georgian houses that are themselves dwarfed by the high rise office blocks behind make it a proper little green oasis.
The architecture got me thinking; in 100 years time which buildings will still be standing? Most definitely the Georgian houses. The event is organized by the team that also bring us the Concours of Elegance at Hampton Court, and Tegernsee in German, plus the ‘Royal Bahrain Concours, with the City of London event this year perhaps aiming for a younger audience who do enjoy seeing Hypercars, but having classes featuring Restomods, and Tuners was a great idea.
The Rs2000 with a London background.
In addition to cars on the show field, each day of the three day mid week event has a separate themed display with the Tuesday being ‘Porsche perfection’, Wednesday ‘Jaguar XK’ day, and Thursday ‘Supercar Day.’ Tuesday also so the first public showing of Boreham Motor Works new build Ford Escort MK1 RS2000 displayed alongside the Restomod Ferrari 355. With nine classes in total, there was a lot of cars to see. So for this week we shall just show you a selection of cars from the Dream Cars class (all in yellow), Hypercars, The Tuners, and Icons remastered.
Here are a few shots, a general line up of some of the cars in the ‘Dream Cars’ class which this year were all yellow, and from the same class a 1976 LP400. No owners names at this event. I will therefore start with the Dream Cars class.
The winner of the best in show, 1976 Lamborghini LP400 ‘Countach’, ex Adnan Kashoggi recently the subject of a three year restoration by Polo Storico Lamborghini.
1989 Ferrari Testarossa, supplied new by Nigel Mansell Ferrari and understood to be the only yellow Testarossa specified with Crema over Chocolato interior trim.
1994 Lancia Delta HF Intergrale Evolution II Giallo Ginestra, one of 220 limited edition cars produced.
2010 Lamborghini Murcielago LP670-4 SuperVeloce. Number 303 of the 350 examples produced.of which only about 28 were in right hand drive.
1997 Lamborghini Diablo SV. Launched in 1995 the SV was a lighter rear wheel drive version of the Diablo powered by a 520 bhp 5.7 liter V12.
Making a change from red, a 2004 Ferrari Enzo, one of possibly 36 or 37 finished in Giallo Modena.
2016 Ferrari F12 tdf, one of a limited run of 799 examples.
Complete with an appropriate numberplate, a 1971 Ferrari Dino 246GT.
1995 Dodge Hennessey Venom Viper, This example received the full Hennessey works complete with water methanol injection to allow the use 120 octane fuel plus a 450 shot nitrous system which pushed the output of the 8.0 litre V10 to 1100 bhp.
Hypercars class
This 2019 Lamborghini Sian FKP 37 is prototype number 1, the first development example built and used by the factory’s R & D department to validate the 808 bhp hybrid V12 motor.
2024 Gordon Murray Automotive T.50, one of only 100 road cars being produced. Powered by a naturally aspirated 3994 cc Cosworth V12 producing 654 bhp at 11,500 rpm.
The 799 bhp Ferrari Monza SP2.
026 Mercedes AMG One, powered by a 1599cc turbocharged V6 developed from the Mercedes AMG F1 car combined with four electric motors to produce 1049 bhp in total. Production is limited to 275, all left hand drive with assembly in Coventry and final completion at Affalterbach
2025 Aston Martin Valhalla. Powered by a twin turbo 3990cc V8 with three electric motors giving a combined power output of 1064 bhp. This example was the first customer Valhalla delivered worldwide.
2025 Koenigsegg Jesko, one of only 125 examples being constructed. Powered by a flat plane crank twin turbo V8 producing 1262 bhp on petrol, or 1578 bhp on E85 Biofuel.
The Tuners class
1984 Ferrari 308 QV GTS by Koenig, recently rebuilt by JAR in Kent retaining the Koni suspension, AP Brakes, BBS split rims, oil coolers, intercoolers and original Rajay turbo set at a conservative 0.8 bar to produce around 320-350 bhp.
Another from Koenig, a 1989 Koenig Specials Testarossa.
1984 Sheer Range Rover Cabriolet by Wood & Picket, a rare left hand drive example originally supplied to a Middle Eastern royal family.
1991 Jaguar XJR-S 6.0, one of only 125 right hand drive examples. Produced by JaguarSport as part of a 50/50 joint venture between Jaguar and Tom Walkinshaw’s TWR and hand built at Kidlington by TWR engineers alongside the XJR-15 and XJ220.
1991 Lister Jaguar XJS Le Mans. This example was originally constructed as a UK market XJS 5.3 HE V12 in 1990 before being sent to Lister in 1991 for a system 2 conversion, gaining the widened bodywork, rear wing, an interior retrim, and uprated suspension, wheels and brakes.The conversion also included a rebuilt 7.0 liter V12 and a five speed gearbox. A year later the car was back at Lister’s for the twin supercharged 604 bhp Le Mans upgrade, six speed gearbox and Lister storm wheels.
2001 Mercedes-Benz AMG SL73 powered by a hand built 7.3 liter M120 V12 producing 518 bhp. AMG uprated suspension brakes, wheels and exhaust.
Icons remastered class
Retropower Audi Quattro S1, Built in the UK the Retropower Audi Quattro S1 is a recreation of Audi’s short wheel base Group B rally car created for road rather than rally stage use.
Wood & Pickett Mini by CALLUM. A UK built reinterpretation of a classic Wood & Pickett Mini from the 1960s.
This Singer Classic 911 is based around a 1990 Porsche 911 with a driver focused specification including a 4.0 liter air cooled flat six engine and a six speed close ratio gearbox
Another take on the 911 Restomod theme this time the Gunther Werks Turbo, a 993 based remastering limited to 75 examples powered by a Rothsport Racing built 4.0 liter twin turbo flat six gearbox producing 600 bhp in standard, or up to 850 bhp in track mode.
The rather gorgeous Alfaholics Super R, the result of over 3500 hours of love and attention to detail.
Eagle E Type Low Drag GT, Eagle’s beautiful interpretation of Jaguar’s 1962 Low Drag Coupe.
Thornley Kelham European GT, Based on an XK140 underneath its reworked all aluminium skin lines an all alloy fuel injected Jaguar straight six producing over 350 bhp, redesigned suspension and modern disc brakes.
Powered by a 3.2 litre 340 bhp straight six the MZR Evolution is described as an extreme interpretation of the classic Datsun 240Z using a lightweight carbonfibre composite body upon a classic Z shape.
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