By Todd Gilmour
Oh, what a day. A perfect Pokolbin 23 degrees with a slight breeze. A collection of different Maserati’s. Pizza, anti-pasta and fresh cannoli plus a tour through the vines.
Club Maserati Concours, Pizza and Tour. With the amazing vista from Nicita Estate.
Drive Captain David Stuart-Watt led the Sydney group along the Putty Road to join others at the Mill restaurant for a pre-event dinner.
Cars rolled into Nicita Estate all morning for a traditional Maserati lineup with club flags flying. A morning mist lifted to reveal beautiful skies and surrounding views. Drum roll; the Winners.
Class 1. Ghibli III. Was very tight with Santo and Lucy Valastro taking the title with new members Rajan and Sarbo hot on their heels which could make for a stiff competition next year.
Class 2. GranTourismo. It was a first win on home soil for Vince Nicita in the end he was in a class of his own. Top win, with a fresh morning wash. His GranTourismo lead the Maserati tour later in the day and looked at home on the Hunter roads.
Class 3. Quattroporte V. Lindsay Le Compte ventured up to the Hunter for a relaxing day and some pizza but shone through again in a class of his own for a clear win. Congratulations Lindsay hope to see you defend your title next year.
Class 4. 4200, Spyders and Gransports. Wow it's tough at the top. With several top contenders and fractions of a point over the top 5 cars. Joey put in a good effort, David, Dana and John showing well with all cars having their good points. But in the end the maiden victor Bruce Lott took top spot plus the furthest distance traveled prize. The red Gransport looked fantastic.
Class 5. 3200. Huge effort was put in for this return to the winner circle, Richard Thomas and his navy 3200. What a beautiful Maserati with the beloved boomerang taillights. A real concours car.
Class 6. Classics 1987 – 1999. The wedge designs of these turbos took center stage, Kim’s QP 4 after a long rest in the garage looked fantastic and came to life on the tour section. Again, a very tight class but the victory was taken by Bob Walsh with his red 222. A top supporter of club events and long-time member. Congratulations.
Class 7. Associate Vehicles. Being a new class to highlight Maserati with others, like Chrysler, Citroen, Fiat or even Motorcycles etc. I would love to see more of these so spread the word on how welcome they all are. The winner this year with his Maserati Limited Edition 500 was our proud President Stephen Wells. Congratulations on his first concours win.
Finally, the BOS award this year went to Todd chosen by Chief Class Judge on the day Ben De Boer with the pale blue mid 60’s Sebring II. A special thank you must go to all the trained judges on the day giving up their time to adjudicate over us. Thank you, Ben, Don and Bruce.
Prizes were sipping glasses by Lit 22 Design. Francesca was very helpful, and we will be back to order more.
Catering and Hosts Vince and Jen Nicita of Our Italian Table. A huge table of cheese wheels and anti-pasta. Wood fired pizza. Traditional cannoli. Perfect. A great effort.
Regards, Todd Gilmour – Concours Director and Chief Judge of Australia.
