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Concours d'Elegance

From Elegance to Speed

Perfection of restoration and myth in the successes of the “Italian Job” Miura at Concorso Lamborghini & Design and of the Aston Martin DB4GT at Bernina Gran Turismo.

The cars of the Kaiser Collection were the protagonists of two important events: the Concorso d’Eleganza organized by Lamborghini in Trieste, Italy, where the Miura #3586, made famous by the film The Italian Job, was presented and the hill-climb race for classic cars organized in St. Moritz: the Bernina Gran Turismo. Here at the start the 1954 short wheelbase Aston Martin DB4, one of the most valuable pieces of the Collection.


The magnificent shape of the Aston Martin DB4 GT in the scenery of the climb to the Bernina. Only 75 examples of this car were produced at the end of the 1950s.

The contrast between the two events is great: on one side the muffled silence typical of Concourse d’Elegance, where it seems that everyone wants to take the judges’ attention, hoping for a good score for their car.

On the other side, the best music from the engines of 60 years of automotive history, brought like a symphony in the magnificent valley that leads to the Bernina Pass.

If in Porto Piccolo, the village of the Lamborghini Concorso, everything was concentrated in one place, at the Bernina the cars were hurling, in a real uphill race, along the hairpin bends that lead from La Rosa to Hospizio Bernina: a little less than six highly demanding kilometres.

The results? For the Miura from the Italian Job a well deserved special award. Congratulations to Birgit Kaiser who presented the car and collected the prize.

 
In the fascinating setting of the Concorso, Birgit Kaiser receives the prize for the Miura, protagonist of the opening scenes of the film The Italian Job.

It is more difficult to give credit and a ranking that puts, one against the other, cars built from 1920 to 1980! When in the ’20s and ’30s, in the Bernina Mountain Race, Hans Stuck and Louis Chiron were racing on the still unpaved road that led to the Pass, you would not see competing, as today, ancient cars that race together with Formula 1 vehicles, evolved sports and rally models capable of stellar performance as the Lancia Stratos.

It was certainly a beautiful show, but less fascinating than the real Gran Turismo cars, those from the ’50s and ’60s which, even though in those years were also driven in races, were produced for wealthy owners who used them for their own pleasure and pride.


The DB4 Gt Aston, waiting for the start: wet ground and uncertain weather. While waiting, thoughts crowd: will the tyre pressure be right in the rain? I have to be careful with the braking at the end of the fastest lap, before the third one… That’s the great thing about the challenge!

In this scenario the DB4 GT Aston Martin from the Kaiser Collection played a special role: to combine an elegant and refined shiny black paint perfectly suited to Regent Street and Piccadilly Circus, with the lightness and handling necessary to win at Goodwood and Silverstone.

With this car Fritz Kaiser had already won before even starting! Congratulations.


Fritz Kaiser’s Aston Martin DB4 GT in the race. Six timed climbs to be made over the weekend.


The Lamborghini is in the contest stop in the magnificent Piazza Unità d’Italia in Trieste. The Miura of the Kaiser Collection is the first on the left.