Cars

And as you will see in the photographs, that also includes sports cars from 1953, the year when the Grand Prix was for two-seaters.

The format of the weekend is a simple one. On Friday, after setting up in the harbour-side paddock and a drivers' briefing at the Credit Suisse Drivers Club, competitors are allowed free practice all afternoon. The circuit closure, together with the weekend exodus and non-native commuters, has the effect of paralysing traffic for miles around.

The new set of prototypes display what will be close to the final design for the bodywork, albeit clothed in camouflage which serves as a monochromatic tribute to Attwood and Herrmann’s legendary red-and-white 917K. Previous 918 test mules have had much cruder bodywork solutions.

The sportiest road-registered MINI ever made will go on sale later this year, with production limited to just 2,000 cars. Thanks to the MINI JCW GP’s exclusive powertrain, chassis and aerodynamics – all “inspired directly by motor sport” – the twin-scroll turbo engine propelled the new model round the Nordschleife in a time than was almost 19 seconds faster than its predecessor, the MINI Cooper S with John Cooper Works GP Kit.

Only 70 example of this rare model were originally built, in three series. It was in 1946 that Donald Healey created the first 17 cars, the ‘A series’, powered by a 2.4-litre Riley engine with 104HP. The UK price of £2,334 (and a startling $7,500 in the USA) made it twice as expensive as a Cadillac cabriolet. And of course, being a Healey, the model was used competitively as well as on the road.

The former chicken farmer, famous for his striped bib-and-brace overalls, made his name in Ferraris, Maseratis and Listers in American races in the late 1950s, driving for wealthy team owners such as John Edgar.

In 1959, Shelby co-drove with Roy Salvadori to give Aston Martin its only Le Mans win. Their DBR1 headed an Aston one-two at the famous 24-hour race.

“We can’t promise the same idyllic weather as last year,” stated the organisers in this year’s introduction to the Festival, and they were correct. Saturday’s weather was grey and cold but the on-track action was the exact opposite: proceedings were opened by the pre-War sports cars, which saw Bentleys, Astons, Alfas and Fraser Nashes battling it out in the ‘Mad Jack’ race.

The DBS Ultimate can be ordered in either Coupé or Volante form, with a choice of manual or automatic transmission. Paintwork comes in Carbon Black II, Quantum Silver or Silver Fox while, inside, diamond-quilt stitching on the leather seats is highlighted by either red or silver contrast thread.

All cars feature a uniquely coloured DBS badge, a unique number plate surround and a painted decklid rear. Carbonfibre wing mirrors, a dark front grille, smoked rear lamps and Zircotec-coated tail pipes – complemented by yellow, red or black brake calipers – complete the picture.

The example in question – a rally-prepared B20 S GT Aurelia, well-known in the relevant circles – comes in a rather more sombre shade than the average stage-blazer. But this is perhaps the perfect state for the Aurelia’s personality: its curves somehow exude class and sportiness simultaneously, making it look equally at home whether competing in an event such as next week’s Mille Miglia, or on a jaunt across the Continent on family vacation duty.

It is a convertible Virage, named as all open Astons have been since the DB6, a ‘Volante’.

The word might imply a fleetness of foot, perhaps the mythological flight of a wood-sprite… but the reality of a standard 5,340cc fuel-injected Virage coupé was hardly magical: ‘stately progress’, little more. And adding the extra weight of chassis strengthening and a power-operated hood to the Volante did not help.

Alternatively, you could flick through the programme for Louis Vuitton's Serenissima Run held at the end of April in which just 44 cars took part – with a combined value of, you guessed it, £200 million.