Cars and Coffee Italy: Best of the Best. Period.
Words: Alessandro Marrone
Photography: Giorgia Rossi
In ten years we will show the pictures of the Cars and Coffee Italy to our children to make them understand what our favorite supercars were.
For the third consecutive year, the majestic lawn of Corte Francesco hosted what a seemingly simple gathering for supercars has officially become a fixed appointment which attracts fans from around the world. Cars and Coffee has made an unstoppable evolution and put its seal around this phenomenon expected to grow dramatically year after year. If last year, always in Brescia, we were amazed by the quantity and especially the quality of the cars at the first stage of the year signed by C&C, we had high expectations for this day and the same have been largely overcome. About 300 cars attending and entering the beautiful path through the tree-lined around the location reserved for participants – we immediately noticed that the atmosphere was more special than usual. Blessed with a warm sun and a postcard sky this Sunday has flown away too fast and without even noticing, everything is over, leaving an uncontrollable desire to see wrote again on the calendar – Tomorrow, Cars and Coffee.
Mr Cars and Coffee Francesco Canta has raised the bar once again, and aided by his loyal team has been able to bring together under the same sky an impressive fleet of dream cars. After passing the first wall of Ferraris and Lamborghinis, including a wonderful Miura and some Diablos and Murcielagos to remind us what were the protagonists of the posters hanging on the walls of our rooms, the show pairing in front of our eyes was a raging river of wings, rims and addictive shapes. The Porsche corner was vast and among the powerful GT3 RS we also accommodated us with our crazy arctic camo Cayman S. Not far from the friends of Techart which brought a 911 Carrera S Cabriolet and a hallucinating GTStreet R (which you can read in detail, some pages ahead). But the Stuttgart’s team did not stop there, in fact, in the shade of a few trees there were a 911 R, three Carrera GT and two 918 Spyder. The more, the better. Next to them, the other star of the day, the Horse from Maranello, with an Enzo, two F40 and a LaFerrari. Then, through the garden and past the area dedicated to the British, the American and Japanese sports cars, we had what in effect was the second most important area of the entire event, unveiling a Zonda F, a Huayra Roadster and two Mazzanti, one of which still in its experimental stage. Between them a Bugatti EB110 GT, while at the sides a thick lineup of Mercedes and McLaren, including the 675LT Spider of YouTuber Shmee150, always friendly and available to chat with everyone.
Needless to say that in addition to the many participants there were many photographers, more or less equipped but all with the desire to take home the ultimate shot, the one that would immortalize the most of a unique day which brought together people from all corners of the globe. In addition to famous influencers there were even many collectors, racing drivers, but also “simple” enthusiasts who took the opportunity to polish their car and make it available to eager eyes of a more special stage than usual. At a cool drink the classic and delicious lunch has followed, while in the afternoon the convoy moved toward the Parco Sigurtà in Valeggio sul Mincio, where a lot of people could admire the cars and consume photographs with a fury that we rarely find in the automotive world. Again this year, at Auto Class we did not miss the chance to experience Cars and Coffee from the inside, because first of all we’re true car guys and we couldn’t miss to live the road trip, the journey to the private location and the rest of the day – this way it has a completely different taste from the sterile one that a standard media guy could live. The most difficult task was to select the photos to be published because of the amount of material produced, sorry we had to exclude something, since everything were worthy of representing the event of events. Great presence for modern supercars, but in addition to the Miura, even some other classic pieces like a Jaguar E-Type, an Alfa Romeo SZ, a Montreal and a white Countach that seemed to come straight from the future instead of the past. Who cares if the few boring detractors keep criticizing C&C calling it too static or too selective – facts are what matters and a result like this year can only be claimed by Mr. Cars and Coffee, which for the occasion showed up on a 458 Speciale with a livery inspired by Niki Lauda’s 312 T F1. We like soft talking and loud noises and C&C is a cult event in the making. Everything else it’s just talk.