Read Velocetoday’s feature on Heveningham Halls Inaugural Concours d’Elegance 2016…

Our stunning Ferrari 275 GTB #07797 made her first debut appearance out of almost 3 years of restoration, she is looking good!…

Story and photos by Jonathan Sharp

Heveningham Hall is a 5000 acre estate deep in the heart of rural Suffolk. The house or hall as it is described was mostly designed by Sir Robert Taylor in 1778 for Sir Gerrard Vanneck, a wealthy Dutch merchant.

The Vanneck family owned the hall until 1970 when the hall, which by then was in a poor state of repair, was handed over to the Department of Environment in lieu of death duties. In 1981 the house was sold to an Iraqi businessman who then commenced to repair and conserve the hall, but died before restoration was completed. It was then purchased in 1994 by the current custodian Mr and Mrs Jon Hunt, who then set about restoring the hall and the Capability Brown (18th century landscape artist) landscape to their former glory.

You may ask what this has this got to do with cars? For the past 20 years the estate has been home to an annual County Fair which has raised large sums of money for local charities. As 2016 was to be the 20th running of the fair, Mr and Mrs Hunt decided, very late in the year, to celebrate this event and also the Tercentenary of Capability Brown by hold their inaugural concours d’elegance. The event took place on July 2-3.

Chassis 07797 is one of only 11 right hand drive six carburettor short nose 275 GTBs produced. Ordered new by Dr Richard Wilkins. It was Dr Wilkins who was responsible for Mike Parkes’ recovery following his horrific Belgium F1 Grand Prix accident. In 1973 the car was purchased by Eric Stewart of 10cc fame.

To read the full article visit http://www.velocetoday.com/heveningham-concours-delegance-suffolk-u-k/