Into the City they came, wave upon wave of vehicle transporters queuing at the gates to the Honourable Artillery Company, as a military-like operation began to bring them in, unload their precious cargo, and clear space for those behind in the queue.

The weather played nice as an assortment of rare, unusual, storied and collectable cars were driven onto Artillery Garden, the space in the heart of the City that has been occupied by the Honourable Artillery Company (HAC) since 1641, and now plays host to the London Concours, which is into its ninth year of running.

Carefully choreographed by the organisers, Thorough Events, slowly but surely the parade ground and cricket pitch was transformed into a space dedicated to the worship of the automobile – a temporary Stonehenge for petrolheads that in less than a week would leave no trace of its presence.

Among the trailers entering through the archway was Racing Green’s own Brian James enclosed transporter (click here for our transport services), and inside was precious cargo – a ‘backdate’ Porsche 911 that was making its UK debut. Called the Madster Targa, the restomod model is based on a 964-generation Porsche 911 and took 2500 hours to create.

A client and good friend of Racing Green commissioned the Madster from a Dutch Porsche specialist, called Speed Service. Based in Sittard, on the country’s southern-most border with Germany, Speed Service was founded by Olav Gelissen, who began his love affair with the marque working as a race technician in the inaugural, 1993 Porsche Supercup series, the one-make championship that supported Formula One races around the world. It was that long-standing specialism around 911s, and the 964 generation version in particular, as well as the family-like atmosphere at Speed Service, that appealed to our client and saw him choose Speed Service over Singer and Theon, among others.

Needless to say, the 330bhp, naturally aspirated flat-six Madster took pride of place at Racing Green’s spot on the lawn at London Concours. And its hand-sculpted steel body and hand-crafted interior drew quite the crowd. We lost count of the number of visitors who wanted to know more about the Madster and told us that it was their ‘car of the show’. One of those who stopped by early one morning and spent the best part of an hour with James Mills, Racing Green's co-founder, was Arash Farboud, founder of Arash Motor Company and serial petrolhead and Porsche collector (he kindly showed us around his Porsche 918 Spyder), who enthused about the finish and overall aesthetic of the Madster. High praise indeed when you consider the calibre of the cars throughout the concours.

And what a line up there was. Taking the overall honour of Best in Show was a 1993 Bugatti EB110 Super Sport. One of just 39 Super Sport models built, including prototypes and racing versions – and believed to be chassis number one – the car was originally commissioned by the Brunei royal family and is now one of only 18 examples known to the marque’s official register. (Racing Green is proud to have had one of this tiny number of cars in its care.)

What went into an EB110 Super Sport? The ultimate EB110 had a tuned 3.5-litre V12 engine delivering 603bhp, a carbon fibre body for a weight reduction of around 150kg (to 1418kg), and was claimed to boast a top speed of more than 220mph. Three decades on those are still impressive numbers, and give their owner a good hand in any game of one-upmanship, which the current custodian may have found hard to resist since taking on the car in 2007.

Presented in the event’s Dream Cars class, the EB110 Super Sport was judged against a selection of mouth-watering goodness that included a rare, one-of-25, Porsche 911 GT1 Strassenversion, the often under-appreciated Jaguar XJ220, the eulogised McLaren F1, a Ferrari 288 GTO and a 1989  Porsche 930 Turbo S in late ‘Sonderwunsch’ (Special Wishes) spec. There was also a Lamborghini Diablo, a car we have tipped for growth where future returns are concerned.

Elsewhere, a 2019 Ferrari 488 Pista Spyder – still with its first owner and used extensively across Europe – won the ‘50 Years of Ferrari V8’ category. Lamborghini’s Hypercar tribute to Ferruccio’s centenary, the 769bhp Centenario, took class honours as the sole example in the UK. Meanwhile, the ‘Fast Fords’ class was claimed by a 1986 RS200 – a rare rally-prepped car that has doubled its mileage since emerging from long-term storage.

Our favourite class was the Young Timers collection. Calling to our inner 1990s-selves from the far side of Artillery Green was a BMW Z3 M Coupe – or ‘clown shoe’ as the Germans like to call it – in attention-seeking Laguna Seca Blue. It was vying for contention with an Audi Quattro and the later RS2 Avant, the imposing Mercedes 560 SEC and the ever-outrageous Lotus Carlton, the 173mph super saloon that enraged the tabloids in 1990, and was labelled too fast for the road with the likes of The Daily Mail campaigning to have it banned. It continues to divide opinion to this day – and we wouldn't have it any other way from the original hell-raiser.

One other display had piqued our interest. The team at Simon Furlonger performed their signature party trick, bringing a 'naked' hypercar to the concours. In this case, it was a Bugatti Veyron, and seein the technical tour de force without its bodywork led to no end of head-scratching from onlookers who couldn't quite believe how engineers achieved the packaging of the quad-turbo, W16 hypercar that once blew-away Jeremy Clarkson, saying: 'From behind the wheel of a Veyron, France is the size of a small coconut.'

Drawing a mix of car collectors, car enthusiasts, City workers and passing tourists who can’t quite believe their luck to have stumbled across this oasis in the heart of the City, the London Concours is an essential day out for petrolheads, one that is easy to reach and comes with the endless doorstep benefits that the Capital has to offer visitors. We made many new friends and recommend you do the same, next year. We hope to see you there.

If you would like to know more about Racing Green’s services, or arrange for your car to be placed in our care, please speak with a member of the team, on 03330 909722, or email us at enquiries@racinggreencarstorage.co.uk