Ayrburn Classic: The place the mountains meet the marque

New Zealand’s Ayrburn Classic is greater than a automotive lover’s delight. Anyone whose bucket record consists of the Goodwood Festival of Speed or the Concours d’Elegance showcases at Amelia Island or Pebble Beach ought to seize a pen now and add this occasion. 

Billed as a competition of motoring, the Ayrburn Classic is a celebration of automotive heritage, innovation and hospitality. This annual occasion celebrated its second 12 months in February and has shortly cemented its place alongside the northern hemisphere’s most exalted collector automotive gatherings. 

Last 12 months’s International Historic Motoring Awards in London confirmed this when it listed the Ayrburn Classic as a finalist for its Breakthrough Event of the Year award. With attendance quadrupling to greater than 9,000 in simply two years, it’s no shock.

Part of this occasion’s attraction is its visually spectacular location. The magnificent Ayrburn precinct in Arrowtown, simply exterior Queenstown, is a meals and wine playground that pulls round 1,000,000 visitors annually, and for good causes. Its world-class bars and eating places, manicured gardens, pristine ponds, and sweeping mountain vary backdrop make it the proper location for a competition of motoring equal to these at Pebble Beach and Goodwood.

Then there are the automobiles. The Ayrburn Classic attracts a jaw-dropping roll name of collectible motors. This three-day occasion is a smorgasbord of European thoroughbreds, American muscle, well-known racers and even aeroplane-engined classic automobiles that shake the earth when began. This 12 months’s shows and judging concerned round 500 particular automobiles in numerous courses. 

The occasion’s programme started on Friday with the Tour d’Elegance charity drive by way of the Wakatipu Basin, which was adopted by the occasion’s welcome cocktail social gathering. Saturday ushered within the public to benefit from the two-day motoring showcase, which included numerous demonstrations and unveilings of intensive restoration initiatives in addition to never-before-seen automobiles. There was even a Crackle Off for the crowds to benefit from the mechanical symphony of the automobiles on show. 

Saturday afternoon’s Ayrburn Classic Live Auction noticed round 40 automobiles go underneath the hammer. Sunday included a Fashions on the Field occasion, and 6 ladies introduced their automobiles on the Dell – one of many occasion’s central show areas – the place they mentioned their automotive ardour in entrance of 1000’s of visitors. 

The all-important Ayrburn Classic Awards Ceremony headlined the ultimate afternoon, with John and Amber Bellamore’s gorgeous pink 1957 Ferrari Monza 750 claiming the Best in Show Award 2026. Porsche comprised lots of the occasion’s headline automobiles this 12 months. Among the stand-outs have been a 911 (Type 996) GT2 Clubsport and GT3 RS, a 356 A Outlaw, a Carrera GT and a uncommon 918 Spyder, all of them irresistible to a few days of crowds. 

“Few marques bridge generations so effortlessly as Porsche,” stated Jonathan Paape, Chief Car Curator on the Ayrburn Classic. “The Carrera GT stirred childlike wonder in so many people and this year’s Porsche contingent commanded a powerful presence.”

The marque additionally carries a deeply private significance for Jonathan. His father introduced dwelling the tenth Porsche to reach in New Zealand. His spouse drove the eighth 356 to achieve our shores. Together, they’re a residing thread of Porsche historical past within the southern hemisphere, which accounts for the model’s sturdy presence at Ayrburn.

The Ayrburn Classic is a reputation to recollect for Porsche lovers and traditional automotive lovers worldwide. This occasion, set within the coronary heart of the South Island’s spectacular pure surroundings and constructed on real ardour, is quick turning into one of many traditional motoring world’s top-tier festivals, and a compelling motive to go to New Zealand. 

Info

Text first revealed in Christophorus Magazine, subject 419.

Text: Porsche New Zealand
Images: EURO PRODUCTIONS, Isabella Rubie

Copyright: All photos, movies and audio information revealed on this article are topic to copyright. Reproduction in complete or partially is just not permitted with out the written consent of Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG. Please contact [email protected] for additional data.