It's not often that you see another Maserati on the road; that's one of the things I like about a Maser, but when it's a white Mistral, it's an even rarer event. Thus my trip to the 2003 Maserati Club Annual Concours started on a high note. Unfortunately I was listening to the dulcet tones of Brook Benton at the time and was unable to hear the raucous burble exhaust note from Simon's straight six. To rectify this, I took off in 'hot pursuit' but alas Simon's right foot and a series of red lights around Coventry put paid to that, and by the time I eventually caught up with him, he was entering the hotel car park at a rather more leisurely pace!

For a change, bright sunshine greeted Maserati enthusiasts from all over the British Isles, and Germany, for the Maserati Club's 3rd Annual Concours D'Elegance that took place once again in the grounds of Stanford Hall near Lutterworth in Leicestershire on Sunday 31st May 2003.

This was the largest gathering seen at the Concours with 95 cars present. The splendid turnout was a credit to the organisers, of whom Andy Heywood deserves a special mention, and of course the members and enthusiasts who made the effort to turn up. I am sure all will agree that we had a very pleasant day! If you didn't or couldn't make it this year, you really should make the extra effort for next year. It's well worth it!

For members the task of preparing their cars for the 'ordeal by judges' was made much easier this year as the "chammying down" process took place only once!

At lunch well over a hundred members attended another splendid barbeque, thanks once again to organiser Simon Lees Milne, who year in, year out, always comes up with the goodies!

Amongst the many stars present, two shone out in particular; Dean Butler's Tipo 8CTF #3030 and Anthony Hartley's Tipo 26T #2518. May I add my thanks to these two gentlemen for allowing so many motoring enthusiasts to enjoy and photograph these two fine machines.

It was a pleasant surprise to see Walter Baumer of the Deutscher Maserati Club who very kindly came over to view the proceedings and was 'encouraged' to act as one of the knowledgeable judges for the prestigous 'Master Class' category. Walter is the editor of Der Dreizack' (the trident), the German Club's excellent magazine. I was given a copy and was most impressed with its content; even though I couldn't understand a word of it! Over a drink, after the eve of Concours dinner, Walter and I shared an interesting conversation and I learned much from his in-depth knowledge on the subject of Maseratis. What a charming man! I shall look forward to meeting him again at the Maserati International at Spa, Belgium, in June!

Once again I had the honour of being asked to judge alongside Sig Roberto Giordanelli, a charming and knowledgeable young man, in the Biturbo class but due to absentees we were also asked to judge the FIAT era class. It certainly was a heavy workload and by the time we'd finished judging and added up the scores over lunch, I really didn't feel like taking another photograph.

On the evening prior to the Concours, the Club held their annual AGM which was followed by the Italian Theme dinner attended by 75 members.

For the concours, the cars were divided into six categories:

CLASS 1 - Orsi era: 3500 GT, Vignale Spyder, Sebring 1 and 2, Mistral Coupe and Spyder, Quattroporte and Ghibli (1966-68).

CLASS 2 - Seventies era: Indy, Ghibli (1969-73) and Spyder, Bora, Merak, Khamsin, Kyalami, Quattroporte III and Royale.

CLASS 3 - De Tomaso era: Biturbo, 222, 425, 430, Spyder, Karif, 228 and Shamal.

CLASS 4 - The Fiat era: Ghibli, Ghibli Cup and V6 Quattroporte.

CLASS 5 - Current era: 3200GT, Quattroporte V8 and Evolution, Coupe and Spyder.

CLASS 6 - The Masterclass: Open to previous class winners regardless of type.