The Honourable Artillery Company Headquarters in the City of London will once again be the setting for the London Concours 2023 between the 6th and 8th of June, as an array of the world’s best supercars are presented to the public. Now staging its 7th event, Concours was first hosted at Windsor Castle in 2012, coinciding with the year of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, and has already gone on to become one of the highlights of the automotive calendar.

Carefully curated classes including Golden Age Coupes, Built To Race For the Road, Evolution of Aero and Grand Tourisme are among the highlights across the first couple of days. However, things really ramp up on the dedicated ‘Supercar Thursday’, when a further 50 machines from the most respected manufacturers will arrive and the Partners Drivers’ Union will host their annual Supercar Awards ceremony to round off the day. Let's look at some of the cars that will grace the City of London event.

1991 Schuppan 962 CR P1

This ultra-rare and visually spectacular car is sure to be the centrepiece of this year’s event. A race car designed for the road and a project led by Le Mans 1983 winner Vern Schuppan, the creation was based on the carbon-fibre chassis of a Porsche 962 racer and weighs only 1,050kg. Created in the early 1990s, only 6 were ever produced at a sale price of $1.5m, making it one of the most expensive new cars ever at the time of sale. It can reach a top speed of 230mph and 0-60mph takes just 3.5 seconds, thanks to a 3.3-litre type-935 twin-turbo flat-six engine. 600bhp is put out from one of the most outrageous cars to ever grace the roads.

Bugatti Veyron Vitesse

Another rare car and presented in ‘WRC’ (World Record Car) edition form, this Bugatti is one of just eight WRCs produced. The special run of cars was created in 2013 to honour a 1184bhp Veyron Vitesse pushing 254mph at a test track in Germany, making it the fastest car in the world at the time. Initially going on sale for 1.9m euros, the Vitesse features a specially developed roof spoiler and carefully designed windbreak that allows open-top driving at over 250mph. The Vitesse was originally unveiled at the 2012 Geneva Motor Show and various special editions have been created.

McLaren P1

At the time of its release in 2013, the P1 was unlike anything the world had seen before and produced unbelievable performance thanks to a 3.8-litre twin turbo V8 and electric motor. One of the ‘Holy Trinity’ of hypercars at the time alongside the LaFerrari and Porsche 918 Spyder, the P1 was featured heavily in Top Gear and The Grand Tour and 439 were produced in total. The P1 could generate 600kg of downforce at 160mph, hunkering down dramatically and helping it achieve a sub-7 minute lap at the Nürburgring.

McLaren 675LT

Launching in 2016, this lightweight upgrade of the 650S wasn’t far behind the P1 in terms of pace, reaching speeds of 205mph flat out and 0-60mph in 2.9 seconds. Initially introduced at the 2015 Geneva Motor Show, only 500 were made, yet it secured its position among the all-time great supercars with its talkative steering and quick handling.

Porsche Carrera GTZ

When revered Italian styling house Zagato was tasked with creating a shapely, all-carbon Coupe body for the Carrera GT, the Porsche Carrera GTZ was born. In production from 2003 to 2007, it is believed that just 6 of the 1,270 Carrera GTs have been converted to date. Zagato, known mainly for its work with Aston Martin and Alfa Romeos, kept the mechanical features that made the Carrera GT so great like the 5.7-litre V10 and manual gear shift. However, a more aerodynamic body and gradually rake coupe roofline featuring the Zagato double-bubble design motif helped put an Italian twist on the classic design.

Porsche 992 GT3 RS

A taste of what to come will be featured at Concours, as Porsche also displays its latest offering in the form of the most extreme 911 yet. The 992 can generate three times the downforce of a standard GT3 and produces so much power (518bhp) that there is no luggage space, instead opting for a motorsport-derived cooling system. Like the P1, it has achieved a sub-7 minute lap of the Nürburgring and is sure to generate a lot of attention in the City of London.

For more information about the event including how to book tickets, visit londonconcours.co.uk

Words: Mike Booth
Pictures: London Concours