THE-PENINSULA-HOTELS
9.2.2021 07:02:26 CET | Business Wire | Press release
The Peninsula Hotels, whose international hospitality brand has epitomised glamour and luxury for nearly a century, today announced the winner of its sixth annual classic car showcase, The Peninsula Classics 2020 Best of the Best Award. The winning car, the 1954 Ferrari 750 Monza, coachwork by Scaglietti , has achieved distinction both for its impressive racing history and its exacting restoration. It became eligible as a Best of the Best Award contender after winning Best of Show at the 2020 Palm Beach Cavallino Classic.
This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210208005295/en/
The Best of the Best Award was co-founded in 2015 by The Hon. Sir Michael Kadoorie, Chairman of The Hongkong and Shanghai Hotels, Limited (owner and operator of The Peninsula Hotels), along with William E. (Chip) Connor, Bruce Meyer and Christian Philippsen. The Award celebrates the fine engineering and design of classic cars built by internationally renowned manufacturers, selected from an exceptional short list of winners from the most exclusive concours. This year’s award has a contracted list of nominees due to cancellation or postponement of partner concours in 2020 as a result of the COVID-19.
The 1954 Ferrari 750 Monza was chosen from a selection of four nominees crafted by automakers from Italy, Germany, and the United States, including a 1969 Porsche 917 KH Coupé, coachwork by the Factory, 2020 Best of Show, Concours of Elegance Hampton Court Palace, 1931 Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 Monza Spider, coachwork by Zagato, 2020 Best of Show, Salon Privé and a 1929 Duesenberg Model J Town Limousine, coachwork by Murphy, 2020 Best of Show, Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance.
The winner was selected by The Best of the Best Award’s esteemed panel of judges, including, amongst others, designers Gordon Murray (former Formula 1 designer for Brabham and McLaren) and Anne Asensio (Vice President of Design Experience at Dassault Systèmes), and prominent classic car collectors Laurence Graff and Jay Leno.
“It was a difficult task for our judges to select a winner this year. Our judging procedures had to be carried out remotely and unfortunately the main awards event had to be cancelled, with social distancing measures and safety our top priority,” said The Hon. Sir Michael Kadoorie. “With such a prestigious collection of nominees, choosing one winner was especially challenging. However, it is always a great pleasure to spotlight the remarkable achievements of the automotive industry, and to create a small spark of joy in the current challenging times. These classic vehicles are an enduring testament to human artistry and ingenuity.”
The winning 750 Monza made its original debut with a 2-litre motor at the Inaugural Grand Prix of the Imola Autodrome in June of 1954. After driver Umberto Maglioli secured first place for Scuderia Ferrari with the car, it was subsequently fitted with a 3-litre engine and went on to compete in several other major races that year, including the Monsanto Grand Prix (where it won), and Nassau Race Week – where it was driven by its original owner, Alfonso de Portago, and secured a 1st and two 2nd places.
The car’s next owner, Sterling Edwards, raced the 750 Monza over the next two years mainly in California, including the Pebble Beach Road Races (an event he founded) in 1955 and 1956 – garnering four 1st-place and two first-in-class wins in the car. After the tragic death of his friend Ernie McAfee prompted Edwards to stop racing altogether, he sold the car to his engineer Bob Whitmer, who replaced its engine with a Chevy V8 and continued to successfully race it through the early 1960s.
The car spent most of the ensuing 50 years disassembled, though its chassis, body, engine, and gearbox were all carefully preserved in a small San Francisco-area warehouse. In 2016, a complete restoration of the car was initiated under the direction of Bob Smith Coachworks, located in Gainesville, Texas, a process that took new owners Tom and Jill Peck of southern California over two years to complete.
The refurbishment was guided by several noted Ferrari historians: Marcel Massini of Switzerland, Alan Boe of Braselton, Georgia, David Seielstad of Hawaii, as well as past owners Sterling Edwards’ son Hammond and Bob Whitmer, both from northern California. The vintage certification team at Ferrari Classiche in Maranello, Italy, was also helpful in piecing together the early racing career of the car while campaigned by Ferrari. Bringing their combined wealth of knowledge to the project, these experts employed many of the vehicle’s preserved original documents and instruments, including the original owners’ manual, toolboxes, build sheets, and a treasure trove of original photographs of the car. Computer modelling of these photos was employed to repair flaws in the body from the car’s racing days, and 3-D printing technology was utilised to duplicate some parts that were irreparable. The vehicle’s livery was restored to that which it sported in its first Carrera Panamericana race in 1954.
Once fully restored, the 1954 Ferrari 750 Monza won the Enzo Ferrari Award at the 2019 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance and 2020 Best of Show at the Cavallino Classic, before being named winner of The Peninsula Classics 2020 Best of the Best Award.
“It is a true honour to be recognised by the venerable judges of The Peninsula Classics,” said Mr. Peck of his car’s latest success. “Like so many classic cars, this one has been both a labour of love and the product of dedicated teamwork. The Best of the Best Award is a crowning achievement for everyone involved.”
About The Peninsula Classics Best of the Best Award
Through a shared desire to celebrate the best of what defines the automotive world, The Hon. Sir Michael Kadoorie, Chairman of The Hongkong and Shanghai Hotels, Limited, launched The Peninsula Classics Best of the Best Award in 2015 with co-founders William E. (Chip) Connor, Bruce Meyer and Christian Philippsen. Each founder shares a common passion and appreciation of fine motor cars, the preservation of their heritage and immaculate restoration projects. The award, sponsored by The Peninsula Hotels , brings together elite ‘Best of Show’ winners from nine of the renown concours circuits around the globe: Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance, Cavallino Classic, Chantilly Arts & Elegance Richard Mille, Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este, Concours of Elegance Hampton Court Palace, Goodwood Cartier Style et Luxe Concours d’Elegance, Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, Salon Privé, and The Quail, A Motorsports Gathering.
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210208005295/en/
Link:
Social Media:
About Business Wire
Subscribe to releases from Business Wire
Subscribe to all the latest releases from Business Wire by registering your e-mail address below. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Latest releases from Business Wire
SES Launches Cash Tender Offer28.9.2026 13:21:00 CEST | Press release
THIS ANNOUNCEMENT RELATES TO THE DISCLOSURE OF INFORMATION THAT QUALIFIED OR MAY HAVE QUALIFIED AS INSIDE INFORMATION WITHIN THE MEANING OF ARTICLE 7(1) OF THE MARKET ABUSE REGULATION (EU) 596/2014. NOT FOR RELEASE, PUBLICATION OR DISTRIBUTION IN OR INTO OR TO ANY PERSON LOCATED OR RESIDENT IN, OR AT ANY ADDRESS IN, THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, ITS TERRITORIES AND POSSESSIONS (INCLUDING PUERTO RICO, THE U.S. VIRGIN ISLANDS, GUAM, AMERICAN SAMOA, WAKE ISLAND AND THE NORTHERN MARIANA ISLANDS), ANY STATE OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA OR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA (THE UNITED STATES) OR TO ANY U.S. PERSON (AS DEFINED IN REGULATION S OF THE UNITED STATES SECURITIES ACT OF 1933, AS AMENDED (THE SECURITIES ACT)) OR IN OR INTO ANY JURISDICTION WHERE IT IS UNLAWFUL TO RELEASE, PUBLISH OR DISTRIBUTE THIS ANNOUNCEMENT (SEE “OFFER AND DISTRIBUTION RESTRICTIONS” BELOW). SES (the “Offeror”) announces today that it is inviting holders of its outstanding €500,000,000 0.875 per cent. Guaranteed Notes
Horizon3 Earns Cyber Essentials Certification Covering NodeZero EU Network28.9.2026 10:00:00 CEST | Press release
Certification provides a defined security baseline for the network supporting Horizon3’s EU data sovereignty site in Germany Horizon3, the AI-Native Proactive Security Company, today announced that it has earned Cyber Essentials Plus certification covering its NodeZero AWS EU network. The network supports Horizon3’s EU data sovereignty site in Germany. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260928143792/en/ Horizon3 Earns Cyber Essentials Certification Covering NodeZero EU Network Organizations use NodeZero® to test production environments and find weaknesses attackers can exploit. When customers and partners assess the platform itself, they also need to understand the security standards applied to its supporting infrastructure. The Cyber Essentials certificate identifies a defined portion of that infrastructure and the baseline against which it was assessed. Developed by the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre, Cybe
Thales Expands Collaboration with Google Cloud to Help Secure Agentic AI Workflows28.9.2026 09:03:00 CEST | Press release
Integration enables new protections for communications between AI agents, models, enterprise data, and tools to help control what agents can access, share, and do Thales AI Security Fabric mitigates risks, brings enhanced visibility and policy enforcement to AI-driven workflows on Google Cloud Thales today announced an expanded collaboration with Google Cloud to help enterprises address emerging security and governance challenges associated with agentic AI, bringing integrated protection, visibility, and policy enforcement to AI-driven workflows on Google Cloud. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260928647188/en/ ©Thales The integration of Thales AI Security Fabric with Google Cloud Gemini Enterprise helps organizations apply security, governance, and visibility across interactions among users, agents, models, and tools in real time. “Enterprises are moving from AI assistants to AI agents that can autonomously ta
SPORVIGILANCE Targets Safer Medicines and Billion-Euro Savings for Global Pharma Facing EU IDMP Fines28.9.2026 08:13:00 CEST | Press release
British regulatory technology company SPORVIGILANCE is targeting one of global pharma’s major compliance challenges with a platform offering a faster route to IDMP and SPOR readiness, compliance and governance. As the European Medicines Agency advances structured medicinal product data, companies face pressure to keep regulatory data accurate, standardised and aligned with EMA requirements. SPORVIGILANCE replaces fragmented manual assessment with a regulatory intelligence layer built around IDMP, SPOR and Product Management Service (PMS) requirements. At its core is an IDMP Business Rule Validation Engine that assesses medicinal product data at scale and at field level, identifying missing, inconsistent and non-compliant data. SPORVIGILANCE is the only platform to translate IDMP business rules directly into automated validation logic, enabling companies to test data against the rules rather than rely on manual interpretation. Its PMS Alignment capability reconciles internal RIM data ag
Sofinnova Partners Closes Oversubscribed €82 Million Sofinnova MD Start IV Fund to Create the Next Generation of Medtech Companies28.9.2026 08:00:00 CEST | Press release
The new fund extends Sofinnova’s 20-year track record of company creation with capacity to launch six to eight new ventures across Europe and the US Sofinnova Partners ("Sofinnova"), a leading European life sciences venture capital firm based in Paris, London, and Milan, today announced the final close of Sofinnova MD Start IV at €82 million. The fund, which was oversubscribed, will help expand Sofinnova's medtech company-creation strategy across Europe and the US with greater capacity to launch new ventures and support them through key stages of development. With plans to launch six to eight new medtech companies over the next five years, Sofinnova MD Start IV will support ventures from inception through key clinical and operational milestones, providing founders with both capital and hands-on support. Sofinnova MD Start's approach combines clinical insight, entrepreneurial talent, and operational expertise to tackle significant unmet medical needs. The previous fund, Sofinnova MD Sta
In our pressroom you can read all our latest releases, find our press contacts, images, documents and other relevant information about us.
Visit our pressroom