2009 Lonville Classic

Lonville Classic 2009

What started as organising a small drive with friends around lake Como in Italy turned into a full three-day event with participants from six countries featuring a fantastic line-up of pre and post-war classic cars. With great ambiance, stunning backdrops, some healthy rivalry, and old and new friends the event was a real success.

Three days, three lakes. From the starting point at Lugano, over the mountains to Lake Como, onto Lago Maggiore and then around the Lake of Lugano. Along the way, various challenges, delightful villages, beautiful scenery and exquisite food. On the beautiful lakeside drives we put ourselves and our cars to the test in timed rally stages, where accurate timekeeping and navigation were of the essence.

A number of rally tests were a little bit tongue-in-cheek, such as dressing to match your car and painting it as well. There were rumours of biased judges and bribing during the event, and these rumours were all well founded! It is that humour which has been an inseparable part of the rally ever since.  As the event finished with a car display on the main square in Lugano, we were certain that we lived La Dolce Vita to the maximum, in true Lonville fashion.

All in all it was not a difficult decision to decide to run the event another time the next year. And thus a tradition was born. A lot of the attraction of this rally stems from the deliberately limited number of participants; a well-considered choice because much of the enjoyment can be found in getting to know each other and our cars. This element definitely set the theme for Lonville Classic in the following years.