Palo Alto Concours d'Elegance - End of an Era
 

I was thinking about attending the Palo Alto Concours d'Elegance and just saw that they've moved the venue from Stanford to the San Mateo County Event Center.

Palo Alto Concours d'Elegance

Seems like a horrible decision. As it turns out, I can't make it...guess they should change the name as well. :confused:

Hmmm... San Mateo borders Hillsborough, and there already exists a Hillsborough Concours. It's a shame the PA organization could not find a suitable replacement venue in (or near) Palo Alto.

I wonder if they will have the famous Antique Tractor class at the San Mateo location, as this part truly represented "The Farm" (aka: Stanford).

Isn't the new venue just 12 miles up the road on El Camino Real?

True, but...

1. There are like 4 or 5 cities/towns between PA and SM.
2. PA is more closely related to Silicon Valley, where SM is more closely related to San Francisco/Peninsula.
3. IMHO, moving a Concours from a plush, green, high class venue to a cement paved county fair (with traveling carnival) is not my idea of "Elegance".

Like so many things in life, there is more behind this story than a voluntary move. If I recall, there were issues with Development on the Stanford campus that created the need for a new venue. The SM location is/should be a temporary home. While hardscape is never a desirable platform on which to show cars, at least visitor parking will be close and plentiful (probably for a small fee) and access from 101 and 92 is a snap. There are also certain rules about sanctioned events having the cars displayed on grass, so we will have to see how PAC deals with this. They also indicate that they will have room for (club) car corrals. If enough guys from BACC post here that they would like to have a corral, I would be happy to check with the PAC authorities to secure a spot. Time is short as it is only a week away. Maybe we could do a brunch and just attend the show.

Hillsborough Concours will again take place this year (Sunday July 21st) at the Crystal Springs Golf Course, along 280 less than 5 miles north of Highway 92. In previously speaking with those folks, they offered to have us park in their Car Corral. Again if you have an interest, I will pursue an adequate number of spaces. Hillsborough's Concours move 3-4 years ago to this new location offering more space, vendors (including the ability to serve alcohol which the prior school campus did not allow) and a wonderful vista on the 18th hole overlooking the Coastal hills between the Crystal Springs reservoir and I-280.

Tom

I'm with you. The SM fairgrounds is sort of an ugly venue and the PA concours won't be the same there

There's a ton of construction on the Stanford campus, and flat open space is disappearing quickly. I'm not so sure this move is temporary.

I agree, this move might not be so temporary, there may be other factors at play here as well. I don't have any specifics, but had heard there might be issues with the accessibility and use of campus property by outside groups. If this is indeed the case, given the long time partnership of PAC with the University and the amount of money raised for charity by the show over the years, one would hope some type accommodation could be made.

Tom,

I plan on going and if there is some kind of 'corral' parking, that would be great. If not I will take the daily driver. I would be up for breakfast either way.

- Tim

Breakfast and the Concours this Sunday
 

Several of us are planning on breakfast before the show and then going over when they open. Heidi's Pies (1941 S. El Camino Real in San Mateo) at 9 AM is the breakfast spot. Here is the first page of Heidi's breakfast menu: http://www.heidipies.com/hdPiesMenuBreakfastPage1.htm A greasy spoon that is about 6 blocks from the Fairgrounds. I am not planning on bringing my Cobra as there did not seem to be enough interest to set up a Corral.

Please post or send me a PM to let me know if you plan to join us in order that we might save a large enough table.

Tom

This link will work:

Heidis Pies Family Restaurant

I won't be able to make the breakfast, but I am taking the kids to the show, probably at 10:30 or so.

I'll meet you guys on Sunday at Heidi's @ 9 am.

I doubt that the venue change happened outside of Stanford. Too bad. I'll be at Heidi's at 9:00 AM with my daily driver. The Beast is being worked on by Steve and Bob. confused:

We tried on the behalf of the PA concours folks to get the event back at Stanford , but it was a board level decision by Stanford , stating that the PA-C event was now too commercial , and it conflicted with the Stanford charter. Apparently they have felt this way for some time, and so this has now come to a close.

I couldnt bring myself to go see it at the SM center , - I wanted to remember the event the way it was....

in other news ;

Rich's car is in surgery currently and will be rehabilitated fully , current ailments include old jaguar seals in the diff spraying diff fluid all over the brakes , like dan gurney did with champagne. :)

So Tim, how was the event this past weekend?

The event was decent, but less cars than before. A very nice '41 Cad sedan with everything but the Thompsons, ready to roll. My favorite car was an original black '63 Ferrari Lusso coupe. Ahhh.

When Steve and Bob finish my machine, I'll be so happy. Maybe we can get Mr. Gurney to pour more Champagne on it...

I can understand why Stanford chose not to host the PA Concours, however what I don't understand is why the Concours organizers failed to identify/secure a suitable green area within the city limits of PA. There are many parks and schools that I'm sure would have been more elegant than the SM Fair Grounds. Just saying...

The event was a complete disaster - a shadow of the show at Stanford which we participated in for many years. Broken web site, poor communications, horrible venue, no lunch for participants, many display cars forced to park on tarmac, terrible PA system and lousy announcer, bad organization, I could go on and on. Worst of all was the mangling of the SCCA score sheets by the inept staff. Several awards were given incorrectly or not at all, and the recipients were humiliated and embarrassed. Days later, the organizers had still not straightened out the mess. The management needs to be canned and the venue needs to be changed to someplace fitting like a country club. It may be too late. It would appear that a once great Concours has been irreparably FUBARed. We will never attend this disaster again.

Sounds like a mess. I'm sure the organizers are going to get an earful and many long time participants probably just won't go back. Like Randy suggested, they need to take a hard look at bringing the event back to Palo Alto (park, golf course, etc.).