Silverstone Festival & Iconic Auction (2025): Karl’s Take

We weren’t exactly bowled over by Silverstone Festival last year, so this time we didn’t make a special trip of it. But we did have a couple of entries with Iconic Auctioneers one timed, one live so I headed down on Thursday to set up our lots and figured I’d dip into the show on Friday while I was there.

Auction setup, familiar faces

While I was unloading and sorting our bits, I bumped into Jonny Smith from The Late Brake Show. Quick hello, quick photo, nice start to the day.

The auction itself spread across three halls and ran over three days; classic motorsport and collectors’ cars, plus a strong automobilia section. Iconic are good at headline-grabbers; think of the late Queen’s personal 2004 Range Rover that made £132,750 and set a world record for that model. This year’s catalogue had its own star power too.

The one that stopped me in my tracks was a Lamborghini Countach LP400 Periscopio, getting up close to that car is a treat on its own, especially given the reserve was £1M.

Two Porsches also caught my eye: a 1973 911 (the real deal) and a 1984 911 2.7 RS homage. The guided price gap between an original and a well-executed replica is… substantial. But I’ll say this: the homage was so well done that, at a glance, even an enthusiast could be forgiven for a double take.

Our lots in the auction

We’d entered two items, including a live-auction piece that paid homage to the Porsche Monte Carlo cars of the 1960s, our “dirty Gulf” wrapped bonnet. It sold for 2.5× the estimate, which we’re very pleased with, which was a nice nod to the design and a solid testament to the wrap quality.

After a long day of setup and a stroll through the automobilia, I headed over to the Hilton Hotel Silverstone for a cold one. Beer in hand, I wandered outside for a perfectly timed surprise with the F1 line-up spanning eras, from early machinery through to modern cars, not a bad way to finish the day.

I slept at Whittlebury Park Hotel & Spa—decent rate, comfy bed, good breakfast - no complaints.

Friday at Silverstone Festival

Back over to the circuit on Friday morning for a look round. I ended up watching the historic touring car tin-tops for a while. A Rover SD1 in Bastos livery looked absolutely right, never thought I’d say I loved one of those, but it was spot on.

I also sent wifey a batch of photos of a black oval Beetle: chrome ski rack on top and, underneath, a six-cylinder Porsche engine (confirmed after I got down on the floor for a proper look). Turns out it’s owned by a race team from Austria, which somehow made it even cooler.

I didn’t hang about too long after that, wanted to get ahead of the bank holiday traffic heading west.

Verdict

Last year’s festival didn’t win us over. This time, I only went because we had auction business, and that side of the weekend was the standout. The show itself looked more car orientated than last year, but the real value for me was being hands-on with the auction lots and seeing the metal up close without making a whole weekend of it.