What better way to spend a late summer afternoon than with 350 of the most coveted cars in the world in one of the most sought-after summer resort towns on the East Coast with an invited guest list that included some of the most beautiful people in the Hamptons who all rallied together at one of the nation’s most exclusive motorcar events. I’m talking about The Bridge VI, where the rare and the priceless show off their stuff on the fairway of a golf club where the rich and famous play.
And Venü was there to take it all in, one amazing vehicle at a time.
Bridge VI, a collaboration between Robert Rubin, who has owned the Bridgehampton Race Circuit since 1981 and founded The Bridge golf club in 2002, and the event’s organizers: Shamin Abas, President of Shamin Abas Ultra-Luxury Communications, Brand Marketing & Business Development; and Jeffrey Einhorn, a Manhattan-based attorney and enthusiast, aptly took place on former racing grounds, just the setting for cars that can clock speeds never before seen in passenger automobiles. We’re talking about Czinger 21C V Max and its 21C high downforce version, beauty meets brawn with a serious need for speed.
The race course is now a golf course, presided over by The Bridge, the golf club built on the site of the former Bridgehampton Race Circuit, hence the name of this highly anticipated event.
For its fifth consecutive year as presenting sponsor, Richard Mille showcased some of its most exceptional timepieces, notably, the new limited-edition RM UP-01 Ferrari, the first watch born of Richard Mille’s partnership with the automaker. At just 1.75 millimeters thick, it’s a triumph of technical prowess and exemplifies a new approach to watch mechanics in which technicity dictates aesthetics.
Returning automobile partners Lamborghini, Bentley, Aston Martin, Rolls-Royce, McLaren, Bugatti, Koenigsegg, and Pagani each showcased a dynamic collection of vehicles, while Bonhams displayed five vintage automobiles, all scheduled for their upcoming auction, including a 1957 BMW 507 Series II Roadster with Hardtop.
Over in the designated Bridge Next area, Rimac, Delage, Hennessey and Guntherwerks each made their event debut showcasing their small production vehicles. Lift Foils, the original creator of the eFoil and global leader in sales, joined as a first-time partner. To mark the occasion, they created a special edition full-range LIFT3 board featuring the iconic logo of The Bridge. It was auctioned to benefit The Bridge Golf Foundation – one lucky winner took home the board.
This year, The Bridge premiered, either worldwide or on the East Coast, a series of vintage prototypes and show cars feared lost or hidden from public view for many years. The remarkable lineup included the 1967 Ferrari Dino Shooting Brake Prototype by Pininfarina, which made its first public appearance since 1968. Of similar note was the 1968 Monteverdi High Speed Pietro Frua Prototype — previously owned by Gunter Sachs and Brigitte Bardot, the car has never before left Switzerland. Also on display was the 1959 Citroën Squal Geneva show car — a wild design commissioned by Citroën for the 1960 Geneva salon as the company’s answer to Alfa Romeo’s BAT aerodynamic studies.
Of course, the event also featured some of greatest sports and sporting cars of all time, both modern and vintage, with highlights including a 1932 ex-works Talbot built for the Fox and Nicholl racing team, multiple Ferrari 365 GTB/4 Daytonas, the 1962 Ford / Holman Moody Challenger III, a 1967 Bizzarrini 5300 GT Strada, Porsches developed by the brand’s in-house GT department and the best of Lamborghini from Miura through Aventador.
As you might imagine, we were wined and dined as we strolled past the cars of our dreams, along with exhibitors who wooed us with their luxury goods, from NetJets full-sized Cessna Citation mockup, Technogym’s their latest equipment, designed to perfect one’s swing and maximize performance in their golf game and Hästens Beds, who presented one of their finest hand-crafted models, the 2000T, for guests to test out. We were tempted to put our feet up but those cars kept calling our names.
As we left the festivities with our own car keys in hand, hearts racing, we stopped to catch our breath, practicing I think for the next time we made the circuit with some of the most technologically advanced and rare cars we have ever seen. We also made a mental note to save the date for next year as this is one event we wouldn’t want to miss. ☐
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