Concours
Concours, short for Concours d’Elegance, is an event in PCA where members compete for the honor of the best presented Porsche. PCA Concours is open to any Porsche whether it is a meticulous restoration or well maintained daily driver.
Chesapeake PCA often has multiple concours events throughout the year where members are able to display their cars. Some may be as simple as a casual car show with a People’s Choice award all the way up to our prestigious Chesapeake Challenge Concours d’Elegance. The key element in all of them is the camaraderie among fellow contestants and having fun. We encourage you to enter one of our shows. It is a great way to share your clean car.
Concours Judging School
This event serves as training for PCA members who wish to judge cars in PCA Chesapeake Concours events like the Chesapeake Challenge. It is highly recommended that experienced judges or anyone who wants to judge cars in a Concours attend this seminar.
In scoring cars for Chesapeake Challenge, we focus on preparation, cleanliness, and overall condition. We do not penalize non-originality or imperfections such as stone chips.
Consequently, you will learn how to correctly fill out a score sheet and what notes you should be making on it. You will also learn how our points system works for scoring cars.
We will provide a car or two for judging practice and to demonstrate how to be consistent when judging many different cars. Concours Scoring Sheets will be distributed at this school.
Concours Preparation School
Want to learn how to prepare your car so it scores well in concours? Wonder what judges focus on? Then this event is for you. We will have a professional detailer prepare a car, and experienced judges demonstrate how they evaluate concours cars.
Held at Reflected Images Custom Detailing in Forest Hill, Maryland, this three-hour event will demonstrate professional techniques that you can apply when cleaning your own car. As a participant you will see industry best practices and learn about useful car-care products that can help bring your Porsche to its highest level.
Experienced judges will inspect the detailed car and explain what they look for when filling out their scoring sheets. All participants will receive copies of our Chesapeake Challenge Concours Scoring Sheets. There will be drawings for prizes at this event.
Chesapeake Challenge
The Chesapeake Challenge is our region’s premier Concours event. Entrants in the Chesapeake Challenge Concours d’Elegance can choose to be placed into a category appropriate with their experience level: Full Concours or Street-Prepared. Within each category, cars are grouped in classes based on year and model.
Cars are judged on preparation, cleanliness and overall condition. Cars will not be judged on originality or imperfections such as stone chips. To encourage all eligible owners to enter their car in concours, several factors will be utilized to provide at equal footing for cars. One of these being the relative age of the car within its class. As in the past, older cars will be awarded age points.
All Porsches in both categories start with a perfect score and points are deducted for lack of cleanliness in specified areas. In this manner, the event is similar to PCA Parade Concours event. The Porsches which are the best prepared will be rewarded. This is not a white glove competition as this is a no-touch event.
Full Concours
The Full Concours category is open to all PCA members and is recommended to those who take cleaning their Porsches very seriously. Many hours and Q-Tips are spent detailing these cars to ‘like-new’ condition. Attention to detail is imperative to compete in this class.
Judges will be examining each car’s exterior including fender wells, wheels, interior, luggage compartments and engine compartments. Porsches with a non-visible engine compartment will not have their engines judged, eg. Boxsters and newer Porsche models.
To be eligible for the Knowlton P Long / Lufthansa Trophy award you must enter your Porsche in the Full Concours class in addition to competing in the Rally and Tech Quiz.
Street-Prepared Concours
The Street-Prepared category is open to all PCA members and is recommended for those who like to drive their Porsches and maintain their cars with a less intensive approach than Full Concours.
Judges will be examining each car’s exterior (including wheel wells) and interior. Engine compartments, the undercarriage, and the luggage compartment are not judged.
To be eligible for the Street-Prepared Overall Trophy, you must enter your Porsche in the Street-Prepared class in addition to competing in the Rally and Tech Quiz.
Display Class (Non-Judged)
The Display class is open to all PCA members and is best suited for those who love their Porsches but do not desire to compete in a concours. These Porsches will not be judged. Together with the concours cars, they will be eligible for the People’s Choice award given to the Porsche that gathers the most votes from the Challenge’s participants.
Resources for Chesapeake Challenge event judging:
Concours Judging School Presentation
If you want to know more about PCA concours, region events or car preparation in general please contact us at concours@pcachs.org
Concours Committee:
Paul Koenigsmark
concours@pcachs.org