Three Car Events Worth Travelling For in 2026

Villa d’Este, The Aurora, and Goodwood in 2026

Some car events are about horsepower.

The better ones are about atmosphere.

A lawn by Lake Como. A garden in Båstad. A hill in West Sussex. Three different places, but the same pull: cars shown in the right setting, with enough history, design, and old advertising language in the air to make it feel bigger than a weekend.

At Chronoworks, this is the world we keep coming back to. The cars, the watches, the campaigns, the old magazine pages. The culture around the machine.

For 2026, these are three events worth keeping an eye on.

Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este

Lake Como, Italy
15–17 May 2026

Villa d’Este is the elegant one.

Held on the shores of Lake Como, the Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este is less about noise and more about restraint. The setting does a lot of the work. Old coachbuilt cars. Rare prototypes. People who understand why a line across a fender matters.

It is one of the few events where the cars do not feel like they have been placed on display. They feel like they belong there.

That is also why Villa d’Este sits so close to the world of old advertising. The car was rarely sold as transport alone. It was sold as taste. As place. As a signal of how someone saw the world.

A good car advert from the period understood this. So does Villa d’Este.

Beauty, history, and taste in one place. Not loud. Not rushed. Just very hard to ignore. 

The Aurora

Båstad, Sweden
26–28 June 2026

The Aurora is the newer name, which makes it interesting.

Set at Norrvikens Trädgårdar in Båstad, it brings the concours idea north. Cars, yachts, lifestyle, and summer on the Swedish coast. Less old-world formality than Villa d’Este. More Scandinavian ease.

It has the chance to become something of its own. Not a copy of the established European events, but a northern take on the car garden party.

That matters.

Car culture needs new stages. And Båstad gives The Aurora a different rhythm. The town, the coast, the long summer light, the gardens. It is not just about what is parked on the lawn. It is about the whole setting.

For Chronoworks, this is the interesting part. The Aurora sits close to the same world as vintage advertising: cars, design, watches, summer, status, and restraint.

The kind of world where a car, a watch, or an advert says more when it does not try too hard.

Goodwood Festival of Speed

Goodwood House, West Sussex, England
9–12 July 2026

Goodwood is the loud one.

The Festival of Speed has the scale, the theatre, and the movement. Cars do not just sit still. They run up the hill. Old F1 cars, rally cars, Le Mans cars, prototypes, motorcycles, road cars, strange one-offs. All in the same weekend.

It can feel busy. Sometimes too busy. But that is also the point.

Goodwood is one of the few places where a historic racing car still feels alive. You see it, hear it, smell it, and then watch it disappear up the hill.

In 2026, the event runs from 9–12 July. The theme is “The Rivals – Epic Racing Duels”, which suits Goodwood well. Racing history is often remembered through machines, but the best stories usually come from conflict. Ford versus Ferrari. Hunt versus Lauda. Driver against driver. Brand against brand. 

Goodwood is where the printed racing myth becomes loud again.

The cars that once filled magazine adverts are moving, smoking, and being used. That is the whole appeal.

Which one should you choose?

Villa d’Este is for elegance.

The Aurora is for discovery.

Goodwood is for noise.

If you care about design, go to Lake Como.
If you want to see where Scandinavian concours culture is heading, go to Båstad.
If you want the full theatre of motorsport, go to Goodwood.

The best choice, of course, is all three.

These events matter because they keep the old language of car culture alive. The settings, the badges, the rivalries, the watches, the printed campaigns.

All the things that made cars feel larger than machinery.

That is also why original adverts still matter. They carry the same world, only on paper.

Shop the story

For those drawn to the same world, our archive includes original adverts from the eras that shaped car, watch, and motorsport culture.