Photos by Kevin Arechiga, words by Vijay Sankar
The seventh edition of The Bridge underlined its elegance and exclusiveness amongst the nation’s premier automotive events. Photographer Kevin and I almost missed the last-minute Friday event expansion due to delayed flights, but fortunately managed to capture the best of it.
Staged at the golf club that sits on the original Bridgehampton Race Circuit, the name of the exhibition is a homage to the historic races that were held at the track for almost fifty years. The spotlight falls on post-war sports and competition cars that raced or would have qualified to compete at the Bridgehampton Race Circuit during the days of yore. A carefully curated selection of 300+ cars of notable interest are featured at the annual event.
A favorite among photographers, the Bridge sets itself apart from other events of the kind by its exquisite beauty of location, and the selection of cars. The Bridge Golf Club still preserves elements and architecture that are reminiscent of the erstwhile racetrack, which makes for artsy juxtaposition of cars on the grounds. The undulating greens flanked by the dramatic pink sunset, live music and delectable food and drinks make a fairy tale setting for this concours-style event. However, the event distinguishes itself again by not having any awards for the cars on display. It is simply a delightful, invite-only garden party style gathering of automotive grandeur.
This time around, the weather did not play favorably during the weekend, which led to the cancellation of the main Bridge VII event scheduled for Saturday, September 23rd. A quick pivot expanded the planned Friday evening Collectors Reception to quadruple the expected cars on display to include 160 vehicles. Sunday then brought the second edition of The Bridge at Topping Rose House, bookending the weekend. This offered a classic car exhibition and garden party brunch by Chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten.
The Porsche collection on display for its 75th anniversary was especially impressive, and so were the racecars of Bruce McLaren. Lamborghini, Bentley, Czinger Vehicles, Rolls-Royce, McLaren, Bugatti, Pagani, Polestar, Automobili Pininfarina, and Lucid showed off their latest and greatest on the lawns. The event marked Lamborghini’s 60 years, Pagani celebrated 25 years, and Bentley celebrated 20 years, and the end of an era for the W12 engine. Rolls-Royce showed its Spectre, Bonhams exhibited some of the most unique cars ahead of its upcoming Fall auctions. Czinger Vehicles displayed its pathbreaking human-AI designed and additive-manufactured 21C V Max, while Lucid brought its Air Sapphire and Air Pure. Zenvo Automotive displayed the all-new Aurora model, as revealed during Monterey Car Week, showing the Aurora Agil and Tur. Displaying their exceptional coachwork, Eccentrica showed their exclusive prototype, the restomod based on the iconic Diablo of the 90s.
You could notice cliques taking shape–there were Bavarian masterpieces, the uber-cool Gemballa E30, the air-cooled Arsham Safari 911, abundant British steel, elderly Broncos and abstract cars, pre-war metal, and even some Italian rally cars. In spotlighting the ornate mechanical details of a champagne Singer DLS, the patina on a well-worn period Le Mans prototype, and the eccentric flourishes of the Oil Stain Lab Half11, these exhibits celebrated car culture in a fitting way.
Sunday also saw the Cars & Coffee event hosted at the Bridgehampton Historical Society, displaying many of the cars in town for The Bridge weekend, which was open to the public. The Bridge once again upped the ante from its previous editions by evermore careful curation and obsessive art direction in the placement of the exhibit elements.
The overall feeling was that the weekend ultimately created a melting pot for automotive passion and culture. Lines blurred between value propositions, rarity, perceived elite-ness, historic significance and sheer pecking order to bring together a truly eclectic collection of cars reliving their glory days.