The famed historic car festival decorates summer in California again this year. The 66th 'Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance' was held at Pebble Beach on Sunday 21 August and Gran Turismo awarded the 9th Gran Turismo Trophy to the 1966 Ferrari 330P4 Spider.

The Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance is one of the most prestigious historic car events in the world held on the third weekend of August every year. The stage for the show is the 18th hole of the famous Pebble Beach Golf course and on the day of the event, the fairway of the course is filled with automobile enthusiasts from around the globe.

The 'Gran Turismo Trophy', which began in 2008, selects a car out of the many sports cars and GT cars participating in the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance that befits the philosophy of 'Gran Turismo'. Here are the nominees for this year:

1933 Lancia Astura Aerodinamico
Streamlined designs became popular from the mid 1930's and this is an early example that embodies this styling in a one off model, created by the 'Castagna' Carrozzeria of Milan.

1949 Porsche 356SL
The people’s car, or the 'Volkswagen' developed by Dr. Ferdinand Porsche also developed into a sports car thanks to its advanced mechanisms and notable performance. The result was the 356. Starting from 1948 to the following year, there were 50 aluminium bodied coupés produced, which can be said to have been a series of prototypes. Of these cars, four were taken to the 1951 Le Mans by the factory works team. Though 3 cars unfortunately crashed in qualifying, the remaining car ranked 20th overall and won the 1100cc class. The car nominated here is that very winning car, a legendary model that led the start of Porsche's racing history.

1937 BMW 328 Mille Miglia Buegelfalte
The ultimate pre-war sports model of BMW was the 328, powered by a 6 cylinder engine. 462 cars were produced, of which 3 were given a roadster body designed in-house, and participated in the 1940 Mille Miglia. The cars performed very well, placing 3rd, 5th and 6th. It is said that the long sweeping design of the front fenders connecting into the rear fenders affected many sports car designs of the 1940’s and 1950’s. The name 'Buegelfalte' means 'trouser crease'.

1970 American Motors AMX/3
Rather than going the same direction as the Big 3, American Motors went down their own path in car development. The AMX/3 is a prototype aimed to enter the company into the sports car market. This was a full-fledged sports car, with a 6.4 litre V8 mounted mid-engine and a 4 speed manual transmission. However, economic turmoil within the company disallowed full production of the car and only 5 cars (with an additional car added later) were test produced. The car is a unique beauty that could have given the De Tomaso Pantera, which debuted around the same time, a good run for its money.

Bizzarrini 5300 GT Strada
This is a sports car created by Giotto Bizzarrini, the famed engineer who worked for companies such as Alfa Romeo, Ferrari and ATS in his day. After having developed cars such as the Iso Rivolta and the Grifo in the 1960's, Bizzarrini strongly desired to see the A3C, the race version of the Grifo, be produced for commercial sale. However when his dream did not come to be at Iso, he left the company and crowned his own name on the A3C, as the Bizzarrini 5300GT, delivering the car into the world himself. Though it did not see commercial success, the beautiful form of the car refined by Giugiaro in his Bertone days still draws attention of its viewers.

The car that triumphed over these attractive historic cars to receive the 2016 'Gran Turismo Trophy' was the 1966 Ferrari 330 P4 Spider. At the 1966 Le Mans 24 Hour race, Ford dominated the podium with the GT40 Mk. II, this was the car that Ferrari developed to take their revenge in the following year. The 4.4 litre V12 was given a new head with 3 valves per cylinder, raising its power significantly. Though they did not win the 1967 Le Mans, they were extremely competitive, ranking both in 2nd and 3rd place. The intimidating style of the machine designed by Carrozzeria Drogo incorporates a cockpit covered in a half domed aircraft-like canopy, and Plexiglas covered quad headlights. This is undoubtedly one of the best racing Ferrari’s in history. This car with the chassis number CH-856 is the very car which achieved 2nd place in the ’67 Le Mans.

In the other areas of the show grounds, many automobile manufacturers had their own booths. BMW, who reached their 100th anniversary this year, displayed their Art Car (cars painted by leaders of modern art). Daimler displayed their Vision Mercedes Maybach 6, a large coupé prototype. Ford gathered all of the GT40's in commemoration of the 50th year since the Le Mans victory by the same model. And Bugatti brought the working Bugatti Vision Gran Turismo car, attracting the attention of many spectators.

And finally, the Best of Show of this year’s Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance went to the 1936 Lancia Astura Pininfarina Cabriolet.