Italian Car & Bike Day 2012

This is Hopetoun House. It's one swanky palace located just outside the historic town of South Queensferry near Edinburgh in eastern Scotland. It was built as a residence for the Earl of Hopetoun who in 1701, just when it was completed, was 16 at the time. If he were here today, he'd be headlining on Teen Cribs for sure!

For the fourth year in a row, many proud Italian car owners gathered at Hopetoun to thrust their pride and joys into the spotlight. The variety here this year included both old and new; from the £500 Fiat Cinquecento, to a limited edition Ferrari. Here are some of our highlights.

We decided to take the west to east route on the driveway which was the size of a Premier League pitch. This meant that the prancing horses were up first. The west side of the driveway was dominated by Ferraris (95 per cent of them finished in red of course) but one that immediately caught our eye was this 458 Italia GT3.

Unlike the standard road car, the GT3 doesn't have those unique 'flex splitters' at the front so the car meets racing regulations. It's also less powerful than the road car for the same reason - 550hp instead of 562hp - but the car is just over 200kg lighter. A car just like this one helped AF Course win the 2011 FIA GT3 Europen Championship.

Next was a limited edition 599. Not the GTO sadly, but instead the F1 edition. This car was made to celebrate 60 years of Ferrari winning F1 races as the name suggests. It comes with the HGTE handling pack which obviously means it's stiffer than the standard car. It also has Sabelt bucket seats finished in Alcantara for us Europeans whereas cars on the other side of the pond would have Recaros.

Finally, a lovely pair (that's what he said). These are two of 3761 246 Dinos which were made between 1969 and 1974. Powering them is a 2.4-litre V6 with 195bhp giving them a 0-50mph time of 5.5 seconds and capable of top speeds of around 146mph due to weight just above a tonne.

To the east side now where we saw (and heard for that matter) some rampaging bulls. Lamborghinis that turned up included an Aventador, a Countach, a couple of Espadas and this Diablo Sport Veloce from 1998, the second Lambo ever to have the SV title after the Muria and before the Murcielago. The Diablo (Spanish for 'Devil') SV has the same V12 engine as the standard car but instead of having under 500hp, it has 510hp plus larger Brembo disks at the front. One thing this car makes us miss are pop up headlamps. Why can't they come back?

Further east were many stylish cars with Tridents on the grilles. Next to a Khamsin and infront of a Coupe sat a Grand Turismo MC Stradale. In production since 2011, the Stradale is the most powerful (444hp), lightest (1770kg) and most aerodynamic GranTurismo made with those cheek implants on the front and rear dam giving the car better downforce plus help cool the brakes and engine.

Alfa Romeo stole centre stage. We couldn't pick a favourite so from left to right we shot a GT, a 159 Sportwagon, a Spider, a 147, a Mito and hiding at the back; a Brera - which we couldn't get a shot of on its own since its owner just couldn't stop getting in the way by cleaning it constantly. If we had our own Brera though, we'd probably do the same.

Opposite them were the Fiat Coupe owners club. It's one of the top ten used coupes we recommend if you are young and want a stylish and low-slung way of getting around. Credit to the chap or chappete with the two-tone paint job at the back; black roof makes it look better to our eyes. Other Fiats that were there included Barchettas, 500s new and old, Abarths and pimped Cinquecentos and Puntos.

Last but not least from this year's Italian car collection were Lancia with the star for us being the Lancia Delta HF Intergrale. A four-wheel drive rally legend with a 0-62mph time of 5.7 seconds and a top speed of 137mph. Through the four evolutions of Delta, Lancia won a total of 46 word championship rallies and were the manufacturer title holders for six consecutive years.

By now you're probably thinking: 'An Italian car gathering with no Zondas, Enzos or 8Cs?' However, there's certainly light at the end of the tunnel, because as a certain Mr Gav from PetrolBlog will tell you, it's sometimes the car park that provides the most surprises per square foot. The Porsche owner's club had its own designated car park. There was a Morgan Aeromax that escaped before we could grab a picture (if you ask anyone that was there in the morning, they'll back me up), plenty of Aston Martins and even hidden with civilians was this Mercedes SLS.

The biggest surprise no doubt was this Rolls Royce Silver Ghost. Made between 1906 and 1926 it had a six-cylinder engine that produced an amazing 50hp giving it a 0-62mph time of... never. But in the early 20th century, that was a £300,000 Phantom, which funnily enough was the Silver Ghost's successor from 1925.

Oh, before we forget, it is after all an Italian car and bike day so to satisfy any bike enthusiasts among us, we managed to get one picture of the lot. There's not much we know about two-wheeled motors, but what we do know is that Ducati is owned by Audi. If that helps.