Every year in August, the Monterey peninsula in California
turns into a mecca for anyone who is into cars. Technically the week is just
for vintage cars, but the major OEM’s put on big bashes and test drives for the
well-heeled folks who tend to buy high-end vintage cars which of course results
in an amazing variety and quality of cars on the roads around the auctions,
golf courses, car shows, and of course near Laguna Seca which is the site of
the Rolex Motorsports Reunion which is one of the premier vintage racing events
in the world.
This year I was lucky enough to purchase a couple of tickets
to an event called The Quail. The Quail is held at the Quail Lodge golf resort
out in the Carmel Valley and it is something very special indeed. I also
managed to finagle a test drive in a Porsche Boxster S at the Porsche Zentrum
at The Quail so it was shaping up to be an epic day of fun.
I have always thought the Boxster was probably the purest
sportscar that Porsche has made in recent years and this year’s drive proved
out that thought. I took a great drive down Highway G16 to Laureles Grade and back with
minimal traffic, which resulted in maximum grins. It did not hurt that my
chaperone Lonnie was a massive Rodney Dangerfield fan and we spent most of the
time popping off quotes from such classics as “Back To School” between the
apexes. However, even though the Boxster was indeed brilliant at everything I
asked it to do and even snorted a little like a GT3 Cup racer when it popped
off PDK upshifts, I found myself still longing for the twitchy steering, road
noise, and oil stink of the older aircooled Porsches. Guess I am just not a new
sportscar kind of guy because Porsche has baked the new Boxster just right.
After the drive, I met up with my pal Tom and we headed into
The Quail. The first thing that struck me was the stunning quality and history
of nearly every car on the field. Within a span of 20 yards, I saw Steve
McQueen’s Jaguar XK-SS, a selection of Ferraris from the glorious years of the
‘50’s and ‘60’s, and a display of incredible new supercars from Pagani,
Ferrari, Porsche, Lamborghini, Galpin Auto Sports, and McLaren.
As Tom and I walked around we had to stop every few feet to
soak in the excellence and history spread out before us. We listened to some
fascinating interviews onstage, saw a skydiver in a wingsuit swoop over the
precious metal to a perfect landing, and then literally almost bumped into
Formula 1 Champions Sir Jackie Stewart and Michael Schumacher having a chat with former Ferrari team manager Jean
Todt.
The final joy of The Quail is the food and drink spread they
laid out for folks attending the show. There were a number of buffet style options to choose from and
everything we sampled would have been just the sort of plate you would expect
to get from a joint with a Michelin star out front. We ended the day stuffed
with prime food, full of wonderful memories, and slightly sunburned. As a good
friend of mine used to say, “not too shabby at all”.
Enjoy the pictures below and try to get down to Monterey
during car week in August 2014-hope to see you there!
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