The Quail 2023- Imposter Syndrome
“I was within and without, simultaneously enchanted and repelled by the inexhaustible variety of life.”
~Fitzgerald F. Scott, The Great Gatsby, (Character: Nick Carraway as the narrator),
We’ve been going to Car Week events for the better part of 30 years now, and there’s not much about the now (actually) week-long calendar of events that we haven’t experienced in the flesh. In the old days, the extent of our Car Week was going to Laguna Seca for the historic races for a day or so and prowling the streets and garages of Monterey and Carmel. Nowadays we try to cram as many things as we can into the four days that our busy lives allow us to attend. As we’ve published before, Car Week offers opportunities of all kinds, sizes, and costs. As some of the events are at a price point beyond the means of most mere mortals, we’ve been able to successfully leverage our experience as pseudo-automotive journalists to justify entry some of these more exclusive events. Each time we’ve been afforded access to these more prestigious affairs, we’ve been blown away by what we’ve been exposed to, but we’ve been able to sit down, discuss, and process our thoughts and pictures into content that we feel accurately reflects our experience.
Our 2023 Car Week included a visit to an event that has eluded us for years and years, and as the title of this piece suggests, this was nothing normal. It was something beyond the pale, that we’ve really struggled to wrap our heads around. We saw so many phenomenal and extraordinary things at the event that we can’t believe that we actually saw some of the things we saw and worse, we’re not sure that we know how to coherently recap it for you. No kidding, at some points, we considered the possibility that we were having out-of-body experiences. In the immediate aftermath of the visit, we were literally at a loss for words for how to quantify the Quail…if you know us personally, you know that doesn’t happen often.
Unveiled: The Maserati MCXtrema is a 730 horsepower racing car based on the MC20.
The full name is The Quail, A Motorsports Gathering, but to those in the automotive orbit it is simply known as The Quail. For most, it’s the unicorn-ian event of Monterey Car Week, mentioned in whispers and assumed to be similar to the the Pebble Beach Concours, yet it’s different. They are both the height of opulence and highly coveted but they check different boxes. The Pebble Beach Concours is a much-curated display of the amazing history of the automobile and it’s influence in North America and the world. The Quail is a testament of the continued evolution and disruption of the automotive and motorsports world built around nods to the past, present and future of the automobile. It has become, in its twenty-year history at Car Week, the primary unveiling event for the latest offerings of both the world’s major automakers and bespoke builder and tuning houses alike. It’s where the pinnacle of automotive design and technology come together to display boundary-pushing new models from the likes of Lotus, Hennessey, Pininfarina, Singer, Ruf, and dozens of others. It provides multiple networking opportunities for those in the actual business of high-end cars and concepts while also giving brand loyalists and potential future customers the opportunity to talk directly with the heads of their preferred brands.
The Singer Turbo Study.
If all this isn’t enough, the Quail also features a judged car show featuring scores and scores of privately owned vehicles of every shape, size, and color. These cars were grouped all around the event filling in the field surrounded by all of the hospitality, vendors and manufacturer displays. These cars alone would constitute a stand alone car show, and a pretty amazing one at that. The Porsche flex was particularly strong. We saw eight 959s, four Carrera GTs (two in amazing and rare colors), and an array of 1973 RSs in a number of their iconic colors. Also seen on the lawn were six examples of the ultra exclusive Aston Martin One-77 (that’s 13% of the world’s supply!) and numerous prototype vehicles from throughout automotive history. All in all, and all by itself, an impressive thing.
Is it an automotive celebration coupled with a whopping scoop of hospitality, or is it an all-day cocktail party with a car show occurring in the background? Likely both, depending on one’s approach to the event. Based on some of the conversations we overheard and some behavior we observed there was certainly a sizable part of the crowd that was on scene in order to be seen. It is a sensory experience that produces ADD-like symptoms. Look there, look here, look EVERYWHERE….can't stop looking around!!!
We came in with a mission: Don’t get distracted by the food and drink, which are all included with admission, focus on our purpose which is to document, to the best of our meager abilities, just what The Quail is all about. Breath and focus… breath and focus. Yeah, that attempt at achieving a state of levelheaded calmness lasted all of a few seconds and then it was off to the races. Eyes darting, necks craning and twisting. What’s that? Who is that? Show me more, more, and more.
We would love to say that we smoothed things out and proceeded to make our way around the grounds with full grace and dignity while calmly contemplating the surroundings so as to pen poetic missives about the state of our shared car community and culture. We’re pros at this stuff, right? Nah! Dry agape mouths and perspiration is how we came to party.
This year’s round of unveilings and never before witnessed included an array of high-performance electric cars from the likes of Lamborghini and Rimac just to name a few all pushing the boundaries of just how fast can one go to 0-60mph without regard to tire tread or neck muscles. This is a good time for a quick note to anyone who still may have doubts about our electric future. It’s here and it’s only going to grow.
The 100% electric 2024 Rolls Royce Spectre
That’s not to say that internal combustion engine (ICE) technology will still be around in various forms, but when the world’s most exclusive automakers embrace electric and hybrid powertrains it’s time to come out of the survivor bunker and face the sunlight. Special editions from the likes of RUF, Singer and Guntherworks demonstrated the innovation in ICE technology is far from over and engineers still seek to push the boundaries of combustion power coupled with rare composite materials and metals making cars ever more lighter and faster.
Let us not forget the parking lots around the Quail that have become legendary over the years. We ourselves in prior years have made the parking areas and ingress and egress roads a priority for car spotting in what we have referred to as the Quail adjacent. The spectacular finds in the parking lot are the stuff of legend and numerous other articles from automotive journalists. The rumors are true. The parking lots around the Quail if they were a stand-alone car show would outshine most typical non-Carweek spectator car shows.
To close, a few thoughts we have that we know we share with many of you, especially those of you who’re Car Week regulars…..
There are two events at the sharp end of the Car Week spear…the Quail and Pebble Beach. They’re both prestigeous, special, and frankly, expensive. The Quail is different than Pebble Beach, but it does offer a traditional concours experience with cars divided among various categories. Is the hype real? Should you covet this event if you haven’t attended before? Should it become a goal on your journey through the automotive culture? Yes, yes and yes! It may not be one you attend every year, but it’s absolutely a must attend. The next question we asked ourselves is whether what we experienced was even real? Were the grounds of the Quail in our reality or another dimension? Frankly, we are not yet sure. Maybe none of this ever happened.
As always, please see the gallery below to see what our words failed to capture from this event.
-The Loud Pedal
(Title Image provided by The Quail)
