[DeTomaso] Who wants to come to Spain in May?

[Charles McCall]

Ten years ago, a group of enthusiasts in northern Spain (not us!)  organized
the first Supercar event in the area. It has slowly grown and evolved, and
the last few years has had over 200 cars attend each year. Some pretty
impressive machinery is typically spotted. the ultra-exotic DeTomaso Pantera
GT5-S has been a regular participant, and more garden-variety cars such as
McLaren, Lamborghini, Ferrari, last year a Koenigsegg made the trip from
England, etc. 

 

Amaya and I have been attending for the past 6 years or so. There are events
that are worth travelling half the globe to attend - Le Mans Classic is such
an event. Being honest, this isn't one of them - it's very nice, and we have
a fantastic time, but one shouldn't have TOO high expectation. But if you
are looking for an excuse to take your car out, it's definitely a good time.
It's a social event, with a heavy emphasis on eating and drinking well :)
And then eating, and drinking, and cars, and eating, drinking.... and have
some more Moet and Chandon, sir.. it's a tough life!

 

 One thing that is really special is that the host city - Santander - really
pulls out the stops to ensure that the event is successful and does
everything in its power to help the organization (the French Gendarmes could
take a lesson or two!!!) We get a full police escort for the majority of the
weekend and are completely immune from any traffic laws for the weekend. On
Saturday the police shut the city down to let the participants leave. And
leave quickly. The streets are lined with cheering crowds who encourage the
drivers to make haste while leaving. I've never driven 90 mph though
downtown before - like my own private Monaco! 

 

In a surreal memory that will stay with me forever - 2 years ago we had left
the city center and were cruising in a small convoy of supercars at 200+
k/hr on the outskirts. up came a pair of motorcycle cops (Guardia Civil)
from behind us, gesturing frantically for us to pick up the pace because we
were holding the rest of the group up! The next 5-6 minutes was hammer-down,
with the motorcycle cops clearing all the traffic from the left 2 lanes of
the highway, as we flew by the cars travelling the speed limit in the right
hand lane like they were literally standing still! We eventually had to exit
the highway to go play in the mountains, but the cops and the drivers had
some real laughs reliving the moment at the scheduled rest stop an hour
later. Why can't there be more moments like this?

 

Eventually someone will do something stupid and this type of highly illegal
but sanctioned activity will come to an abrupt end. Two Lamborghinis touched
last year due to lack of attention and the organizers were understandably
quite upset. But until then - the 10 minutes of being able to blast through
the city center at any speed you wish and the 20 minutes on the highway with
the police escort are unique experiences that will not last forever and and
quite special. 

 

This will be the largest concentration of DeTomaso cars ever seen in Spanish
soil - with THREE! :) Geoff Peters will be attending in his white Pantera
and Roger Brotton in his Deauville. Pantera owner James McAlpine will wimp
out and attend again in his McLaren, leaving the Panteras home. 

 

Here's a video from 2014 of the event - don't worry, the boring, talking
part only lasts a minute or so:

 
<https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3D
EiDzAcIBQbM%26t%3D423s&h=ATNJwxiPC7ktJ_Qv48kEQ7TJDVTTrB4swNOm-PePLRVtZD3z2_0
mcDz6jygK6IVrTH01o90dOTQPZvdvwlOJ1aJHwvZxFtYaGEPnNcjzI_ZhgQLKbSFlCB-3VsXf4Dt
-voA> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EiDzAcIBQbM&t=423s

 

Looking for more info? Let me know. 

-------------- next part --------------
   Ten years ago, a group of enthusiasts in northern Spain (not us!)
   organized the first Supercar event in the area. It has slowly grown and
   evolved, and the last few years has had over 200 cars attend each year.
   Some pretty impressive machinery is typically spotted... the
   ultra-exotic DeTomaso Pantera GT5-S has been a regular participant, and
   more garden-variety cars such as McLaren, Lamborghini, Ferrari, last
   year a Koenigsegg made the trip from England, etc.


   Amaya and I have been attending for the past 6 years or so. There are
   events that are worth travelling half the globe to attend - Le Mans
   Classic is such an event. Being honest, this isn't one of them - it's
   very nice, and we have a fantastic time, but one shouldn't have TOO
   high expectation. But if you are looking for an excuse to take your car
   out, it's definitely a good time. It's a social event, with a heavy
   emphasis on eating and drinking well J And then eating, and drinking,
   and cars, and eating, drinking.... and have some more Moet and Chandon,
   sir.. it's a tough life!


    One thing that is really special is that the host city - Santander -
   really pulls out the stops to ensure that the event is successful and
   does everything in its power to help the organization (the French
   Gendarmes could take a lesson or two!!!) We get a full police escort
   for the majority of the weekend and are completely immune from any
   traffic laws for the weekend. On Saturday the police shut the city down
   to let the participants leave. And leave quickly. The streets are lined
   with cheering crowds who encourage the drivers to make haste while
   leaving. I've never driven 90 mph though downtown before - like my own
   private Monaco!


   In a surreal memory that will stay with me forever - 2 years ago we had
   left the city center and were cruising in a small convoy of supercars
   at 200+ k/hr on the outskirts... up came a pair of motorcycle cops
   (Guardia Civil) from behind us, gesturing frantically for us to pick up
   the pace because we were holding the rest of the group up! The next 5-6
   minutes was hammer-down, with the motorcycle cops clearing all the
   traffic from the left 2 lanes of the highway, as we flew by the cars
   travelling the speed limit in the right hand lane like they were
   literally standing still! We eventually had to exit the highway to go
   play in the mountains, but the cops and the drivers had some real
   laughs reliving the moment at the scheduled rest stop an hour later.
   Why can't there be more moments like this?


   Eventually someone will do something stupid and this type of highly
   illegal but sanctioned activity will come to an abrupt end. Two
   Lamborghinis touched last year due to lack of attention and the
   organizers were understandably quite upset. But until then - the 10
   minutes of being able to blast through the city center at any speed you
   wish and the 20 minutes on the highway with the police escort are
   unique experiences that will not last forever and and quite special.


   This will be the largest concentration of DeTomaso cars ever seen in
   Spanish soil - with THREE! J Geoff Peters will be attending in his
   white Pantera and Roger Brotton in his Deauville. Pantera owner James
   McAlpine will wimp out and attend again in his McLaren, leaving the
   Panteras home.


   Here's a video from 2014 of the event - don't worry, the boring,
   talking part only lasts a minute or so:

   [1]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EiDzAcIBQbM&t=423s


   Looking for more info? Let me know.

References

   1. https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DEiDzAcIBQbM%26t%3D423s&h=ATNJwxiPC7ktJ_Qv48kEQ7TJDVTTrB4swNOm-PePLRVtZD3z2_0mcDz6jygK6IVrTH01o90dOTQPZvdvwlOJ1aJHwvZxFtYaGEPnNcjzI_ZhgQLKbSFlCB-3VsXf4Dt-voA