Yahoo Autos Here's What You Missed at The Quail 2024 — Monterey Car Week
Nestled in the canyon below Carmel Valley Road, The Quail, a Motorsports Gathering has quickly become the premier scene to unveil the hottest performance models and technologies, with everyone from Porsche and Lamborghini to Czinger and Pininfarina shelling out for a booth. Gone are the days of fluorescent-lit press conferences in convention centers. Instead, the best way to enjoy your Quail day is to throw on your finest garden party attire and come enjoy the California sun with us at the Road & Track booth.
First launched in 2003, The Quail, a Motorsports Gathering has long been a staple of the Monterey Car Week roster, and we here at Road & Track are more than proud to be a cornerstone part of it for the third year in a row. Our beautiful (if we can say so ourselves) booth offered an alfresco dining experience including complimentary caviar, champagne, and the California Bay Area's finest shellfish courtesy of Hog Island Oyster Company, as well as a serving of our latest Volume 24 Black & White issue. The lot paired well together.
Kia was also kind enough to provide a ray of tropical water-like blue light across our booth with its EV9 SUV, making its second plus-one appearance at The Quail this year after teasing us at last year's event. The initial media first drive of Kia's full-size, boxy electric SUV was set up just after Monterey Car Week 2023, and the following impressions have been strong. The flagship EV easily nabbed an Editor's Choice badge from our friends over at Car and Driver and our own editor at large, AJ Baime, was quickly won over by the characterful people-mover, too.
The brilliance of Kia's Ocean Blue wasn't the only eye-catching excitement on the field this year, either. Lamborghini pulled the cover off its electrified Huracán successor, the 907-hp Temerario, while RUF released the coolest, cowboy 911 yet with a Pendleton patterned interior and a 610-hp turbocharged flat-six. Maserati was there too, doubling down on its commitment to hitting the track with the GT2 Stradale. New horizons of performance benchmarking were also announced at The Quail, as Czinger set the first official lap time at Circuit of the Americas and Mate Rimac's Nevera R boasts a total output of 2107 hp and a 256-mph top speed.
While we were studiously reporting new models of note from The Quail, we'll admit to spending more than a few moments studying the classic landscape laid throughout the course, too. Editor-in-Chief Dan Pund particularly enjoyed a pristinely kept 1955 MG MGA Twin Cam as well as an autumnally-striped hot rod, while Digital Director Aaron Brown gravitated toward the ultra-rare Group B rally cars from Audi, Ford, and Lancia. Executive Editor Mike Austin was decisive in his choice of the Chapron-bodied Citroen, though the Dodge Viper GTS-R from Gran Turismo was rightfully nostalgia overwhelming. Meyers Manx even brought a silver-flake drowned buggy with a radial V-8 out of a motor glider, convincing Editor at Large Matt Farah of its worth by engine alone.
As the last of the shells were shucked and glasses clinked, a whooshing and rushing boom of combusted air cascaded over the lawn and its spiffy attendees, thanks to the Patriots Jet Team. Flying in a formation of five, the Aero L-39 Albatros fighter jets capped the afternoon with two smoking passes of raucous coordination as the sonic spectacle of running and driving classics departed.
The Quail, a Motorsports Gathering is not just any car show or even close to a side-by-side auto show comparison, but it may be the most important and fun event of the year. We hope to see you all again next year and, for those who missed out this year, come share some words (and a drink or two) with us in Monterey County next year. We'll be waiting for you.
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