Come Rain Or Shine: Dream Ride 2018Photos and text by Kyle Litherland
08/31/2018 Chapter One: The Castle ShootWelcome to one of the greatest exotic car gatherings you will ever see in the North East. One of the ultimate gatherings of the world's most exclusive ultra performance supercars. The Dream Ride Experience in Connecticut.
The event is for a great cause, raising money and awareness for child illness and the title of the event perfectly describes the cars in attendance that came out to support this very important cause.
The weekend of Dream Ride combined a couple of fantastic gatherings with the first being a massive gathering of hypercars at a local castle for a day of good fun.
The weather was miserable to say the least. The morning was filled with soggy shoes and water logged clothing but that didn't stop any of the owners from bringing out their incredible cars, proving to the world that supercars don't melt in the rain.
While everyone was parked outside and just having to put up with the rain to enjoy the cars, one spot was reserved in doors for this incredibly unique Lamborghini Miura Roadster.
To my knowledge, there was inly 1 convertible Miura built from factory that was finished in a lighter shade of blue so it would be safe to assume that this is custom work (please correct me if I'm wrong). But this was still a genuine Miura, an absolute legend from Bologna and one of the prettiest cars ever built.
The glorious V12 that was sitting completely exposed at the rear end of the chassis looked just as good as the rest of the car. This was a car that could really talk the talk and walk the walk.
Chapter Two: The God Of WindDream Ride seemed to attract the absolute cream of the crop from the hypercard world. one thing that became quickly apparent to me however was the number of Pagani Huayras in attendance at the castle which seemed to be outweighing everything else (which is not a statement you will hear very often).
The wonderful thing about these cars is that everyone is essentially a one off. While every original Huayra coupe will be listed as "1 of 100", they are all completely unique in their own ways.
The only part on all of these Huayras that will for the most part remain identical to the next was the base power plant, the legendary 7.3 litre AMG V12 which produces over 700bhp
This car seems to hold a certain beauty no matter what trim or colour combination you spec it out to be. It is a truly timeless and elegant design that will no doubt become an instant classic.
Now we all know that everyone has to start somewhere. An idea does not simply come from scratch and the best designs will always take years to perfect. The Huayra stemmed from its original predecessor, the legendary Zonda.
It's funny how you can go from such a sleek and classy design like that of the Huayra and look back to where it all started and see an absolutely ludicrous machine that was clearly built to eat corners. It's impossible to go over a Zonda in such a small blurb so be sure to read my spotlight article on the incredible Zonda Monza.
Chapter Three: The Dream Ride ExperienceSunday played host to the main event of the weekend, the official Dream Ride car show at the Farmington Polo club. This was yet another gathering of the world's greatest hypercars that are rarely ever seen out in the wild
While there was so much eye candy to choose from, it was absolutely impossible to go in depth on every single car in attendance. However there were a few easy ones to pick out of the crowd. Dream Ride provided me with my first up close and personal look at the brand new McLaren Senna.
Actually make that 2 Sennas. Besides the incredibly flashy exposed green carbon variant, there was a slightly more subdued version finished in a striking blue with classic McLaren orange accents. I'm sure you've already heard by now that the car produces a ridiculous 800KG of downforce while having a dry weight of just 1,198KG and a staggering 789bhp from its twin turbo V8.
With all of the strange vents and angles on this car, it came as no surprise when the design was deemed as controversial to some. But it is quite obvious that McLaren has opted for form over functionality with the Senna. Every single one of those bizarre winglets and air ducts serves a purpose on this car and I'm sure Ayrton himself would be very proud to see his name on this car.
Another new monster on display, the 991 generation of the legendary GT2 RS. Even though its Nurburgring lap record was fairly short lived after it was quickly dethroned by the upcoming Lamborghini Aventador SVJ, you still have to show love for the most powerful 911 every produced.
Straying away from the brand new cars, let's flash back a decade or so and enjoy one of the greatest cars to ever come out of Italy, period. Maserati's take on the legendary Enzo, the MC12. The car was originally built as a homologation so the brand could race in GT1 and we all know that GT1 produced the greatest sports cars the world has ever seen. Hopefully the rumours of the FIA wanting to revive this class in the near future are true!
I mean who wouldn't love to see a return to GT1 racing? Don't forget, this is the class that is responsible for producing cars like the McLaren F1 GTR and the Porsche 911 GT1. A modern iteration of this featuring the likes of the McLaren Senna and the Aston Martin Valkyrie to name a couple would be quite the spectacle.
And seeing how I was in America, it was only fitting to find two of their greatest homegrown hypercars on display. There's a lot of heritage and craftsmanship between these two cars which has been put into full detail in a fun feature article which can be found here
Final Chapter: All Are WelcomeYou know as great as hypercars are it was quite refreshing to see some true enthusiast cars as well. Ones that the general public can aspire too without starting their own hedge fund.
This was an absolute treat and something I really wasn't expecting to see at this event. It definitely gave me a bit of whip lash when I was walking through the rows of cars.
I absolutely loved the Z tune inspired modifications on this V Spec R34 GTR. The classic 5 spoke Nismo LM wheels were a perfect edition and the full Greddy exhaust system was a real treat for the ears.
And to my delight there was even more unexpected Nissan goodness on display! A tastefully modded Laurel was parked just a few cars down from its beefy RB powered relative.
It was nice to see a handful of pristine classic muscle cars running around the polo grounds as well.
But perhaps my favourite classic muscle car at Dream Ride was nowhere to be found in the show, it was casually sitting in a field full of spectator vehicles. I always had a soft spot for the early 70s Chevelles and the Super Sport variant from 1970 with its whopping 454 V8 definitely takes the cake for me.
I wrapped up the day following John Hennessey himself in his personal Ford GT heritage edition out of the polo grounds and into the streets of Farmington, Connecticut. This was my first time attending the Dream Ride show and I think it's a safe bet that I will be making the 8 hour drive down from Toronto again next year. I believe the total Pagani count for the weekend was at 11, lets see if we can hit a dozen next year...
Kyle Litherland Editor In Chief @KyleLitherland |
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