For a week I debated whether or not I was going to go to Festivals of Speed in Hallandale. I live in a small town in Central Florida, just north of Orlando, which meant it was going to be at least a four hour drive each way. Now I’ve driven long distances to attend car shows before, but this would definitely be the longest by almost double. With the promise of 200+ exotic cars, I decided what the hell, Road Trip!!
Hallandale is only a 20 minute drive from Miami, so I figured if there was any place to find some rare and spectacular cars, this was going to be it. SPOILER ALERT: Hallandale did not disappoint.
I hit the road at 5:30 in the morning, with a Monster energy drink by my side providing the much needed kick in the ass to get my day going, I am not a morning person in the least! I made my way to the show hitting very little traffic and pulled into the parking lot at 9:30 making pretty good time. Before I even entered the gate to the show, the valet parking lot was filling up with cars I’ve only seen in magazines (did I mention I grew up in a small town). I knew this was going to be a good day.
Gates opened to the public at 10:00am but I was able to gain access a little early while cars were being staged and vendors were finishing setup. This gave me a chance to get some photos of the cars with very few people in the way which I was grateful for, once the crowd hits it’s much more difficult to get good images. The cars were staged on the nicely manicured golf course greens of the Diplomat Golf and Tennis Club. I took advantage of the lack of people and took as many photos as I could. After my first pass it was lunch time and passed up eating at the country clubs restaurant and enjoyed a hot dog from one of the outdoor vendors, grabbed a chair next to Miami Lamborghini’s booth and enjoyed the scenery and weather. Even at noon it felt like it was mid 70’s with a nice breeze.
I made another pass around the show, taking a few more photos, but starting to really appreciate all that was there. The Pagani, the super light (all carbon fiber) hyper car with an AMG V12 engine is a rare find, they had 2. Bugatti Veyron, check, Porshe 918 Spyder, check, La Ferrari, McClaren, Lamborghini’s of every model and color, check, check and check! They also had a good amount of high end vintage cars. Old Jaguars, an original Shelby Cobra, Corvettes, even vintage Ferraris and Lamborghinis. Can you say Countach? Diablo SV? They were there too!
After walking around the show for about 5 hours taking in as much as I could I figured I’d call it quits and head home. Hit a little bit more traffic going back and made it home around 8pm. It made for a long day but was totally worth it. Will definitely be going back next year, but may go down a day early.
Note: Festivals of Speed has some other events coming up in Orlando, St. Pete and Amelia Island, so pretty much anywhere in Florida you can get your fix for see some of the coolest cars ever made. Make sure to check out the dates at Festivals of Speed and Spekture for more event coverage from those shows.
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