This is now almost a month old at this point, but here’s what I took on my phone from Exotics at Redmond Town Center opening day 2024:
(I was doing exclusively video on my DSLR so unfortunately mostly amateur type shots)
Extreme widebody 996:
View attachment 1353471
View attachment 1353472
Ancient Bentley, couldn’t identify year or model, but owner left in period-correct racing attire:
View attachment 1353474
View attachment 1353475
View attachment 1353476
Alpine A310 & GT:
View attachment 1353473
View attachment 1353477
View attachment 1353478
View attachment 1353479
R34 GTR:
View attachment 1353480
Ferrari F355 Challenge:
View attachment 1353481
Replica GT40 with Andretti’s signature:
View attachment 1353483
View attachment 1353486
View attachment 1353484
View attachment 1353490
View attachment 1353505
(Owner was going around telling everyone it was the real deal that raced and retired early in ‘66 for some reason
![Confused :confused: :confused:](/wp-content/themes/gtp16/images/smilies/confused.svg)
)
F1 Edition Aston:
View attachment 1353487
View attachment 1353488
Mclaren 750S (first one I’ve seen in person despite living ~40 mins from a dealership):
View attachment 1353489
Local YouTuber’s psychotic twin turbo SEMA Huracan:
View attachment 1353493
Sea of 911’s, this 993 popped:
View attachment 1353498
2 Audi RS6s, one “regular”, one ABT:
View attachment 1353494
View attachment 1353495
View attachment 1353496
Lancia Delta with a Murci in the background (for some reason I didn’t get a picture of that on its own????):
View attachment 1353492
Retired past-gen Aston GT4 race car, ft. Gray Newell (he didn’t drive this one):
View attachment 1353491
Gray races for Heart of Racing’s GT4 squad and occasionally their partner SPS GT3 program (I believe only some of the 24hr Series rounds). I’ve met Gray a couple times at this show, but this time I actually got to chat with him armed with a lot more knowledge of IMSA and WEC than I had in previous years. With the Valkyrie coming in next year, many of the team’s pro drivers will be getting a shot in those cars (yes, plural), and their whole program is getting an up-cycle -
likely opening a promotion up for Gray to join their Amateur GTD squad in IMSA next season. While founded in Seattle, they actually operate and store the cars in bases in Arizona and Florida (which makes sense, it’s almost never dry out here
![LOL :lol: :lol:](/wp-content/themes/gtp16/images/smilies/lol.svg?v=3)
), but they may be bringing their race-spec cars for a showcase out here sometime, which would allow me to check them out on display. He confirmed there will be
three racing chassis ready for 2025 - one in IMSA, two in WEC, with two more chassis for spares. What I wasn’t clear on was if the spares were AMR Pros, or if they also have two AMR Pros in addition to two spare LMH-spec chassis - they are
very well financed so it really could be either or. They’ve finally gotten their paperwork in order to start selling team merch as well, it took forever because the title sponsor is a non-profit charity for Seattle Children’s, so if they accidentally generate a cent of profit the IRS will nuke the whole operation.
I further pestered about the possibility of current or former F1 drivers hopping in for Le Mans through the Aston or RedBull/Newey connection, he didn't seem to really know, but it also seemed like some PR training got activated when I asked, so he could know
something is afoot in that market, but ultimately all he was able to give me was something along the lines of “the team weighs a lot of factors and ultimately picks who gets to drive based on who fits the best for the role at the time”. Super cool chat, I hope we can both be in the right position for me to get his autograph at Daytona next year.
Here’s his GT3RS with some Manthey kit:
View attachment 1353497
View attachment 1353485