The Quail, A Motorsports Gathering

The Quail, A Motorsports Gathering, is a unique event during the Monterey Car Week. Imagine an oval the shape of a distorted paramecium.  On the rim are automakers selling their wares. Porsche, Pagani, Bugatti, Jaguar, Koenigsegg, et al. Smack in the middle are displays of the latest show cars by BMW and Mercedes-Benz.

Mixed in the middle is an amazing variety of automobiles. Care for British race cars? There are competition Jaguars and MGs. Hot rods? Complete with flames flowing along the hood. Ferraris? A long multi-colored row to honor their 70th anniversary.

A Fiat beach buggy? Cars from before World War I? Cobras?

Corvettes? How about an ultra rare Jaguar XJ15 exotic car?

To ease the strain of taking in all this automobiledom, the ring around the event is peppered with restaurants, where food and drink and a place to relax are handy.

Everything–from cars to champagne–is of high quality. Which might explain why tickets are some $600 and sell out each year faster than you can say The Quail, A Motorsports Gathering.

Koenigsegg’s Regera.
Bugatti history, a vintage Type 51 Grand Prix car next to a Veyron Vitesse.
Rimac Automobili’s electric supercar.
A modern Alfa Romeo Disco Volante from 2009.
BMW’s 8 Series concept.
Classic Devin kit sports cars.
Mercedes-AMG 2018 AMG GT Concept.
A classic 1932 Ford hot rod, flames and all.
Ken Okayama, designer of the Ferrari Enzo and first generation Honda NSX, showed the Lamborghini-based Kode Zero.
Enough to make you chuckle, a 1960 Fiat Jolly.
Ferrari history, with a F12tdf (foreground) and a 250 Lusso.
Infiniti’s Prototype 9 is said to be a look at their heritage.
A lovely 1961 OSCA GT Zagato owned by Ludwig Willich, the soon-to-retire head of BMW USA.
There has to be a Pagani.
A 1914 Reo Runabout (right) and a 1919 Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost Alpine Eagle.
Start ‘em young with a junior-size Porsche 911 Targa.
Several automakers offer test drives of their latest during the Quail. Here a line-up of Acura NSXs wait to be tested.