2007 Detroit Festival of Speed and Style

Anyone heard of it? Anyone going?

Campus Martius Park
Downtown Detroit, MI
August 24 -26, 2007

 

I found this:

http://atdetroit.net/forum/messages/5/100594.html?1177712728

 

Downtown, interesting.

 

So this is the return of the Cranbrook Concours then? (Last year there wasn't one)

 

that's what it sounds like. Having it downtown is somewhat risky in my opinion. I like it though. Every little thing like this is a step forward for detroit. I wonder if there is spectator parking.

 

Downtown?

Seems there would be better places in the suburbs....

 

I'm thinking that there are not many people who will risk taking their 1+million dollar cars down to Campus Marshes Park in Detroit. It is not a very scenic location and the area leaves a lot to be desired. I wish them luck with their event. However I dont believe it will be very successful in that location.

 

Hi this is Marvin Towns, the founder of The Concours d'Elegance at Cranbrook and now the founder of The Detroit Festival of Speed and Style.

The answer to your questions is that before we decided to move forward with this show, we polled many of the collectors of multi-million dollar cars that had supported us at Cranbrook (and everyone knows that we were supported by owners of some of the most incredible cars in the world) asking them if they would be supportive of this new concept. The answer was a resounding YES!

I'm sure that you are all aware of the fact that the Cranbrook event quickly became one of the most popular Concours events in the U.S. We feel VERY strongly that the Detroit Festival of Speed and Syle's success will eclipse the success of Cranbrook.

I'm sure that many people have an unfounded negative perception of downtown Detroit, but I assure you that Detroit is safe and that the venue will make for one of the most interesting and exciting car events that you'll ever attend. Trust me...., no one thought that we were going to be as successful as we were with Cranbrook, but you all know that was a wonderful event.

The Detroit Festival of Speed and Style will revolutionize how car events are produced.

You can email me at: [email protected] and I'll send you in detail plans for this event.

Sincerely,

Marvin Towns

 

Are you still going to attempt Cranbrook again?

 

No more Cranbrook I have to report. For as wonderful as that event was and for as nice as the venue was; the Cranbrook administration was an absolute nightmare to deal with in the end. They started out fine, but by year 3, greed and selfisness had set in. If I told you how much they wanted to charge us to have the show there in 2006 you'd fall out of your seat! For all that we gave them in $$ and worldwide publicity, you'd think that they would have laid out the red carpet -- but that wasn't the case so I pulled the plug on having the event there.

Please check out the Detroit Festival of Speed and Style. If you email me directly I'll send you the strategy for the event. I think you'll be impressed.

Marvin

[email protected]

 

I don't really have a problem with downtown, but I was downtown last night at the tigers game and people all over the place were asking me for money.

 

Most likely you were in the area near Tiger stadium. The Campus Martius area doesn't have the element that you're speaking of that we are well aware of.

I was there on Frday evening for the 4th Friday's concert and didn't see the types of street people that you have pointed out.

We understand that having a show like this in an urban settinng will have its challanges, and we have taken all these into consideration and have full support of the Mayor and the cities resourses to make this event safe, secure and fun.

Marvin

 

Sorry but there is no way that I will be my (much less than million dollar) TR to downtown Detroit nor will I attend any event there. This is based not on rumor but experience. The people are very rude, there are too many beggers and gang members and it is just plain ugly down there. I hope that you plan on having stansions or ropes around the cars or at least some way for the general public to not be able to get close to them because there will be many people there with no respect for them.

 

I can understand. It seems that the administration at CK ruin every good event that happens there. I graduated high school from there in 93 and got married 2 years ago at Christ Church. When I called the administration about having my reception there, they had so many restrictions that the fun would have been completly destroyed. They were not going to allow us to have red wine at the event. That's another story altogether but the real problem was that when I requested to go throughout the campus and take pictures, they wanted me to use their photographer and not only pay the photographer but pay them a fee of 2K to spend an hour on the property. This would be above and beyond the normal photographer that we were already going to have. Even on top of that, I had to get a 50K insurance policy just to take the pictures.
I ultimately called the head of the school and she let me go on campus for free with out all of the bull sh?t. (It definately pays to know people.)
Cranbrook is an amazing place and definately a jewel to the city of Detroit but the arrogance and greed really screws up the potential of many wonderful events.

 

Those beggers make thier way to events. Detroit needs things like this.... but is it's own single greatest threat against events like this. I'm not sure the gangs would make thier way into the event like they do at Cobo events.

That whole area is is walking distance D-town really. I'll go and enjoy the event, given something else isn't happening that day.

 

I will definitely be there.

Marvin, is there a website for this event?

I would overdo the security aspect especially for the inaugural downtown event. I would make them very very visible, kind of like how the superbowl went down. If this year's show goes off without any major problems, then next year's show should be very successful. just my 1.5 cents.

 

Thanks! We really appreciate and need the support! All of the concerns expressed were relistically dealt with during the planning stage. After I decided to discontinue the show at Cranbrook I was approached by no less that 5 country clubs in Oakland county about moving the show to another country club like setting. I am not a resident of Detroit, however I am a staunch supporter of the city. Mayor Kilpatrick was honored to have Detroit host the show and personally addressed the concerns that have been expressed in this forum and concerns that I had because of my experince and track record.

I was very confortable in his level of commitment to important issues like security/safety. But remember folks, Roger Penske I'm sure had those same concerns when he decided to bring back the Grand Prix. And just for the record, the Grand Prix producers are also very excited about our event and we are in talks to have a working reciprocal relationship between the 2 events. Whats good enough for Roger Penske is certainly good enough for me.

And also for the record, our RSVP's fron the owners of the very high end multi-million dollar classics is shaping up nicely. One again we have the support and confidence of some of the top collectors in the world. Now that says a lot.

I hope that people can put aside any preconceived notions or past bad experiences with the city of Detroit and have faith that we know what we're doing! My reputation which is pretty good out here, is at stake too!

So failure is not an option!

The web site will be up by weeks end and you will also be able to get to it by going to the Cranbrook website that is still on line.

Please feel free to also call me if you have any questions. I look forward to meeting many of you at the event.

Sincerely,

Marv
248 539 2150

 

jerri detroit is fine i grew up in and around the city in eighties and ninites and have seen good and the bad. the city and the county of wayne along with corporate america want us to comeback its ok i dine there al the time................MO

 

merv if you need help from city let me know;or any other help...................MO 313-445-8400

 

Thanks!! Will call you tomorrow!

M

 

Downtown Detroit is great. Anyone that has spent time there knows that. The Superbowl weekend was the most impressive event I have ever been to in a large city. I can't wait for the new Grand Prix. Anyone that would not come to Belle Isle to watch the Risi Ferraris because of some perceived issues doesn't know what they are missing. Count me in as a spectator for the new show at Campus Martius, too. Good luck!

 

+1

I'd consider attending, but certainly wouldn't bring even my lowly 308 down there.
I suspect this is a high dollar admission thing, too, huh? At $20/head you'll keep the riffraff out (me included). If it's cheap to get in, I might go, but you'd really need to worry about things like kids not being properly supervised, etc....

I certainly hope this goes well for all involved, I keep wanting to figure out things to do and places to go downtown! But my 308 doesn't participate down there...

 

The answer to your question is no.1, the show cars will be roped off with good distance between the cars and the general public, and no. 2 is the event is a free event.

We want to encourage spectators from all over the state to attend. And we want to encourage family's to attend. The average family of 4 can't afford an event that is $20-30 bucks a head, right?

We believe that most of the attendees will be car enthusiasts, however we will have enough security and volunteers to keep everything friendly and fun for everyone.

Believe me.... we've worked and explored every possible scenerio!

Marvin

 

the 40$ price of admission to Medowbrook was quite outragous last year, I'm sure that price will be back to the normal 20$ its been for years now that it's under new leadership. One can expect parking in one of the D-town garages to be roughly 10$, where other shows have no cost to park, just admission, or visa versa.

Marvin, what is the theme for this year's show?

 

The admission for Meadowbrook is only going down by 5 dollars.

Parking in city owned lots is being negotiated to be free.

The theme is, "We are all in this Together".

So for the first time, full classics, hot rods, sports cars, super cars, muscle cars, modified hot rod, race cars, tuners and low riders -- all show quality, will all be on the same show field, judged against their peers.


Marvin