Who is going to the Ferrari Owners Club of FL "Ferraris on the Circle--link below. It is this weekend at St Armand's Circle Park in Sarasota--12 to 5. Ferrari Owners Club of Florida Membership is not required, and still room for a few more cars!
When it was first held in early January, it wasn't unusual to spot celebrities looking over the cars. Jerry Springer one year, Jackie Mason a couple years later.
At some point the FOC ceaced running the January event and it became the Sarasota Exotic Car Fest. It's still being held in January. I guess the FOC is continuing where they left off since this is the 12th Annual Ferraris on the Circle. Probably would have gone, it's a great venue, but have a long scheduled keys sailing trip in conflict.
St. Armand's Circle is an incredible venue. I was involved with the first (and maybe second) FOC events there. On the first event, we had over 100 Ferraris on display (only one being a dealer car which was driven to the event) on the lawn and dozens more driven to the location and parked around the circle. To say that there were some internal conflicts and resulting fall-out when a local Ford dealer became the title sponsor could not be understated enough. Glad to see the event is being kept alive as the venue lends itself almost perfectly to hosting shows. BHW
If you cannot come this weekend there is another event in February: Sarasota Exotic Car Fest | Feb. 21-23, 2014 | Exotic Rally | Exoitc Car Show | Rolls-Royce, Ferrari, Lamborghini, Bentley, Bugatti, Aston Martin
I stopped by after Cars & Coffee in Sarasota. 9 cars total when I was there just before noon. I snapped a photo of the TdF Challenge Stradale and left. It was raining when I was parking
One "exotic" show I attended out west considered only the Z06 and ZR1 models to be exotic, and I can buy that argument.
I bailed as it was raining pretty good up here in Tampa on Saturday morning...Too bad, my wife and I were really looking forward to the event.
Pity about the rain ruining the event. Hopefully, organizers had weather insurance to make up for any losses. BHW
I think at this point not to consider a Corvette worthy of being at an exotic car show is getting harder and harder to justify. Yes, if you go by production numbers it's not an exotic, but the performance, looks (interior included), I would say they have nothing to be ashamed of.
The Corvette should be regarded as a high performance sports car rather than an exotic. As Sindo points out, an exotic is something that is limited in production numbers which will see to it that it is a very rare item that collectors will pursue over time. While Corvettes are fun to drive and exceptionally quick, Chevrolet opted to go cheap on the interior with a lot of plastic in the doors and in the dash. The manual transmission is also really buttery so they're easy for the average guy to drive but it would be easy to make a lot of mis-shifts. Unlike a manual Ferrari gated shifter where the driver gets the familiar "click-click" which assures that the gear change is done, in modern Corvettes there is this buttery feel where the gear may be engaged but its hard to tell simply by touch or sound, a bit disconcerting. Likewise, by pressing on the rear valiance between the brake lights, the entire section is plastic that collapses which has been pointed out on Top Gear. Of course, they're doing this to save weight but it's another area where a bit more thought need to be given to the strength of the car. Still, a lot of car for the money though. Taking nothing away from the Corvette racing program though, 2013 ALMS GTE champions. [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ko9kzyqW-l8]Corvette Z06 car review - Top Gear - BBC - YouTube[/ame] BHW
