This past weekend I headed out to Southern California to participate in the 2nd Annual Targa Trophy Supercar Festival presented by MOMO Motorsports. I was looking for something fun to do and stretch the legs on our McLaren. Low key, go as a participant and not a business, and have some fun. Well fun was delivered! First off, the guys at Targa Trophy put together a great event. I have done Gumball 3000 5 times and Bullrun along with a legit closed road rally, Targa Newfoundland. This experience was top notch. The day started with the cars lining up at the Balboa Bay Resort right across the street from Newport Ferrari. While drivers and fans checked out the cars and snapped pictures, others were putting on stickers and checking out the awesome Novitec Ferrari 488. They even had the Van Dutch Yachts on display that you could tour. If you have not been on a yacht, that is a whole new level of insane.
The format of the rally is simple… its based on a set bogey time with checkpoints along the way. The one who hits all the checkpoints and has the closest time to the bogey set wins. With 50 supercars for the rally, the turn out would definitely make the event more fun. Lots of cars from other Mclaren’s, Lamborghini’s, Porsche’s, and more. VF Engineering had their supercharged Huracan there, one entrant had a full Vorsteiner 991 Turbo, and there was also a 675lt on hand. The rally launched at 11:30am and headed north on PCH. After a bit of highway driving and traffic, we ended up going to the top of Angeles Crest. Never been, Google it, road is amazing and challenging. 2 lane road with hairpin turns and steep inclines. With the weather cloudy and a light mist, it was like traveling into the unknown. We bombed down the other side after a quick picture at the top and headed to one of our checkpoints, “order a shake at In and Out”. Can’t complain about that!
Cruising down the highway a bit, we exited and did Big Tujunga Canyon Rd. This was a cut through from Palmdale to Burbank ish and was insanely fun. High speed, sharp turns, and beautiful scenery. As we ran through these roads with a Ferrari California T, we got a chance to really see how the McLaren 12C was dialed. Turns were like Go-Karts and each time, the car was so balanced, you felt the speeds being done shouldn’t happen in turns. We finally exited into a neighborhood and jumped back on the highway heading to Hollywood where we would end at the Roosevelt Hotel.
For a 1 day rally, it was packed full of fun. Hats off to the TargaTrophy guys. Here are some pics we snapped during the drive. Enjoy!
