Heaven for any car lover, the Monterey Motorsports Festival was the place to be for an Italian extravaganza of gas spewing, rubber burning, and minds blowing.

MMF 2024. Mind mother-freakin’ blown. From supercars to hypercars, you name it and it was there. The main attraction was the hypercar/supercar drive-in show which featured engineering feats looking as beautiful as they sound. They had an assortment of proper eye candy with a Bugatti Chiron, a McLaren Senna, a Pagani Huayra, and a Shelby Cobra, amongst many others. Classics, modern vehicles, bone-stock preservations, insane modifications, gas cars, EVs, and everything in between. Safe to say, this was car-enthusiast heaven.

Automobiles from all over the world and of all types were showcased. Heavy steel, tractors, excavators, aviation, off-roaders, overlanders, two-wheelers, and even ride-and-drives, it was all there. The ride-and-drives featured the likes of Tesla and Alfa Romeo.

You would think spray-painting a police car would not end well, right? Wrong. Kids were unleashed on a Ford Explorer, armed with spray paint cans. That little Interceptor was no match. Alongside the vandalism station, the MMF Family Fun Zone even had jump houses, you know, if tomfoolery isn’t your thing.     

A vandalized Police Ford Explorer

Those willing to shell out more money for the VIP tickets were treated to extra creature comforts. In typical Italian fashion, the VIP Lounge featured Italian espressos, Italian wines, Italian pasta, and Italian supercars… You get the point. 

To appease the rest of the cultures, the VIP lounge showcased live paella, chocolate tastings, a Cirque Du Soleil show, and if your taste buds weren’t satisfied, then a massive dessert grazing bar. 

What about the cars? Time for us to feed the “petrolhead” in you and delve into the nitty-gritty of what the Monterey Motorsports Festival 2024 really had to offer. 

They brought out an insane abundance of heavyweight names this year, appeasing every niche part of the car culture. Modern Supercars? Kimera Automobili. Designs of the future? Pininfarina. Classics? Hagerty. Track cars? Sigier Motorsports and their KTM X-BOW GT2.

KTM X-BOW GT2 in its carbon fiber shell.

From the moment you enter, the event is dominated by Italian cars. Classic Ferraris dating back to 1976 mixing and mingling with a much newer Pininfarina Battista. There were well-known brands like Lamborghinis and lesser-known brands like Kimera. Pizza country was well represented. While diversity officers may not be pleased, we couldn’t care less. Italian cars, from the humble Fiats to exuberant Lamborghinis and eccentric Ferraris, every single car is designed and built with care. Simply put, Italian cars are like a homecooked meal from your mom. 

But the event wasn’t all Versace and Affogatos. Enthusiasts showcased a lineup of modified JDMs and exotic Asian cars scattered throughout the field.

Every car in this culture of tuning has a story behind it. The festival featured R35 Nissan GT-Rs with artistic bodywork and an extremely rare Veilside FD RX-7 – much like the one immortalized by Han in Fast and Furious: Tokyo Drift. 

Outside the JDM ‘tunersphere’, Liberty Walk McLaren 720S and a Dodge Challenger Hellcat, which won the competition for tuner cars.

Stepping away from the ‘tunersphere’, Sigier Motorsports’ mighty exhibit showcased A 2021 KTM X-BOW GT2. Making strides around the venue multiple times, the KTM put on a show with burnouts and rev-bombing from its mighty Audi 5-cylinder. The cherry on top were the two simulation pitstops. Luckily for us, we squeezed in an interview with Simon Sigier, CEO of Sigier Motorsports. 

Sigier alluded to the KTM being “like an iPhone of the racecars, it’s made to do kind of anything you want, you can take it wherever you want. Don’t be scared of like driving it hard or even crash it because it’s made to be safe, and it’s made to be rebuildable. It’s made to be driven like it’s really what it is.” For those curious, as of the writing of this article, Sigier Motorsports will be racing in Watkins Glenn and Chuckwalla in late October.

Classic Porsche

Classic Porsches, BMWs, Audi R8s, and tire-shredding Mercedes’ (SLS included) riddled the Monterey grounds. 

Shifting our focus towards motorcycles, the VIP area had three sports bikes on display. The arena held the Globe of Death – two motorcycle riders are thrown into a tight ball of mesh for them to drive and stunt around it. The Globe was surrounded by British classics, American Hot Rods, and, get this, a whole helicopter.

We can’t end this article without the supercar/hypercar parade. We were left speechless by the best of the best automotive feats driving around the venue. Some of them drove past with their doors open. Others basking in the moment as they rolled by. Many of them, shaking the spectators with their ferociously revving engines. Bang! Pop! Vroom! The enchanting sounds deafened anyone brave enough to not cup them.

The perfect day out for a motorhead, the event left us in awe and in disbelief… Maybe, the fumes started to get to us, but that’s a conversation for another day. Every one of our five senses was tickled. Every car we saw had shivers running down our spines. Every coffee we sipped powered us for more. Every angle, every corner, every second was sensory overload. Monterey Motorsports Festival was a dream come true for us. We experienced cars many dream of and only some see once in their lifetime. For any true “petrolhead,” this festival is nothing less than a must-watch.

All images: Janam A. Gupta/Siliconeer

Co-Author

Janam Gupta

Janam Gupta is a business undergrad student, based in Fremont, Calif. He is Gen-Z editor and social media pundit at Siliconeer.

 

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