Festival of Exotic Cars, Feb.22nd and 23rd 2002, Mt. Dora, Florida

Last year we had a hurricane during a club meeting.  This winter we had a COLD, RAINY, WINDY day to endure during the Festival of Exotic cars in quaint downtown Mt. Dora.  There were amazing exotics there including the rarely seen 2002 Imola Orange NSX driven in by Courtesy Acura of Longwood.  8 NSXs braved the elements to represent Honda.  Unlike others in the show, most are DAILY drivers so the foul weather was nothing special.  Even MORE surprising was the 1st place win in the Contemporary Division by Dave Hopkin's silver 97-T and a 2nd place finish by Wei-Shen Chin in his 94 coupe!  That's the first WIN in this event for ANY Acura and the 2nd award in 2 car shows by Wei-Shen.  Congratulations to our club for a great showing of support!  Nice to receive recognition considering all the late model BMW's, Porsche's and Ferrari's there.

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above: Orange, orange everywhere....perfect for a car in Orange County FL

below:  new HID lights and front fascia...COOL

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The event started on Friday with a country drive IN THE RAIN exploring the roads of Lake County.  Our lone representative was Scott McKay (94 green) from Tampa.   Over 60 cars plied the roads surrounding beautiful Mission Inn Golf and Tennis resort.  One of the most interesting (and fast) cars was the Mercedes CLK-GTR.   Check these photos out.

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McKay with a "rear" view of the CLK at the light...night shot of CLK with DB7

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cars on the lawn of the Lakeside Inn Friday Feb. 22nd

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McKay parked with two mid-engine designs from Ford...Panteras

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360 Modena parked in front of the veranda of Lakeside Inn

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Deb Howard displaying....herself...."please do not touch" per Vince Howard

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COVER that open cockpit!  Rain tires....quick.  Note Ferrari racecar in the background

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Palm Tree menu states "drought".....could have fooled us as 2 inches of rain fell

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Scott McKay's daugher Courtney with the colorful Lamborghinis

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sparse crowds in the early morning of Saturday...despite the F40

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more photos of the Imola Orange 2002...note subtle changes in rear valence and deck lid

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We had a great time socializing.  Too bad the weather was SO awful.   There's always next year.  Perhaps we'll see a new 2003/04 model with a V8?

Wei-Shen