Targa Trophy German Car Festival 2015

HRE Performance Wheels hosted the fourth annual Targa Trophy German Car Festival this morning in Vista, CA, to kick off the start of the Targa Trophy Experience Event #1 of 2015. I drove the in the rally last year and enjoyed a 300+ mile scavenger hunt throughout San Diego, but this year I attended merely as a show participant to check out some of the biggest and baddest rides in Southern California, and once again it didn’t disappoint.

The show stopper (in my eyes) was a Ferrari 280 GTO homage that started its life as a 1988 Ferrari 328 GTS, nicknamed the Meisturwerk Ferrari 328 GTM. The owner had a custom carbon fiber body kit made to give the car its wide stance, then filled those fenders with wide wheels, making this car every bit of a super car while maintaining that 80’s coolness that you just can’t recreate any other way.

Speaking of supercars, there was no shortage at this event, including the new Porsche 918 Spyder at the top of this post (sporting HRE wheels, of course) as well as its older brother, the Carrera GT. The Speed Yellow Turbo S pictured above was another highlight, as was the owner’s custom widebody BMW 2 series next to it. There was an amazing Porsche presence overall, and as someone who’s been thinking about switching up to a P-car myself, this event just makes fighting that urge all the more difficult.

My good friends at Audizine were also present, and Anthony (the owner & founder) brought his SQ5 as well as his S3 to the event. Audizine also sponsored the event and offered a rally, and the Audi turnout was very strong between Audizine, Audi Club of LA, and Audi Club of San Diego. HGMS also brought out their bagged R8, making the event a lot of fun for Audi fans such as myself.

There was definitely something for everyone though – from GTRs to M4s to widebody Mercs, this event had no shortage of high horsepower cars. While I was only able to stay for about an hour, I was able to check out several hundred cars in just that short time.

The event itself started a little after noon, and the drives had a beautiful 70 degree day to cruise with their windows down and burn a little rubber and octane.

Myself, I went to the beach with my dog and wife and watched some of the coverage on Instagram under the hashtag #targatrophy, as part of the rally involves posting pictures at various checkpoints under the hashtag to prove that you completed the entire course. It wasn’t nearly fun as participating in the drive, but I was due for a beach day.

Thanks to HRE and the show/event sponsors for hosting the event, I look forward to it again next year! Check out the rest of my coverage (~100 pics) on my Flickr or the slideshow below: