Lambo Brunch....

Sounds like it was pretty good. My only question is if they had already seen the questions and had prepared some answers why weren't these answers provided to the guys left at the event? Were they trying to serve a whole bunch of people or just SW? I would have thought they would have still been able to give some information on the questions they had already received.

 

This should answer your question(s):

 

These two guys were put into the position of doing the Q&A at the last minute... NO preparation. In light of that, they did a great job.

 

 

one of myf avorite parts of pch

 

one of myf avorite parts of pch

 

Mmm...Crystal Cove...my favorite breakfast I've ever had.

Guys, thanks for all the kind words. Because I live in Seattle, I had to rely on a few really terrific people to help make things happen down here and I want to thank them now. First Joy "JLOO" who managed the event from the start. I flew her up to Seattle to observe and help out with the event we did up there so we could replicate it down here. She really busted her ass and she and Elliot "ELIM" for helping design the route. It took the two of them to do it to make it work well, right down to the toll booth passes. I don't know if Samuel is on here or not, but he's the guy drifting in the SV for the Lamborghini video. I wanted a pro driver such as Samuel to lead the group so I gave up driving my car so it wouldn't suck. Samuel did a terrific job. Having radios to help keep everyone together also made a difference. It's always in the details.

 

We opened up the event to all brands of exotics because the only way to truly grow the family is to make all exotics a part of it. One of the Scuds that I hear was well driven was someone who also owns a Diablo and was out with us the night before. The other Scud owner has been a giant supporter in Seattle. Some of the best people I know are Ferrari owners. (I'll post some funny stuff about Anthony and I going into the local Ferrari dealer where they could't help insulting us over and over again. We had a lot of laughs over that. They even insulted the Ferrari owners we brought in to their store!)

 

I'd also like to thank our own Allen for working behind the scenes to help keep it focused. Grant Johnson was also there to offer his advice on both the event and the route and he too was a terrific help. David "Destructo" was also a giant supporter lining up the questions. Side note: Just before Winkelmann had to leave we were discussing the list and they were intending to reveal some interesting facts. Damn!

 

We had people from the area dealerships, and they were all terrific too. I feel like through all of this OC nonsense, we pulled together a great community and that's the part that pleases me the most.

 

One other thing, the Fairmont Newport Beach absolutely kicked ass!!!! They were incredible and they get a giant thanks. The former guest services manager and I worked on this idea a year ago and we spent a lot of time trying to get something happening. He flew out to help. The valets under Mike M are the best in the world, and look at the photos of the circle drive!!! What other hotel will let cars take up the entire circle, four cars across from end to end? They are car people and they could not do enough for us. They were exhausted by Sunday and they impressed the hell out of me.

 

Luxe Communications manages events for Lamborghini and we bumped heads a lot along the way but in the end they really came through and did a terrific job with logistics. We had some very cool cars there including the Super Trofeo which was the only one in the US. Lamborghini did spend a hell of a lot of money to try and make this happen so please understand they absolutely wanted to be there. When I say a lot of money, I think you'd be shocked what this cost. Let's just say the $100.00 was a fraction on a per-person basis. Manfred Fitzgerald, head of design and branding was the one who really kept the focus and even though I'm extremely disappointed that they couldn't stick around because of a deliberate attempt to disrupt the event, believe me, their effort through all this was not at all trivial. I feel bad for Pietro who was put on the spot and he too was incredibly helpful in all this. He too was wiped out by the time we were done.

 

As for Rene and his one word answers at the podium, some were insulted and others absolutely loved it. Anthony has been imitating him for the past two days and it's hysterical. Anthony loved it, but for those who were offended, we were doing our best to wing it. In the end, people still had a great time. Yea, there were a few real assholes who showed up to do nothing but create a problem but we took care of it. We had Fairmont people there keeping a close eye on things and it went well. Sorry to make this so long, but I did want to applaud all the people who worked so hard to make this something special and I probably forgot someone.

 

As for Anthony, he was terrific the whole time he was here. He'll talk cars all day and he's not afraid to drive. I'm glad everyone got to hang around with him as just another car guy. He made me laugh through everything.

 

We've got to keep doing these events. This is really our best way to sustain the value of our cars, to stay active in the car community and organize drives. Yea, you may take shit from people who will never get off their own dead ass to do something good, but so what. Thanks LamboPower for all your support and for the moderators who kept things on track. I wish I knew more of you. What a great community!

 

 

Great post Tommy! I know you worked your ass off for this event. Shame a douchebag had to ruin it..

This should answer your question(s):

Yeah I saw that, but my question is how can they do that, did someone leave with the notes in their pockets? The prep would have been done on paper or computer, not just in SW's head. This info could have been passed onto the guys left with the ball. I wasn't there of course, but if they took the time to prepare something for the guys that had gone you think they would have still supplied it even if it wasn't from the original speaker.

We can all look back and think of things we'd do differently but this wasn't like there was a contingency plan should this happen. This was completely unexpected and there were a lot of calls trying to figure out how to best salvage the event. I'm now thinking of dozens of questions I could have asked Pietro that were more about general operations in the US, but when all this went down, everyone related to it, including everyone in management was caught off guard.

 

 

Tommy - thanks for a great run. Here's some vid from the passengers side of my bro's Murci.

 

 

 

Next time maybe have an event like this here in the Bay Area so that the stigma of OC in general is absent. There are a lot of really fantastic driving roads around here (can't say the same for LA), much less traffic, and less BS in general.

 

 

Matt,

 

Lets coordinate as this is something I want to do in NorCal. I briefly discussed this with Tom and JoyLoo. With their help I think we can make a great NorCal event. Can you say SF / Nappa / and a Private track day at Infineon!!!!

 

Lets discuss!

 

 

Matt,

 

Lets coordinate as this is something I want to do in NorCal. I briefly discussed this with Tom and JoyLoo. With their help I think we can make a great NorCal event. Can you say SF / Nappa / and a Private track day at Infineon!!!!

 

Lets discuss!

 

Yea, that would be cool!

Tommy - thanks for a great run. Here's some vid from the passengers side of my bro's Murci.

 

 

 

Is that Johns car?

 

 

Matt,

 

Lets coordinate as this is something I want to do in NorCal. I briefly discussed this with Tom and JoyLoo. With their help I think we can make a great NorCal event. Can you say SF / Nappa / and a Private track day at Infineon!!!!

 

Lets discuss!

 

This sounds like a good drive.

 

 

Is that Johns car?

 

"Jun's" car...pronounced like "fun" but with a J. LOL. Always gets mistaken for "John" though.

 

I'll be posting more pics / vid shortly...stay tuned. I actually almost lost the camera out the window (would've been onto Fred's car LOL) while accelerating down PCH.

Stupid question perhaps, but I'll ask it anyway:

 

If Lamborghini corporate wants the whole matter behind them, why didn't they want to be served in order to have their day in court?

 

As a totally neutral third party observer, that seems as if they're concerned that Vik might have a case.

 

I travel around the fringes of the exotic car world and the story I heard was that Vik was sold a batch of cars and shortly thereafter, Lamborghini corporate dropped the prices on cars, leaving Vik with cars that worth $40K less per car (or some number in that range).

 

That's the story that's being circulated around...and I've heard that from more than one Lambo owner and from people close to the situation. I've read all the threads here and have followed the case from the outset.

 

Now, while I have no allegiance to Vik whatsoever, I can say that my service experiences at LOC were superb.

 

To me, it seems like smoke and mirrors and I don't know who's right, who's wrong, or how the matter can be resolved, but I do agree that the entire affair is bad for the brand and candidly, has me looking elsewhere for my next exotic.

Stupid question perhaps, but I'll ask it anyway:

 

If Lamborghini corporate wants the whole matter behind them, why didn't they want to be served in order to have their day in court?

 

Almost certainly, this isnt a matter of Lamborghini corporate trying to avoid service.... Vik doesnt need to serve Winkleman to sue Lamborghini in California.... A corporation cant avoid service, as to do business, it has to have an in-state address and officer on record for service purposes. It seems (and I don't know any of the facts so this is just me making an educated guess) that somebody is trying to sue Winkleman PERSONALLY (or nail him for a deposition etc), and the reason a CEO would want to avoid THAT, seems pretty obvious.

 

As an attorney, I can tell you, that whenever possible in corporate litigation, corporate officers are named PERSONALLY in lawsuits, not because they actually have any liability (There are only a few rare instances where the CEO of a publicly traded company would have personal liability) but because it offers the plaintiff leverage (if for no other reason it really ratchets up the cost of defense).

 

Its attorney gamesmanship... And I dont see a problem with any CEO doing all he can to not get sucked into it.

Albolfaz is smarter than he looks.....

Almost certainly, this isnt a matter of Lamborghini corporate trying to avoid service.... Vik doesnt need to serve Winkleman to sue Lamborghini in California.... A corporation cant avoid service, as to do business, it has to have an in-state address and officer on record for service purposes. It seems (and I don't know any of the facts so this is just me making an educated guess) that somebody is trying to sue Winkleman PERSONALLY (or nail him for a deposition etc), and the reason a CEO would want to avoid THAT, seems pretty obvious.

 

As an attorney, I can tell you, that whenever possible in corporate litigation, corporate officers are named PERSONALLY in lawsuits, not because they actually have any liability (There are only a few rare instances where the CEO of a publicly traded company would have personal liability) but because it offers the plaintiff leverage (if for no other reason it really ratchets up the cost of defense).

 

Its attorney gamesmanship... And I dont see a problem with any CEO doing all he can to not get sucked into it.

Understood. Thanks for the explanation.

 

Did Vik ever serve any time as a result of this debacle?

A few more pics...

 

Fred's heavily modded SL.

 

Joy in the lead car...

 

My bro's Murci

 

Thought this was Anthony's - but the wheels look darker...

The 2 gentlemen that video taped the event, were they invited to do so? What ever happened to the video clips of the run?

FREDS SL :icon_syda: :wub:

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The 2 gentlemen that video taped the event, were they invited to do so? What ever happened to the video clips of the run?

 

No, nobody ever told us they were going to tape it and they used my car as a backdrop too. We knew nothing about it until after the video was posted. While I like the video, you'd think the classy thing would be to ask us first.

you'd think the classy thing would be to ask us first.

 

It would also be classy to not be leaning on your car

It would also be classy to not be leaning on your car

And the Farrah Fawcett Jokes were classless.

I let Sam drive my car that day and lead the group while I dealt with other issues and he did a terrific job. It's just that nobody said a word about shooting the drive. I'm guessing they were afraid we'd deny them or something, I don't know. It's very difficult to put on events like this without someone taking advantage of the situation, yet I still like the video. I know in other runs they now forbid video cameras without permission simply to prevent the video from being used for the wrong purposes. It's a complicated issue.