Exotics of Hong Kong

SMD Anniversary

April 2nd is a day that I’ll never forget, as it was the day over 100 cars showed up at Sunny Bay for the anniversary of the Sunday Morning Drive. Oh, and it was also my birthday. This was the biggest car meet that Morgan and I have ever been to since we started car spotting -- there were so many cars we didn’t even get a chance to look at all of them and it was, frankly, quite overwhelming. Initially, we planned to go to Big Wave Bay as usual, but we were told around midnight that there would be a massive car meet at Sunny Bay, and the cars would then drive to the Sky City Marriott Hotel. We arrived just as the cars started rolling in, and sprinted over to the entrance of the parking lot to watch the procession in awe. The sheer amount of supercars caused a traffic jam leading all the way up the road; it was like nothing we have ever seen before.

We went into the parking lot to admire the turnout around half an hour later, as most of the cars had arrived by then. I won’t name all of the cars that were there as the list could go on forever, but the highlights (for me) were the five McLaren 675 LTs, a Mercedes Benz SLS AMG Black Series, a Lamborghini Aventador SV Roadster, five other Aventador SVs, a Murcielago SV, six Murcielagos, a Matte Black Lexus LFA and, finally, a Lamborghini Diablo GT (although I’m not too sure if it’s a real one).

While checking out the cars, we heard the most amazing sound: a screaming V12 engine coming down the hill. The noise was coming from a Pagani Zonda F, followed by two Gumpert Apollos (one of which is the only of its kind). This was the cherry on top for me as the Zonda is my favourite car of all time, and I’d never properly seen one on the road before. After they arrived, it was chaos. There were so many people crowding around these three magnificent hypercars that we had to fight our way to the front just to get a good close-up. Once all the cars arrived and group photos were taken, the fleet then headed off to the Sky City Marriott.

We caught the first group of cars leaving Sunny Bay, but stayed behind after we realised the hypercar trio and some other supercars were still in the lot. Thankfully, because almost everyone else had left for the next stop, we were able to admire the cars without being pushed around. The owner of the Gumpert Apollo S decided to donuts for us, which was an incredible sight to behold. Later, I could still taste the burning rubber on my tongue.

After our more personal encounter with the supercars, their owners all decided it was time to head to the Marriott so we snapped some shots of them leaving, jumped in a taxi and headed for the hotel. On the way there, we were lucky enough to get some rolling shots of a Ferrari 458 and a Lamborghini Aventador.

Once we were at the hotel, we managed to get close-up pictures of some of the cars we’d overlooked at Sunny Bay. At that point, the nerves I’d been feeling all morning began to fade, and I began to realise what a momentous day it had been. After spending an hour at the Marriott, the cars started to leave, so we called it a day after papping a few leaving shots. In the whole year we’ve been car spotting, I can genuinely say that this was the best experience both Morgan and I have had, and I couldn’t have asked for a better way to celebrate turning 23.