Is 10:21am too early for booze? Of course it is. But when you’re travelling at 40,000ft suddenly a Bloody Mary seems entirely reasonable.
And, in past years, that’d be the extent of our thinking for the next 10 hours as we fly over the Atlantic Ocean. Because the start of November signals one very important week – SEMA – and an alcohol-fuelled breakfast is the least weird thing you’ll experience for the next five days.
Las Vegas may be the city that never sleeps, but even this cesspool of sin hasn’t escaped from the global pandemic. After being cancelled last year – much like every major auto show – the 2021 SEMA Show has been given the green light, but not without its fair share of limitations.
Skipping over the obvious, all exhibitors and attendees are advised to be double jabbed and wear face masks where possible. That is assuming you can even get there; for us here in the UK, you currently can’t fly to the United States without a National Interest Exemption.
We did check the government website and watching people pour money into slot machines wasn’t listed.
But this is Speedhunters and we’re immensely proud to have a global group of contributors on board whose sole mission is to hunt out the best, baddest and downright weirdest car culture the world has to offer. The SEMA Show, unsurprisingly, has that in abundance.
That’s why we’ll have Trevor, Brandon and new guy Yaheem all in attendance for the next few days. Because just like you, we’re equally as keen to see what the USA has been up to for the past 18 months, even while 5,000 miles away.
What can you expect from Speedhunters, then? Truthfully, it’s going to be as much of a surprise for us as it will be to you. We know there’s been some major domestic builds going on – like CSF Race’s backdated Porsche 911 – and if you haven’t watched the build series on YouTube already, we urge you to do that now.
If YouTube isn’t your thing, don’t worry. We’ll have a full feature on this beauty tomorrow for you instead. We’re good like that.
If you were a betting person, you’d guarantee something wide, winged and ludicrously expensive will be displayed from Liberty Walk and LT Motorwerks. And if you fancy doubling that bet, I reckon you could easily put another $100 on Long and the team still finishing said cars while you’re reading this post. We love those LTMW boys, and the fact that – even with 12 months of planning – it still goes down to the absolute wire for them.
Toyo Tires will be back again with their mega Treadpass, which in 2021 is made even more special by the fact Brandon’s own Z31 build is being displayed there. It must be both exciting and terrifying to have a personal car displayed at SEMA, and we can’t wait to read Brandon’s last instalment on what’s required to get a car SEMA-ready.
Our friends at Air Lift Performance continue to dominate the suspension game and we’ll be showcasing an entire gallery of our favourite ALP-equipped cars from the show. That’s in addition to all the spotlights and show reports you’ve come to expect from Speedhunters over the years, including a preview day.
We can’t speak for the rest of you, but we’re all properly excited for this – even if deep down we wish we were all headed for SEMA.
That’s 2020/21 in a nutshell, but you know what? We’ll take having some banging stories presented here every day without having to move right now. And it’s an infinitely better way to enjoy the SEMA Show without that wave of anxiety you feel sitting in McCarran International Airport after five days in Vegas. If you know, you know.
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