To start the weekend off many of the cars gather at the Sun Valley Auto Club to get signed in, go over the event, and receive a detail for their cars. This is one of multiple little pre-meets that happen in the Sun Valley area on the day of the car show. From the Auto Club early in the morning cars break off for breakfast. Converging at the YMCA which is the starting point for the cruise the cars have another little pre-meet that everyone is allowed to attend.
From the YMCA the cruise brings the cars through the town and into downtown Ketchum where a section is closed off to line up all the cars. The cars themselves are roped off but you're still able to get up close and personal with some of the worlds best super and hyper cars. Around the show there are plenty of great local food options to sit down and be able to watch as everyone rolls through. After the show there is a rollout to hear the cars start up and give some light revs to end off the night.
There were two cars at this event that truly took everyone by surprise all weekend. The duo being a Mclaren Senna, and a Bugatti Chiron. Ketchum was taken over by beautiful cars during this time but these cars are ones you'll seldom see anywhere but your phone screen. With the nature of the show being that you could get within a foot or so of each car it was an amazing time for everyone to see them in true detail and be able to appreciate them as best one car without owning it.
After the roll out to end off the night everyone is up bright and early to head about 10 minutes North of Ketchum and setup shop on Phantom Hill for the high speed event. Phantom Hill is a part of a couple mile stretch of the Sawtooth Scenic Byway that the event co-coordinators shut down in heats. A handful of county sheriffs help out by blocking traffic and then send one suv down and back to make sure the roadway is clear. This sort of preparation along with plenty of spotters with walkie-talkies keeps the whole high speed event extremely safe. Each heat of roughly 10-12 cars gets to run flat out for roughly a mile and a half and slow into a one mile cooldown. This event is one of the only places where you can legally take your supercar as fast as possible on a public roadway.
All of the speeds get recorded and written on a board in the "pits" area at the end of the slow down for everyone to check on. Spectating is accessible only by walking out to your spot from the road however there's nowhere to park for about a mile down from the pit area. It's best to have someone drop you off and walk to the recommended 200 feet from the road. Either way it's definitely worth the walk as you'll get to witness some of the top vehicles in the world go flat out in a gorgeous valley of Eastern Idaho. This is technically the second year of the Sun Valley Tour de Force and it gets better with every year, so do not miss the next one!
- Joshua Brown
@luckyclub.us
@sunvalleytourdeforce