,
The day was winding down and 86Fest was nearly over. Nick and I thought we had come to the end of our coverage when one of the 86Fest officials came over to the Turn 14 Booth and gave us some surprising news.
There was a contest going on and we were entered without really knowing it. The 86Fest had set up a People's Choice Award and used Instagram posts within a certain time frame to determine which two cars would be up against each other for the final vote. We were entered without knowing it by the fans of the event.
Not only were we unaware that we were entered, it turned out that Project FR-S had been seeded Number 1 with 66 votes. The next closest car was only at 35 votes. Wait, so we, MotoIQ, who don't normally do show cars were entered into a car show with a car that isn't for showing off and seeded number one. Who was that poor schmuck that was seeded number 2 with only 35 votes?
Oh, dang. We've run into this guy before. Interesting, how things can work out sometimes as a pure street-able show car was seeded number 2 in a Peoples Choice Award at a car show against a pure functional track oriented car. Go figure.
So, Nick pulls up Project FR-S beside the Canibeat FR-S to allow the crowd to take a gander at two very different cars. With so many votes on Instagram, could it be possible? Could the functional car take home the prize against the show car?
In the end, no. With the crowd slightly more in favor for the show car, the FR-S that belongs to Noel Barnum of Canibeat took home the people's choice award. We missed it by just that much. However, it is starting to show the shift in the car show scene. No longer is the non-functional, HellaFail, show car the only contender at these shows against well built, stanced out cars like Noel's. The functional cars are making a comeback and it's beginning with Project FR-S.
