It’s rare to see a supercar cruising through your city, let alone a few, but imagine I told you could see 80. Yes America’s capital, that is exactly what happened yesterday afternoon – the goldRush Rally rolled into your town.

If you don’t know, the annual goldRush is an automotive event that hits the hottest cities in the US with extreme driving, luxurious hotel crashing and the wildest, most memorable parties, ever. The majority of participants started their journey in Las Vegas with stops in Park City, Denver, Chicago (via a flight with their cars no less) continuing on to Cleveland and now Washington DC. Today, they’ll finally make their way to my city, NYC!

We had to get to a taste of the action, but before Rod and I could document the experience of following the last leg of ‘GR6′ from DC to NYC, we had to find the perfect car for it. We called our friends at Air Lift Performance who were able to introduce us to D2 IND and their Nissan R35 GT-R with the works. It was exactly what we needed. This car was happy to see me and enjoyed our leisurely ride to DC with the beautiful scenery. But little did it know the VIP treatment we had in store for it in meeting the in-crowd of the gold-blooded, nor the ‘spirited’ driving it was going to see on its way back to the Big Apple.

We couldn’t arrive at the party without cleaning this beauty though, so we called on one of DC’s finest to help us out. We located Mr. Car Wash on 13th Street downtown and met Earl Risby. He took quite a liking to our secret weapon for washing and detailing, so we even left some Kleers product behind for him to use on some lucky locals’ cars.

Unlike most of the others on the Speedhunters team I’m new to using the Kleers products, but as Earl put it, “Ohhh weee, that’s some nice stuff!” I must agree. The Wheel Cleaner was my favorite and most satisfying to use. Just look at the power behind that spray! I’m sure those Strasse wheels have never felt better.

There’s a certain feeling a freshly cleaned car gives you, and with the GT-R shined up to perfection, both Rod and I were ready for the goldRush!

We arrived at the Mandarin Oriental hotel before the group so we could check out where all the supercars were going to spend the night. Of course, that provided the perfect opportunity to hit the AutoPilot V2 controller and let the Air Lift suspension sink the GT-R to the ground.

Did anyone say our car is bare? Just wait – the stickers are coming. Consider this aspect ‘to be continued’…

The first car to arrive quite appropriately sported red, white and blue as it rolled up the hill with the Capitol Building in the background. By this time the crowd in front of the hotel had grown considerably and was becoming more excited. Would those in the audience get to see the car of their dreams or the drivers they follow on Instagram arrive? Some had been waiting for hours in the 75-degree farenheight temperature. The reception the motorcade received told me that it was all worthwhile.

Crowd control was in full effect with the blockades separating tens of thousands of horsepower and tens of millions of dollars of mostly-exotic automobiles from the barrage of fans who had showed up to support and experience this parade of the loudest and proudest supercar owners. I’m sure that the hotel’s Wi-Fi would have barely been able to handle the uploads.

Team Salamone did not disappoint either – Conc from the #1 the chrome-wrapped Verde Scandal Lamborghini wearing a coordinating leopard print one-piece number and happy to talk with, and entertains fans. We’re looking forward to team’s fashion choice for the final day of this eccentric rally.

Amidst the mayhem we were stopped by two local Speedhunters readers, and after a quick chat we armed them with some SH EDTN gear. It’s always great to meet people around the world that visit the site on a daily basis.

After the festivities ended, one by one the cars entered the parking complex. SLS, Phantom, Gallardo, 458, GT-R, Aventador, Carerra GT and even a MINI Cooper. It’s hard to pick a favorite in this bunch. All of the cars and characters in this rally are interesting and have a story or two to go along with them.

Supercar sounds echoed through the concrete structure as the machines crept into their parking spots to retire for the evening. As is the case every night during this event, there’ll be a few stories shared between owners while they’re out playing in the city. Most will continue on until the wee hours of the morning and grab (or not) just a little bit of sleep before the driver meeting at 7.00am sharp.

Pace car? Yes, this BMW X6 was the pace car of all pace cars, and besides being an M model had police lights and sirens too. I only thought they made toys like this?! In all reality though, this is just a grown up’s toy, and if they want to play, I say enjoy!

On the other end of the value scale this crisp matte white Rolls-Royce sat underneath atmospheric lighting just waiting for us to snap a shot. Parked next to our GT-R and several other cars wearing police livery, it was in good company.

A few lucky fans were even allowed to come into meet Debbie and her Batventador. We’ve been following the story of this machine on the interwebs for many months, but the real life experience was just so much more mind blowing.

I thought decorating the GT-R would never come, but after seeing another car in the distance getting the treatment from the goldRush staff, sticker time had almost arrived. It worked out well too, as our own IAMTHESPEEDHUNTER stickers still needed to be applied.

The location of where they should be stuck sparked a debate between Rod and I, but as you can tell from the above shot – I won! The end result looks amazing if I do say so myself. We were almost ready to call it a night but the final decals still needed to be applied.

At last, Johnson from the goldRush crew was ready to officially induct our GT-R into the rally by dressing it up with the sponsors’ decals. We were now ready!

But are you? If you’re in NYC today (Saturday June 7), meet us with the GR6 teams and crew at 380 Bleecker Street from around 2.00pm. We’re looking forward to seeing some of you there!

Elizabeth White
Instagram: itswhitenoise

Photos by Rod Chong
Instagram: speedhunters_rod
Twitter: @rodbotchong

More R35 GT-R related stories on Speedhunters
Air Lift Performance
goldRush Rally official site