I can't exactly drive yet so I sort of depend on going places with my folks to spot and sometimes they'll head to areas where I usually see something and that's how I get most of my photos. And recently, since my campus is literally across from one of my favorite malls, I do some walking sometimes and go there.

I know that mid-to-late Friday-Sunday is probably the best time to go but rarely am I out there at the time. There are days where I go and I see nothing. Then the next day I look on Instagram and a red Huracan was spotted the day I didn't go. And then, this happened two times earlier this month, I see something and it pulls off as soon as I see it lmao. That's not to mention the red 488 GTB or orange F-Type Coupe I saw this past Sunday on the road, both cars I haven't gotten photos of in half a year maybe. I'll see all of this nice stuff on the move, a yellow and black 458 Italia, an F12, other nice stuff, and never see any parked.

I always see the best specs on the road, sometimes the best cars, and when I do see something I've been waiting to spot it just has to be dirty, a bland color or parked in probably the worst spot.

It's all chance of course and it doesn't take the fun out of spotting too much because with time I do see something nice. But I have to admit, I do get jealous when people have stated they saw 5x F12s in one day and that they're not special and I can barely find a California let alone in a proper spec. Anyways this is just a little bit of a light hearted rant.

I think, as spotters, we've all had streaks of bad luck. I've had my times of poor luck, most notably with1 Veyrons. Here's what I mean:

About 4 years ago, a family member shows me a picture of a silver/red Veyron parked in a plaza in Palm Beach Gardens (about 20 miles from where I regularly travel). I was shocked to see it, because even though there is plenty of money in Palm Beach Gardens, it's just not a hypercar hotspot. Best you'd see is usually Ferraris (i.e. 360s, 458s, Californias), maybe a Lamborghini or a Maybach 57. In fact, that was the first hypercar to show up in my area. So, I went out on a seemingly relentless pursuit trying to find it, going out on spotting journeys, frequenting the same plaza where it was. I found nothing.

One night, a friend of mine (about 4 months after the original picture) sends me a picture saying, "Veyron last night at the mall. Amazing!" He doesn't spend much time spotting, and rarely visits the mall where he found it. Again, I try multiple attempts to find it- no luck. Over the next 2-3 years, 4 other family friends would spot it, unintentionally taunting me by always saying something like, "Oh lol, you haven't found it yet? I see it all the time on _____ Street!"

Keep in mind these 2-3 years included numerous trips to Bal Harbour, Miami Beach, Fort Lauderdale, Palm Beach, and even one to Beverly Hills. 0 Veyrons (legitimately) spotted.

It would take up until last year's Cavallino Classic (January 22nd, 2016) for me to finally see a Veyron, and it wasn't even the same one I tried so hard to find. I would finally find the long-sought-after Veyron last year on April 22nd, and I wasn't even able to get out and look at it (I was with family that evening, and we happened to drive by it on our way out). Here's the photo of it if you're curious:

http://www.exoticspotter.com/bugatti-veyron-jupiter-florida-225460

Laughing my ass off right now. I've seen lots of people posting pictures of a red 991 GT3 with yellow calipers and black "ATTY" plates. Guessing hes an attorney. I was thinking about it today. So I'm at the mall and decide to randomly look in an area I rarely check. There it is!

Luck I guess. I also just caught some pics of a brand new dark red (rare) Z07 convertible with the top down. In a very scenic part of the mall. Could not be happier.

To be honest the GT3 was a little underwhelming. The owner must not give two shits because it's dirty and has a big scrape on the rear left part near the wing. To do that to not just a GT3 but a specially specc'd one... :/

Still made great pics tho! Today was a good day.

I remember a couple years ago there were 12-13 pre-production GT AMG's driving around in my area, and I missed every single one of them by about an hour.

At the 2014 Greenwich Concours there were four Porsche Carrera GTs driving around: two black, one silver, and one yellow. Somehow I missed all four of them.

This 458 Speciale owner I know on Instagram pulled up at Nieman Marcus. Red with black stripes. Amazing spec. My mom and I went out to that area and I saw the G63 AMG and C63 AMG 507 parked in the valet (dirty tho so didn't bother). Well I look on IG and he posted a pic of his car there behind those two. I must've been too late lmao. I think he left right before we passed by that area...

That was last Saturday. I can say I kind of made up for that by u-turning for a blue 458 Italia from Mexico yesterday and finding it in the same spot.

Is it typical for supercars to be dirty in San Antonio? I mean I guess it's a little dusty there (I've been to San Antonio about 8-10 times) but it seems like you find a lot of dirty ones.

Here by me there are very few dirty or damaged supercars, unless I go to an area like Miami or Fort Lauderdale where they are more common, and thus more commonly viewed by owners as a mere means of transportation.

Literally not even an hour after I left the Publix outside my neighborhood, my friend found a Ferrari 458 sitting in a handicapped spot in the front. I hadn't seen anything when I went.

My worst luck in one place would be a car wash in Palm Harbor, on McMullen Booth Road. I've seen a Lamborghini Gallardo, Maserati Quattroporte, and an 80s Ferrari outside, and the best shot I've ever gotten was the Maserati being blocked by a pickup truck.

I'd say about half of spotworthy cars are dirty here. And it's no surprise that most of the dirty ones are black or white. That's more so the case with AMGs and a few Maseratis and even some Astons (a silver DBS was spotted at the mall i frequent and it did have a lot of dirt on it). Porsches are the worst when it comes to dirt. Most Ferraris are usually spotless like they've just been detailed. It really depends. Texas has bipolar weather when we're not in a drought. Every week you get some type of rain and usually at the most random of times and you pick up a lot of dirt off of the road from it.

I'll talk about some of my worst misses:

Ferrari 512 TR:
I saw this car parked at a restaurant right next to my high school in a snowy day back in winter 2012. At that time I have not started spotting yet and I did not bring a phone or a camera, so I that time was like "Wow, that's a beautiful car. If I have a camera or something I'm gonna take some photos." Then I never saw that car again. A year later I learned that spotting a classic supercar in Canadian winter is probably harder than finding a unicorn. Damn it I really want to return to that day and take some photos of that car.

Porsche Carrera GT:
Back in 2013 (Or maybe 2012, I can't remember which year was it), one of my classmates told me he saw a Carrera GT parked at his neighbor's house (his neighbor's home is only 400 meters away from mine). I was like "dude, that's impossible, you probably saw a 911 Carrera GTS or something" and refused to believe him until he showed me a photo...It turns out that the owner of that Carrera GT was visiting my classmate's neighbor. I am quite sure that CGT is owned by a local collector who also has a F50 and a 599GTO. The good thing is, I can finally see that car in this year on the local cars and coffee event.

Porsche 918 Spyder:
It is owned by a collector in my hometown (Qingdao, China). I have actually spotted this car but I kept missing it for so many times. When I was spending my summer vacation in Qingdao back in 2015, my "spotting goal" was to find that car. One afternoon I decided to go to one of the popular spotting locations in town, then I decided not to go because I thought nothing would show up on a Thursday night. HOWEVER THAT FREAKING 918 SHOWED UP THAT NIGHT AND PARKED THERE FOR AT LEAST 2 HOURS. Two months later, I had to change the schedule of my flight due to time conflict. My parents asked me if I wanna change my flight on Aug 25 or 26, I was considering "if I choose Aug 26, then I will probably go spotting on Aug 25 and try if I can find that 918." But ultimately we rescheduled the flight to Aug 25. THEN, THAT 918 SHOWED UP ON AUG 25. In Dec 2016, I came back to Qingdao and checked a high-end local car wash, I saw a 488 there and I thought "that was pretty cool." Then I saw a local spotter and he told me the 918 had just left the car wash 10 minutes ago... THIS CAR DEFINITELY HATES ME FOR SOME REASONS.


Mercedes SLR:
I missed a silver SLR when I was travelling in LA. I was waiting for my Uber and suddenly an SLR came out of nowhere, I tried to chase him but it was too late. Since I have spotted some rarer cars in the next few days (275, 918 Spyder, Veyron etc.), I did not get upset about missing that SLR, but that was still one of my worst misses.

Back in 2013 when I was still in Indonesia, I haven't started spotting yet. In a performance garage near my house, I saw a bayside blue Nissan Skyline GT-R V-Spec II (BNR34), one day when going to my badminton course! And now I regret it!!!!!