LAS VEGAS — The 18th fairway at Red Rock Country Club disappears under sheet metal on Saturday. Vegas AUTOFEST returns to the Summerlin club on September 12 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., and organizers are targeting more than 500 display vehicles across the closing hole and the adjoining driving range, up from roughly 400 last year. Lamborghini Las Vegas and Audi Henderson are the presenting sponsors. A portion of ticket revenue goes to the Shine A Light Foundation, a Las Vegas nonprofit. General admission starts at $20, children under 16 get in free, and there is no spectator parking at the club: everyone rides a free air-conditioned shuttle from Las Vegas Ballpark.
What you need to know
- When and where: Saturday, September 12, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., Red Rock Country Club, 2250 Red Springs Drive. Awards are handed out at 3 p.m.
- What it costs: Spectator tickets from $20, under-16s free, $50 to enter a car, $200 for the Podium Pass, which includes a lift to the gate in a Ferrari, priority viewing areas and a premium bar.
- How you get in: Free parking at Las Vegas Ballpark with shuttles running from 9:30 a.m. and the last one back at 3:15 p.m. The club itself has no spectator lot.
A car show that happens to be on a golf course
Most large car shows are held on asphalt because asphalt is cheap, flat and forgiving. Vegas AUTOFEST went the other way. Putting 500 cars on maintained turf with the Spring Mountains behind them is expensive and logistically awkward, and it is the entire reason the event photographs the way it does. Cars sit low against a green plane instead of a grey one. There are no light poles in the frame. The red sandstone of the Calico Hills is a few miles west.
The show describes itself as having been created to break the stale car show mold, which is the sort of thing every show says. What separates this one is the run sheet. Load-in starts early, 7:30 a.m. for cars that want first choice of position and 8 a.m. officially, and the whole thing is finished by mid-afternoon, before September turns the fairway into a griddle. Five hours is short for a show of this size. It is also long enough, which is a distinction plenty of all-day events never work out.
What actually shows up
The registration mix is deliberately loose: exotics, muscle, luxury, European and American classics, customs and rare collectibles all park on the same grass. That is a choice worth noting. Sorted-by-marque concours events are easier to judge and much less interesting to walk.
Last year’s field gives a fair idea of the ceiling. Local preview coverage put a 2002 Mercedes-Benz that ran a Cannonball record, New York to San Francisco in 29 hours and four minutes, on the same lawn as a 1994 Land Rover Defender running a Corvette V8 at a claimed 950 horsepower, a RUF-modified 993-generation Porsche, a current Lamborghini Urus and an ex-Formula 1 car. Helicopters were parked on the range. It is not a purist’s gathering and it does not pretend to be.
Judging stays simple: Best in Show, Best Exotic, Best Classic and a crowd-voted People’s Choice, announced at 3 p.m. as the show closes. There is a watch raffle, live music, showgirls and a full bar. The sponsor board runs close to 30 names and reads like a map of the local trade, with Lamborghini, Ferrari, Porsche, Audi, Lexus and Jaguar Land Rover dealers alongside Wynn Las Vegas, Barry’s Downtown Prime, Eurotek Tuning, Rollin’ Smoke BBQ and Tito’s. Hearts Alive Village, a Las Vegas animal rescue, brings a booth and adoptable dogs.
Vegas AUTOFEST 2026 at a glance
| Date | Saturday, September 12, 2026 |
| Hours | 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., awards at 3 p.m. |
| Venue | Red Rock Country Club, 2250 Red Springs Drive, Las Vegas, NV 89135 |
| Display area | 18th fairway and driving range |
| Vehicles expected | 500+ |
| Spectator admission | From $20; under 16 free |
| Vehicle entry | $50 driver ticket |
| VIP | Podium Pass, $200 (Ferrari transport, premium bar, priority viewing) |
| Load-in | 7:30 a.m. early, 8 a.m. official |
| Parking | Free at Las Vegas Ballpark; free shuttles 9:30 a.m. to 3:15 p.m. No parking at the club |
| Presenting sponsors | Lamborghini Las Vegas, Audi Henderson |
| Beneficiary | Shine A Light Foundation |
| Awards | Best in Show, Best Exotic, Best Classic, People’s Choice |
The shuttle is not a suggestion
Red Rock Country Club is a gated residential community. There is no spectator parking inside it, and the surrounding streets are not a workaround. Park at Las Vegas Ballpark in Downtown Summerlin, take the shuttle, and plan your exit around the 3:15 p.m. last run rather than the 3 p.m. awards. Podium Pass holders skip the bus and are driven the final leg in a Ferrari, which is a genuinely clever piece of theater. The arrival becomes part of the ticket.
Two practical notes for anyone bringing a car. Grass is unforgiving of low splitters and hot clutches, so treat the load-in window seriously; 7:30 a.m. exists for a reason. And September in Summerlin is still summer. A show that ends at 3 p.m. was designed by people who have stood on a fairway in triple digits.
ECN analysis: why the country-club format keeps spreading
Vegas AUTOFEST sits in a gap that opened over the last decade. On one side is the free weekend Cars and Coffee, which costs nothing, attracts everything, and periodically gets shut down after somebody leaves a parking lot sideways. On the other is the invitational concours, which is beautiful, expensive, tightly curated and effectively closed to the owner of a well-sorted Defender.
The middle ground, ticketed and charity-attached, held on private grass with open registration at a low fee, solves several problems at once. A $50 entry filters out drive-by chaos without gatekeeping the field. A private venue gives organizers control that a public lot never provides. The charity line gives sponsors a reason to write a check that is not purely transactional. And the golf course supplies the one thing enthusiast events now compete hardest for, which is a background worth posting.
That last point is not cynical. The attendance economics of regional car shows have shifted toward the image. A show that photographs well recruits next year’s entrants for free, and entrants are what spectators pay to see. Red Rock’s setting does more marketing work for this event than any ad buy could.
The risk in the format is dilution. Five hundred cars on open registration means the ratio of serious machinery to enthusiastic-but-ordinary machinery has to be managed, and that gets harder every year a show grows. Events that have survived this model longest tend to solve it with soft curation, reserving prime display positions for invited cars while keeping general registration open. Whether Vegas AUTOFEST tightens that as it scales past 500 entries is the thing worth watching after Saturday.
Why it matters
Las Vegas spent decades as a city cars passed through. That has changed. The Formula 1 Las Vegas Grand Prix runs the Strip circuit again on November 19 to 22, and the SEMA Show fills the Convention Center November 3 to 6, putting two of the largest automotive events in the country inside three weeks of each other in the same city. A 500-car September show on a Summerlin fairway is a smaller thing, but it is exactly the kind of smaller thing a real car town needs: locally organized, locally attended, and not built around a race weekend’s hotel rates.
For collectors, that matters more than it sounds. Regional shows are where local market knowledge gets made. They are where you learn which shop actually sorted that car, who has owned what, and what a given build is really worth to someone in your zip code. Auction results tell you what a car sold for. A fairway full of cars and their owners tells you why. More of ECN’s lifestyle and events coverage is here.
Frequently asked questions
When is Vegas AUTOFEST 2026?
Saturday, September 12, 2026, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Red Rock Country Club in Las Vegas, Nevada.
How much are Vegas AUTOFEST tickets?
Spectator admission starts at $20 and children under 16 are free. Entering a vehicle costs $50. The Podium Pass VIP ticket is $200 and includes Ferrari transport from the shuttle drop, priority viewing areas and a premium bar.
Where do you park for Vegas AUTOFEST?
There is no spectator parking at Red Rock Country Club. Park free at Las Vegas Ballpark in Downtown Summerlin and take the free air-conditioned shuttle, which runs from 9:30 a.m. until the last return at 3:15 p.m.
How many cars are at Vegas AUTOFEST?
Organizers expect more than 500 display vehicles in 2026, spread across the 18th fairway and the driving range. The 2025 edition drew roughly 400.
What charity does Vegas AUTOFEST support?
A portion of ticket proceeds goes to the Shine A Light Foundation, a Las Vegas nonprofit. Hearts Alive Village, a local animal rescue, also attends with a booth.
Can you still enter a car?
Registration runs through the event’s own site and closes at the organizers’ discretion, so day-of availability is not guaranteed. Confirm directly with Vegas AUTOFEST before driving out.
Ticket prices, timings and vehicle counts are as published by the event organizers ahead of Saturday and are subject to change.
