Click image above for huge high-res gallery of the AB team's pics from the track
The 35th Rolex Monterey Historic Automobile Races presented by Toyota at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca is a long title for a spectacular event. Saturday was actually day two of the Historics, which will conclude on Sunday. While the races are exciting and the action very real, the results are slightly less important here than just witnessing the spectacle. The sounds alone are worth a trip to Laguna Seca in August. Saturday's action featured the Toyota Race of Legends, with several other classes having their day in the sun as well.
We had photographers all around the track capturing glimpses of the action, so make sure to click through the gallery to see what you are missing. After witnessing Mario Andretti throw the checkered flag for the Legends and then completing what seemed like dozens of "demo" laps in his old Lotus F1 car, we thought we knew what makes this event so special. And then we saw Patrick Dempsey getting some demo laps in an old Chrysler, and we had to rethink our theory. Okay, Dempsey is probably a bit more maligned here than he deserves, but he does seem to be featured here a lot lately. Personally we were happy to see the Keno twins of Antiques Roadshow fame just as much.
Look through the gallery and you will see some of these encounters and dozenz of pics of the great cars you practically trip over in the open paddock. It's just sick how many of the greatest cars from throughout automotive history are here and being driven as they should be. Saturday's classes included the finals for Pre-1940 Sports and Touring Cars, 1925-1950 Racing Cars and Indy Roadsters, 1950-1960 Sports Racing Cars, 1966-1972 Historic Trans-Am Cars, 1966-1974 Historic Can-Am Cars and 1964-1975 FIA Sports Racing Cars. We also got to see some of the cars that will be running Sunday as their owners tweaked them for the final day of competition. If you make it out to the track on Sunday you'll likely catch the featured Alfa Romeos as well as 1955-1966 Production Sports Cars, 1967-1978 Historic F-1 Cars, and 1972-1983 Historic IMSA Cars. If you can't find something you like in those groups, you're not trying.
Press release after the jump with results and quotes from Saturday.
Click image above for high-res gallery from Laguna Seca
This year's edition of The Toyota Race of Legends looked to be another exciting race, giving fans a chance to see former racing greats mix it up in identically prepared Scion tCs. Basically they are the same cars that are used in Long Beach for the Pro/Celebrity Race. The lineup of drivers included last year's winner, Derek Bell, along with other former F1 and sports car racers like Eddie Cheever, Danny Sullivan, Johnny Herbert, Alan Jones, John Watson, Jean-Pierre Jarier, Patrick Tambay, and Alain de Cadenet, as well as current Toyota F1 hot shoe, Timo Glock.
As a bit of a twist in the proceedings, local tuner and sometime racer Bruce Canepa had won a spot on the grid during a charity auction. Bruce quickly promised to beat the pants off the pros, citing his experience at Laguna Seca (his shop is just down the road), his prior racing experience (he has teamed with Bobby Rahal and Rick Mears at the Daytona 24 Hours and was on the Porsche AG 935 factory team), and his recent Scion tC track training.
Alain de Cadenet, for one, wasn't about to take that challenge lying down. He told us as much on Wednesday night at the Jet Center. A little friendly rivalry could only add to the fun. The stakes were raised when the officials held the draw for starting positions. Wouldn't you know it, Canepa landed the pole. Well, the gauntlet was thrown down and when the flag was waived, it was time to put up or shut up. Follow the jump for a brief rundown of the results.
Continuing our video wrap-ups from this year's Pebble Beach extravaganza, here is a clip of some of the track action from Mazda Raceway at Laguna Seca during the Rolex Monterey Historic Automobile Races presented by Toyota. We'll just shorten that to the Monterey Historics from now on, unless the Rolex and Toyota folks are looking in. We actually covered the races in two posts a couple of weeks ago. Part one covered Saturday's main action, while part two showed some of the events earlier in the week. The tape starts with some vintage open-wheel racers from old GP cars to the featured Indy Roadsters of the mid- to late-'50s. You'll also catch some of the most famous sports and GT racers of the mid '60s, like the Ferrari 250 LM and GTO, Shelby GT350 and Corvette pictured above. Not a lot of coverage, but we were juggling still cams and video cams so it was a bit difficult. The thrill of seeing these iconic race cars from throughout history is something that is hard to impart. Hopefully this gives you at least a little taste. The YouTube clip is after the jump.
While we already brought you an initial post from the Rolex Monterey Historic Automobile Races, there was so much more action at the track that we wanted to show off more of the great shots we got from Laguna Seca last week. Today's track pics come from earlier in the week and include some action from the special Ferrari 60th anniversary tribute, the parade of F40s to celebrate that iconic supercar's 20th birthday, and a few other classes we didn't get to see on Saturday. Things like IMSA GT and Can-Am, classic GP cars and GT racers of the '50s and '60s. We don't think you'll be disappointed.
These typically gorgeous action shots come courtesy of our friend Drew Phillips of Fast-Autos.net. We've also filled in a few paddock shots that show just how huge this event really is. If you've never attended an event like this, there's simply no way to describe how you'll feel the first time you see a dozen Bentley racers all lined up. We highly recommend making it up to Monterey next August or taking in any of the other vintage races that take place around the country.
Gallery: Pebble Beach Week 2007: The Monterey Historics at Laguna Seca, Pt. II
The track action at Laguna Seca can be so overwhelming that we figured we'd break up the galleries a bit. This post will feature nothing but on-track competition and a couple of ambiance shots from Saturday's sessions. Seven classes ran then and another seven will be heading out on Sunday. There are completely different cars in each set, so we'll try to get somebody out there for Sunday's racing as well. Rather than trying to cover every car in every group at every corner, we picked about 60 favorite shots from about 4 or 5 groups. Click away.
This was the 34th Rolex Monterey Historic Automobile Races, and Toyota was back as title sponsor. We missed most of their demonstration runs but can honestly say they are great hosts. Lexus pace cars and free survival packs for everybody that wanted them were a nice touch. As we told you before, Indy cars from 1957's Roadster era were highlighted because Laguna Seca is also celebrating its 50th anniversary of operations. The Race of Legends was also run Saturday and after some fender-banging close action, it came down to the wire and Derek Bell eked it out over a hard-charging Bobby Rahal. Emerson Fittipaldi was third. The most notable thing about the race besides the fact that Vic Elford got punted into the kitty litter at turn 11, is that $25,000 will go to a charity in Bell's name as the champion. Unfortunately, we didn't get any good pics of that because the media center decided to serve lunch at that time. But it looked thrilling on the monitors.
Gallery: Pebble Beach Week 2007: The Monterey Historics at Laguna Seca
This year's Monterey Historic races are featuring Indy Cars. Well, Indy Roadsters, in particular. As Laguna Seca itself is celebrating its 50th anniversary, cars and stars from 1957 are being highlighted in every class, but the Indy Roadster era is being given top billing.
The (long breath here) 34th Rolex Monterey Historic Automobile Races presented by Toyota, will again descend upon the Monterey track showcasing about a dozen classes of classic and vintage racers of every imaginable configuration. Spanning nearly 70 years of racing machinery, the oldest car this year is a1914 Mercer, while the youngest is a1981 Porsche 935K4. A quick scan of the entries reveals a lot of familiar names, like Porsche, Ferrari, Lotus, Corvette, McLaren and Shelby. There's also a group of nine pre-war Bentleys on the schedule.
Title sponsor, Toyota, is also celebrating its 50th this year (as well as the 40th of Toyota Motorsports) so some special vehicles from that Japanese marque will also be making their mark at Laguna Seca this week. Not to be outdone, Ferrari will be celebrating its win in the inaugural race at Laguna Seca 50 years ago by running two Ferrari Historic Challenge races on Friday. There will also be a display of the Ferrari Classiche program and a (drum-roll please) parade of F40s. Believe it or not, but this iconic supercar turns 20 this year!
More details from the press release are after the jump. We'll be at the track this week to get you some great photos of all the action, as well.
The Coronado Classic Speed Festival was held in San Diego this weekend and we had people on hand to cover it for you. Part of the General Racing Ltd. historic racing series, it featured over 200 of history's top racecars. All racing within a few feet of the thrilled fans. This type of racing is so incredibly fun. Seeing some of the greatest vehicular icons in motorsports being driven the way they were intended to be instead of in a static display at some concours or museum. And that's what vintage racing is all about. The series comprises The Wine Country Classic in Sonoma, the Monterey Historics at Laguna Seca, the Rolex Vintage Festival at Lime Rock, and this weekend's finale in Coronado. The emphasis in this series is on period correctness rather than outright speed, so the cars are pretty much the way they would have been in their prime. Twenty regular classes and the occasional Trans-Am, Can-Am or F1 race for good measure.
This was the 9th Speed Fest held on the same temporary 1.6 mile road course that uses the runways and taxiways of NAS North Island with Navy aircraft and ships in the background. Makes it easy to see the whole track and those backdrops are perhaps even more spectacular than the cars themselves. The vintage racecars in this series are chosen to compete on the basis of their historical significance and certified authenticity. So every one of the cars is period correct. In addition to the racing action this weekend, spectators could tour Vendor Village, the Meguiar's Car Club Corral and the New Car Dealers Association Classic Car Collection. A new feature, the SRT division of Chrysler was added as a major sponsor this year, and hosted the First Annual Speed Fest Car Show to benefit the Navy's Moral Welfare Recreation. More great action shots after the jump. Photos courtesy of Drew Phillips at Fast-Autos.net.
So, a total of 3,347 MINIs are taking part in a multiple-stage road trip across America. What do you call that kind of thing?
MINI named it "The 2006 MINI TransAmerican Motortastic Road Trip To End All Road Trips Rally." That's quite a mouthful, so we'll stick with the easier-to-remember "MINI Takes The States." The two-week celebration of all things MINI begins and ends with the delivery of the first American-market MINI GPs. Between those deliveries, however, a lot of stuff will be going on.
The rally kicks off after this weekend's Monterey Historics, where Cooper is the featured marque. Before departure, 32 of the first 41 early-delivery MINI GPs will be handed over to their new owners. Some of them, presumably, will be part of the 700-plus car caravan headed on a cross-country odyssey that ends 14 days later at the Rolex Vintage Festival at Lime Rock.
Registered MINI owners will be joining and leaving the pack throughout the trip, though 175 cars are signed up to make the full coast-to-coast run. Between Monterey and Lime Rock, MINI has events scheduled for the rally participants at every stop, ranging from a John Hiatt concert in Nashville, tailgating at Busch Stadium, a photo-op under the ST. Louis arch, an all-MINI drive-in movie, track tour and parade laps at Indy, and much more.
The tour's "wrap party" will take place in New Jersey, where 9 more MINI GPs will be delivered and everyone will get treated to an Everclear concert set against the NYC skyline. Almost 1000 MINIs will drive the final leg from Jersey to Lime Rock Park in CT, where MINI will have a hospitality tent set up and offer a chance to drive in a parade lap around the circuit. Full info including the trip route, detailed event schedule, and entrant list is available at www.minitakesthestates.com.
As the presenting sponsor of this year's Rolex Monterey Historic Automobile Races, Toyota Motor is going all out to bring its motorsports efforts in front of U.S. fans, with the centerpiece of its involvement demonstration runs and paddock displays featuring this year's TF106 Formula 1 car. (Although Toyota isn't talking about it, fans expect the car to set a new lap record for Laguna Seca. Could be challenging on the notoriously dusty track - we'll have to wait and see.)
For the first year of its three-year stint as presenting sponsor of the event, Toyota F1's TF106 racecar will be in attendance with full team support, including team driver Ricardo Zonta, giving fans unprecedented access to a state of the art F1 car as part of Toyota's "Working Paddock Display." Also in attendance will be a full array of Toyota racing machinery, past and present, including the GTO Toyota Celicas developed by Dan Gurney's All American Racers that dominated U.S. sports car racing in the late '80s. More modern machinery will include Rod Millen's Pikes Peak hillclimb Celica, a Lexus Daytona Prototype, a NASCAR Craftsman Truck, and a Nextel Cup Camry.
Lexus is sponsoring an exhibit of motorsports artist Hector Luis Bergandi, well-known for his frequent contributions to Road & Track magazine.
The Monterey Historic is often described as an "automotive museum brought to life," and it's the largest event, with over 40,000 visitors, of the renowned classic car weekend in Monterey, California. The 33rd Rolex Monterey Historic will be held August 18-20, 2006 at the historic Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. Full info on the event is here.
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