One of our favorite events of the Monterey Weekend is the Historic Automobile Races featuring hundreds of vintage racecars at the famed Laguna Seca racetrack. The historical value of the automobiles combined with the ease of access to the cars and owners in the paddock make it a spectator favorite. Ensuring that each event is unique, the races feature a different marque or theme every year. The past few years have seen fantastic collections of Alfa Romeos, Indy Roadsters, Coopers, and Chaparrals. For 2009 Porsche will be the featured marque (previously featured in 1982 and 1998), joining Ferrari and Alfa Romeo as the only makes to be selected three times. Everything from early Speedsters to the 956 Group C cars will be on track. If you're a Porsche nut, we would highly recommend that you start making travel plans for next August. More details in the press release after the jump.
Click above for high-res gallery of the VW CC Gold Coast
Volkswagen has used the occasion of this year's Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance to unveil its new CC Gold Coast edition. The most obvious change that sets the CC GC apart from more plebian CCs is the tri-coat paint – DuPont's light brown 'Pepe Pepper' to be specific, which reportedly has gold, brown and silver tones all mixed in for your ocular pleasure. Of course, such a high-end exterior color must be paired with an equally special interior hue, in this case it's leather done up Starbucks-style in 'Latte Macchiatto Cornsilk' with Bronze Piping on the seats and matching accents on the dash and door trim. Also on the docket are 19-inch propeller style wheels that fill the wheel arches rather nicely. A unique ground effects package rounds out the visual mods. Underhood is the familiar 3.6-liter TFSI engine with 280 horsepower and 265 lbs.-ft of torque mated to the automaker's stellar DSG double-clutch 6-speed automatic transmission. We know the regular CC is arriving this fall with a starting price tag around $27,000, but no details on the availability or pricing of the Gold Coast edition have been released yet.
Click above for high-res gallery of the featured Lamborghinis at Pebble
While Pebble Beach is perhaps best known as a place to honor classic American and European cars, sports cars have always held a special place in the hearts of the Concours committee and judges. With 45 years under its belt, Lamborghini is certainly deserving of a special place on both counts. As a featured marque here at Pebble, Lamborghini was extremely well represented with a selection of exquisite rare examples. Nine vehicles were on display being judged by 40-year test pilot Valentino Balboni among others.
The lineup of seldom-seen Lambos included the earliest known Lamborghini 350GT, the earliest known Miura, the earliest Miura SV, the Miura Roadster fresh from a yearlong restoration that swapped its army green paint for the correct blue metalflake, a 350GTS, 350GTZ by Zagato, an early LP400 Countach, and three one-off concepts - the 1990 P140, 1996 Raptor, and the Gallardo Concept S. A truly spectacular selection of models representing the fabled Italian marque. Check out the gallery below and follow the jump for the full press release.
Gallery: Lamborghini at the 2008 Pebble Beach Concours
Click above for high-res gallery of this year's Pebble Beach Best of Show
The confetti has fallen, the champagne corks have flown, and the 2008 Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance Best of Show award has gone to the gorgeous 1938 Alfa Romeo 8C 2900B Touring Berlinetta owned by John and Mary Shirley of Medina Washington. While every car here is truly extraordinary, the Best of Show car is always a stunner. This year was no exception. One of possibly five 8C 2900s bodied by Touring, this 8C has the supercharged straight 8 that was good for an amazing 180 hp. Some 30 8Cs were produced by Farina and Touring from 1937-1939, and few are the same or as nice as this particular example. Besides the trinkets and trophy, the Best of Show car also gets a boost in MSRP typically, being able to justifiably call itself the best collector car around. While we might fill in a few more galleries and posts to round out our coverage of Monterey 2008, we wanted to get this news to you asap. So click on the pics and enjoy.
Gallery: 2008 Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance Best of Show
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.
When you're surrounded by the copious quantities of automotive pornography in and around Pebble, it's unfortunate that the gaudiest bits of kit catch your eye. Case in point: this yellow Rolls-Royce Phantom Drophead Coupe that was delivered to a customer in Monterey.
The gallery tells the wholly infelicitous tale, from the matching French's Mustard interior to the carbon fiber trim replacing the Drophead's standard burl wood bits. It's utterly tasteless, but we just can't help gawking. Join in on the pain below.
Gallery: Monterey 2008: Yellow Rolls-Royce Phantom Drophead Coupe
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.
Click above for a high-res gallery of the Bugatti Veyron Grand Sport.
The wraps – and the roof – have come off the Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Grand Sport here in Monterey, finally answering a question few have asked and even fewer will sample.
As you'd expect, Bugatti hasn't just hacked the roof off the Veyron and gone to the pub. The windshield is slightly higher, the daytime running lights have been tweaked and then there's the showpiece: a removable, transparent polycarbonate roof, which blends the A-pillars into two painted carbon fiber strips that lead into the massive air intakes feeding the 1001 hp, quad-turbocharged, W16.
If you stow the roof at home for the world's fastest open-air, four-wheeled experience and the heavens decide to open, a folding roof stored in the luggage compartment can be – according to Bugatti – "opened like an umbrella." With the soft-top in place, speeds are limited to an incredibly low 130 km/h (81 mph), otherwise, the Grand Sport can hit 252 mph with the polycarbonate roof and 224 mph with the top removed.
Bugatti made several structural enhancements to ensure the Grand Sport shares the same chassis rigidity and safety standards as its fixed roof counterpart. The monocoque has been reinforced around the side skirts and transmission tunnel, the doors feature new longitudinal beams, and the air intakes have been redesigned to include ten-centimeter-wide carbon fiber elements to protect occupants in the event of rollover.
Only 150 examples will be made available, with the first 50 going to registered Bugatti customers. The first model will be auctioned off at the Gooding & Company auction tomorrow night, with all the profits over the 1.4 million euro ($2.05 million) sticker going to charity.
Hit the jump for the press release.
Gallery: Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Grand Sport Live Debut
Click image above for high-res gallery from Concorso Italiano 2008
The festivities continue around the Monterey Peninsula. We've already shown you pics from Gordon McCall's party and from the Pebble Beach Tour d'Elegance, but today's coverage picks up an Italian accent. The Concorso Italiano is one of the largest annual gatherings of all things Italian, be it music, cuisine, fashion, tourism, and of course cars. Previously held at the nearby Bayonet Black Horse Golf Course in Monterey Bay, this year's gathering took place at the Marina municipal airstrip. Just like the past 20-something years, this year's Concorso brought out some stunning examples of Italy's finest, cars designed with passione and intended to be driven con brio. And just like in previous years, a few non-Italian cars that bring that same driving thrill were invited in for the party.
While the tarmac didn't offer the same soft picnic grove as the golf course, the organizers tried their best to make up for it with plenty of shady tents to visit filled with vendors, food and fun. Concorso has always been more laid back than some of the other judged events during the week, and even with the slightly more rigid airport setting there was still a feeling that you were at more of a car club meet than a genuine concours. Check out the gallery by clicking one of the images here and you'll hopefully see what we mean. The usual Ferraris, Lamborghinis, Maseratis, and Alfas were joined by a bunch of Lancias, DeTomasos, Fiats, and a smattering of "others" that included German, Japanese, American, and British cars. Our favorite stop was the supercar lineup that featured two MC12s, two Veyrons, an Enzo and an F50. We even spotted Valentino Balboni, Adam Corolla and Jay Leno while we were there. Click away and enjoy.
Officially Official: 2010 Ford Mustang!
2010 Ford Mustang revealed early on Ford's own website!
2009 Nissan 370Z rolls out early in So. Cal
VIDEO: 2009 Nissan 370Z revealed early in So. Cal.
BRABUS begins business of tuning the Tesla Roadster
In the Autoblog Garage: 2009 HUMMER H3T Alpha
In the Autoblog Garage: 2009 Mercedes Benz C63 AMG
In the Autoblog Garage: 2009 Hyundai Genesis
In the Autoblog Garage: 2009 Chevrolet Traverse LT
