Monterey, California, in mid-August teems with hot vehicles. Pebble Beach weekend creates a gravitational pull that draws out the rarest, most expensive, and most lovely vehicles in such wonderful quantities that you will momentarily overlook just how uncommon, costly, and uncommonly stunning these cars are. They collect en masse at events like the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, the Quail Motorsports Gathering, the Werks Reunion, and even in parking lots where enthusiasts arrive in Lambos, Ferraris, and Porsches, each old and new. But if it is action you seek, you want to get to the Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, where vintage race cars take to the track in a gloriously loud, smelly, and speedy celebration of what racing was.
Much more than 500 historic race vehicles filled the paddock for this year’s Reunion, also identified as the Monterey Historics. Cars spanning 81 years of racing lore—from the 1911 National 40 that finished 6th in the inaugural Indy 500 to the 720-hp 1992 Mazda RX-792P—took component in 15 races that covered almost everything from prewar touring to Can-Am racing. Every single occasion brings a distinctive variation of a deafening straight-piped roar with the intoxicating scent of burnt fuel.
Drivers race with respect for the value and significance of the cars, but that doesn’t keep them from toeing the limits of grip in the corners and flattening the loud pedal on the straights. In the 1966–1972 Trans-Am class, we watched a 1971 AMC Javelin jockey for the podium with 2 1970 Ford Mustang Boss 302s in a battle that brought a adjust in leader practically each lap in the second half of the race.
Maserati received unique recognition as this year’s featured marque, an honor that was timed with the 100th anniversary of the Italian brand. Automobiles like a 1955 300S, a 1960 Tipo 61 Birdcage, and a 1962 Tipo 151 represented the era prior to Maserati took a 37-year-hiatus from racing even though a mid-engined Maserati MC12, a single of just 50 constructed in 2004 and 2005, played its twelve-cylinder trumpet throughout the lunchtime parade laps.
The Historics draw auto guys of each ilk. Comedian Adam Carolla, retired racer Bruce Canepa, present driver Marino Franchitti, and Ford executive vice president Jim Farley all took to the track this year. But the best component of the Motorsports Reunion is that it isn’t defined by spotlight-in search of celebrities, pretentious billionaires, or energy-wielding organizers. The Monterey Historics are the most down-to-earth occasion on the Pebble Beach calendar. Here, mere mortals can mingle with million-dollar machines and the individuals who personal them. Each spectator has carte-blanche access to the paddock, so you can snap a picture, speak history with an owner, and sometimes even snag a chance to sit behind the wheel of your favourite auto.
Whether or not or not you made it to this year’s Reunion, you can relive the event right here in our mega-gallery . . . then figure out how to get oneself to the races in 2015.
The Sound and the Fury: Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion Mega-Gallery
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