Speeding Again at the Monterey Motorsports Reunion
Since the invention of the internal combustion engine people have wanted to race each other, starting on horse tracks and, finally, progressing to road courses. Inventing different ways to compete against each other — our racing history has brought drag racing, circle track, road course, off road, and more recently, drifting. Each form of racing has a unique story and heritage — some people choose to live back in the “old days," and this is just the sort of event for that….
Once a year, Laguna Seca opens its track for the Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion. Coinciding with the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance just a few miles down the road, the Motorsports Reunion provides an opportunity for some of those rare vehicles to bash around the track instead of just sit upon a lawn.
Celebrating it’s 38th year this August, the Motorsports Reunion was started by Steve Earl in 1974. Originally, Steve organized the race in order for a friend to have a place to race their vintage autos during Pebble Beach. Gaining huge amounts of popularity, what started out as a 60 car event with sparse spectators has morphed into widespread celebration of vintage racing – with 550 period correct vehicles expected to compete this coming August.
The quality of the participating cars is second to none. If you thought regular racing was expensive, we just turned a corner into a new tax bracket! Period correctness to the nth degree.
Some of the makes you will come across will include the popular European variety, like Porsche, BMW, Ferrari, and Alfa Romeo. Many of the US-made racecars form Ford and Chevrolet come to play as well. The hot ticket is coming across some of the popular makes of times past such as Allard or Miller, who ceased being manufactured long ago. The real treat is coming across entirely hand-built racecars, something not altogether uncommon in racing’s earliest days.
During the course of a weekend at the Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion, you’ll see just about every type of auto racing to happen on a road course. You’ll also get the chance to see cars you’ve only read about in books or seen on the Internet – chances are good that you won’t see a collection of racecars like this anywhere else.
It is one of the premier vintage races in the world , and the event attracts all sorts of people from all walks of life – sheiks and princes attend (and compete) as well as average joes like myself.
Once at Laguna, you can roam the pits — talking to anyone and everyone. I find that most car people are just that, car people — anxious to talk about their cars. It’s refreshing to have a setting that crosses so many social barriers.
You might be wondering to yourself, “Why would anyone race such a rare and expensive car?” Well its easy…it isn’t necessarily a race to win, it’s a race for drivers. With cars like this, it can’t be merely about how fast you drive, but how well you drive fast. Keeping an eye on your car’s performance and racing surroundings takes on a completely different meaning when you get behind the wheel of an 80+year old racecar. Preservation and safety are of the utmost importance and each crew and driver knows it.
If you and the family have time this August, this is a must see event and also happens to be smack dab in the center of the beauty of the Monterey Peninsula. Camping at the speedway is allowed and the tickets aren’t horrible to pay… Go and have fun! For more info visit http://www.mazdaraceway.com. -Tim Sutton
