Monterey Classic Car Week 2012

It's been a while since I've posted on the blog, mainly because my day job keeps my creative needs met most of the time. But after getting back from Monterey I had 8,000 photos that were begging to be shared. Some ended up on our Facebook page and others will appear in Dusty's exceptional Driven World Magazine - which continues to amaze me every month with even higher levels of work from all involved. Here are links to the rest. I whittled them down a bit by tossing out all of the blurry ones, and broke them up into hopefully bitesize chunks for you. I still need to do the final track album and a highlight album that will likely be around 200 of my favorite shots from that week, but for now...

By the way, Monterey is impossible to capture in words or pictures. Even video doesn't do it justice. The electricity you feel up there just driving around the peninsula is incredible. Even without events like McCall's, Concorso, Quail, the Historics and Pebble, the cars you can see driving around, parked at Denny's, filling up at Rotten Robbie's...are nicer than the cars at most museums or exotic car dealerships. Fortunately for us, we also got to add the Jet Center, Laguna Seca, 17-Mile Drive, the Lodge at Pebble Beach, Bixby Bridge and Scott's Valley to the list of beautiful backdrops for our photos too. So click through and enjoy a whirlwind visit to Monterey for Classic Car Week.

Monterey 2012 - McCall's Motorworks Revival

Monterey 2012 - Canepa Design

Monterey 2012 - Historics: Paddock Walk

Monterey 2012 - Pebble Beach Tour d'Elegance

Monterey 2012 - RM and Gooding

Monterey 2012 - Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance

Monterey 2012 - Misc. Sights

2011 Porsche Rennsport Reunion IV Highlights

Such an amazing gathering of legendary Porsches at such an iconic track, it's not surprising that Rennsport Reunion IV added nearly 4,000 photos to my albums. I've since gone back and broke those down into groups and now have a 400-shot highlight album posted as well - in case you prefer the Readers' Digest version.

With nearly 35,000 spectators on hand over three days enjoying autograph sessions with 50-plus legendary Porsche drivers, German music and food in the Biergarten, museum quality display cars and plenty of on-track Porsche action – Porsche Rennsport Reunion IV is in the books as the best ever on all accounts.

Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca played host to Porsche Rennsport Reunion IV Oct. 14-16, which brought together many of Porsche’s most historic racing models from across the country and direct from the Porsche Museum in Germany. There was a significant highlight around every turn in the paddock, including a special tribute to the celebrated Porsche 911 history, a Concours on Pit Lane, the North American debut of the new 2012 Porsche 911 and the Porsche Club of America’s largest single marque car corral in Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca history with more than 1,300 vehicles.

“Rennsport Reunion IV has exceeded our wildest expectations, and the entire Porsche team is both grateful and a bit proud that our dreams and hard work have paid off,” said Detlev von Platen, president of Porsche Cars North America. “But it took more than just our efforts to make this weekend a magic one. It took a perfect race track, a beautiful countryside, picture perfect weather and the tireless work and cooperation by the professionals of SCRAMP to make Rennsport Reunion IV unforgettable for our many racing legends, the hundreds of participants, the tens of thousands of race fans.”

“We were pleased to be a part of Porsche history,” says Gill Campbell, CEO/general manager of Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. “Judging by the smiles on the faces of spectators and participants alike, we feel the event was a huge success. Porsche Rennsport Reunion IV is the capper for what has been a tremendous 2011 season.”

The cars - and the photos - are broken into eight groups, plus an extra album each for the Concours, the Paddock and the Parade Laps. Below are the list and the links. It was a truly extraordinary event. Enjoy.

Race Groupings

Group 1 - 550, 550A, RSK, RS60-61 (4&8 cyl.), 2000 GSGT (Dreikantschaber), Abarth Carrera, Lotus/Porsche, Cooper/Porsche (Pooper), 356 GT, and any other 356 with FIA history and selected 356 SCCA history cars.

Group 2  - Elva/Porsche, 904 (4&6 cyl.), 914/6 GT, 911TR, 911ST, 911 (911 up to 2.5 liter). Any of the 911s must have FIA history (Daytona, Sebring or Watkins Glen is the only US accepted FIA history). No SCCA cars.

Group 3 - 906, 910, 907, 908, 908/2, 908/3 (8 cyl. & 6 turbo), 909, 917 (normally aspirated and turbocharged)

Group 4 - 911 (over 2.5 liter), RSR, 3.0 RSR, 2.1 Turbo, 934, 934.5, 935, 924 GTS, 924 GTR, 936

Group 5 - 956, 962, GT1, WSC, RS Spyder, World Challenge 911 GT3 Cup

Group 6 - Cayman Interseries

Group 7 - PCA

Group 8 - 911 Cup Cars

2011 Concorso Italiano

Photos from 2011 Concorso Italiano

More room, flatter fairways, more cool cars and even a section of barn finds and beaters made this year's Concorso Italiano one of the best ever.

As you may recall from the 26- or 28-year history of this perennial classic, recent servings of Concorso Italiano have been a little up and down, with venue changes and field sizes that didn't always show these great cars in their fullest possible glory. There were the buses that took us around the first year of the Black Horse golf course, followed by the year of the cold, hard cement of the Marina Airport, and then the box canyon of last year's show. But we put up with it because we love these cars and nothing was going to keep us away from them.

Well, 2011 was no such year. Organizers discovered three huge fairways on the same golf course they used last year, opening up the whole show to give tifosi a little more elbow room between the fenders.

“The setting is the best,” event emcee and Italian-car fan Keith Martin said. He is the publisher of Sports Car Market and a former Autoweek contributor. “There are more cars than ever. It not only achieved its former provenance but surpassed it.”

Concorso president Tom McDowell estimated there were “roughly 1,000 cars” and “I'm guessing 8,000 people.”

With room for them all.

“We really like the new layout,” a slightly sunburned McDowell said at the end of the day. “From the feedback we've gotten, people really appreciate the venue.”

A big hit this year was the “Originals and Barn Finds” section, with 21 unrestored Italian cars and four barn finds. Heck, the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance started a class for unrestored cars, why not Concorso? Maybe because so many Alfas across the country look like unrestored barn finds? Just kidding. Don't send hate mail.

And unlike past years that featured what seemed like 10 million 355s and an equal number of Murciélagos, this year seemed to balance the old and the new with a mix that appealed to almost everyone.

“It's a little more spread out,” entrant John Maclay said, standing next to his 1964 Alfa 2600 (“It's got enough power to be interesting.”). “It was nice, a real variety of cars.”

Best of Show this year went to Pete Vasquez's superbly delicate 1953 Fiat Stanguellini, an intricately styled 2+2 that had something cool in every fender and dash panel.

“Last year it was on the lawn at Pebble,” Vasquez proudly pointed out. “[Winning here] just blows my dreams away.”

We ran into Frank and Janet Mandarano, the founding couple of what would become Concorso Italiano some 26 (Frank) or 28 (Janet) years ago.

“It's 28 if you count the years it was just the Maserati Club,” said Frank.

“[This year] it was back to having fun,” said Janet.

The hit of the show might have been the guy who, on his way out, drove his Gallardo Spyder halfway into a sand trap. A pretty good crowd gathered to watch an inventive tow-truck driver extract him. Autoweek alumni Byron Pope helped engineer the retrieval. Together they pulled it back from the brink, just like the organizers of this year's and last year's shows. The Lambo driver, and probably all of the attendees, drove off happy as a clamshell hood opening.



Read more: http://www.autoweek.com/article/20110821/CARNEWS/110829988#ixzz1Z1q3qqPE