Amid nan craziness of Monterey Car Week, there’s 1 spot wherever you tin genuinely immerse yourself successful motorsports history.
Every precocious summertime astatine WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, automotive legends travel to life, racing astir nan iconic circuit for 4 days astatine nan Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion.
There aren’t galore places wherever you tin return successful nan sights and sounds of legendary title cars for illustration Niki Lauda’s 1976 Ferrari 312, positive ’60s and ’70s Ford Mustangs, GT machines, conscionable about every vintage Porsche, and moreover nan McMurty Spéirling, arsenic they tally laps astir nan track. But those cars and much – 400 successful full – lined up to compete astatine this year’s event.
Every car has a storied past, from nan 24 Hours of Le Mans and Formula 1 to different world and home racing series.
The paddock resembles a surviving museum, enhanced by drivers and teams dressed successful period-correct attire. The vibe feels very akin to a grassroots racing event; you tin watch nan cars connected way for their sessions, and past walk into the pits for a person look and moreover onslaught up conversations pinch nan crews.
There’s thing magical astir opinionated astatine nan bottommost of nan famed Laguna Seca Corkscrew, watching these legendary machines thunder by thigh aft lap.
The plentiful crowd fills nan vantage points pinch chairs and coolers, savoring each moment.
The unmistakable sounds of Mazda 4-rotor racing engines downshifting into nan Corkscrew and accelerating retired bring a grin to my look each time.
Seeing this ex-American Le Mans Series (ALMS) Saleen S7R – a car I publication astir successful mediate schoolhouse – driven difficult connected this way was a puerility dream travel true. Until then, I had only ever seen an S7 successful roadworthy car shape astatine nan Petersen Automotive Museum.
Watching these cars compete against their contemporaries is an acquisition unto itself. Despite their collector status, they are driven wheel-to-wheel hard, giving Reunion attendees a stunning show.
Nostalgia flows for those who retrieve these cars successful their era, while younger visitors tin study and admit nan rich | history of centrifugal racing astatine 1 of nan world’s astir celebrated racetracks. There really is thing rather for illustration nan Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion.
Daniel Baxter
Instagram: danielhasacamera
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