Car Week has kicked off, with plenty of classic motor racing on the agenda as well. Peter Singhof sent us his report, trackside at Laguna Seca, from Monterey Motorsport Pre-Reunion. A warm-up that has us eager for more.
August means it is time for ‘Car Week’ on the Monterey Peninsula. What 74 years ago started as the prestigious Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, has in the meantime evolved into a weeklong motor fest with auctions, concours and parties for the grand finale at the Pebble Beach Concours on Sunday.
Cork Screw
Car week is more than just perfectly restored classic cars glittering under the Californian sun. It’s already a half a decade ago since the first historic races started taking place on the nearby Laguna Seca racetrack. With its famous corkscrew corner in the hills between Monterey and Salinas few tracks can match the attraction to both professional and amateur race drivers. Together with Monaco, Le Mans and Spa, this circuit is on the bucket list of many enthusiasts all over the world.
So, Car Week in August is the opportunity to check off this box and bring your classic racer to Laguna Seca to compete with likeminded in various race classes ranging from the vintage racers of the pre-war era, Formula Junior or F1 open wheel racers, the big bangers from the 1960s, Trans-Am, IMSA or European Sports Cars from your preferred brand in Italy, Germany or the UK.
Eleven groups
With many drivers coming from further away in the US or even from abroad, the main races on the Concours weekend have been extended to the weekend before as well, to make the trip worth it. The so-called Monterey Motorsport Pre-Reunion adds another well-used weekend of racing. Usually, only a smaller number of racers and spectators make their way to the track but still there were no less than 11 race groups lined up this weekend.
Relaxed atmosphere
A first look around on Thursday showed a very relaxed atmosphere in the paddocks where the huge race transporters of the racing teams are built up with the cars in the tents in front waiting for the action. Maybe a little bit less formal than the paddocks at the European race meetings but with the barbecue doing overtime with many teams, Monterey has its own charm compared to the staged paddocks at Goodwood for example. It becomes very clear from the first moment that this is all about racing with nothing distracting from the action.
On Friday, practice kicks off at 8 AM with the saloon cars from the 1950s and 1960s including the Lotus Cortina, Alfa Romeo GTA, Austin Mini or the BMW ‘New Class’. These cars might be on the more affordable end of the racing scale and usually guarantee close racing. The Minis chasing each other at the front is a common sight.
Abarth Simca
Following the saloon cars were the small displacement production cars of the SCCA (Sports Car Club of America) led by the Scarab MK1 followed by the Abarth Simca brought over from the Revs Institute in Naples and driven by Gunnar Jeannette. Jeanette had one of the most inspiring races on Sunday when he started at the end of the field and finished on the podium later on Sunday. Other cars of particular interest were the Ecurie Ecosse Jaguar D-Type and the Porsche Abarth.
Group 3 consisted of the FIA Manufacturers Championship cars from 1961-1975 and had the Lolas and Chevrons at the front with more exotic cars like the Ford GT40, the Porsche 910 from the Prototype era as well as many Porsche 911s.
Group 4 was the Sports Racing Cars from the mid-1960s including the McLaren M1 and M6 as the front runners but also a bunch of very fast Lotus 23s. With a total of 26 cars this was also one of the larger groups in the field.
TWR-Jaguar show
Group 5 was reserved to the IMSA and Group C cars and certainly one of the highlights of the weekend. With no less than five Porsche 962s, the AAR Toyota Eagle and a trio of TWR-Jaguar XJRs, ranging from the 1985 XJR-5, the 1987 XJR-8 driven by McLaren’s racing CEO Zak Brown and the 1991 XJR-16. Seeing them all come over the hill at corkscrew was quite a spectacle to behold. Philip Kadoorie, son of Sir Michael Kadoorie (host of the upcoming Quail Lodge Motorsport Gathering), had a blast starting from all of the back on Sunday afternoon making his way through the field and finishing second just behind another Porsche 962.
The complete opposite was the field of group 6, the formula junior racers. Whereas the turbocharged 962s and the Jaguars make their pace due to their power and advance aerodynamics of the 1980s, the light formula Ford racers are all about the corners.
Noise
A huge contrast to the small and nimble open wheelers was the next group, the Trans-Am. Although with only 13 cars a rather small group those Mustangs and Camaros were very well heard over the valley and form maybe one of the reasons the nearby residents are not all too happy about the races on Sunday. For some reasons, the squirrels at Laguna Seca seem to be less bothered by the engine noise as they go about their business unperturbed by the 5-litres of Ford V8 firing through an open exhaust just inches away. Occasionally, one of the squirrels will even cross the track in between the racers.
Ferrari 312 T2
The Formula One race featured the only Ferrari in the entire field this weekend, the ex-Niki Lauda 312 T2 brought over by experienced vintage racer Chris MacAllister. Together with the Lotus 77, this might be the most famous livery in the field. Two Tyrrells as well as two Williams’ were entered beside some March cars. F1s are difficult to maintain and parts are rare so most of the championship-winning cars are rarely seen on the track, both in Monaco as well as here in Laguna Seca some less important period cars are used. Fun fact for all F1 fans: McLarens Zak Brown was racing a Williams FW07 and Charles Nearburg its successor, the FW07C.
Back to the closed wheel racers, the latest IMSA, ALMS and FIA racers from up to 2011. Two Orecas and the Audi R8 were up in front for the open prototypes whereas in the back the armada of Porsche GT3 Cup Racers were fighting the sole BMW M3 GT in the GT category.
Porsche 935s lead the way
The oldest of the IMSA racers were in Group 10 and the second to last race group, the cars between 1973 and 1981. Some firespitting Porsche 935s were battling with the Greenwood Corvette for the places on the podium that were ultimately taken by the #0 Porsche of Timothy Pappas, followed by Ranson Webster and Hans Hugenholtz completing the all-Porsche 935 podium.
Last of the groups were the SCCA large displacement production cars of the 1950s and 1960s including the Shelby Cobras and the Corvettes. A rather exotic in the field was the Bizzarrini 5300 GT as well as the Aston Martin DB4 in between the American racers.
Foggy start
So after the practice sessions on Saturday, the qualifying in the afternoon and two races in different order on Sunday, all the groups had had four sessions on the track leaving more than enough time to enjoy the hillside track. Monterey is known for the fog at this time of the year and being situated a few miles inland the race track usually starts with fog in the morning that burns away as soon as the sun is strong enough. On Sunday, this meant the first laps were done behind the safety car as the track was still a bit damp and clear visibility between the marshall posts was not a given. But later on, the weather brought typical Californian sunshine.
The days were concluded with the hill climb going from just before the finish line up to Corkscrew in the opposite direction. Introduced two years ago to make up for the missing Sunday races during the actual Reunion, this fun event is now also run at the Pre-Reunion. Star of the event was the McMurtry Spéirling, the small all-electric racer that made headlines when it set a new record at the Goodwood Festival of Speed. Needless to say, it was also the fastest here and with all the sand on track the ground effect car made some dirt fly.
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Report by Johan Dillen for taziomagazine.com
