Rolex Monterey Historic Automobile Races

Another wonderful weekend at the beautiful Laguna-Seca raceway in Monterey California. This time it's the Rolex and Porsche sponsored Historic Automobile Races of Monterey, basically every petrol-head's sacred event. The thing about the Historic Races out here is that it draws every automotive enthusiast from 9 years old to 90 years old, and every historic car along the way. Laguna-Seca turns into a holy land for 3 days.
Where to start..?
Most car nuts remember a time when their age was only a single digit, and a good number of cars were hammered into our heads with being the fastest, most outrageous, most beautiful, etc. We never actually see these cars in real life, however, and grow into our adult years driven soul-less, passionless crap boxes from point A to point B.
Then one day you find yourself, at Laguna-Seca standing in front of your childhood dream cars. Sure there's a Ferrari Enzo down the ways, and there's a sea of Porsche 911 GT3 RS's, roll cage, Recaro seats and all. But in front of you sits a Mercedes 300 Gullwing. I once met a man who owned a Gullwing, and ended up going bankrupt due to his love of cars. And he told me there were only 3 Mercedes Gullwings in all of California. We truly are standing in rarified air.
On over to the Cannepa racing booth. Race bred Porsche, track tuned Porsche, etc. And at the end of the line up, a simple Porsche 959. I never thought'd I would ever see this car in person. You could walk right by this car and not give it a second look. It looks like a bog standard Porsche turbo, but in the 1980s-1990s, this was one of the fastest production cars out there. With a top speed of over 200mph. My Sentra maxed at 115mph once...
On with the show. I'm not going to mess about, the cars at the Historic Races are older than I am. I recognize the manufacturers but not the cars themselves. And that's what makes these cars special. The breeding, the passion and soul with Ferrari, Maserati, Jaguar, Bugatti, and Porsche; all these high end manufacturers, started out building race cars. These are the names that began motorsport. They are the reason I love cars. If you've never seen a carbeurated Ferrari V12, its something else. It's crafted, not built. They're not designed to get you from point A to point B. They're not designed to really get you anywhere. These were cars built for the sheer enjoyment of driving. We don't get much of that these days.

As far as the coverage from this weekend? I applied for my media credentials a bit too late, and wasn't given an on-track photo pass. At first I was a bit disappointed and just walked around the paddock to see what I could work with. The overcast skies gave way to deep blue skies and car covers being tossed aside to reveal genuinely priceless works of automotive art.
Being that Porsche sponsored the event, there was a tent that featured some of the greatest history makers in motorsport, including the Gulf Racing Ford GT40. Damn near every Porsche owner from the West Coast was in attendance; a sea of rear-engined bliss.

The cars were from an era before my time. I couldn't afford these cars even if I sold my kidney, liver, left leg, an eye or my dog. No I didn't have my usual on-track photo credentials. And that Ferrari Enzo wasn't even the nicest car there. That's Rolex Monterey Historic Automobile Races.

Shot with :
Nikon D80 / Nikon D2H
Tokina 12-24 f/4, Sigma 100-300 f/4
Funky post processing for that 'retro' look