I was lucky enough to go to the
Monterey Historic Races on Saturday, August 18th
-and it was great!
There were so many gorgeous cars that one
could never see them all or hear all the owners
stories.
The featured marque was Bentley. I was told
there has never been more pre-war Bentleys in
one place before! Not only do they look and
sound great but they raced. What a thrill when
they all roared through the paddock, one after
another, and then onto the track! Flying through
the corkscrew. A real thrill!
Later that day the F1 cars took to the track.
You name the car it was probably out there.
Mario Andretti's world Championship Lotus was
racing. Niki Lauda's Alfa, Jackie Stewart's
Tyrrell, a couple of Williams, a couple of
Shadows. What a sound! What a smell! With my
stopwatch, I found their best track time to be
1:25 compared to 2:55 for the Bentleys.
There were quite a few Jags making a showing
for the weekend. The highlights were couple of
really lovely C-Type Jags and a beautiful
D-Type. Also hitting the track was a
"Lightweight" E-Type and a pair of 140's.
My favorite race of the day was a group in
Group 6A (1963-66 GT cars over 2500cc). A pair
of beautiful and slick Ferrari LM's battled with
a muscular Cobra swapping the led many times.
The Ferraris looked like they were dancing
ballet, making high speed driving look
deceptively easy. The Cobra, oversteering out of
most every corner, ultimately won on the last
lap.
Among the booths was this year's LeMans
winning Bentley still slightly dirty from the
fight.
The careful observer might have spotted
Stirling Moss or Phil Hill. Although there were
rumors of Derek Bell being there, I never saw
him.
There were some really lovely old open
wheeled cars- among them a 1909 Lozier; a 1913
Mercer Raceabout; a 1930 Chrylser Spa and a
wonderful 1935 Wolsley Hornet Special!
There were Bugattis and a Delage-all done up
in the appropriate French blue livery. A couple
of gorgeous Birdcage Maseratis, Allards, Ferrari
Testa Rossas, Porsches of all sizes. The list
goes on and on and on...
We choose to skip the track on Sunday as the
Pebble Beach Conours was that morning. What can
I say... works of art that just happen to move
under their own power!
I have uploaded a few select photos to
http://www.mg-midget.com/Historic_Races/index.htm
Be sure to take note of the photos titled
"our_hotel..." These shots were taken from the
balcony outside our room.
Also visit http://www.mg-midget.com/Pebble_Beach/index.htm
for photos we took at the Pebble Beach
Concours.
John
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