Porsche’s 75th Anniversary

2023 marks Porsche’s 75th anniversary. In June 1948, Porsche received an operating permit for Porsche 356 Number 1 or 356/1, which still liives today. Porsche establishments around the world celebrated Porsche’s 75th Anniversary the same weekend as the 24 Hours of Le Mans marked its centenary.

Porsche’s 75th Anniversary

In the Phoenix area, Porsche Chandler put on quite a grand event for friends and customers, complete with food, drinks, and Porsche’s 75th Anniversary cake.

Chandler Porsche

Porsche lovers from all over the valley came out for a beautiful Saturday morning to socialize, see some great cars, have some great food, reconnect with friends old and new, and watch the start of Le Mans on the massive screen overlooking the showroom.

Porsche’s 75th Anniversary cake

Coronado Speed Festival 2013

Once again I was reminded why this is one of my favorite SoCal motorsports events: the Coronado Speed Festival 2013 featured fabulous weather (no surprise), friendly & fun paddock, cool car show, good food court & beer garden, and of course the racing.  Hats off to the Historic Motor Sports Association (HMSA) for another super weekend!

This year’s Coronado Speed Festival celebrated 50 years of the Porsche 911, with Tony Adamowicz, winner of the 1968 Trans-Am Championship in a 911, serving as Honorary Grand Marshall.  Other notable features of the ‘Race at the Base’ included honoring the 40th Anniversary of the release of Vietnam POWs, tours of the USS Ronald Reagan (CVN-76), and an autograph signing event with Scott Pruett.

Coronado Speed Festival – Car Show & Corral

Classic, awesome, or just plain odd, in the area behind the main grandstands you see all sorts of interesting cars in the Car Show and Corral area.

Parked next to the Ferrari Club area was this perfect example of a F360 Challenge Stradale:

Coronado Speed Festival 2013

As usual, there were lots of Shelby Cobras around:

Coronado Speed Festival 2013

An excellent example of a low mileage 1976 BMW 2002:

Coronado Speed Festival 2013

A rare bird indeed:

Coronado Speed Festival 2013

Coronado Speed Festival 2013 – The Races

From the Group 4 Race – 1962 to 1972 Sports Racing and Formula Cars Under 2000 cc:

Coronado Speed Festival 2013
1967 Porsche 910

Coronado Speed Festival 2013
1966 Elva Mk8
From the Group 6 Race – 1962 to 1966 Production Cars Over 2500 cc:

Coronado Speed Festival 2013

Coronado Speed Festival 2013
1964 Cobra

Coronado Speed Festival 2013
1968 Chevrolet Camaro

 

From Group 7 Race – 1965 to 1988 FIA Manufacturer Championship Cars:

Coronad Speed Festival 2013
1973 Porsche 911 RSR

Coronado Speed Festival 2013
1972 Porsche 911 RSR

Coronado Speed Festival 2013
1968 McLaren M6B

Many more pics here: Coronado Speed Festival 2013

Monterey Motorsports Reunion Week 2013

The second full week in August brought our 5th visit to the Monterey Motorsports Reunion in the last 6 years.  Once again we were blessed with fabulous weather, great cars, and lots of activities.  A good bit of our visit was filled with our favorites – the Tour d’Elegance Ocean Avenue parade and Baja Cantina on Thursday and the races at Laguna Seca on Saturday and Sunday.  Friday we checked out the Legends of the Autobahn for the first time, test drove a Bentley Speed Coupe, and on Saturday night we visited the Russo and Steele auction.

Monterey Motorsports Reunion – Thursday

The parade down Carmel’s Ocean Avenue that marks the end of the Pebble Beach Tour d’Elegance has been a favorite of ours for a long time – you get to see most of the great cars that will take place in the Concours d’Elegance as they roll down Ocean Avenue.  Both sides of street are blocked off, and once the cars are parked, spectators can walk among them for several hours.  This event may actually be getting too popular – parking is tough, crowds are really tight, and I wonder how long until some $1M+ vehicle sustains some unfortunate damage.  Some shots from Ocean Avenue – I really liked the Lamborghini Miura & the BMW 507:

Monterey Motorsports Reunion - Tour d'Elegance

Monterey Motorsports Reunion - Tour d'Elegance

Monterey Motorsports Reunion - Tour d'Elegance

After Carmel, it was on to Baja Cantina, which has always been one of my favorites as just a relaxing evening to walk around the parking area with a margarita and a cigar, mix with fellow enthusiasts, and at some point head into the restaurant for some of the best carnitas around.

Monterey Motorsports Reunion - Baja Cantina

Monterey Motorsports Reunion - Baja Cantina

I’d have to say that we were more than just a little disappointed this year. First of all, since a crackdown by the ABC, you can’t take alcohol off the patio, so no more walkabout margarita – strike one.  Next, although we got there quite early, with the wait at 2+ hours the hostess was no longer taking additions to the waiting list for tables, and it seemed there was some new system in place that was not as friendly as in the past, so no carnitas today – strike two.  Lastly, with a new pay parking scheme in place, the parking lot scene lacked some of the cool sportscar + hot rod + oddity character of the past – strike three, and we were out and on to something else.  Sadly, it seems that perhaps we need to reevaluate our Thursday night program.

Monterey Motorsports Reunion – Friday

The past couple of years, we’ve spent Fridays at The Quail. This year we opted to try something different. We began the day with what ended up being one of the highlights of our trip – a Bentley test drive along 17 Mile Drive.  Bentley was set up in a beautiful house adjacent to Casa Palmero at Pebble Beach – what a great setting.  We arrived, signed in, and then piled along with our friendly Bentley representative into a gorgeous, Sequin Blue, Continental GT Speed.  I’ll say the folks at Crewe do a fabulous job with fit, finish, and detail, and after a fairly spirited drive along 17 Mile Drive, I’d say they’ve managed to create a package that makes the 6000+ LB (!) car accelerate, brake, and handle like a much smaller, lighter car. I was particularly impressed by the 616 HP, turbocharged W12 engine and the 8 speed, paddle shift transmission.  This was no out-and-back in 10 minutes drive – we had plenty of time to enjoy our ride.  After the drive, we were welcomed into the back side of the house for some delicious breakfast food and a place to take in the beauty of Pebble Beach.

After the cool Bentley experience, we walked along the other marques set up in Pebble Beach including Mercedes-Benz, Cadillac, Jaguar, and Porsche.  As you’d expect, Mercedes-Benz had a first class setup at Pebble Beach:

Monterey Motorsports Reunion - Pebble Beach

Here we saw this cool concept SUV that is about to go into production.  Looked like a winner to all of us:

Monterey Motorsports Reunion - Pebble Beach

Up the hill at Jaguar, we got our first real up close look at the F Type:

Monterey Motorsports Reunion - Jaguar F Type

At the top of the hill, we stopped in at the Gooding & Company auction site where we saw this 1966 AAR Gurney-Weslake Eagle Mk 1:

Monterey Motorsports Reunion - Gurney Eagle

After a great lunch at the Pebble Beach Lodge, it was off to the Legends of the Autobahn event at Rancho Canada in Carmel Valley. For a relaxing afternoon filled with outstanding German cars, beer, and food, it would be tough to beat this event. It’s much lower key than either The Quail or Concorso Italiano. And somehow, the folks at this event managed to set up a cool temporary beer garden.  Naturally there were lots of great cars from a wide range of vintages, but I’d have to say I was most drawn to the BMWs, especially the 3.0 cars from the early 70s:

Monterey Motorsports Reunion - Legends of the Autobahn

Monterey Motorsports Reunion – Saturday & Sunday

Typically we spend Saturday and Sunday at Laguna Seca walking the paddock, running into some usual suspects, and watching a few races. This year we decided to check out the Concours d’Lemons along the way for a bit of comic relief if nothing else. This was actually a fun way to spend the morning walking around with a good cup of coffee.

Monterey Motorsports Reunion - Concours d'Lemons

Monterey Motorsports Reunion - Concours d'Lemons

Then, off to Laguna Seca for the main event. This year’s featured marque was the Corvette, so there were plenty of great examples on and off the track:

Monterey Motorsports Reunion - Corvette

At the main display, they had racing and road Corvettes from each era arranged side by side as well as the new C7 Stingray:

Monterey Motorsports Reunion - Corvette

Monterey Motorsports Reunion - Corvette

Some other sights from the paddock area:

Derek Bell at the Bentley Continental GT3:
Derek Bell with Bentley Continental GT3

A wonderful Ferrari:
Monterey Motorsports Reunion - Ferrari

And a Martini Porsche that we would also see on the track:
Monterey Motorsports Reunion - Porsche

Of course there was lots to see on track including Adam Carolla in one of his racing Nissans/Datsuns:
Monterey Motorsports Reunion - Adam Carolla

Awesome US muscle:
Monterey Motorsports Reunion

Monterey Motorsports Reunion

I think my favorite car on track was the 1998 Le Mans Winning Porsche 911 GT1-98:
Monterey Motorsports Reunion - Porsche 911 GT1-98

Another fabulous Monterey Motorsports Reunion Week!  Many more pics posted at my Monterey Motorsports Reunion 2013 gallery.

Now it’s off to Belgium for next week’s Grand Prix – what an August!

California Festival of Speed

California Festival of Speed

The 12th Annual California Festival of Speed, the largest Porsche event in the Southwest, comes to Auto Club Speedway April 5th thru 7th.  With participation from Porsche Club of America (PCA), who is also the event host, the Porsche Owners Club (POC), and Pirelli GT3 Cup Trophy USA West, this Festival of Speed promises to be one of the biggest and most exciting in recent years.

In addition to the PCA Cup Race and Time Trial, this year’s California Festival of Speed will also include POC Cup Racers and Time Trialers, a PCA Enduro, a PCA Zone 8 Concours, a Taste of Autocross, a celebration of 50 years of the 911, a Porsche Corral, swap meet, and of course, a Vendor Row.

On Friday, the California Festival of Speed features practice session for all groups, track tours, and a Pirelli GT3 Cup Race.  Saturday’s schedule includes more practice and qualifying, PCA/POC Sprint Races, another Pirelli GT3 Cup Race, and a 60 minute Enduro to close out the day.  Sunday brings three more sprint races, Pirelli GT3 Cup Race, and a Time Trial to close the weekend.

Check the calendar for detailed information, the event schedule for Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, and a free parking coupon.

Here is the track map for the Auto Club Speedway configuration used for the California Festival of Speed.

A handy web page for Schedule, Track Map, Time Trial entrants by PCA Class, & Results

RIP Chris Economaki (1920 – 2012)

As a kid and growing up, the name and voice I associated most with motorsports was Chris Economaki; he passed away today aged 91.  I especially remember him covering all sorts of events on ABC Wide World of Sports – Indy500, Daytona 500, Formula 1, and Le Mans.  He later switched to CBS and covered similar events including the IROC series.

A couple of years ago, I came across a DVD of the 1965 LA Times Grand Prix at Riverside with Chris doing lots of trackside interviews with the greats of the time like Bruce McLaren and Dan Gurney.  You can still get it here over at The Motorsport Collector along with lots of other cool stuff. Again, as a kid, I loved Riverside from afar. Unfortunately I never saw it in person – it was long gone by the time I landed in California.  You can see a little bit of Chris Economaki as the pit reporter in this video of the 1965 race hosted by a younger Dave Despain:

Chris Economaki did so much for racing in the US – beginning with his first racing column as a 14 year old! His many contributions will be long remembered.  You can find his great book on auto racing as seen from his eyes over the course of many years here.

Update: I came a cross a nice article about Chris Economaki on the MotorSport Magazine website.

 

Coronado Speed Festival

Not having attended in a coupe of years, I forgot how much I enjoy the Coronado Speed Festival.  For people in the San Diego area, it’s easy to reach, parking and getting in is a breeze, and there is a lot to see and do in a fairly compact area.  I really like that the grandstand, car show, paddock, vendor row, and food & drink areas are so close together. And of course, the Historic Motor Sports Association (HMSA) puts on a great show.  Some really interesting cars showed up at this year’s festivities.  With the passing of the great Carroll Shelby, there were many Cobras and GT 350s in attendance.

Car Show & Paddock

Coronado Speed Festival

Lamborghini Espada

Coronado Speed Festival

1971 AMC Javelin Trans-Am

Coronado Speed Festival

Mercedes-Benz 300SL

Group 5 Race

Group 5 includes 1959 to 1966 Production Cars equipped with disc brakes.  This is a large and diverse class ranging from a 1540cc Lotus S7 to a 5770cc Chevrolet Corvette.  The race pictures are taken looking back into the last turn onto the front straight & start/finish.

Coronado Speed Festival

1969 BMW 2002 & 1971 Alfa Romeo GTV

Coronado Speed Festival

1958 Corvette, 1971 Alfa Romea GTV, & 1967 Porsche 912

Coronado Speed Festival Group 6 Race

Group 6 includes 1962 to 1966 Production Cars over 2500cc.  This race had quite a few Shelby GT 350s as well as unusual cars such as the ISO Rivolta and a very fast Ginetta G4.

Coronado Speed Festival

1965 Ford Mustang (#151) battles with 1966 Shelby GT 350 (#6)

Coronado Speed Festival

1964 Cobra

Coronado Speed Festival

1966 Shelby GT 350

Group 7 Race

Group 7 includes 1965 to 1988  FIA Manufacturer Championship Cars such as Ferraris, Lolas, and Porsches.

Coronado Speed Festival

A couple of Porsche RSRs battle

Coronad Speed Festival

1972 Ferrari 312PSPL

Coronado Speed Festival Group 8 Race

Group 8 is historic NASCAR.

Coronado Speed Festival

Group 8 Race – Historic NASCAR

Coronado Speed Festival

Historic NASCAR – 2004 Ford Taurus

Many more pics here.

Coronado Speed Festival – Fleet Week San Diego

 

Coronado Speed FestivalCoronado Speed Festival

Fleet Week San Diego brings the 15th Annual Coronado Speed Festival and 250 historic race cars to a 1.7 mile course on Naval Air Station North Island this weekend.  In addition to benefitting a great cause, the Coronado Speed Festival, sanctioned by the Historic Motor Sports Association (HMSA), is a well run, very fan-friendly, genuine racing event – the only one in San Diego since IMSA left Del Mar after 1992.

Carroll Shelby Tribute

At this year’s Coronado Speed Festival, HMSA, the same organization that sanctions the Monterey Motorsports Reunion, celebrates the great cars of Carroll Shelby.  Expect to see quite a few Cobras and Shelby GT350s out there.

Mazda MX-5 Cup

For the first time, the Mazda MX-5 Cup sponsored by Playboy will be part of the Coronado Speed Festival Weekend.  The MX-5 Cup is the entry level of production car based competition in SCCA Pro Racing.  The series runs on the premier road courses of North America, and many of their events are part of ALMS weekends.

Test Drives

BMW, VW, Mazda, and Chevrolet will be offering test drives on road courses laid out in areas adjacent to the race track and paddock.

Open, Friendly Paddock

The Coronado Speed Festival is know for an open and friendly paddock area where fans can get up close to some great cars and the competitors racing them.  More cars can be found at a car show benefitting the Navy’s Morale Welfare & Recreation fund.  Visitors will also find a vendor village, good food and drink, and a military static display.  This year, Fleet Week San Diego is celebrating the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Navy SEALS in San Diego.

More information, including directions, maps, schedules, and ticket information can be found in the calendar and the following links:

Coronado Speed Festival, Saturday, September 22

Coronado Speed Festival, Sunday, September 23

 

Monterey Motorsports Reunion

This week begins the annual pilgrimage of motorsports fans to the Monterey Peninsula for the Monterey Motorsports Reunion.  The week’s festivities have grown and grown over the years, and now there are multiple fabulous events on each day – from marque specific shows to auctions – really intensifying beginning with the Pebble Beach Tour d’Elegance on Wednesday the 16th and building throughout the rest of the week and weekend.  What started as historic car races at Laguna Seca now includes marque specific events, car club gatherings, multiple auctions at various venues and times, and food, drink, & aircraft events.  Although you easily could, you don’t need to spend a mint to have a great time.  Just walking around Monterey and Carmel at the right times will treat you to some very cool sights and sounds.

Here are a few shots from the 2011 Monterey Motorsports Reunion week:

The Quail

The Quail

Porsche 918 at the Quail Lodge

Monterey Motorsports Reunion Races At Laguna Seca

Monterey Motorsports Reunion

Monterey Motorsports Reunion

Monterey Motorsports Reunion

Monterey Motorsports Reunion

See the full gallery here.

HSR West 11th Annual Southern California Historic Sports Car Festival – Auto Club Speedway

Auto Club Speedway hosted the HSR West 11th Annual Historic Sports Car Festival this weekend for two days of vintage and historic racing in the SoCal sun.  HSR West was running 10 run groups this weekend:

  • Group 1 – Formula Vee
  • Group 2 – Small & Medium Bore Production
  • Group 3 – Formula Ford Pacific
  • Group 4 – 2.5 B-Sedan
  • Group 5 – BOSS, Formula 5000, & Formula 2.0
  • Group 6 – Historic Stock Cars
  • Group 7 – Big Bore Production
  • Group 8 – GTP, Trans-Am, Can-AM, & FIA
  • Group 9 – Champ & Indy Car
  • Group X – Datsun-Nissan

HSR West ran a quality event with an open paddock, an entertaining race announcer, podium celebrations, and generally a really friendly atmosphere.  The luxury box seats on the inside of the main straight were open, and some folks brought their portable party along.  Add in dignitaries like Adam Carolla, a passionate historic Datsun racer, and Tony Adamowicz, the Trans-Am, Can-Am, Formula 5000, and IMSA veteran along with beautiful weather, and we had a recipe for some good old fashioned – literally – Southern California racing fun.  Tony Adamowicz also has a long association with Datsun-Nissan and Riverside International Automotive Museum, who had a big celebration event earlier in the week.  Being here with the HSR West crowd around all these historic race cars made me think of what it must have been like at Riverside or even Ontario back in the day.  Unfortunately I wasn’t here back then…

All pictures in this gallery were taken with a Canon EOS 40D; most were shot with Canon EF 100-400mm f4.5-5.6L IS USM Telephoto Zoom Lens for Canon SLR Cameras.

I also recently bought a new SanDisk Extreme Pro CompactFlash 16 GB Flash Memory Card SDCFXP-016G-X46,Black because my old card with a 30 MB/s write speed could not continuously keep up with the 6 fps of my Canon 40D.  The new card was fabulous; I could hold the shutter release down essentially indefinitely without the card slowing down my shots.  A really important consideration when shooting live action sports.

Weekend Speed Scene – HSR West & Barrett-Jackson OC

Lots of cool action in SoCal this weekend!  Two of the best are Barrett-Jackson coming to the Orange County Fairgrounds and HSR West races at Auto Club Speedway.

Barrett-Jackson Saturday

Barrett-Jackson Sunday

HSR Saturday

HSR Sunday

Weather for both events should be great.  Stories and pix to follow…