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Monterey Motorsports Reunion Week 2013

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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!

US Grand Prix – Saturday Update: Qualifying

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US Grand Prix – Qualifying

The US Grand Prix qualifying results were no surprise, at least at the top of the time sheets.    Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel and McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton were both very quick throughout the practice sessions, and these two drivers have been consistently battling for the front in the last several races.  Vettel ultimately claimed the pole position by 0.1 seconds.  Somewhat surprising was the poor showing by Ferrari.  Both Fernando Alonso and Felipe Mass struggled to get performance out of their tires and finished qualifying in ninth and seventh respectively.  Fernando will need a tremendous performance in tomorrow’s US Grand Prix to keep Vettel from all but wrapping up the Formula 1 Championship.

US Grand Prix – Circuit of the Americas

Even though crowds were much larger today, logistics seem to be holding up quite well at the Circuit of the Americas.  Traffic was heavier, and getting into a specific parking lot took longer, but overall, not too bad.  The weather in Austin was absolutely spectacular, which made it easier to bear with crowds and minor inconveniences.  The highlight of my day was getting to relax in the Turn 20 Hospitality Suite after qualifying with a well-connected great friend.  As the sun was getting low on the horizon, I decided to take the new, 85 MPH limit, Route 130 toll road back toward San Antonio.  Just over an hour track-to-hotel.  Nice.

US Grand Prix: Friday Night Update

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US Grand Prix – The Good

We made it from our hotel in San Antonio to the Circuit of the Americas, home of the US Grand Prix, in about 1:20, which wasn’t too bad at all.  Traffic moves along pretty quickly, and when we exited the toll road it was a breeze to get to our parking area.  Parking in Lot L was quick and easy, and there as an entry gate just a few minutes walk away at Turn 11.  Great start to the day.  Even better were the sight lines from the south side of the track.  I’d almost call this a ‘stadium course’.  There are plenty of amphitheaters – natural or man-made I don’t know, but I’d suspect man-made – from which to watch the action or take pictures that aren’t obstructed even by fencing.  As I walked along from the hairpin at Turn 11 to the esses at Turn 4, it occurred to me that a general admission ticket might be a damn good deal here, especially once they have some grass grown around the track.

Our seats at Turn 4 are pretty good; we can see cars as they come out of Turn 2 all the way to the Turn 5/6 complex.  It seems like a pretty technical area of the track that could be important in qualifying, but we won’t see much passing.  Watching the cars scream by with multiple high speed direction changes is a pretty awesome sight.  Previously I said it might be something like Suzuka, but I’ve also seen it compared to Maggotts/Becketts at Silverstone, and I think that’s a better comparison.  If I had to do it over again, I’d pick the Turn 9 grandstands, which, depending upon where you sit, will have a view from the exit of Turn 6 all the way to the exit of Turn 11 down the long back straight.  Note for next time.

My overall impression of the track and facilities is that it’s quite spectacular.  Not  Abu Dhabi, mind you, but considering this place was a field of dirt a year ago and the US Grand Prix was in doubt multiple times, the people who had a hand in building this place deserve a big round of applause.  We’ll see how it holds up with qualification crowds tomorrow and the race crowd on Sunday.

US Grand Prix – The Practice

Surprise, surprise, Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel set the fastest time in both P1 and P2.  Most  impressive was the fact that he sat in the garage for almost an hour of P2 as the team dealt with a water system issue.  Vettel’s teammate, Mark Webber, was at the top of the time sheets for most of P2 until Vettel came back out and gapped the field by 3/4 of a second.  Until then, Vettel’s rival for the championship, Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso was very close behind Webber and looking quite strong.  At the end of P2, the top five looked like this:

  1. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1:37.718
  2. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1:38.475 (+ 0.757)
  3. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1:38.483 (+ 0.765)
  4. Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1:38.748 (+ 1.030)
  5. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1:38.786 (+ 1.068)

 US Grand Prix – The Not So Good

I needed to make a call after P2, so out to the parking lot I headed for some quiet.  Unfortunately, the mobile signal coverage at the Circuit of the Americas leaves something to be desired – at least with AT&T’s network.  So I let the exit crowd subside a bit, and then I set off in my car to find civilization.  Getting out of and away from the track was surprisingly quick, and within a few minutes I was in the parking lot of a small strip mall making my call.  When I finished, there was still 20 minutes until the start of GT3 practice, so I decided to head back in, figuring it would be pretty quiet by then.  Well, to clear the area, most roads are one way traffic outbound, so I had to take ‘the long way’ back to the same place where I entered originally.  No problem so far, but by now, the GT3 cars were already on track.  I couldn’t get back to my designated parking area, because that road was outbound only as well.  After more fighting of temporary one way roads going the wrong way, I found a place to park just in time to see the GT3s exiting the track.  Oh well.

Now for the worst part.  After all the track activity was done, getting away from the area was a real problem.  After about an hour and a half, I was still within sight of the Austin Airport, and any road heading toward Austin was jammed, so about face and back to San Antonio, from where I write this update while enjoying a Shiner Wild Hare Pale Ale…

Le Mans – Final

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With about 2:45 to go in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, Audi #2 and #3 both crashed in separate incidents.  The #2, driven by Allan McNish was in the lead at the time, and it crashed into the barriers when McNish attempted a pretty aggressive maneuver in the Porsche Curves.  McNish’s crash promoted Audi #1 into the lead.  Astonishingly, the Audi team was able to get the #2 back on the track so fast, they only went  down one lap, so they were still in second place and still in the race – albeit with a long shot at this point.  The Audi team was able to get the #3 back on track in short order as well.  Simply amazing that the Audi teams could repair both of those cars simultaneously so quickly.

Final Le Mans Results:

LMP1:

  1. Audi Sport Team Joest, Audi #1 – Lotterer/Fassler/Treluyer
  2. Audi Sport Team Joest, Audi #2 – McNish/Capello/Kristensen
  3. Audi Sport North America, Audi #4 – Jarvis/Bonanomi/Rockenfeller

LMP2:

  1. Starworks Motorsport, HPD #44 – Potolicchio/Dalziel/K-Smith
  2. Thiriet By TDS Racing, Oreca #46 – Thiriet/Beche/Tinseau
  3. Pecom Racing, Oreca #49 – Perez Companc/Kaffer/Ayari

GTE-Pro:

  1. AF Corse, Ferrari #51 – Fisichella/Bruni/Vilander
  2. Luxury Racing, Ferrari #59 – Makowiecki/Melo/Farnbacher
  3. Aston Martin Racing, Aston Martin #97 – Mucke/Fernandez/Turner

GTE-Am:

  1. Larbre Competition, Corvette #50 – Bornhauser/Canal/Lamy
  2. IMSA Performance Matmut, Porsche #67 – Pons/Armindo/Narac
  3. Krohn Racing, Ferrari #57 – Krohn/Johnsson/Rugolo
For those who have a Speed2 subscription, you can view race highlights here.

Le Mans at 15 Hours

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Well, unfortunately, the battle between Audi and Toyota was short lived: the #8 Toyota was taken out by a Ferrari GTE-Am car – bringing out an extended safety car period for barrier repairs – and on the first lap of the ensuing green, the #7 Toyota tangled with the Delta Wing car.  The #7 sustained damage that seemed to bring on an endlessly cascading series of troubles until the team threw in the towel.  Audis are currently running 1-2-3 overall and in LMP1: the #1 and #2 R18 e-trons first and second and the #4 R18 ultra third.

In LMP2, the #44 Starworks Motorsport HPD ARX 03b has a one lap lead over the #49 Oreca 03 Nissan of Pecom Racing.

In GTE-Pro, the Ferrari, Corvette, Aston Martin, Porsche battle has become Ferrari v. Aston Martin, as both Flying Lizard and Team Felbermayr-Proton are gone and the Corvettes are down to a single car that’s seven laps back.  The #51 AF Corse Ferrari is currently in the lead, the #59 Luxury Racing Ferrari is second, and the #97 Aston Martin Racing Vantage V8 is third.

In GTE-Am, there is a tight battle ongoing between the #50 Larbre Competition Corvette and the #67 IMSA Performance Matmut Porsche.

Le Mans: Pre-Race

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Several interesting stories will be played out in the 24 Hours of Le Mans beginning 5:30 AM PT tomorrow:

LMP1 – Audi v. Toyota.  The top three qualifying places are three different cars – two from Audi and one from Toyota.  First of all, Toyota managed to qualify their brand new LMP1 TS030 Hybrid third on the grid at Le Mans within a year of launching the program.  That alone is a fabulous achievement.  The Toyota TS030 is a 3.4L V8 normally-aspirated petrol-powered hybrid prototype.  The electric energy is stored in a massive capacitor which powers electric motors.  Audi put its new R-18 e-tron quattro on pole with a lap time of 3:23.787 (driven by the same team that won last year’s race: Fassler/Lotterer/Treluyer.)  The R-18 e-tron quattro is a 3.7L V6 turbo diesel hybrid prototype.  The Audi stores its energy in an electric flywheel accumulator.  So it’s Toyota v. Audi, petrol v. diesel, capacitor v. flywheel, massive underdog v. overwhelming favorite.  A surprisingly nice story to replace the expected Audi v. Peugeot rematch that was dashed when Peugeot pulled out of the sport. Second on the grid is the Audi R-18 ultra, a car that is outwardly very similar to the 2011 Le Mans winner.  The R-18 ultra is the latest version of the Audi turbo diesel LMP1 car.  Spots four thru six on the grid are another Toyota TS030 Hybrid splitting another Audi R-18 e-tron and an R-18 ultra.  I really hope the Toyotas demonstrate some remarkable reliability in their very first 24 hour race to make it interesting to the end.

Delta Wing Nissan – The experimental Delta Wing Nissan qualified about 19 seconds slower than the pole sitting Audi at 3:42.612, putting it about 2/3 of the way thru the LMP2 cars.  The Delta Wing is being run by the experienced and successful Highcroft Racing outfit, and it will be very interesting to see how it fares.  Although I cannot say that I am excited by its looks in the least, opinions on the Delta Wing have been favorable for the most part.  I can understand how the Delta Wing could set a fast qualifying time, but I am eager to see how it does in real racing conditions.

GTE – once again, the GTE classes look to be outstanding, competitive battles.  In GTE-Pro, the top three qualifiers are the Luxury Racing Ferrari 458 Italia, the Aston Martin Racing Aston Martin Vantage V8, and the Corvette Racing Corvette C6 ZR1.  SoCal’s Patrick Long’s Flying Lizard Motorsports Porsche 911 RSR is seventh on the GTE-Pro grid.  The Flying Lizard’s other Porsche 911 RSR car was the fastest GTE-Am qualifier.  The Prospeed Competition Porsche 911 RSR is second, and the Aston Martin Racing Aston Martin Vantage V8 is third on the GTE-Am grid.  So it’s Ferrari, Aston Martin, Corvette, and Porsche set to battle it out in the GTE classes.

Weather – Rain is forecast for Saturday, which adds another dimension to this grueling event.  Man v. Nature.

Le Mans!

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Just two days until one of my top ‘bucket list’ events – the 24 Hours of Le Mans.  It’s right up there with Belgian Grand Prix at Spa, and the Indy 500.  Unfortunately Peugeot pulled out of sports car racing months ago, so the awaited re-re-match of Audi v Peugeot won’t happen, but it will be interesting to see how Toyota fares.

The GTE battles should be awesome once again.  Corvette, Aston Martin, Ferrari, and Porsche all have competitive cars and teams.

For those looking to get up to speed on the pre-race situation – including class and team previews – head on over to Radio Le Mans  and listen to some of their excellent podcasts.  Also, the differences in driver classifications and how this relates to the GTE-Am and GTE-Pre classes can be a bit confusing.  The folks at Radio Le Mans have posted a very clear and concise driver classification table here.