McCall's Motorworks Revival
Ex-Steve McQueen Jaguar XK-SS
One of the best ways to start the Monterey week is an afternoon at the Monterey Jet Center. Gordon McCall always brings together an impressive display of cars and provides a preview of the weekend ahead.
This year's centerpiece included an F-18 Hornet in desert camouflage, two of the very best Shelby Mustangs and a Koenigsegg CCX up front. Not too far away was Steve McQueen's XK-SS along with his old 1930 Pitcairn PA8 Mailwing.
We quickly photographed the Motorworks Revival before the crowd arrived on Wednesday night. Included are some of the cars from the Bonhams sale, including the 1970 Porsche 917 'Interserie Spyder' which sold for $3,967,000 later in week.
2010 Quail
1932 Bugatti Type 50 Cabriolet
The Quail is Monterey's most exclusive event. It's always sold out well in advance and becomes the hottest ticket of the week. More than the cars, it's the Peninsula Hotel's hospitality that creates an atmosphere unlike any other show.
This year, the best display of Shelby Mustangs was assembled and it included everything from the very first GT350 prototype up to the new 2011 Shelby. Some of the highlights included the one-of GT500 Super Snake and several of the GT350Rs which ran the b-modified category in SCCA racing.
Best of Show went to a stunning Delahaye 135 Competition which was among several other deserving cars in the pre-war class. Other possibilities included two of the world's best Packards from Robert Lee, a Bugatti Aravis from the Mullin museum and several Alfa Romeos with competition bodywork.
One of of the top stories from the Quail was the public unveiling of the Bugatti Super Sports before it hit Laguna Seca and Pebble Beach. Richard Owen and Dirk de Jager photographed it extensively for our feature gallery of the event.
2010 Concorso Italiano
Lamborghini Murciélago LP670-4 SuperVeloce
In its 25th year, Concorso Italiano had the largest display of the 2010 Monterey Weekend. Two fairways at the Laguna Seca Golf Ranch were filled with Ferraris and other generous areas were reserved for Alfa Romeo, Lamborghini, DeTomaso and Maserati.
In the center display, a selection of the best entrants were assembled around three feature cars. For Alfa Romeo's centenary, Jon Shirley brought an impressive pair of pre-war 8Cs. These were joined by the one-of Ferrari SP1 from Japan. This striking Fioravanti Ferrari later took the Best of Show honors.
With these highlights and many enthusiastic owners, the 2010 Concorso reaffirmed the event's position as major player on Friday of the Monterey Week. We hope our feature gallery by Richard Owen and Tristan De Caro can live up to the event's size.
The Monterey Motorsports Reunion
Cars of Dan Gurney Celebrated.
Last weekend's Monterey Motorsports Reunion marked the 37th running of the annual races at Laguna Seca. Under new direction and with a completely new name, the races were remarkably similar to previous editions. Everything from 1970s Forumla 1 racers to Grand National stock cars raced in one of 19 different classes and each finished with a 10-lap race on either Saturday or Sunday.
For 2010, racing driver, constructor, and team principle Dan Gurney was celebrated. Several of his old rides were prominently displayed throughout the weekend as well as the All American Racers he helped design. This included the blue Ferrari Daytona he drove on the original Cannonball Run in 1971 and the elegant Eagle F1 cars.
Another major highlight of the weekend was the Bugatti Grand Prix, a race which had over 35 prewar Bugattis. Official factory support came from Bugatti who displayed their black & orange Veyron Super Sport and ran parade laps the entire weekend. Among the many Type 35s, 37s and 51s were several interesting road-going models including the Type 57S Competition project.
Our gallery feature of the Monterey Motorsports Reunion features all the major races which were held on Saturday and many of the impressive cars in the paddock area. Dirk de Jager was trackside to provide all the action and Richard Owen scoured the paddock for details. Later this week we expect to have comprehensive features of both Concorso Italiano and The Quail online.
2010 Pebble Beach Concours
Ferrari SWB Celebrated with 8 Examples
The 60th running of Pebble Beach's Concours d'Elegance reaffirmed the event's pedigree as one of the best. Over 200 carefully chosen cars were lined up last weekend and we can now present a gallery of them all.
Like many events this year, PB celebrated Alfa Romeo's centenary which included several cars from the official museum and the 2010 Alfa Romeo Pandion by Bertone. Jaguar was also well represented for their 75th year: the organizers brought together 12 examples of the XK-SS and numerous cars throughout the company's history.
Other tribute classes at Pebble included Pierce Arrow, the garish Ghia prototypes (including the Ferrari 375!) and a section for the Indianapolis 500 with the Marmon Wasp which won the inaugural event 100 years ago.
Organized by class & car, our feature gallery of Pebble Beach should be the definitive article. Over the next few days the 1300 images (now 1550) will be expanded with contributions from Dirk de Jager and Tristan De Carro. We already look forward to the 2011 event which will celebrate Stutz, Ferrari GTO and ''125 Years of the Automobile.''
Delage wins Best of Show
1933 Delage D8S de Villars Cabriolet 38012
Best of Show went to this white Delage de Villars Cabriolet at the 2010 Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance. Fresh from a restoration by RM, the winner is now a centerpiece of the prominent Patterson Collection. This is the same car which was sold at RM's Monterey Sports Car Auction for $3,740,000.
As a preview to our upcoming Pebble Beach feature, we have the winning shots as setup on the shoreline by Ron Kimball. Later in the week we will have a comprehensive gallery online.
Some interesting stories from the Monterey weekend include the main display falling on the winner at The Quail, RM auctions accidentally withdrawing their reserve on the Testa Rossa and a wedding proposal on the Pebble Beach ramp encouraged by Jay Leno.
267 mph Veyrons in Monterey
Veyron Super Sport at the Quail
One highlight of this year's Monterey weekend is Bugatti's international launch of the Veyron Super Sport. At The Quail earlier today, two examples were on display: one that was featured on Top Gear for the record run and a second car in bare, blue-tinted carbon fiber.
As a preview of the Quail, we have a gallery of both the Super Sports. The black car with orange accents drove over the ramp and later lapped Laguna Seca as part of the Monterey Motorports Reunion. We expect to see both cars on Sunday at the upcoming Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance.
This year The Quail has gone from strength to strength with an impressive amount of showcars and top tier sponsors. We hope to have the rest of the show up later in the month.
Carmel-by-the-Sea Concours
50 Cars on the Ocean Ave.
Today the Monterey week officially opened with the 2010 Concours on the Avenue in Carmel. This year the entrant list was reduced, but that didn't stop some world-class cars from attending this year's Monterey season opener.
Today, we were particularly taken with numerous Ferraris including an alloy-bodY 275 GTB which was stunningly prepared. Other highlights included a 410 Superamerica and an unrestored 250 GTE.
As the first of many Monterey events, the Carmel concours will be followed up by some spectacular events. We are particularly looking forward to the Alfa Romeo centennial displays which will compete with Pebble Beach in 2004, Goodwood earlier in the year and Meadowbrook in 2008.
Top 5 in Monterey
1949 Delahaye 175 S Saoutchik Roadster
With five upcoming auctions in Monterey, several multi-million dollar cars are on offer and we have the five greatest in this preview. The first is this unique 1949 Delahaye 175 S we saw in 2006. It is the most dramatic roadster by Saoutchik and RM has a presale estimate of 4~6 million USD.
RM also have two Ferraris which might fetch the top sale of the weekend. Both the Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa and Ferrari 375 MM Berlinetta are some of the very best sports racers from Maranello.
Bonmhams has an impressive Porsche collection and is going to offer the Porsche 917 Interserie Spyder we featured earlier. Lastly if we had to pick any car, the Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 Monza from Gooding & Company should be the top sale of the week.
RM @ Meadow Brook
Duesenberg sold for $726,000
Before the Concours d'Elegance of America, RM Auctions held an impressive sale which contributed to an already exceptional weekend.
Among the lots were some of the best American pre-war cars as well as some of the heaviest cars from the 50s. Two Duesenbergs of 27 from the late O'Quinn collection sold for $700,000 and $800,000 each. Top sale of the day went to the 1953 Chrysler 'Thomas Special' at $858,000 USD.
Our gallery of RM's event includes most of the cars and the prices realized. One of the best bought cars was a 1973 Mercedes-Benz 450 SL Roadster that sold for $12,100 USD. Later this month we hope to have all the upcoming Monterey auctions with the same thoroughness.
24 Hours of SPA
Winning Porsche RSR Battles some Gulf Gallardos
After 24 grueling hours, including racing in the rain and in the dark, BMS Scuderia Italia took overall honors with their Porsche GT3 RSR at the Total 24 Hours of SPA.
Overall victory was largely fought between the Porsches and BMW Motorsport's effort which was encouraged after winning at Nürburgring. The lead Porsche lapped the famous circuit 541 times with the factory BMWs only one lap down after their leading car had an incident in the last hour. Audi had a huge contingent of R8s for the GT3 class, but they were all held off by the Mühlner Motorsport 911 GT3 R.
Nothing beats a photographer at his/her local track, so we are happy to present Dirk de Jager's work from Belgium. Included are some fantastic night shots and a variety of cars in Gulf livery.
