Recently, we witnessed the coming together of millionaires and their million dollar car collections on the misty coast of Monterey, California. While US$40 million Ferraris were being auctioned off, the Concours d'Elegance provided visitors with spectacular automotive eye candy. But events like The Quail: A Motorsports Gathering and the Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion have proven equally engaging.
The Quail: A Motorsports Gathering takes place every year in conjunction with Monterey auto week. This exclusive event brings together some of the best classic collectibles and allows new manufacturers to show off their latest wares to a select group.
Vehicles onsite ranged from Porsche's 919 Hyrbrid endurance racer to a beast of a restored firetruck to Infiniti's Eau Rouge concept to a flock of Paganis. This year none other than the Flying Scotsman himself, Jackie Stewart, was on hand to enlighten guests with tales and anecdotes from his racing days.
Just down the road at California's iconic Laguna Seca racetrack and the Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion, there's an equally important event. Every year priceless, irreplaceable automotive toys come out to the track with the famous corkscrew to demonstrate their driving prowess against fellow enthusiasts.
For those with a genuine passion for historic rides and who love to be within spark plug distance of a Maserati Tipo Birdcage, then the Rolex Monterey Historic races are the place to be. This year, with Maserati celebrating its 100th Anniversary, the opportunity to see any number of classic racers from the Italian manufacturer was guaranteed. In addition to the Italians was a healthy dose of American bred race cars and quite a few Porsches.
One of the biggest draws of the day that I attended was the new/old E-type from Jaguar. Parked away from the pits next to the solitude of the garages, and surrounded by gawkers and the curious, the new silver #00 E-type Jag is the first of six to be built over the next year. An original run of 18 Special GT E-Types was planned in 1963, but only 12 were built. Now Jaguar wants to finish the job it started over 50 years ago.
So here in images is Gizmag's extensive gallery from both the Quail Gathering and the Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion.
