The Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion, formerly known as the Monterey Historics, took place this year on August 15, 16 and 17th at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. Several years ago, race founder Steve Earle—for reasons unknown to us—moved the event to Sonoma Raceway, thus creating the Sonoma Historics and leaving an opening for the Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion to be born. This event is now put on by the Sports Car Racing Association of the Monterey Peninsula.
We’ve been eagerly awaiting and attending this event for years, and it’s truly one of the greatest historic racing events in the world. The fact that it takes place during Monterey Car Week ensures the quality of cars you’ll see are nothing short of first class. This year, even Jaguar flew in several cars to be displayed—one of which was an amazing alloy XKE that’s one of six continuation cars they will be building. In 1963, Jaguar set out to build eighteen alloy-bodied Jaguar E-Type models, but in 1964 they stopped production having built only twelve.
Laguna Seca with its world famous cork screw is the perfect location for this event. The California weather in late summer is guaranteed to be fantastic, but do be sure to wear a hat and plenty of sun block because there’s little to no shade at the race track. Parking can also be a bit of a challenge, so be prepared to walk and be sure to wear comfortable shoes. We chose the option of corral parking, which was an additional $22, but was well worth it as we got to park right next to the track. If you choose corral parking, you’ll need to buy your parking pass in advance by calling the ticket office.
The featured mark for this year’s event was Maserati, so it was no surprise there were some amazing examples in attendance. The Maserati factory brought out some of the key cars from their private collection, and even put some of them out on the track for racing and exhibition. Everywhere you turn, there are amazing cars, some of which you’ve only heard of or read about in magazines. What’s fantastic about this event is that you not only get to see them, but you get to watch them race and walk right up to the cars and even occasionally chat with the owners and mechanics. It’s pretty much heaven for fans of vintage racing. We decided to go on Saturday, which is the busiest and most hectic, but likely the most rewarding. If you want to avoid the crowds and craziness, we recommend going on Friday or Sunday.
We spent a lot of time photographing this event this year’s event so take a minute to browse and enjoy the photos below, and let us know which cars are your favorites. Also, if you have any questions or are thinking about attending this event in years to come, feel free to ask us any questions you have and we’ll be happy to help.
Click on any of the following thumbnails for full-size photos. You can navigate through the slides by clicking on the right and left-hand arrows on the photo or using the < and > keys on your keyboard.
