MONTEREY, Calif. — The Concours d'Elegance celebrated 71st meeting, but the weeks' worth of car events is more than just cars. It's auctions, friends coming together and car racing.
This year at WeatherTech Raceway, Laguna Seca the Rolex Motorsports Reunion was honoring the 100th anniversary of Lemans and fans were not disappointed. The collection of race cars that had been at Lemans was said to be the largest most had ever seen.
We found San Diegan Don Anderson who was doing some racing and has been going to since 1982, “I've been racing since 1975, I have SCCA license I still maintain.”
Anderson runs a 1964 Bobsy Porsche with the help of his wife. "My wife Karen and I, we do everything on the car. She's the crew Chief.
Laguna Seca is 11 turns... the most famous is the corkscrew according to Don. "You plunge off this thing and swoop down over it and try to land in the same spot.
The beauty of the reunion is the wide spectrum of race cars... vintage to modern and you get to right in the middle of the action that lasts 4 days.
Slowing it down is the Concorso Italiano, and as the name implies this is all about Italian. Whether it's a Fiat new or old... Ferrari... and I mean a lot of Ferrari's, Maserati... Lamborghini... Bizzarini, there's a lot of Italian cars to see!
George Alspaugh brought his Alfa Romeo from San Diego. "This is a 1947 Alfa Romeo 6C 2500Ss. It's one of 383 cars Alfa Romeo built in a 20-year period.” Alfa Romeo built the chassis and engine, George says the bodies were custom made. "And they would send them to coach builders to design and assemble the bodies. They are all handmade aluminum bodies to the customers specifications.:"
The Alfa took 1st in class.
There was plenty to see when it came to no fee. The German marques were well represented at the Legends of the Autobahn with Mecedes Benz... a grand Gullwing to a classic Mercedes Benz 4 door sedan. Vintage convertibles and modern AUDI, and there were plenty of BMW's in a rainbow of colors
For the Porsche lover it was all about Werks. This group runs a tight ship, everything had a purpose and place.
But a show new to me was Prancing Ponies... "Creating women leaders one girl at a time."
"We pay for low-income women to attend online workshops and seminars to better their lives. We also provide a stipend to make sure they are whole on the days they take off to better their lives." Nearly 10'000 attended
A record $469 million was sold at multiple auctions during the week and Gooding & Co had some of the finest.
Sunday was the Concours d'Elegance at Pebble Beach. This is where the best cars in the world hope show their stuff. Also celebrating the 100 years of Lemans the show was spectacular.
Holding court on the lawn for his fourth time was San Diegan Jonathan Segal. "We're looking at a 1953 Maserati A6GCS Spider by Fura." Segal doesn't just show he comes to win. "We've won 3 times, we are Stuarts of the Maserati brand, we have 4 Maserati's.
And this Maserati is as rare as it is good looking says Segal. "They made 60 race cars and 60 street cars and 2 in-between. This is one of the 2 in-between in the entire world."
Out on the lawn everywhere you look there is automotive royalty ... from racing to luxury and all the best in the world. These cars are now in a different class, they've been on the lawn at the Pebble Beach for the Concours d'Elegance
How did Jonathan do? 2nd in class post war touring but he looks like a winner to me.
The Concurs d'Elgance at Pebble Beach raised over $2.6 million for charity, with all the money being shared on the Monterey Peninsula.
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