Yesterday Jon and I hopped in Lucky and drove south to Monterey. Now if you have ever been to Monterey during the weekend of the prestigious Monterey Historis's and Concourse De Elegance then you know that it's not just another Sunday drive. There is some of the most exotic hardware in the world and it's not all parked in some showroom either. I doubt that at any given time that we were ever more than a block from several million dollars worth of cars and that was before we ever reached the track. Ferraris were as ordinary as VW bugs were in the 70's. At one point we pulled up behind a CHP and parked next to us was a Ford GT with a custom paint job, a million dollar McLaren F1 and a Ferrari all of which seemed too timid to pass the CHP but Lucky wasn't and so off we went. As much awesome hardware as there was it was very rewarding to realize that Lucky was ever bit as appealing as any other car we saw and we saw a lot of thumbs up throughout the day and even more fun was passing the majority of them while doing it.
The first place we went to was to pick up our ace in the hole which is a little something that Jon has access to during all of these events which is the all powerful "Media Pass". This was nice because it meant we didn't have to park miles away. As a matter of fact we were waved thru the usual security check-points and drove right in to the track and parked in the very popular Ford Corral.
During the early part of the day Jon and I enjoyed ourselves while the vintage racing was going on and equally beautiful vintage fighter planes buzzing the track and a whole lot more. Oh and did I mention cars? Geeze, no matter how many years I attend this thing I never get tired and if it's possible it just keeps on getting better and better every year.
After Jon and I left Laguna Seca we headed on over to Tarpy's Roadhouse where there was the annual La Carrera Panamericana get together. There were about 60 La Carrera members in attendance some who have been many times, some who will be making their first run this year but everyone enjoyed the afternoon of camaraderie.
There were people in attendance from all over the United States and world. Also in attendance was Arturo Perez. It was was his son Gabriel that won the Carrera with Angelica Fuentes in 2006 in a Turismo Produccion Ford.
With everyone else in attendance Jon and I enjoyed the local grog & ale as our new La Carrera Panamericana DVD mades it's debut. Unfortunately there were some problems with the video equipment on hand resulting in poor sound however without a doubt THIS IS THE BEST LA CARRERA PANAMERICAN MOVIE EVER PRODUCED and many shared the excitment.
A special thanks to Gerie Bledsoe for helping make the La Carrera gathering a special one and also to Bill Hemmer and is wife Adriana Robles since this year they negotiated the deal with Tarpy's, got everything set up, including the parking for Carrera cars and supplied the AV equipment. Bill and Adriana have driven the Carrera twice. In 2007 they were down there in a Porsche 550 replica. Thank you. As master of ceremonies Gerie Bledsoe made sure to introduce everyone and took a few minutes to give us all some updates for the upcoming events. I cracked up when Gerie asked everyone if they were ready for this years event since there were only two months left and I heard Carson Scheller say, "I was born ready." And our friend Dr. Sam Burg in attendance with co-piloto Dyana Marlett cracked me up when he told me he would not miss the gravel and trees on Mil Cumbres. I never thought to ask him about the narrow bridges.
I wish I had written down everyone's name and taken more photos but you know what they say about how time flies when you're having a good time.
Some of the cars and drivers in attendance included Andy Prill from England and Richard Clark from from Monaco who ran with us last year. Andy and Richard had flown over from Europe to race in this weekends event and they also brought along two amazing and historical cars as well. Both were older Porsches which they recently used to compete in this years LeManns one of which ran in one of the very first La Carrara race.
Left to right; Andy Prill, Jon Emerson, Gary Faules, Richard Clark.
Our good friend Doug Mockett and his crew also took a break in the action at the Monterey Historics to attend. Not only did Doug have his Mockett Rocket which just took first place at Pikes Peak at the event but he was also racing two of his formula cars at this weekends event as well including his 1975 Penske PC3.
Left to right, Richard Clark, Gerie Bledsoe, Gary Faules, Doug Mockett.
Doug Mockett proves to Dr Sam Burg that it's not necessary to get lubed up before putting on his Cooper formula car.
Here are few other cars that made a showing at the La Carrera get together.
A hot little La Carrera Falcon.
Our good buddy Carson Scheller drove his fantastic Ford and is always a pleasure to be around.
Another Curtis.
I had to laugh... the parking lot was filled with just about every type of car you would never expect to see at the local mall parking lot but when I saw a Rolls Royce parked near Lucky I cracked up. Where else except Monterey would you ever expect to find one with a fork laying on the hood?
Apparently the chauffeur was off looking for some Grey Poupon. But of course!
It's impossible to post just a few photos from an event such at this but here are just a few including a couple of my favorite formula cars one of which I watched Jackie Stewart race right here at Laguna Seca.
At one point during the day as Jon and I walked around Jon says, "There is Rod Millen's Pikes Peak car." Then a second later he says, "Hey, that's Rod Millen talking about the car!"
