Friday morning I found myself at Grandma's for a hearty breakfast. (Did I
mention this trip involved eating as much as driving cars and ogling cars).
Then it was time to head out to the Concorso Italiano, a socalled festival
of Italian style. I had a pass to park the Tiger in their corral. It got
me a great parking spot, but it did not save me from sitting in some
horrendous traffic. I was in stop and go for over 1.5 hours. All this to
cover just over a mile! The morning was cool and overcast, but the vintage
Ferrari's were pulling over with steaming radiators. The Tiger kept its cool
tho. My temp gauge got up to 210 and that was it.
Once in, the show was great. You see soooooo many cars that you never see
on the roads.
Panteras, Mangustas, Lambo Miuras, Iso Grifos, Maserati Ghiblis,Fiat Dinos
and Ferrari's. Oh yeah there were F cars.
After a while your eyes glaze over at all the red/tan cars. If there was
one 308 there were 50.
The Ferraris that were contemporaries of the Tiger were my favorites.
Lusso's and 275 GTBs .
Saturday was spent at Laguna Seca. I was able to park the Tiger in the
NORCaL Shelby corral. There were two other Tigers in their. I never saw
their owners. Stopped in to say Hi to Darrel Mountjoy, Dan Walters and Rick
Mueller. The Monster Tiger and LeMans Tiger were looking and sounding good.
In the morning we took a pit tour. Our tour was led by Rug Cunningham,
vintage racer and owner of a Cunninham BMW in San Diego. We got a lot
great history on a lot of neat cars.
One person in our tour managed to drop his umbrella on the hood of a Ferrari
GTO! Luckily no damage was done. Walking through the pits at the historics
is so amazing. You see cars the won LeMan in 57, cars driven by Phil HIl,
and Carrol Shelby. On and On.
This year, Ferrari was the featured marque. Ferrari club of America was also
holding their annual meeting, the week after the historics. This meant that
an enormous number of significant Ferraris showed up. The highlight of the
day was the last race. It was all Ferrari production race cars from 62-66.
There were 4 250 GT Short wheelbase Berlinettas.
1 250 LM
and 20 250 GTOs.
Yes, 20 of the 34 GTOs made were on the race track at the same time. I
doubt that 20 GTOs have ever been in one place at one time before.
I stood next to the track at the exit to turn 2 (the Andretti hairpin). The
sight and sound of all those V12s at full throttle was unforgetable.
Dinner was at the Golden Tee restaurant. The Golden Tee is located inside
the Monterey airport terminal building. This is one of Montereys best kept
secrets. The food is great, the portions are large and the prices modest.
Best of all it was not crowded like most venues during Historics weekend.
more to come.
Erich
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