In The Moment / 2015 Monterey Historics
August means two things for me nowadays. Hot weather and Monterey Motorweek! The two aren't always hand-in-hand, but unfortunately, this year it was pretty intense. Fortunately though, so was the action! Shelby was the main sponsor this year and though I wasn't able to check out the new GT350 up close, they sounded amazing racing around the track. But I didn't come here for new cars, so let's get to it!
The day seemed to start off alright, but we soon ran into some hurdles. After I was picked up by Mike, we went to grab Kenny but was stopped for 30 minutes to allow a marathon to go by. At least traffic was pretty light when we finally got down to Monterey. After grabbing our gear and throughly dowsing ourselves with sunscreen, we headed to the track.
We expected it to be hot this weekend, but we didn't expect the sun to be so intense. Our game plan was to comb through the paddock, grab lunch and head to the car carousels parked in the inner pits and end the day watching cars go by up at the infamous Corkscrew.
It did seem like there was more F1 cars entered this year than in the past. Sure the better known cars like the John Player Specials and the blue Tyrrells get more attention, but these lesser known entries were more interesting. I mean, just look at those stacked exhausts!
I'll be posting up more detailed coverage on the cars themselves, but for now, check out Ferrari's first and latest supercars. Personally, I haven't been the biggest fan of the LaFerrari's looks (as mentioned in a previous post) but this blue was absolutely stunning! The blue, grey wheels, and light cream interior is a perfect combo for me.
Of course, the Historics has always had a bias for American metal. If anyone's into muscle cars, this should be marked on every calendar. Me personally, I've always been more into Japanese and European cars, but over the last decade I've learned to appreciate American cars and the racing examples at Laguna is easily my favorite "style".
One thing that was apparent around noon was that it wasn't only the people who were suffering from the heat. These F1 cars were trying to get back into their pits as quickly as possible since they're only means of cooling is having the air flow through their cooling systems at 100+ mph. Crawling in traffic sent their temperatures soaring and several were visibly overheating.
This guy couldn't handle the heat in his suit, so he needed to shed off on the way to his tent.
Pretty cool motorized bicycle spotted in the pits. The livery is spot on.
Some new cars that were showcased in the paddock. Some ultra-rare production, some pure conceptual, and some in between such as the very good looking black NSX. I've been critical of the continuous stream of delays the car has been weighed down by and the almost entirely unknown hybrid powertrain, but the styling hits it for me in the same way the updated 1st gen R8 did. It doesn't seem too over-stylized, or at least to my eyes.
There was an offroading demo hosted by Land Rover in the middle of the track. Mike was chosen to be the driver and we quickly hopped into the Discovery 4 since we were eager for the strong AC the car had. At least for these few minutes, we were able to escape the heat. The LR did really well though, I must say, with zero slippage detected from the wheels and pretty impressive articulation from the suspension, unlike the Evoque you see in the image above.
Certainly one of the highlights was this Skyline race car which was brought in to go up against 240Z's, 901's and CLS's. Unsurprisingly it sounded very similar to the 240Z's, but the sight alone was still very special, even as someone who's been lucky enough to always be around them.
Finally, we wanted to end the day just sitting in some shade and watching cars go by. So up to the Corkscrew we went.
Even modern cars, the drop can be pretty intense, so I couldn't imagine it in these older vehicles (with their older tires/suspensions!) pushing as hard as some of the drivers did.
The Corkscrew is always the most popular location on the track for spectating, and the wonderful shade was especially welcoming.
Another year and another Historics in the books. Can't wait till 2016!
