The Grapevine Newsletter
Special 2016 Monterey Sports Car Week Edition August 2016
August 16th thru the 21st Monterey California
Monterey Sports Car Week It’s so much more than just Pebble Beach !!
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The Car Auctions
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The Second Greatest Gentleman’s Evening Entertainment
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It doesn't get better for any car guy, or girl than Monterey, California in the middle of August. And that time is about to arrive again. The Monterey Car Week offers and amazing set of car events. Attend car shows featuring the finest and most valuable collector cars in the world. Or go to the track events where one can see, hear, and smell many of the most famous vintage and classic racing cars, that were driven by the most successful racing drivers, on the most prestigious race tracks the world has ever had to offer. And of course you can’t help but be thrilled by the excitement that comes from a single vehicle selling for tens of millions of dollars at the Monterey auctions. And all of this fun and excitement is less than four hours away from us here in Golden Empire Region.
Not all of the "track" was paved; the original 1950 route consisted of both paved two-lane roads and sections of dirt or loose gravel. Races started along Portola Road near the present-day equestrian center. Although the course was always tight and twisty with tall Cypress trees
Monterey Car Week originated from a racing events in the early fifties on the Pebble Beach Road Race circuit. The "Del Monte Trophy" was held on the twisty, leafy, and very narrow town roads in Pebble Beach, California from 1950 through 1956. The races were managed under the auspices of the SCCA, or Sports Car Club of America. The route was originally 1.8 miles (2.9 km) long, but was lengthened from 1951 onwards to 2.1 miles (3.4 km).
hemming in the track on either side, accidents were scarce and relatively uneventful. The exception came in 1956 when a driver named Ernie McAfee fatally slammed his Ferrari into a tree. This spelled the end of the popular Pebble Beach Road Races, although it was the genesis of Laguna Seca Raceway, its modern-day successor.
The search for an appropriate route for the race began at the famous 17 Mile Drive but that later proved unsuitable. After evaluating several alternatives, a collection of roads near the Lodge at Pebble Beach was chosen, partly for its location and partly because it was short enough and tight enough that it wouldn't overtax some of the small cars of the day. 12
In 1950 the first Pebble Beach Concours d’ Elegance is held in conjunction with the first Pebble Beach Road Race. Racing great Phil Hill, who will go on to be a World Drivers Champion, wins the Road Race driving a Jaguar XK120.
Best of Show at the Concours goes to a 1950 Edwards R-26 Special Sport Roadster owned by its creator, Sterling Edwards. Two to three dozen cars are exhibited at the first Pebble Beach Concours, in three classes: prewar cars, postwar cars and MGs. The Races and Concours are such a success that they are repeated immediately the following spring. In 1952 the Concours moves from the Beach Club to the lawn of what is then called Del Monte Lodge, which we now know as The Lodge at Pebble Beach. Car classes increase and cars on display are distinguished based on cost and type. In 1961, for the first time, the Concours requests a one-dollar donation from those in attendance. These donations go directly to benefit the Monterey Peninsula Hospital Auxiliary. But this year attendees will pay $275 per ticket to attend the finest Concours d’ Elegance in the world. However; if free is more your style and you want to see some of the cars that will line the Pebble Beach 18th green without paying the heavy price there is a way. It’s an event on the city streets of Carmel called Concours on the Avenue on Tuesday. Also the cars on the Tour d’ Elegance, which caravan down Hwy 1 on Thursday will line the Carmel City streets for a lunch stop. These will all be cars from the Pebble Beach Concours.
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A FREE CARMEL COUCOURS EVENT During the Monterey Car Week. TUESDAY, August 16th, from 10am to 5pm
This year includes a large group of Vintage Porsches on the Avenue
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Come on out and enjoy the greatest Car Party on the West Coast
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Getting there is half the fun, See you all on Hwy 1