Carmel-by-the-Sea, Calif., 19 August, 2016

On the third to last day of the Monterey Car Week the annual Motorsport Gathering was held in the Quail Lodge in Carmel valley. In contrast to the free Concours on the Avenue on Tuesday the Motorsport Gathering is one of the most exclusive events of the week with a very hefty entrance fee for the visitors. Despite the high prize the green in front of the lodge was very good visited and although the gathering was enlarged into the area over the road it seemed to be more people than ever.

After two hours of media preview in the morning that was used by most of the owners to clean and prepare their car for the show the crowd came in to enjoy a day with great cars, good food and wine and a social meeting. The Peninsula Hotel group provided specialties in four different tents representing their hotels in New York, Paris, Beijing and California.

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Soon after the visitor entered the field the sun made it through the morning fog giving most of the day a sunny atmosphere.

On the green a few special anniversaries were celebrated including the BMW centenary and half of the age of the Lamborghini Miura that was presented in more than 2 dozen different cars.

BMW on the other hand had a new homage on display as well as a selection for convertibles and finally the visit of the race group from nearby Laguna Seca over the lunch break.

Once all the cars were checked out many visitors went to the tents to try the different food selections waiting for the award ceremony starting in the afternoon.

After all the class winners were announced it was time for the Best of Show, this time the highly original Ferrari 375 MM took the top laurels. The award also shows the change of the thinking away from the over restored show cars to more authentic and originally preserved cars.

The Best of Show will also be part of the selection for the Best of the Best Award whose this year’s winner was just announced. Entered by Peter Mullin the Talbot-Lago won this inaugural award representing the Cartier style et luxe award from the Goodwood Festival of Speed in 205.

Those who made it out of the Quail in time due to traffic could make it to the three auctions in Monterey center ranging from the huge Russo & Steele auction to the silent auction at Rick Coles.

Many great cars could be seen on the block and one could not surprised by the fact that the top cars in the multi million range do sell much easier than those mid class cars still worth about 1000000.

Right across the street of the Portola Plaza with the provisional auction tent the Rick Cole silent auction was on display including a Ferrari 330 LMB.

Soon after finishing the preview RM set of the auctions in Monterey with a strong sale. With a record braking sale for a British car the Le Mans winning Jaguar D-Type Long Nose the RM auction set a strong mark whereas the American race car collection of Mustang and Cobra did not attract enough bidders to make it over the reserve.

Tomorrow will be again a day with many different activities to choose from. The Concorso Italino for Italian cars will compete with the historic races in Laguna Seca where half of the groups will make their race through the famous corkscrew.


Report & images … Peter Singhof
www.ClassicCarPhotography.de