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Cars I Have Slid
Monterey Historics 1
Monterey Historics 2
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Each August, the
streets of Monterey come alive with the sound of Weber carburetors
sucking in huge quantities of air, the smell of motor oil and the
glorious sight of hand-beaten aluminum panels as the cars of the
Historic Races, Pebble Beach Concours and Concours Italiano invade
this beautiful little bedroom community. Attending this triumverate
of automotive hedonism is something every car aficionado owes to
himself at least once in his lifetime.
I was fortunate enough to make the trek in ’97 & ’98, and although
’99 is shelved due to an unfortunate conflict, I’ll be back again in ’00.
The ’97 trip featured a 100 mile trip in a Westfield Spa and ’98 included a 700
mile drive down the coast in the 951. Speaking from experience, there is no better way to
arrive in Monterey than behind the wheel of a performance car that sports the
bug-splattered scars of a road trip.
The ’98 drive was particularly
memorable. The Porsche was truly stunning the whole way,
returning great gas mileage (28+ mpg at 70-75 mph) and proving that
the car will still accelerate very hard at 135 mph. I stuck to
Highway 1 on the return trip, |
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which meant I was able to exercise the
car on hundreds of miles of winding roads and workout the engine
during full power third gear passes of the slower traffic. If
'00 works out, I plan to take the Alfa down those same roads.
I don't plan to arrive anywhere near as refreshed, but I should
sport an equally big grin. |
Click on a thumbnail below to see a higher resolution photo
| The pit crew carefully places the engine cover on this gorgeous 917 |
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A GT-40 shares the pit with a Lola |
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| This picture can't do justice to the sheer ground pounding sound
generated by this Lola as it idled through the pits. |
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Beauty and the Beast: An Alfa TZ-1 shares the pit with a Ford GT-40 |
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| This photo taken in the Porsche tent is proof that even they can make
a mistake (look closely at the engine specifications) |
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Italian racing red Alfa Romeo TZ-2 |
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| And to think all I was looking for was a beer and a hot dog... |
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Phil Hill's old ride shares the lawn with a brace of Ferraris |
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| That's my friend Scott (see the waving hand) & me on the Porsche
parade lap. We weren't supposed to exceed 25 mph -- remember my Rule of Three? J |
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Porsche can even make farm work fun! |
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| The Porsche 924 Carrera GTS -- the grandfather to the 951 |
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Two cars that combine Porsche engineering with Italian styling: The
Abarth-Porsche and Cisitalia GP car |
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| A closer look at the Abarth-Porsche |
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A hoodless Cisitalia bares its soul |
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Click here for
more photos from
Monterey |
