Shelby Mustang GT350s at Laguna Seca

This past week was Monterey Car Week and one of the biggest events during the week is the Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion. The four day long event is a display of some of the greatest race cars ever made doing what they were meant to do.

It is like a moving museum. For this year the special marquee was the Shelby Mustang GT350. The legendary performance car is celebrating its 50th anniversary making watching the ‘Stangs fly around the track even more special. During the week the new Ford Shelby Mustang GT350 was also on display (we’ll be driving it very soon, so stay tuned for that).

BMW was another marquee to be honored at Laguna Seca. The brand was a featured marquee this year and it was announced that they will be the special honored car make next year (August 18th-21st of 2016) to coincide with the company’s 100th anniversary.

For those in attendance the weekend was sensory overload. Sunday was the running of the Formula 5000 race that is in honor of the last professional Formula 5000 that was raced at the track 40 years ago. The competition saw Zak Brown’s Lola T332 take the victory while being driven by Richard Dean.

The last time this particular car raced at the original 5000 it also took the win. Back in 1975 it was in the hands of legend Mario Andretti.

Many types of race cars appeared over the weekend including some great historic Formula 1 cars. For those of you who have seen the movie Rush, both James Hunt’s McLaren M26 and Niki Lauda’s Ferrari 312 T2 competed. In a fitting finish the McLaren managed to finish ahead of the Ferrari, just as Hunt was able to get the championship over Lauda in that incredible season.

Attending Monterey Car Week should be a trip that every car guy makes at some point in their life. If you haven’t gone yet but will be going make sure to check out the Monterey Motorsport Reunion as well as the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance. There are plenty of other great events, but those two are the biggest.