Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion (2013) – Recap & Photo Gallery

Report and photos by Dennis Gray

The Rolex Monterey Motorsports Pre-Reunion 2013 was held August 10-11 at the 11-turn, 2.238-mile Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in Salinas, California. Formerly known as Monterey Pre-Historics, the event is held the weekend before the much larger Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion. The 2013 running of the Monterey Pre-Reunion was again open to the public, allowing spectators to enjoy a more relaxed paddock environment and a glimpse of the following weekend.

The Pre-Reunion is designed to give Monterey Motorsports Reunion entrants — many of whom have never raced on the technical Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca — track time before the green flag officially drops the following weekend. Typically about 50-75% of the cars that race in the Reunion also attend the Pre-Reunion and this year was no different, with approximately 300 historic racing cars on track compared to 550 scheduled for the 2013 Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion.

This year’s races will honor the 60th Anniversary of the Chevrolet Corvette, and the Collier Collection’s 1963 Grand Sport, chassis #004, was among the featured entries at the Pre-Reunion. Chevrolet’s 377 cubic inch V-8, 480+ hp answer to the Shelby Cobra was instrumented for research purposes by students of the Revs Program at Stanford, an academic program founded to study the automobile from a variety of disciplines. The team hopes to capture specific information on driver/automobile interactions in real-life scenarios, as in what’s it really like to navigate down Laguna Seca’s famous Corkscrew in a special race car like the Grand Sport. John Morton and Bruce Canepa will be sharing driving duties in the Corvette.

In addition, the 50th Anniversary of the Porsche 911 will be celebrated with the Weissach Cup race exclusively for 911s from 1964-1973. Among the 911s at the Pre-Reunion were Dennis Singleton’s 1974 Porsche 911 Carrera RSR 3.0; Kevin O’Callaghan’s 1972 Porsche 911S and Bill Ockerlund’s Porsche 911 RSR.

Other notable and interesting entrants at the 2013 Monterey Motorsports Pre-Reunion included Chris MacAllister’s 1976 Ferrari 312 T2 and 1973 Gulf Mirage; Chip Conner’s 1980 Porsche 935J; Henry Schmitt’s 1978 BMW M1 Procar; Greg Whitten’s Jaguar E-Type Lightweight and ERA Type B ‘Romulus’; Doug Mockett’s 1976 Penske PC4; James Freeman’s Aston Martin AMR1; Tom Claridge’s 1953 Kurtis 500S; Ned Spieker’s 1961 Ferrari 250GT SWB Berlinetta; David Brown’s 1955 Cooper Type 39 Bobtail; Richard Clark’s 1952 Porsche 356 Pre-A; Ranson Webster’s 1961 Porsche Abarth Carerra; Stanley Gold’s 1952 Porsche American Roadster 356 Heuer K/9; Erickson Shirley’s 1954 Ferrari Mondial Spider; Paddins Dowling’s 1939 Maserati 4CL; Rob Walton’s 1961 Ferrari 250 GT SWB Berlinetta and Maserati 450S and Peter Giddings’ 1926 Delage 15-S-8 Grand Prix.

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Similar to 2009, 2010, 2011, and 2012, Senior Photographer Dennis Gray also documented the 2013 Monterey Motorsports Pre-Reunion, offering the following gallery that highlights the strong list of entrants enjoying their track sessions at Laguna Seca. We split up Dennis’ 120 pictures into two galleries. The first gallery starting below features our favorite images, all displayed in the full-width view of Sports Car Digest, while the second gallery can be found on the last page of the article and gives a comprehensive view of all the photographs.

Monterey Motorsports Pre-Reunion 2013 – Featured Photo Gallery

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Monterey Motorsports Pre-Reunion 2013 – Featured Photo Gallery Page Seven

Monterey Motorsports Pre-Reunion 2013 – Featured Photo Gallery Page Eight

Monterey Motorsports Pre-Reunion 2013 – Featured Photo Gallery Page Nine

Paddins Dowling’s 1939 Maserati 4CL in turn two.

Graham Smith’s 1950 Allard J-2 Le Mans.

Peter Giddings debuts his 1926 Delage 15-S-8. Straight eight, supercharged, what a sound.

1955 Cooper Type 39 Bobtail driven by David Brown followed by the 1952 Porsche 356 Pre A driven by Richard Clark.

Max Jamiesson’s 1957 Porsche 356 Speedster

John Safford’s 1974 Shadow DN4.

1960 Corvette driven by Gregory Johnson.

1962 Lotus Elite driven by Henry Moore.

1965 Alfa Romeo GTA driven by Maxim Banks.

Erickson Shirley’s 1954 Ferrari Mondial Spider.

1954 Porsche 356 Pre A driven by Ron Goodman. This car was a fan favorite.

Kevin O’Callaghan’s 1972 Porsche 911S Coupe in turn two.

Stanley Gold’s 1952 Porsche American Roadster 356 Heuer K/9 in turn two.

Edward Carden’s 1961 GSM Delta

Steve Walker in his 1960 BMW 700S.

1953 Kurtis 500S driven by Tom Claridge.

James Yule’s 1961 Cooper T-56.

1963 Lotus 27 driven by Phillip Ribbs.

Fog. Mark Sange’s 1935 Austin 7 Special Monoposto.

Bill Weed in his 1959 Stanguellini F Jr.

Carl Moore’s Lotus 22.

David Allison’s Cooper T62.

Bruce Canepa in the 1963 Corvette Grandsport in turn eleven.

Joseph Hofmann’s 1965 Corvette.

John Fudge’s 1968 Bizzarrini 5300 Strada GT.

Jaguar E-Type Lightweight of Greg Whitten

Tommy Steuer’s 1965 Corvette.

Lorne Leibel’s Cobra exits turn eleven.

Enrico Tenni’s 1962 Lotus 7 in turn two.

1965 Corvette driven by John Bowe.

James Farley’s Cobra.

Tom O’Callaghan’s Porsche 911S.

Porsche.

Maserati 450S driven by Rob Walton. This big V8 has a sound all its own.

Lister Bristol driven by Stephen Bond.

Jonathon Feiber’s Maserati Tipo 61 ‘Birdcage’.

William Conner’s 1980 Porsche 935J.

Dennis Singleton’s 1974 Porsche RSR.

Henry Schmitt’s 1978 BMW M1 Procar.

Bill Ockerlund’s Porsche RSR.

Jeffrey Abramson’s very quick Lotus 23C in turn eleven.

Ned Spieker’s 1961 Ferrari 250GT SWB Berlinetta in turn two.

Edward Hugo”s 1956 Porsche 356A.

Ron Maydon’s 1978 Wolf WR6 in turn eleven.

McLaren F1.

Jim Hull’s 1935 Bugatti Type 57.

Paddins Dowling’s 1939 Maserati 4CL between eight and nine.

1949 Talbot Lago T26C/DA GP driven by David Duthu.

Peter Giddings in his 1926 Delage 15-S-8.

Gregory Whitten in his ERA Type B Romulus

Graham Smith in his 1950 Allard J2 Le Mans.

Rob Walton’s 1961 ferrari 250GT SWB Berlinetta between turns eight and nine.

Chris MacAllister’s 1973 Gulf Mirage in two.

Henry Schmitt’s BMW M1.

Andrew Larson 1975 Porsche 911 RSR in turn eleven.

Chris MacAllister’s 1976 Ferrari 312 T2.

Doug Mockett’s 1976 Penske PC4 in turn two late Sunday.

Chris MacAllister’s 1976 Ferrari 312 T2 in turn eleven.

Chris Locke’s 1976 Lotus 77 F-1 leads Chris MacAllister’s 1976 Ferrari 312 T2 in turn eleven.

Harindra de Silva’s Shadow DN3.

Elmo pursues a Corvette.

Chris MacAllister’s 1976 Ferrari 312 T2 in turn eleven.

Tom Minnich in his 1978 Arrows FA1.

Late Sunday afternoon Doug Mockett’s 1976 Penske PC4 in turn eleven.

1963 Grand Sport Corvette driven by Bruce Canepa. The spaceship like appendages are radio transmission antennas used to transmit the results of various medical test run on the drivers during races. Of course there is also the normal amount of Go Pro equipment.

Erich Joiner’s 1977 Chevron B36 follows Eddie Lawson’s 1975 Osella down The Corkscrew.

John Hampson exits turn two in his 1934 MG K3 Magnette.

Graham Wallis in his 1929 Lagonda 2 Litre Speed.

1931 Chrysler CD-8 Le Mans driven by Howard Swig.

Loading up the outside front tire in turn two is Jeff Lotman in his 1937 Jaguar SS100 2.5 litre.

Aston Martin AMR1 driven by James Freeman.

Monterey Motorsports Pre-Reunion 2013 – Main Photo Gallery (click image for larger picture and description)

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Monterey Motorsports Pre-Reunion 2013 – Race Results

(Results will be published when available).

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[Source: Monterey Motorsports Reunion; Dennis Gray]