The Rolex Monterey Motorsports Pre-Reunion 2014 was held August 9-10 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 2014 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 2014 Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion.
Maserati is this year’s featured marque and will officially celebrate its 100th anniversary at the motorsports gathering. Therefore it was no surprise to see a great selection of the Italian manufacturer’s finest such as Tipo 60 and 61 Birdcages and even a 3500GT. Rarer still was the 1962 Maserati Tipo 151 entered by Fratelli Auriana Racing from the collection of Lawrence Auriana. Since its restoration, chassis 151.006 has competed in three successive Goodwood Revivals and last year in the 2013 Le Mans Legend. This was the car’s first visit to Monterey and the challenging Laguna Seca road course.
In addition to the Maserati racers, other notable and interesting entrants at the 2014 Monterey Motorsports Pre-Reunion included the Greg Whitten’s 1957 Aston Martin DBR2 and 1935 ERA Type B; Gunnar Jeanette’s 1965 Ferrari 250 LM Berlinetta; Greg Mitchell’s 1967 Shelby King Cobra; Lawrence Stroll’s 1970 Ferrari 512M; Chip Connor’s 1980 Porsche 935J; Peter Giddings’ 1926 Delage 15-S-8 and 1935 Alfa Romeo Tipo C 8C-35; Erickson Shirley’s 1934 Alfa Romeo Tipo B P3; Chris MacAllister’s 1971 McLaren M8F; Bill Ockerlund’s 1974 Porsche 911 RSR and James Lawrence’s 1977 Porsche 934.5; among many others.
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Similar to 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013, Senior Photographer Dennis Gray also documented the 2014 Monterey Motorsports Pre-Reunion with the following gallery that highlight entrants enjoying their track time at Laguna Seca. We split up Dennis’ 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 and race results can be found on the last page of the article and gives a comprehensive view of all the photographs.
Monterey Motorsports Pre-Reunion 2014 – Featured Photo Gallery
1975 Porsche RSR driven by Alan Benjamin.
Richard Goldsmith’s 1970 Challenger.
Ken Epsman’s 1971 AMC Javelin.
Derek Hill’s 1962 Maserati Tipo 151 in The Corkscrew.
Sandra McNeil in her 1963 Shelby Cobra 289
1970 Ferrari 512M driven by Lawrence Stroll.
John Morton in Gunnar Jeanette’s Ferrari 250LM Berlinetta GT.
Don Orosco’s 1958 Lotus 15.
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Dennis – wonderful images – love the 917 in the transporter, but that said they’re all great
Great coverage Dennis, one question, why are some of the cars entered so obviously modified from original?. By that I mean, to see 68 Mustangs with “bib” spoilers that were not standard equipement when new, who gives these cars approval to run with “non” modified cars?… I live in Scandiavia where Historic Racing is organized under F I A rules, and as such, cars must be presented and approved as raced in period. Which seems fair, as knowone gets an unfair advantage by “cheating” so to speak. Are there any moves in your country to “clean” up the act, and give those cars so obviously modified a chance to be returned to standard/original again?.
Just an observation from someone who thinks that if a Racecar is Vintage/ Historic,it should look the part, and not be presented with all sorts of non period parts hanging off of them… I look forward to seeing your photographs of next weekends event. More photographs of 50 s and 60 s sportscars,and sportsracers will “make my day” Cheers Dennis. Graham…
Racing in the US was not subject to FIA rules and Appendix K (fortunately). The Mustang, Javelin and Challenger are exactly as raced in period in the the Transam championship.
SCCA rules were also much more liberal than Appendix K in Europe. In any case, Appendix K cars were anything but standard, except for the bodywork.
Fabulous photos. Sorry I couldn’t make it this time. Auriana’s Maserati Tipo 151 should not have the red stripe on it’s nose. Also, chassis 006 was destroyed at Daytona in 1963. The present car is chassis 004. Please tell me where I can send a pdf of my research. It is accurate beyond any argument. The only way that the car is chassis 006 is if the Maserati factory changed the number plate at the factory, but it still should not have the red stripe.
Ron. Send me an email and I’ll get in touch with you. Dennis
Terrific photos Dennis. For those of us who can’t make it to Monterey every year, seeing your photos is a real treat.
Great images, Dennis.
Why is the Jim Froula Skyline being called a (KPGC10) “GT-R”? As far as I can see it started life as a KGC10 GT or GT-X with a 12v SOHC Nissan L20A straight six engine, and still uses a (later) L6 engine on track. It can’t even be called a GT-R ‘replica’ if it hasn’t got the GT-R’s 24v DOHC S20 engine, the R192 diff, quick steering box and all the other GT-R-specific parts (let alone the correct bodyshell). Surely it’s simply a lookey-likey. A beautiful and exquisitely built lookey-likey, but a lookey-likey just the same.
Don’t the organisers, the people attending the event and the people on track at the same time as this car know what it really is? What’s the story here?
Terrific images, Dennis! A great pleasure to view. So much more exciting than the unceasing uniformity of current F1!