Gathering of Birds in Monterey at Hahn Winery!

[agrimmitt]

"Gathering of Birds in Monterey"

For those who attended the 1st Annual Hahn Wine Tour last year during the Rolex Histories in Monterey/Carmel. And attending this years Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion (which I think was an improvement and very well done!); "YOU MISSED OUT"!!! Again a group of wild birds gathered at the Safeway Parking lot on Friday morning. We once again drove one of the best "Porsche" roads in the Carmel area, with a fun loving group of Porsche enthusiasts. Even with the attempt to somewhat clip our wings this year. The call of the road and the fabulous people at The Hahn Winery we had one hell of a great time. Everyone at Hahn went overboard to show us a great afternoon, with over 20 wines to select from with no tasting fee. "Thank You>Dan-porschecab for all your calls setting this up" We all came away with a smiles on our faces. (and sober for the drive back) and bottles of great wine to share with friends in the future. Here's to next year; same time and great group of "Birds". So, don't say you weren't invited!
Cheers
agrimmitt

[Zeke]

Can you put user names to the faces? Where was Wayne? I know he cancelled the tour, but I think he's up in Monterrey.

[agrimmitt]

Milt
Maybe Dave can (porschecab) since he opened the original tread to get the idea moving again after Wayne dropped it? But to be honest it worked out great because the guys who did attend were true lovers of driving their cars. And who enjoyed the friendship of fellow "Birds" with the same interest, who enjoyed driving without driving like a crazy idiot's trying to show off. (and could drive within the limits and road conditions) My guess is you will see 5-6 follow up thread to this morning tour. Everyone had a great time!
art

[artplumber]

Good idea to start a grass roots drive.

Gotta disagree about the Reunion though. Steve Earle is/was the man. Sonoma's the place in the future for me. Attendance way down this year on both Sat & Sun in my estimation.

[agrimmitt]

Peter: Everyone would agree the Steve was the driving force for years. But (keeping in mind that last year the "mark" was Porsche), if you looked at the corrals most seem full with some very nice cars. And in todays economy it becomes harder for many to afford the overall cost of weeks many events. I talked with a lot of people who only purchased one or two day tickets. And $40.00 to just walk around the cars in the courtyard at RM was a joke; with $100.00 to enter the event without a bidders pass! You can't argue with more cars register to run this year in almost every class. Laguna Seca did a must better job on the infield and area for the vendors to show and display at. The class/groups were more well rounded the ever. Some needed a little review of what vintage racing is about>as in the Trans Am driver meeting after morning practice. And with more cars and increased numbers in these events you see the increase in accidents. And love Dan for the great sportsmen, driver, and builder of some great cars over the years. He is not the draw that Porsche or any other major auto manufacturer would have been due to factory support of their cars. I don't believe that you will get the people and auctions to leave Monterey, it is as much a part of the race week as anything on the schedule.
See you next year or next event at Laguna Seca!
Art

[rcooled]

Originally Posted by agrimmitt

And in todays economy it becomes harder for many to afford the overall cost of the week's many events. I talked with a lot of people who only purchased one or two day tickets. And $40.00 to just walk around the cars in the courtyard at RM was a joke; with $100.00 to enter the event without a bidders pass!

Yes...everything's tightening up at the Classic Car Week in Monterey. Things that used to be open to the public for free are now off limits unless you hand over some cash. It used to be that if you paid for admission to RM's preview, you were also admitted as a spectator to the auction. No more. Even Russo & Steele's preview (which was always free) is now closed off to non-bidders. Only Mecum's 3-ring circus had free admission for spectators. A sign of the times, I guess.

Here's a tip for a great freebie for next year: The races at Laguna Seca have now expanded to a full day of practice on Thursday and there's no admission charge to get into the track. Sure...you don't get any actual racing but if you just want to see and hear the cars at speed and roam the pits, this is a pretty good deal. Even got to see the 6-wheeled Tyrrell P34 F1 car do a few laps before it crapped out and had to be towed off. All the vendors are not fully set up yet but the crowds are thin and you can park right next to the track if you want. Much better than being stuck out on the back forty and having to be shuttled in. Keep it in mind for next year.

[Nine17]

Just my $.02, but I've attended the MHAR for a couple of decades and went to the Sonoma Historic Motorsport Festival this past May. If you know the cars, the Reunion was about quantity over quality with poorly-matched run groups, while Sonoma featured some exceptional cars in well-designed and properly-gridded run groups. From the reaction of some of the regular entrants who I spoke with, I expect the quality may continue to drop at the Reunion -- both of the cars and of the driving...

Back to the topic at hand, I thought that last year's Pelican run was seriously over-priced at $45 a head for lunch ($90 for a couple goes a long way even in Carmel -- try Demita Cafe right on Ocean Ave.) and I made other plans for this year. I'm glad to see that the true "Pelican flash-mob" mentality came into effect and that folks drove their cars and had a good time at a BYO picnic. I'll be sure keep the date open next August!

[TRE Cup]

I enjoyed the historics this year. They did allow a lot of new entries , without proper check out of history. A certain amount of these entries were from back east. SOME of the drivers were over aggressive (not a back east trait, just who they were east , west, north south) and incidents happened.
Bound to happen with you get 650+ cars in any event. But blocking, cutting off others, "me first" attitudes, when there was no need to was ridiculous. The vintage T/A group had a lot of people fooled into thinking it was all out between the first 3 cars. Goes to show how some talent (which included the 2009 real T/A champ) can have a great time playing and giving the crowd a lot of excitement
Overall a much better job than previous management has accomplished in the past (Kudos on many years of great past events) .
They are planning to keep adding to the event, with other components (god knows they can't stuff more cars in the paddock) and bring the event a few notches higher each time. You can't judge attendance by what they did this time- economy, high lodging prices, other events (Goodwood was the same weekend) . Saturday was good - full stands to watch. Sunday has been getting thin for the last several years. I think the general public wants just one day of racing and can't see two days in a row. They go spend $$ at Pebble or LeMons ;-) for sunday

I agree on some of the mismatched cars; it was a little strange seeing some modern and early cars racing together.

The drum brake stock car group was surprisingly decent. I thought it was going to be like the other historic nascar group; real obvious follow the leader and planned position swaps. These early tanks were going for it

[porschecab]

Monterey Historics Wine Tour Drive / Fun Run to Hahn Winery 8/13!!!!!!

Check the link above for more details, comments, and photos of the 2010 Drive. Feel free to make suggestions, comments, additions or deletions of the thread above. Trying to keep it all in one place so next year will be even easier.

Thanks! Dan - porschecab (some call me Dave and since I prefer that over Jackass or Donkey, I am perfectly accepting!)

[agrimmitt]

I said I was sober when we drove back from the winery; but may not when I wrote the tread!!!
art

[artplumber]

Originally Posted by agrimmitt

Peter: Everyone would agree the Steve was the driving force for years. But (keeping in mind that last year the "mark" was Porsche), if you looked at the corrals most seem full with some very nice cars. ....
Art

Well, I may not have been there for 20yrs, but although last year was a high water mark in attendance, the 2 years prior were better attended than this year. Plus my first impression was the parking situation, where general parking was moved way out from the track, and corrals dominated. There was a GT2, bunch of Ferrari's, a Balboni Lambo, and a SV Diablo punted off into the weeds over the hill. Good thing I didn't drive the GT3. Probably all in an effort to push income for SCRAMP.

Pits were overcrowded with cars, and the number of really interesting/valuable cars seemed down to me - but I'm not much of a Corvette/Mustang fan.

I don't care too much about the accident Saturday, except for the driver's safety. Even Stirling Moss lost it. That's racing as they say.

They had drum brake NASCAR at Sonoma this year, so Monterrey copying wasn't a surprise.