Filed under: Events
by Alvin G @ 9:45 pm on July 21, 2020
MONTEREY CAR WEEK MAY BE CANCELLED, BUT WE CAN STILL COME TOGETHER ONLINE TO CELEBRATE COOL CARS
You can still kick off what would have been car week in style along with the staff of Classic Motorsports. We’ll be gathering with a few hundred of our closest friends on the Classic Motorsports forum this year for a special virtual Monterey Kickoff Cruise-In.
Post pictures of your cool classic or exotic car and enjoy a day full of online camaraderie – you could even win a prize from one of our sponsors. Everyone’s invited!
We are happy to sponsor this event and offer a prize for “Best Nissan”! The prize is a $200 gift certificate for parts or labor at Z Car Garage in San Jose, CA. Make sure you visit https://montereykickoff.com/ to sign up now!
There are vintage car races every month of the year, but few draw such amazing machines as the Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion. Each year the Reunion has a featured marque and this year it was Nissan, previously known as Datsun. This was the very first time a Japanese manufacturer was honored as the featured marque in 45 years of running the event! As you can imagine, excited Datsun racers and fans around the nation made plans to attend the Reunion held 8/23-26 at Laguna Seca Raceway.
We had a blast at the RMMR and I was once again fortunate to be on the Z Car Garage pit crew for several race cars. Read further for our report, illustrated by a 200+ shot gallery with videos. Enjoy! Here is a short introductory video highlighting the Nissan/Datsun group photo (50 cars!) and a taste of racing action to come:
An epic showing from Nissan Motorsports
Nissan really rose to the occasion, bringing historically significant race cars from Japan to offer a museum-like collection under its paddock tent. Our friends at Japanese Nostalgic Car (JNC) took an in-depth look at each of the cars displayed, catch their excellent coverage HERE. My favorites were the #46 BRE 510, Grand-Prix dominating R382, hyper-rare Nissan R390 GT1 Road Car, and of course the monstrous GTP ZX Turbo car. We wish they would have driven them on the track!
Datsun fans unite
When the announcement was made that Nissan would be the featured marque at the RMMR, we knew it had to be an unforgettable experience for all Datsun enthusiasts. An event “not to be missed”, and that is where The Z Owners of Northern California (ZONC) comes in. We reached out to club secretary Ann Devor, and her team coordinated a Nissan-only parking corral AND a parade lap around the world famous, 11-turn, 2.238-mile jewel of a road course called Weathertech Laguna Seca Raceway.
Car corral attendance was impressive, and it was absolute bliss for all participants. There were over 130 cars including Datsun 510s, Z cars and roadsters followed by Z32s, Z33s, Z34s and GT-Rs.
Staging for the parade lap was awesome with smiles everywhere! Living legend Pete Brock even rode shotgun in a Datsun Roadster as the lead car. We were fortunate to get almost two full laps in, at a surprisingly brisk pace. Please see our picture gallery and link (from Jason Green) for shots of your car!
Missed out on the fun? In the video below you can see my coverage of the car corral and parade lap. Also included is parade lap footage captured from the Corkscrew, one of the track’s infamous turns, thanks to Gary Savage:
Serious recognition for Japanese Classics
The Reunion is a highlight for race fans, but it is also part of Monterey Car Week which is filled with classy events like auctions and the famous Pebble Beach Concours d’ Elegance. Another first for Japanese cars was the Japanese Automotive Invitational hosted by Infiniti. This inaugural event displayed landmark Japanese vehicles. While I did not have a chance to visit the JAI, Speedhunters did. We are proud of three cars displayed: Tim Corcoran’s stunning ’64 Datsun 1500, a hakosuka Skyline GT-R from our friends at JDM Legends, and Brian Kippen’s Nissan Patrol:
Epic racing
With 50 Nissan/Datsuns racing this year the starting grid for Group 3B (B-sedan, roadsters), Group 5A (IMSA GTU) and even Group 7B (IMSA GTO) was a fan’s wish come true. Z Car Garage supported 5 race cars, and Rob Fuller would be driving one of them as well. Rob’s operational plan was to assign one technician per race car to ensure that all were ready for each session. It was an orchestral process to watch unfold, and we pulled it off as all 5 cars made it through the Pre-Reunion week and race!
Take a lap with John Morton in the BRE Datsun 240z
For this year’s Reunion, Z Car Garage prepared and supported the #46 BRE Datsun 240z piloted once again by our hero John Morton. Owner Randy Jaffe restored this Z over several years with fanatic attention to detail. The Z was shipped to ZCG from Georgia, needing refreshing from racing earlier this year at The Mitty (Nissan was also the featured marque).
At 76 years of age John Morton is still formidable behind the wheel!
Enjoy this extended video with in-car footage of John dicing it up with Porsche RSRs and BMW CSLs…Long Live The Z!
John finished the race as the fastest Z car in the field! 8th overall out of 52 cars with a best lap time of 1:41.8. The BRE 240z also enjoyed the Monterey scene off the track, taking a trip to the lush greens of the Quail and shop-lined streets of the Carmel Concours. The video below shows the drive to these events and features a bonus interview from Motor Trend with Rob at Z Car Garage:
Filed under: Events
by Forbes @ 2:40 pm on September 14, 2009
Just to remind all of you about the event THIS WEEKEND!!!!
Update: There is a sign up sheet of sorts on MY350Z.com to get a semi-accurate headcount as to who is attending. Again the great folks at ZONC insist that you bring cash with you if you want to have lunch at Poppy Hill (restaurant) and for the gate entry fee for 17 Mile Drive!! See the updated flyer below for all of the info.
ZONC will be hosting the annual Monterey/Pebble Beach Meet and Ride this year on Saturday, September 19th. As usual we will be meeting at MY Nissan in Salinas, CA to gather most of the group before heading into 17 Mile Drive and then to lunch at Poppy Hill in Pebble Beach.
The event itself is free but there is a charge for the lunch if you wish to attend, there is also as $10 fee to drive on 17 Mile Drive itself but this is included if you decide to buy lunch. See the ZONC flyer below for further clarification. This is a really fun drive to make as you see tons of Zs and Gs make their way through some of the nicest beachfront neighborhoods on the west coast.
There will be more info to come in the next week or so as we set up a caravan from Z Car Garage to MY Nissan in Salinas so stay tuned for that.
Make sure you check out the post from last year to see all the photos we took.
Filed under: Events
by Forbes @ 8:07 pm on August 25, 2009
I wanted to post this while the everyone was still jazzed from the turn out at last weekend’s Treasure Island caravan. ZONC will be hosting the annual Monterey/Pebble Beach Meet and Ride this year on Saturday, September 19th. As usual we will be meeting at MY Nissan in Salinas, CA to gather most of the group before heading into 17 Mile Drive and then to lunch at Poppy Hill in Pebble Beach.
The event itself is free to join attend but there is a charge for the lunch if you wish to attend, there is also as $10 fee to drive on 17 Mile Drive itself but this is included if you decide to buy lunch. See the ZONC flyer below for further clarification. This is a really fun drive to make as you see tons of Zs and Gs make their way through some of the nicest beachfront neighborhoods on the west coast.
There will be more info to come in the next week or so as we set up a caravan from Z Car Garage to MY Nissan in Salinas so stay tuned for that.
Make sure you check out the post from last year to see all the photos we took.
Filed under: Events
by Forbes @ 12:43 pm on October 6, 2008
There was a great turn out at the annual Monterey and Pebble Beach Z and Meet. Even though the weather was less than favorable the turnout was very high with 40 to 50 cars showing up for the drive. The meeting point was held at MY Nissan in Salinas, CA. Zs and Gs packed the parking lot with a few other cars mixed in including an NSX, S2000, Pontiac GTO, Mitsubishi EVO, and a 60’s Ford Mustang.
The drive wound it’s way through the hills of Salinas, Monterey, and Carmel and continued onto 17 Mile Drive with the first leg ending at Bird Rock right along the famed Pebble Beach golf course. From there the caravan conituned on to a buffet style lunch at Poppy Hill. If you live in the Northern California are this is the end of the driving year event that should not be missed. Without further delay here are a few pictures that I took of the drive. Hope to see you all next year!!
