VELOCITY INVITATIONAL MOTORSPORTS FESTIVAL

Posted on October 21, 2022October 21, 2022 by MartynL

Jim Palam headed to WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca for the VELOCITY INVITATIONAL MOTORSPORTS FESTIVAL with a craving. Discovers he's just one among 15,000 with a 'Need for Speed.' It is like your favorite piece of pie. You will make sacrifices just so you can enjoy it again and again. I had my first Velocity slice a year ago and what a treat to be back to enjoy the VELOCITY INVITATIONAL MOTORSPORTS FESTIVAL again in 2022! For those of you still waiting to take a bite of Velocity I'...

SALOON GROUP: 2022 ROLEX MONTEREY HISTORICS

Posted on February 8, 2022February 8, 2022 by MartynL

Among the many makes and models eligible for the SALOON GROUP: 2022 ROLEX MONTEREY HISTORICS is this ‘67 Alfa Romeo GTA, which Brandon Adrian drove at the 2018 Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion. Visitors to the Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion August 17-20 will see a decidedly European staple rev to life. The historic Saloon (or Touring) car race group is an exciting class that always produces an interesting variety of cars when they race at equally legendary tracks like Silverstone, Spa...

Velocity: Invitational Motorsports Festival

Posted on December 2, 2021December 3, 2021 by MartynL

There are times when even a serious car guy needs a little nudge to get up early and head out in the dark to cover a motorsports event. So, we're happy to report that our Jim Palam saw the light, set his alarm and got the story for us! Here's his coverage of the Velocity: Invitational Motorsports Festival, where legendary cars, drivers and fans soaked up the sun and racing fuel at Laguna Seca! Velocity is a vector quantity that refers to "the rate at which an object changes its position...

MONTEREY 2021: ROLEX MOTORSPORTS REUNION!

Posted on August 24, 2021August 24, 2021 by MartynL

Jim Palam set his GPS and focus on WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, as he headed out into a dense morning fog to capture the action and excitement of Monterey Car Week's largest event – historic car racing at MONTEREY 2021: ROLEX MOTORSPORTS REUNION! I consider myself a good driver but I was unusually nervous heading into a heavy fog shrouding the long, ridgetop South Boundary Road that leads to the admissions checkpoint at Laguna Seca. The unforgiving fog was one thing, but the realiza...

IN DETAIL: FLY LIKE AN EAGLE!

Posted on April 28, 2020April 28, 2020 by MartynL

Both Steve Miller (Band) and Dan Gurney had chart-topping Eagles, but IN DETAIL: FLY LIKE AN EAGLE! zooms in on Dan Gurney’s AAR, the only constructor in the US to design and build winning F1, Indy 500 and sports car Eagles. For our second installment of “In Detail”, we look at a pair of Eagles from the Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance (AICE), up close and personal. These came from All American Racers (AAR), established by Dan Gurney who made many contributions to racing as a driver, owner, c...

MONTEREY MADNESS: IT’S A WRAP!

Posted on September 11, 2019September 13, 2019 by MartynL

CGC’s Jim Palam wraps up Monterey Car Week 2019 with a bevy of weird & wonderful deserts, perfect for savoring the hobby’s preeminent seven-day smorgasbord.

CGC’s Jim Palam wraps up Monterey Car Week 2019 with a bevy of weird & wonderful desserts, perfect for savoring the hobby’s preeminent seven-day smorgasbord. If you’re on a diet, you may want to skip this story. By now, car guys around the globe have consumed a veritable smorgasbord of news stories, video posts and water cooler tales about Monterey Car Week 2019. It’s appropriate that this ballyhooed extravaganza is at its purest construction a seven-day experience; this aligns nicely with a...

HERB ADAMS: GRAY GHOST PONTIAC RIDES AGAIN!

Posted on September 30, 2018 by MartynL

Fans at the annual Pre-Reunion, held a week prior to the annual Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, were given a real treat - the return to active competition of the Gray Ghost. Mike Matune was on the track for CarGuyChronicles. A team of moonlighting Pontiac engineers took Herb Adam’s wife Sandy’s ‘64 Pontiac Tempest and went racing in the 1971 SCCA Trans Am series. It’s back! Power comes from a 303 cubic-inch Pontiac V8 built by LJ Speed & Machine, making a...

JAGUAR XE SV PROJECT 8: FOUR-DOOR SUPERCAR!

Posted on September 14, 2018September 14, 2018 by MartynL

Jaguar’s Supercar-rivaling, supercharged XE SV Project 8 sets new track record to claim title, ‘World’s Fastest Four-Door’. Racer Randy Pobst, aka, The Rocket, lapped the 2.238-mile WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca in the 600 horsepower, 200-mph road-legal sedan in 1minute, 37.54 seconds. It was almost a second faster than the previous production sedan record! The most extreme Jaguar yet produced, XE SV Project 8 is a sedan with genuine Supercar performance. Jaguar Land Rover Special Vehicle Ope...

MONTEREY CAR WEEK 2018: THE PADDOCK!

Posted on September 11, 2018September 12, 2018 by MartynL

The pulsating paddock is the heart of WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca. Its function is to create an adrenaline-rush by pumping fossil-fuel-burning machinery into an 11-turn, 2.238-mile arterial adventure. When functioning properly, factory race teams and privateers are able to “live life” in the way we were all meant to – behind the wheels of rare, expensive, and sometimes dangerous racecars, blogs photojournalist Jim Palam.Exploring the paddock is one of my favorite things to do during Monterey...

CAR GUY NIRVANA: MONTEREY CAR WEEK 2017!

Posted on August 26, 2017 by MartynL

Jim Palam, our man on the West Coast, dug in to deliver a dozen delights from his five-day crusade to capture some of the gusto and glory of Monterey Madness. For the uninitiated it's simply overwhelming: An endless smorgasbord of mighty and majestic machines, fabulous fashion and sensory extravagance. It’s enticingly spread out along the Monterey Peninsula and yours to consume if your pockets are deep and your energy level high. When I wasn't thinking Monterey Car Week is a smorgasbord I was t...