Monterey Historic Races 1998

Porsche featured marque

A blue and yellow Ferrari?

A four-cylinder and an ex-four-cylinder

In a Dino through the "Corkscrew"

250 TR double pack

Nice link to the other events

Porsche featured marque

The Monterey Historic Races at Laguna Seca celebrated their 25^th anniversary this year. Between August 14 and 16, 1998 Porsche was the featured marque,

and the large variety of the German sports cars present on the track reached from the first mid-engined 356 to 550 Spyder, 908, 917, 962 and of course to the 1998 Le Mans-winning car. In short, every model ever built was present. Many, many racers from the Porsche history had come to California as well, including some characters also known for a Ferrari pedigree, e.g. Brian Redman, Hans Hermann, Vic Elford and Derek Bell. Somehow surprisingly, Ferrari proved as rarities in the event, but at least some very interesting examples had been brought to Laguna Seca.

A blue and yellow Ferrari?

The oldest Ferrari among the total number of just six was the 375 MM Spider Pinin Farina s/n 0362AM of Chris Cox, who had just bought the car from Japan. When the car had resided in the collection of Yoshiho Matsuda, it had been simply red. Its new owner had it repainted in the livery in which the car had been delivered to its first owner, José Maria Ibanez from Argentina: light blue with a yellow band.

For a Ferrari, this color is of course quite unusual and did for sure cause many stirs during the weekend.

A four-cylinder and an ex-four-cylinder

Jon Shirley had entered a 500 Mondial Spider Scaglietti s/n 0468MD. He had just acquired this car in England, and it is now maintained by the former Formula One driver Pete Lovely of Seattle, Washington. Particularly interesting is the car’s early history: it was sold new in Ethiopia.

 

The highest number of Ferrari could be seen in race 6A: Four examples showed up at the start, but unfortunately Michael Callaham’s 625 TR s/n 0680MDTR was a DNF during the race on Saturday afternoon. His former John von Neumann-car is now fitted with a V12-engine.

In a Dino through the "Corkscrew"

Terry Jones and his Dino 246S Spider Fantuzzi s/n 0778 could not participate in the qualifying, and so the team had to start from the last position on the grid.

In the race, Jones was able to pass almost everybody in the field and it was simply fun to watch him making his way to the top positions, steadily taking the car to the limit. Especially the famous Corkscrew turn saw some spectacular drifts of the former 1960 Ferrari works car.

On May 22, 1960 the car had been nearly destroyed when it caught fire during a pit stop at the Nürburgring. The remains of s/n 0778 were used to create a new car at the Factory which was then sold into the USA.

250 TR double pack

The two remaining Ferrari in race 6A which have not yet bee mentioned were the 250 TRs s/n 0754TR and s/n 0756TR. Their owners David Love and Louis Sellyei, Jr. drove them carefully to position 13 and 14 respectively.

Both of them are regular participants in the Monterey Historic Races. S/n 0754TR was sold new to Jaroslav Juhan from Guatemala. Juhan even entered the car together with François Picard at Le Mans, but without success. The car does probably not like Laguna Seca because it had been badly damaged in a crash in 1960 at the well-known Californian circuit.

Its sister, s/n 0756TR, burned out at Le Mans in 1958 after the driver Bruce Kessler had collided with a Jaguar, killing the latter’s pilot. Having been rebuilt, the Ferrari was sold to Dick Morgensen from Phoenix, Arizona who entered it in countless races, mainly on the East Coast.

 

Nice link to the other events

Verdict of the weekend: The Monterey Historic Races were well worth the trip, especially since it is so easy to combine the visit of the dusty racetrack with trips to the nearby exclusive sites of the Concours Italiano at Carmel or the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elégance which take place traditionally at the same weekend as the Monterey Historic Races.

Gregor Schulz
Translation Andreas Birner