This one’s a doozy, hang on everybody.
In August of 2024, a particular bucket list item of mine was able to be crossed off: I wanted to go to the Mazda Laguna Seca Raceway. Of course driving it would be ideal, but that’s a very tall order. Just getting there is within reach, and I think my biggest takeaway is that despite years of fooling around in simulators, the presence of the famed corkscrew in person is absolutely breathtaking.
But let’s not get ahead of ourselves, because there’s a TON of fantastic stuff about the entire Monterey, California area. We flew in and picked up our rental Mustang, a pretty fitting car for the adventure. Pacific Coast Highway called, and we spent plenty of time just riding up and down the coastline. Beautiful scenery, just the right weather, a fairly fun car (even if it was automatic), it was a fantastic time.
We additionally made a stop at Big Sur. Lots of beautiful scenery (there’s a theme here), very well-kept grounds, and just in general a bundle of the natural beauty that California is known for. But let’s be honest, that’s not why we came.
A huge (additional) draw of doing Laguna Seca during this particular time was the Rolex Reunion. Lots, and I mean lots, of classic racecars doing what they were built to do. And particularly, we were advised that the Pre-Reunion was the time to go, because of less crowding and more time up close to these impressive machines.
Obviously though, we didn’t come this far just to look at parked cars. The Pre-Reunion is sort of a test & tune, so drivers pushing the cars to dial in setups was another focus. I can’t post all the photos and videos I took, but I figure I can post some of them.
I also snapped a photo to remind myself, I love this gentleman’s style. His name is Bill Patterson, and I highly recommend checking out his other work on his website. Personally, I’m planning to have him do a painting of one of our cars, likely the GTI, because it’s my favorite.
Even the hotel we stayed at (the Colton Inn, in Monterey) was noteworthy; a very comfortable, intimate stay and a short walk from some fantastic food options. Don’t tell anyone, but we broke one of Nat’s cardinal rules and went somewhere twice in the same vacation: The Bagel Bakery has a jalapeño cheddar bagel, and I really wanted to repeat the sandwich I had. We also found an uncommon (in our home area) chain in MidiCi, of which I’m a big fan, and decided to hit up as well. And dinner along the bay at Rockfish Harbor Grill was delicious too, and provided some great views.
And of course because of Monterey Car Week, we saw SO MANY rare and cool cars.
Changing gears (pun very intended, I live for this shit), we also wanted to see the Monterey Bay Aquarium, which happens to feature one of my favorite animals: otters.
Seriously, look at this adorable little death machine. They’re cute as fuck, but they’re also very powerful predators, so it’s cool to be able to see them safely up close.
We also went down Cannery Row, had some lunch and did some mild shopping, and just generally enjoyed the beautiful scenery.
This was followed up with a GIANT car meet (they do meets differently out here, there was champagne served by hosts) presented by Porsche Monterey. It was a wild experience with a TON of cars. If I do the gallery here it’s going to take decades to load, so I’ll keep it brief with a couple particular favorites.
It really was the trip of a lifetime. Even if I never make it back, the celebration of motorsports and a shared love of cars, all the sights and sounds, the eats and the meets, it was an experience to behold.
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