Monterey Car Week is pretty intense, almost otherworldly. The days are packed full with extraordinary automotive events that often border on extravagant.
There’s really no shortage of things to do, but with Naveed on patrol this year, I realized I could take it easy. Imagine that…
Rather than killing myself at Laguna Seca, racing over to squeeze in a concours event before heading back to the track, then finding the energy for a late-night meet and so on, I opted to do something I haven’t for a few years: kick back and relax. I say that, but Sara and I still managed nearly 7,000 shots at the Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion and a few other events over the course of two days. We only published about 160; it’s weird how that works.
Film, on the other hand, lends you the opportunity to slow down. Way down. Of 96 total shots taken on three rolls, 89 have found their way into this story.
The lion’s share were indeed taken at Laguna Seca, but as I’ve already posted a preview gallery of my favorite shots and with Naveed already filling us in on the details surrounding the featured marque at the RMMR this year — IMSA — there’s no sense carrying on about what happened there by smashing on my keyboard repeatedly.
Some of us are visual learners, after all.
While the vintage scenes from the track will always inspire me the most, there’s far more to Monterey Car Week. Some of it falls through the cracks, like a random McLaren F1 sighting, running into a little muscle car show, or the scenes at RM Sotheby’s as they stage for another day of auctions — all of which can be seen in the galleries below.
You’ll also notice down below that I ended Car Week in the exact location where I kicked off our coverage: at Impeccable Inc. Here, a number of awe-inspiring projects are under the knife, and it was cool to see the progress on a very special car since my previous visit some months back. The body in red primer – just as it was prepared originally — you’ll see at the end of the gallery, is actually the same car that I finished off that first story with. It didn’t look like much back then, but it’s amazing the difference a year makes.
At any rate, hopefully it’s just that little bit more inspiring to see these vintage behemoths of yesteryear on a vintage medium.
If you’re a long-time film-shooting purist, I’ll be quick to admit that I’ve hopped on the 35mm bandwagon in the past few years, but at the same time it’s nice to see film’s popularity on the rise in this digital world. On that note, it would be cool to see some of your favorite automotive shots that you’ve captured on film in the comments section below, particularly those from events with an old school theme.
Frankly, of the thousands of digital shots from the weekend sitting around on my hard drive, many are probably better than these, and might even tell the whole story a little better. But there’s a sense of character that’s lost along the way.
So, I’ve gathered my shots from those three rolls — Kodak Color Plus 200, Gold 200, and finally some expired Mitsubishi MX-III 100 — and posted them below in chronological order. You can use your imagination for the rest.
Trevor Yale Ryan
Instagram: tyrphoto
Monterey Car Week 2019 on Speedhunters
Friday On Film
