The Top Five Vintage Car Events Everyone Should Attend

Photography by Afshin Behnia, Otis Blank and David Marvier for Petrolicious

Earlier this week, we asked you to dream: without the worries of budgets and distance, which classic car event would you attend? After reading your fantasies and indulging in a bit of daydreaming of our own, we compiled the following list of the top five affairs for the vintage car enthusiast. You’ll note that our entries share the common theme of featuring vintage cars in action. We seldom pass up the chance to attend a concours event and luxuriate in the spectacle, but let’s be honest: what we all really want to see is a classic Ferrari hooking its rear end through a curve, preferably while racing an old Porsche. So get ready for noise and the smell of oil and rubber…

#5 Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion–As we mentioned on Monday, this is “car week” in Monterey and Pebble Beach, Calif. The coming weekend is chockablock with activities and events for the vintage car enthusiast, but if there’s one event we anticipate more than any other, it’s the historics races at the famed Mazda Laguna Seca Raceway.

#4 The Colorado Grand–The United States features a number of rally events that traverse stunning landscapes–Going to the Sun, the Copperstate 1000, and the Targa California come to mind–but this event, patterned after the Mille Miglia, has the strongest hold on our imagination. Perhaps it’s the idea of hearing the 12-cylinder of a 1959 Ferrari 59/60 scream through a red rock canyon, all the while knowing that this is the car in which Phil Hill set the fastest lap at Nurburgring in 1960, or perhaps it’s the knowledge that the event raises millions in charitable dollars annually for the communities through which it passes. Either way, we’ve got our hearts set on a ride through the Rockies.

Photography by Afshin Behnia, Otis Blank and David Marvier for Petrolicious

#3 Bonneville Speed Week–While not strictly a vintage car event, Speed Week makes the list for its participants sheer audacity in pushing the boundaries of automotive engineering–which they often do in a vintage car. The community that gathers at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah is also notable for its camaraderie and for its shared sense of one purpose and one purpose only: going faster than nature ever intended a human to go.

#2 The Mille Miglia–In 1927, a few wealthy young Italians–including a count–got together and drew up a 1000-mile open-road endurance race from Brescia to Rome and back. The race continued through 1957, when it was banned after a pair of fatal crashes. In 1977, however, the event was reborn as a a rally for vintage cars, in this case limited to pre-1957 vehicles that either participated in or attended original Mille Miglia races.

Photography by Afshin Behnia, Otis Blank and David Marvier for Petrolicious

and, finally… #1 The Goodwood Revival–Since 1968, this has been the Holy Land of vintage racing. Every September, crowds of spectators dressed in period garb descend on the historic Goodwood Circuit to watch racing legends like Sir Stirling Moss and Messrs. Bobby Rahal and Pete Brock go head-to-head in a race featuring the world’s rarest vintage cars. Meanwhile, overhead, vintage planes streak across the sky.

Image Sources: Life Magazine