The World's Fastest, Loudest Museum of Vintage Race Cars

BMW 3.0 vs Porsche 911
Aaron Miller/Thrillist
Aaron Miller/Thrillist

There are a handful of meccas in the automotive world that demand pilgrimage of the vehicular faithful, but perhaps none quite like Car Week in Monterey. Many of the world's most treasured rolling idols descend on the town (along with their owners). Show queens gather at Pebble Beach, and there's also a Motorsports Reunion (formerly the Monterey Historics) where the prized race cars of eras past roar to life to do battle once more. Mazda asked if I wanted to join them at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca for this year's Reunion. I'm not saying I jumped at the opportunity, but I did fill an entire camera card with photos. These are the very best.

Ferrari 250 GTO Tour de France
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If time is an illusion, so is any concept of reality -- at least at the Historics. Cars like this $30,000,000 Ferrari 250 GTO simply do not break free of their climate-controlled pedestals in the real world, but they do here.

Glowing race car exhaust
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It's the kind of place where those vaunted wonders can compete against an American kit car from the 1950s, like the Chevy V8-powered Devin SS, whose exhaust you see glowing as it powers up Laguna Seca's front straight.

A vintage race car
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It's a place of juxtapositions, where large men crammed into tiny cars wear modern safety equipment while surrounded by virtually nothing else.

Push starting a vintage race car
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It's also a reminder of the tremendous progress made in the past century. Cars are no longer driven by temperamental engines that might run perfectly fine one minute, and refuse to start the next.

Classic Porsche race car
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For many of the vehicles at Laguna Seca, their beauty lies in their simplicity, not just of engineering, but of livery. In a world before corporate sponsorship, race cars appeared naked, and every inch of sculpted line is on clear display.

Mazda RX-7 Race Car
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At the Historics, you can see and hear the evolution directly in front of you. The newer cars, ever vying to go faster and faster, are infinitely more complex.

Nissan vs BMW Race Cars
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These magnificent icons of motorsports' past actually compete with one another -- their owners walk the walk after talking about how they were built to be driven.

Porsche Speedster Race Car
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The danger to the drivers is real, as soon as you realize they're competing in machinery from the most lethal eras of the sport, with little to no structural protection.

McLaren CanAm racer
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There's nothing quite like the sounds of small race cars powered by large engines.They're cars of tremendous history and astronomical value, sure, but in Monterey, they're more than that.

BMW Art Cars
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They're living, fire-breathing exhibits in the world's greatest, loudest, and fastest museum. There are plenty of photos below. Enjoy. I sure as hell did.

Can Am Racers lined up
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Classic Alfa Romeo Race Car
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McLaren Can Am Racer
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CanAm Race Car
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Porsche 906
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Boss Mustang Race Car
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The Battle of the Jagermeisters
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BMW E21 Race Car
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BMW M1 Procar
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Corvette Race Car
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BMW 2002 Driven by Sam Smith
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Porsche Race Car
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Jaguar XK120 Race Car
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Porsche 356 Race Car
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Mazda 767 and 787 race cars
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Aaron Miller is the Cars editor for Thrillist, and can be found on Twitter and Facebook. Truly, he was in automotive heaven in Monterey.