The Monterey Car Week 2022

The Monterey Car Week 2022

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As car enthusiasts, we are no strangers to car shows and dramatic race-day displays. If you happen to keep up with international motoring affairs, or even golf, you'd likely be familiar with the city of Monterey. With its beautiful beaches and historic buildings, Monterey then serves as the perfect backdrop for car-gazing. 

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Famous for the Pebble Beach Golf Course and Concours d'Elegance, the city of Monterey is particularly spectacular and has a rather refined sub-culture. However, despite being the battleground for one of the more popular PGA Golf Tour events, Monterey hosts one of the most spectacular motoring events in the world. The Weathertech Raceway is the central hub for the famed Monterey Car Week and provides a week full of classic races and unique motoring displays. Car Week took to the streets of Monterey from the 11th to the 20th of August 2022, as people from all over the world flocked to the city to watch collectors pay homage to motoring's past, present and future.

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Exuberant Auctions

The Monterey Car Week is a diverse array of motoring-inspired events, races, and auctions of impressive and rather exorbitant proportions for those who struggle to understand the heritage that many of these racing masterpieces represent. This year, the Car Week auctions saw cars like the 1955 Ferrari 410 Sport sold for $22 million; a 1937 Bugatti Type 57 Atalante Coupe, which fetched $10.3 mill, and a 1937 Mercedes-Benz 540k Sindelfingen Roadster, which sold for nearly 10 million dollars. Monterey Car Week's auction element now holds the new record of $496 million in sales at an auction. A record which hasn't been broken in seven years. The new record surpassed the previous by $101 million in sales, which were previously held by the Monterey Car Week auction of 2015.

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Le Mans Anniversary

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This year's Car Week had a major focus on what'll be one of motoring's greatest celebrations next year. In June of 2023, the world of endurance racing will celebrate the 100th anniversary of the 24 hours of Le Mans. The 24-hour is an endurance race that's brought us some of the most sought-after road cars and iconic clashes which have been endlessly documented. This led to the creation of films like Ford vs Ferrari. Legends from the endurance race made their way to Monterey to feature in this celebration of motoring. Cars like the original 1955 Ferrari 410 Sport Spider, 2003 Bentley Speed 3 and a 1937 BMW 328 NSKK racer showed off on the streets of Monterey. Along with the vast selection of race cars, the unveiling of the 100th anniversary of the 24 Hours of Le Mans trophy kicked off the excitement leading up to this incredible event next year.

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As you can imagine, where there's racing, expensive cars and prestige, there's a brand which always shows up. Showing off their green and gold brand in an opulent manner, Rolex has been an integral representative at prestigious sporting events all around the world. It's played a role in the Monterey Car Week since 1997, supporting the collaboration of French endurance racing and America's famed motoring tradition by adding to the already high prestige of this event on the Pacific Coast.

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The Concours d'Elegance Involvement

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Now, where there are expensive cars, typically of the old-school persuasion, you can almost bet that the Concours charity has a role to play in the event. Due to the location of the Monterey Car Week, the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance had to get involved in the event. If you aren't familiar with the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance, they are a charitable organisation that hosts the biggest classic car show in the world annually at the Pebble Beach Golf Course in Monterey. Due to their involvement, the most highly sought-after classics in the finest condition rolled through the streets of Monterey over the past week. Showing the world that classics never get old, metaphorically speaking. 

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Naturally, there was also an assortment of prototypes unveiled to the public, with companies like Bugatti showing off their latest and greatest. This year we saw Maserati present the Spyder variant of the MC20. Bugatti announced the Mistral, the last of the Veyron and Chiron bloodlines, and Rolls-Royce displayed their Phantom, which is rolling out with a revised selection of customisation options. 

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Needless to say, Monterey Car Week was a massive hit once again. Filled with historic racing cars laying it down on the race track and luxury manufacturers showing the world what we could expect from them in the coming years, this event was the one to watch. The Car Week has the world looking forward to the 100th anniversary of the 24 Hours of Le Mans and has once again reminded us that maybe a Bugatti Chiron isn't that expensive if you compare it to some of the metal auctioned off this past week. 

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