Words and photos by Matt Willis
While I’m still working on the coverage from last weekend, I figured I’d give everyone a sneak peek of some of the cars. This little gathering happened last Thursday at the Rotary Plaza in Coronado, where some of the drivers/teams and their owners brought out their flagship cars before the race weekend.
Enjoy…
Several old Minis were on the entry roster this year. It’s incredible to see them on the track…you’d think with the tiny tires and small power plant, those things wouldn’t stand a chance…but they stay glued to the tarmac like you wouldn’t believe…
The iconic Porsche 356, one of the company’s first true production cars. It has made appearances in several old 007 and Alfred Hitchcock films.
The Mustang following was also bigger this year…
A few Lotus Type 28s in the mix (aka Ford Cortinas). These were originally made as a simple production sports coupe, but later made its way into rally and road racing.
Another beautiful GT350 Mustang…
Cockpit of a Morgan roadster…
Awesome rollcage on a Datsun 240Z.
Open-wheel “Lola” champ car.
Took this upskirt shot of Lola…he he…
Not much room to move around…
I’ve seen this car a couple times at other events but only looked into it this year. It’s a BMW Isetta in the heritage livery, featuring a 1-cylinder, 13-horsepower engine…
Historic stock cars are one of the race classes. This is the old late 90s-early 00s Dodge Intrepid body, as driven by Bill Elliott. These cars are incredibly loud and can produce around 700 ponies…
…plus it’s got more ductwork than most modern houses…
Another iconic car, the Mercedes 300 SL gullwing…
Race-prepped Triumph roadster…
Shelby Cobra…the paint on this thing was like glass…
This was the main “theme” of Fleet Week this year — 100 years of Naval Aviation.
After seeing all the cars and talking with some of the owners and drivers, I decided to head up to the north end of the island to take some shots of the city while I still had some light.
Grabbed this while heading back over the Coronado bay bridge…
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Found a little outpost off of Highway 101, where I grabbed some shots of the the airliners. San Diego International is known as being one of the most dangerous airport approaches in the world, due to the proximity of the planes to the ground. At times the planes are only ~100 feet or so away from buildings…
Into the sunset…
Back with the main event coverage soon…we’ll get it put together as quickly as possible…
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