One of the most exclusive events held during the Monterey Peninsula motoring week is The Quail, a Motorsports Gathering. Hosted by the Quail Lodge in the tranquil Carmel Valley, it has a strict limit of just 3,000 tickets. The 'lucky few' who were quick enough to purchase tickets were treated to some spectacular cars as well as fine food and drinks provided by the best local restaurants and vineyards. Among the featured themes this year were 45 Years of the Shelby Mustang and Alfa Romeo Special Coachbuilt. Particularly the Shelby Mustang celebrations attracted some very exciting machinery like Shelby's own Cobra prototype and one of just five open Ford GT(40)s produced. Further highlights included the public debut of the Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Super Sport, several exciting Lolas, a class full of fantastic Ferraris and a breathtaking McLaren F1. At the end of day the entrants picked the class and outright winners. Fittingly there was a special award presented to Carroll Shelby for his fabulously original Cobra 260.
Our reporters were at the Quail Lodge from the crack of dawn until the final cars left the lawn late in the afternoon. Their efforts have been compiled in a detailed report and a 170 shot gallery.

At the recent Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance, the highly coveted 'Best of Show' award was won by this spectacular Delage D8 S de Villars Roadster. It is one of just 99 Delages of this type built, which featured a more powerful engine and lower chassis than the 'standard' D8. The latter is what made the D8 S such a popular choice with the most prominent custom coach-builder. Many of these rare cars were entered in contemporary concours d'elegance with considerable success. Our feature car was described by a French magazine as 'triumphant in any concours d’elegance' in the fall of 1934. That was the result of its highly exclusive coach-work by de Villars in Paris. During the 1950s the all-white car was owned by an luxurious hotel in Madrid, Spain. It then disappeared from the radar for almost half a century. Beautifully restored, it surfaced again at RM Auctions' Monterey sale where it sold for a staggering $3.7 million. Three years later the Delage D8 S de Villars Roadster reaffirmed its 1934 reputation by claiming the 'Best of Show' award at Pebble.
The Pebble winning Delage made its very first public appearance at the Paris show back in 1933. Two of the stars of this year's show will be this Citroen DS4 and Lotus Evora S. The all-new Citroen is the second 'DS' launched, following the much praised DS3 introduced last year. The DS4 is quicker and more luxurious than the standard C4 it is based on. The most potent engine available is a 200 bhp, direct injection 1.6 litre 'four', which comes as standard with a six speed gearbox. It will makes its showroom debut early in 2011. As the name suggests, the Evora S is a more poised version of the highly acclaimed Evora. The Lotus engineers have tweaked the Toyota-sourced engine to produce 350 bhp, instead of the 280 bhp available in the standard model. In Paris, Lotus will also debut an automatic six speed gearbox, which is at the moment is only available on the 280 bhp Evora.

Under a new name but with many of the same ingredients the Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion once again saw hundreds of classic racing cars gather at the Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. Apart from the name change, the event also expanded to a fourth day to give all groups an additional practice session. From well over 750 applications a staggering 600 entries were picked, which were spread over 19 different groups ranging from pre-War Grand Prix machinery to Formula 1 and GTP cars of the 1980s. New for this year were special groups for Bugattis, National Stock Cars and under 2.5 litre Trans-Am cars. Guest of honour this year was American Racing Hero Dan Gurney. As a driver the tall American was highly respected and won numerous races in a wide variety of categories. He went on to produce many successful racing cars under the Eagle name, scoring three Indy 500 victories and dominating sports car racing in the early 1990s. His achievements were celebrated by bringing together a spectacular collection of the cars he drove and built.
Although the Monterey schedule gets busier every year, we managed to find/create enough time to shoot every group at least once on track. Our three days at the track have resulted in this detailed report and a spectacular 260-shot gallery.
If you would like to save all images in our galleries, we invite you to take a look at our premium subscriptions. One of the exclusive features allows you to download all images in one big zip-file.

After previews at the Monterey Motorsports Pre-Reunion and the McCall Jet Center Party, Lotus officially revealed their all-new 125 Exos Cosworth on the Concept Car Lawn of the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance. Like the Ferrari FXX, the Exos is a track-day car only and can not be used in sanctioned races. Unlike the FXX, the new Lotus is a single seater, open wheel machine. Surprisingly, it has been developed by Lotus Engineering and not the Lotus F1 team. The 125 is powered by a 3.5 litre, 650 bhp Cosworth V8 engine. Despite its exotic specification, the Exos does not need a team of mechanics to run; a simple push of the start button will get the car going. The Lotus shared the lawn with the Jaguar XJ75 Platinum Concept. Based on the latest XJL, this one-off was built to celebrate the company's 75th anniversary and also to showcase Jaguar's bespoke program.
At the upcoming Paris Motor Show (Oct 2 - 17), Mercedes-Benz will launch the second generation of the CLS. Introduced in 2003, the original CLS created a new niche segment; the four-door coupe. This latest version combines the unusual bodystyle with Mercedes' latest styling elements. Especially the head and tail lights stand out. An AMG version of the car should be follow shortly. Paris will also feature the Kia Pop Concept. The tiny machine promises zero-emissions and an innovative three-seat layout.
Volkswagen will return to South America in January of 2011 to defend their Dakar rally title and add a third consecutive victory to their tally. As a response to the ever growing competition, the Germans have recently debuted the heavily revised Race Touareg 3. Every aspect of the car has been refined, including the diesel engine, which now produces 310 bhp.

This Sunday over a week of automotive activities on the Monterey Peninsula culminated with the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance. Held for the 60th time, the annual event is the most famous and important of its kind, attracting a fantastic selection of cars every year. The 2010 edition was certainly no exception as it celebrated Alfa Romeo's 100th anniversary, Pierce-Arrow, 75 Years of Jaguar, the 50th anniversary of the Ferrari 250 GT SWB, custom coach-work by Ghia and the Centennial of the Indianapolis 500. Highlights included a line-up of twelve of the sixteen XKSS Jaguars built and a spectacular collection of Indy 500 racers. As always the big question hanging over the 18th fairway of the Pebble Beach Golf Links was; "which car will be crowned 'Best of Show'?" The answer came late in the afternoon and was hard to argue against. The build-up to the Concours had already started on Thursday when nearly 200 of the entrants ventured out on public roads for the traditional Tour d'Elegance on some of the most scenic roads of the country.
For the seventh consecutive year our reporters were at Pebble Beach to capture all the fabulous machinery that cruised down Highway 1 and subsequently lined up along the shore of the Pacific Ocean. This has resulted in a detailed report and two exclusive galleries with a total of 390 shots.
You can expect more features from the Monterey events in the coming weeks, followed by in-depth features on the finest cars present.