The Auto Channel-Sports Car International Magazine

Torrey Pines Weekend

Exceptional automobiles, chamber of commerce weather and the best venue yet for an automotive concours.

A red Ferrari 512 BB/LM covered the 1 ½ mile grade on Highway 101 between Del Mar and the Torrey Pines golf course in 1:12.06. Twenty seconds later, an Alfa Romeo Tipo 33 Stradale crested the hill issuing an 8000 rpm howl. Not a single police car or CHP motorcycle interrupted, as 40 more vehicles flashed over the top of the hill in the next 20 minutes, all totally ignoring the posted 55mph speed limit.

Thanks to San Diego hotelier and automobile enthusiast Bill Evans, a once popular form of motorsport is being revived - hillclimb racing. When Evans breathed new life into the Torrey Pines Concours d'Elegance in 1997, he vowed the event would be more than just another static display of expensive, highly polished, classic automobiles. Reflecting the current trend among a growing number of collectors, vintage racers and other enthusiasts, Evans believes that the automobile truly is in its element only when in motion...and in some cases, "the more motion the better."

Beginning Friday morning, October 16, Evans' 1998 program began to unfold at the posh La Jolla Beach and Tennis Club, the starting point for a 148-mile rally to the Cleveland National Forest. A blue and white-painted Ferrari 340 MM spider was among the mixed assemblage of vehicles that replaced the usual late model Volvos, BMWs, Range Rovers and Jaguars that normally populate this club's parking lot.

A white Bentley S2 LWB sedan arrived, parking close to a 1927 Packard 343 phaeton, that sat next to a minimal Lotus Seven, a right-hand-drive XK120 and a prewar Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 Monza, bearing the prancing horse shield of Scuderia Ferrari and the turtle emblem that was the logo of famous racer Tazio Nuvolari. The rally took the participants to 5500 feet above sea level at Mount Palomar, before returning to Del Mar. The Packard was flagged off first , followed by a Ferrari California spider and a unique, one-off berlinetta that was a highly publicized "barn discovery" a year earlier. A Zagato-bodied Aston Martin DB 4GT and a Porsche 356 Speedster also were among those that participated.

Before the start, all the rallyists were treated to a lavish buffet breakfast overlooking the surf - the first of many gourmet experiences that were to take place over the next three days. Five hours later, another gustatory challenge awaited as the rallyists crossed the finish line at the justly-famed Valencia Resort, where Fangio had been billeted when he visited the area a few years earlier. That evening, "Evans' Garage," actually an elegant 40-car museum, was the site of a cocktail reception that gave the weekend event participants a chance to get acquainted with each other and with the people who made it all possible.

From Surf To Turf

Early Saturday morning, the hillclimb activities began, as huge semi trucks laden with vintage racing vehicles marked off thee turf in an impromptu paddock at Del Mar state beach, just yards away from the gentle surf. The smell of Castrol R soon mingled with the aroma of hot coffee, a sign that the competition was about to get underway.

At mid-morning, a series of practice familiarization runs allowed the drivers to learn the relatively straight-forward, high speed course. Shortly before noon, the timed runs commenced. The objective was to get from the starting line at the bottom of the 1 1/2-mile grade to the finish at the Torrey Pines summit in the shortest possible time. To make the test more challenging, two tight chicanes had been created by strategically positioning hay bales at the 1/3-mile and 2/3-mile marks. This obliged the racers to slow from speeds that for some reached as high at 150 mph to as little as 20 mph, and then accelerate back through the gears to max velocity, twice during each brief run. Some cars made a half dozen or more timed passes.

Particularly interesting were Nick Harley's 27-liter Rolls-Royce Merlin-powered Phantom II cabriolet, a 1909 Stanley Steamer, and several Ferrari competition cars, plus nearly a dozen race-prepared Porsches. Perhaps the most remarkable vehicle to assault the hill was a wickedly fast, six-speed shifter kart.

How Bill Evans persuaded California Governor Pete Wilson to close a two-mile stretch of 101 between Del Mar and La Jolla for racing for half a day is a mystery...but then again, San Diego has a track record of cooperating with racers.

During 1951, after a sports car event was cancelled in Apple Valley, San Diego's city council agreed to allow races on Camp Callan property at Torrey Pines instead. Events were held there from December, 1951 until January, 1956, when a golf course took over the property. And all these years later, San Diego will hold its first downtown street race during 1999.

After the conclusion of the day's hillclimb, a baker's dozen cars from the collection of John Moores, whose San Diego Padres made it into the World Series, were auctioned by Christie's. A total of $1.5 million was raised for the Scripps Research Institute. Had a 14th car, a 1967 Ferrari NART 275GTS, met its $2 million reserve price, that much more would have gone to the worthy institute for childhood and neglected diseases. However, bidding stopped at a respectable $ 1.7 million.

Room To Roam

The featured marque at Sunday's Concours d'Elegance was Alfa Romeo, and a truly splendid array of prewar and postwar examples were displayed. It was a fitting finale for the Torrey Pines weekend - held on the scenic fairways of the fabled golf course. Without equal anywhere in America, this site utilizes at least ten times the space allocated to the top-rank Pebble Beach concours.

Best of Show was awarded to John Mozart's 1937 Alfa Romeo 2900B Touring spider, which a decade earlier had taken the top award at Pebble Beach. Journalists' Choice (for which this correspondent was a judge) went to a most deserving 1932 Alfa Romeo P3 owned by Gregory Whitten of Medina, Washington. In all, nine Alfa Romeo cars won trophies. Other prize winners included a 1931 Duesenberg (Reserve Best of Show), 1927 Cooper-Miller FWD racer, 1933 Rolls-Royce P II Brewster towncar (Most Elegant), 1931 Stutz DV32 LeBaron speedster and an 1898 Goddu (Best Unrestored Antique). Ferrari, Cord, Packard, Bizzarrini and Bugatti were others. Rolls-Royce has been named the 1999 Torrey Pines honoree. It should be an incredible show.

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