[h=2]REUNION: BMW, Can-Am, Trans-Am celebrated[/h] Friday, 19 August 2016


RACER Staff / Images by LAT
Above: Mario Andretti pilots the 1976 Lotus 77 at the Dutch Grand Prix.


Three milestone motorsport anniversaries will highlight this year's Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion from now until Sunday at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca: the 100th anniversary of BMW and the 50th anniversaries of Can-Am and Trans-Am.
There were more than 900 entry requests submitted for the 550-car grid, which celebrates the best from pre-war to the 1980s.
The featured marque celebration will mark BMW's illustrious racing history and 100th anniversary of its founding with 64 BMW entries, from a 1937 BMW 328 to a 2001 BMW M3 GTR, accepted into one of the 15 corresponding race groups. It's the largest BMW celebration this year outside of Munich. BMW of North America President and CEO Ludwig Willisch will get behind the wheel of the 12 Hours of Sebring-winning 1975 BMW 3.0 CSL that was originally driven by Brian Redman, Sam Posey, Hans-Joachim Stuck and Allan Moffat.
BMW Motorrad will also showcase motorcycles from its history, from its first – a 1923 R32 – to the latest S1000 RR, as well as one of the most beautiful bikes ever produced, the 1937 R7 prototype.
A thundering herd of 36 historic Trans-Am cars, which were coined Pony cars after the original Mustang, will assemble to celebrate the Trans-Am races that first began in 1966 and featured near showroom-looking Mustangs, Camaros, Barracudas, Firebirds, Challengers, Cougars and Javelins.
And the Can-Am Series will celebrate its 50th anniversary by taking to the track through Saturday, with two separate grids of historic cars that competed in the series. In one group will be USRRC and Can-Am cars that raced from 1963-68; the second group features those who raced from 1968-74.