Velocity Invitational is an event that has consistently delivered on having a seriously good time at the racetrack. For the past 2 years, they have thrown this shindig at the famous Laguna Seca Raceway, which is just a stones throw away from Monterey, CA. The event was previously known as the Sonoma Speed Festival, but in 2021, they rebranded to Velocity Invitational, which was the first year I attended. For 2023, the Velocity folk decided to return to Sonoma, which would be a new and very enjoyable experience to me and many of my friends. The track, as we would discover, has a lot of sweeping turns and elevation changes, which made shooting here a fresh experience after being at Laguna Seca for the Rolex Reunion as well as Rennsport, as well as being at Laguna for the Velocity events of years prior.
The journey North with my good friend Noah started on Friday, November 10th at 3 PM and ended at 11:45 PM, passing through 2 major cities and the ever expansive Central California valley, reeking of freshly sprayed manure. We did miss the first day due to some scheduling conflict, but some other friends were up there and they assured us we were about to have a hell of a time. Our AirBNB was situated in the Bell Marin Keys, on the North end of the San Francisco bay, just a10 minute drive from the track. With that in mind, we planned for a mellow morning, and hit the hay.
DAY 1: EXPECTATIONS EXCEEDED
The first 5 minutes I spent at Velocity Invitational 2023 were a phenomenal start to the weekend. It was a case of being in an area where no matter what direction you turn your head, you would be able to see some sort of legendary vehicle. As an example, on the way to the pre-grid area, me and our band of photographers walked past 3 Mclaren F1 roadcars, a small fleet of late 60's Can-Am cars, a vast assortment of Ferrari 250's, and a Sauber Mercedes C9, and these cars were all slotted to drive on track over the course of the weekend. There were also a solid amount of epic cars that did not move throughout the weekend, such as the Porsche 911 GT1 or the 917K, and even a road legalized F1 GTR Longtail. Immediately following this brief paddock tour, it was time for the first session.
The first session was what I would consider a baptism by fire for what to expect over the course of the weekend. While it was an exhibition group, meaning the cars wouldn't truly be at full chat, it was a treat to see all of these cars out on track. Cars like the Sauber C9, a Pagani Zonda Revolucion and a random Porsche 962 in GTP spec, which only drove in this group. Additionally, we would stay to watch the following session, being qualifying for Group 2, which had a Ferrari 250 GTO and a great assortment of Porsche 356's.
A small hike from that spot, through 2 tunnels that cross under the track, takes you to an awesome spot in the grandstands across from the pit lane, overlooking turns 8 and 9, which was a stellar photo and spectating spot, where you get to see the cars carry great speed through some sweeping curves. Our group would stay here for the 70's Formula 1 session as well as the following session, being 70's Trans-Am. It was also very enjoyable to hear the variety of noises, from the buzzing wails stirred up by the field nearly completely full of tiny Cosworth DF V8 engines (and one very lovely V12), compared to the thundering roars bellowed out by the Trans-Am cars with their much larger V8's.
We then would voyage back through the two tunnels we passed through to get to the sweeping turns, our group of photographers decided it was time for some paddock tomfoolery. We got to watch the 70's-80's IMSA GTO and GTU cars roll onto track, and additionally we spent some time with the lovely Sauber C9, which is THE very car that got me hooked on oldschool racing many years ago. It goes without saying it was a dream come true, to spend some quality time with a legendary car of a very high caliber.
After experiencing my own personal automotive nirvana, our band of goons would split up temporarily, as to get some photos from some different spots. A few of us stayed together though, and eventually we would discover a phenomenal spot to shoot from for the next few sessions. It was remarkably close to the cars for a non-media spot, and had a great view of turn 10, which leads to a small straighaway that then leads into a hairpin turn, making it a great spot for some fly-by action. The first group we got to see run from this spot was the Can-Am cars, of which the epic Flat-12 powered Porsche 917PA of Revs Institute was flying ahead of everyone else in their V8 powered Mclaren's and Lola's.
After the Can-Am group, we got to see a small morsel of the treats that Mclaren corporate brought out. They showed up in force for this year's event, as it was their 60th birthday, and it was all a sight to behold. My personal favorites from the bunch was a pair of MP4/2 Formula 1 cars from 1984-86. I first encountered the Porsche-TAG powered beast at last year's Velocity Invitational, where there was one MP4/2 present, and it was being driven hard by Mika Hakkinen in anger. Needless to say, it was a real treat to see 2 of those on track at the same time, one of which was being driven hard by current Mclaren Formula 1 driver Lando Norris, who was not holding back. In the photos below, you will notice one of the cars has additional winglets that branch off of the main wing, as this was an effort at the time to skirt the parameters in place for the maximum size the rear spoiler. Many other teams would do this at the time, leading to some truly radical wing designs. The MP4/2 was a very successful chassis, winning almost half the races it entered, piloted by legendary drivers of the time like Keke Rosberg, Alain Prost and even Niki Lauda, and winning 2 constructors championships in 1984 and 1985.
That was not all, however. This session was my introduction to what was certainly the crowd favorite car, and with good reason. The legendary 1991 championship winner, the MP4/6, driven in period by none other than Aryton Senna. The noise this car makes is what sets it apart from this field of cars, as well as the cars of the time, a tone that sounds much more metallic in a way compared to the other cars present. While on the topic of the other F1 cars in attendance, this session also had Lewis Hamilton's first championship winning car, the MP4/23, which claimed its title in 2008. That was probably the most absurd car from an engineering standpoint, as it's tiny V8 revs out to a hair over 19,000 RPM.
Further into the evening, I got my first dose of the group running GT3 level cars, which brought out some of my favorites throughout the whole weekend. Out of the entire group, my favorite cars to see were, in no particular order as they were all awesome, the Ford GTLM, the Saleen S7R and the Porsche 996 RSR. The GTLM makes such a unique noise off throttle to keep the turbo's spooled up for maximum throttle response, followed by the ECU cutting power for traction control which really makes it sound like a spaceship. The S7R emits a heart pounding V8 roar which is hard to not love, and the 996 RSR is probably overall my favorite sounding Porsche race car. It has a lovely, deep tone that you need to hear in person to understand, in contrast to the relatively absurd noise that comes from the newer 991 RSR which I saw a few months prior at Rennsport Reunion.
Into the night, the Velocity crew would gather a handful of cars for their annual group photo, and as I did not have media, I would not have access to the pits where this photoshoot was taking place. However, I got to watch the cars roll down into the pits which made for some pretty solid photos in my opinion. Follow that up with some more shooting around the paddock, and the Sprint car demo races, and it was a wrap on a very lovely first day at Sonoma raceway.
DAY 2: EXPLORING SONOMA RACEWAY & SOAKING UP THE VIBES
A mellow morning led to a similar arrival time at the track as the day prior. Having seen what we needed to see in the paddock the day before, another band of photographers and friends would assemble on the wall over by turn 10 once again for a morning of epic shooting. This time, the first session out was a race for group 4, which had 2 of my favorite cars from the whole weekend, being a pair of Ferrari 250LM's. The LM is by far my favorite variant of the 250 platform, and it was a real treat to see these cars doing 4 wheel slides through turn 10 alongside some epic cars like a handful of Shelby Cobra's and a Lotus 26R, all of which were being properly manhandled, as all track cars should be.
Continuing with the shooting at turn 10, one of my personal favorite cars of the weekend was this drop-dead gorgeous 1957 Corvette, running in the next session, being the race for Group 2, a field of cars which I photographed the day prior at the spot overlooking turn 1 and 2. Where I did not photograph this car the day before, I got to get some shots of it in a spot that could be argued to be one of the best spots to shoot at on the whole track. Plus, I got to get some more photos of the lone 250 GTO of the weekend, a car which with every chance I get to see one, I fall more in love with it.
After that, it was tinnitus time. Admittedly, I was just watching the track for most of both these following sessions, but I still got some photos. Mclaren was slotted for another Formula 1 demo, and this time they brought one of the turbo MP4/2's, as well as the ferocious sounding V10 powered MP4/14, which was piloted by Mika Hakkinen for a championship win in 1999. It was, for a lot of my friends, their first time getting to hear a V10 screamer Formula 1 car, and it was one of the greatest joys of the whole weekend to see their reactions to the sound of what is argued to be the golden age of Formula 1. It is truly a noise that you cannot grow tired of, and it always has me feeling nostalgic for an era of racing that I wish I got to witness in the flesh.
After the Mclaren demo group, the schedule would shift back to the races, this time for the 70's Trans-Am group. I captured them both at turn 10, and also by the wall where the cars on track would return to the paddock after their session ended. These cars are always a blast to watch, as the racing is always tight, although I would reccommend ear plugs as they are consistently the loudest cars at the trackv at basically every historic racing event.
After that, our band of photogs finally migrated away from turn 10 for the rest of the event, and voyaged over to turn 2 to catch cars cresting the hill at the apex of the corner. There, alongside most of the other spots we would visit, was another epic spot to shoot from. Whereas the first session of the weekend with the Sauber and the Zonda was photographed from the inside of the track, this time we switched to the outside portion, which provides a very different perspective. The next few run groups were sensational as well, from a huge Mclaren parade to Race Group 6 to the Hypercar laps.
Plenty of eye candy was seen and photographed, from the Mclaren F1 to the Greenwood Corvette, to the flame-chucking 935 to the Zonda Revolucion. After this, me and my band of friends decided to move to turn 7 on the far side of the track. We would go by car, because walking there would have been inneficient as we would have surely missed the next group out, being the Can-Am cars, as well as what followed. Turn 7 has a truly awesome view of the track, as you can catch the cars both coming into the corner for a fantastic wide shot, as well as the cars flying out of the corner, heading towards the sweeping curves of turns 8 and 9. We did only make it over there at the tail end of the session, but it was worth it for what followed.
Up next was another session of Mclaren Formula 1. It was also an awesome spot to watch and hear the cars as they shot down the road towards turn 8. Car wise, for this session we got to see the MP4/6 run again, as well as the MP4/23 and the Turbo car, as well as the M26-2 which is seen behind the Turbo car in the first shot.
And to cap off the track action for the weekend, we got some golden hour shooting time with the GT3 car group, and I believe got some of my favorite photos throughout the whole event during this session. This was a real treat, as I grew up playing with a good handful of these cars on games like Forza Motorsport 3 and 4, I can safely say my inner child was thrilled.
As the sun set, the cars were getting packed up and loaded out for the end of the event. It's always a bittersweet sight, but it always makes for some great photo-ops. Everything from the cars that didn't run to the race winners were packed into a super tight space behind the back side of the paddock and the hill which the sun would set behind. Coupling that with a bit more shooting around in the paddock area with the cars that remained, and we would call it a day and hit the road.
CONCLUDING THOUGHTS
If I had to put into a few words how I felt during the duration of Velocity Invitational 2023, I would have to say, "The best kind of absurd". I remember years ago looking at photos posted by the big Euro photographers at events with some god-level cars, thinking I would only be able to attend something of that caliber if I had a passport and an overabundance of cash to blow on a Euro trip. But, thanks to Velocity, I can safely say that is not the case. All this happened in the state of California, and it brought in both cars and people from all over the world. I will certainly be planning on attending the next Velocity Invitational, and if you read this far, I hope you do too.