2024 Velocity Invitational Brought Equal Parts Star Power and Horsepower
2024 marked the fifth running of the Velocity Invitational, a distinctly Californian celebration of exquisite speed. The collection of cars lined up under the Napa sunshine was stellar, as was the cadre of racers who queued up to get behind the wheel.
Amongst the glamor and the chrome it was hard to choose favorites, but here are a few that stood out from the crowd.
Big Stars
When it comes to racers, the biggest names were on the roster for Saturday’s hillclimb event, which saw a medley of machines run Sonoma Raceway backward, climbing up the hill in everything from vintage NASCAR stock cars to the latest hypercars. IndyCar legend Tony Kanaan lined up in a McLaren Senna but only managed a tenth-place finish. Fellow former IndyCar racer J.R. Hildebrand did slightly better in his 1998 Pontiac Grand Prix NASCAR, coming in ninth.
Former Formula One pilot Romain Grosjean nearly took the win in a Ford GT Mk IV, the track-only, 800-horsepower version of Ford’s ultimate road car, but he was bested by Scott Speed in Subaru’s Project Midnight.
This raw carbon-fiber machine was purpose-built for time attack runs like this. Making 670 horsepower from a custom-milled, 9,500-rpm, 2.0-liter flat-four, Project Midnight debuted earlier this year at the Goodwood Festival of Speed. It missed out on taking top honors in that hill climb but came back with a vengeance at the Velocity Invitational. Speed not only won Saturday’s hill climb but Sunday’s time attack as well.
That was the fastest and newest Subaru of the weekend, but certainly not the showiest. Subaru also brought out its Family Huckster, the 850-horsepower reinterpretation of a 1983 Subaru GL wagon. Extreme sports legend Travis Pastrana shredded set after set of tires, giving gymkhana-style demo rides to a few lucky passengers up and down the front straight at Sonoma Raceway.
Among those passengers? Tony Kanaan and J.R. Hildebrand.
Big Cars
Though it stayed safely in the pits, Subaru also pulled its 1998 Impreza 22B STI from the museum. With its World Rally Blue paint and gold wheels, it turned even more heads than Project Midnight. Those were just some of the rally-inspired cars on display.
Washington-based rally mecca Dirtfish rolled out a delightful selection of Group B rally cars, including a Peugeot 205, a Lancia Rally 037, and an Audi Sport Quattro S1.
Well-heeled attendees paid big bucks for a ride in those rally icons, but even more well-heeled attendees had the opportunity to get an early look at something special coming up for sale soon. RM Sotheby’s was showing off an unrestored, alloy-bodied 1956 Mercedes-Benz 300SL Gullwing.
The car was ordered new by three-time Le Mans winner Luigi Chinetti and is now part of the Rudi Klein Collection auction later this month. The estimate? $4.5 million on the low end for this car, $6 million on the high end.
Too rich for your blood? Don’t worry. RM was also showing off another Gullwing, this one minus the alloy body and already comprehensively restored. Bid estimates here start at a slightly less eye-watering $1.6 million on the low end.
Those two Mercedes sat not far from a fantastic collection of Jaguar D-Types, celebrating the 70th anniversary of the car. Five of the incredibly rare machines were on display, a significant percentage of the 71 cars Jaguar actually built back in the day.
There were plenty of other Le Mans racers on display, too, including a 1966 Ford GT, which won its class at Sebring in 1967 with Jacky Ickx and Dick Thompson at the wheel. A Flying Lizard Porsche RSR was also present, a car with numerous wins in the American Le Mans Series.
There was also a road-going version of Mercedes’ CLK GTR Le Mans racer, a topless one at that. Mercedes only made six CLK GTR Straßenversion Roadsters, and seeing one sitting in the California sun was a delight.
Formula racing was also well represented, a highlight being a 1967 Lotus 48 Formula 2 machine raced by both Graham Hill and Jim Clark.
That tiny, lovely, green and yellow racer sat next to a Michael Schumacher Formula 1 car, one with a bit of an ignominious history. This 1997 Ferrari F310B was the one Schumacher intentionally drove into the side of Jacques Villeneuve at Jerez, resulting in his disqualification from the championship that year.
There were a few other ultra-rare Ferraris there, including a 599XX. Unveiled in 2009, these special, track-only versions of the road-going 599 GTB made 720 horsepower from a reworked V-12. Ferrari made fewer than 50.
But of all the cars there, a real highlight was a collection of vehicles designed for going more slowly. A series of low riders showed off insane levels of detail and acres of pristine chrome. They were lovely to behold, a weighty counterpoint no less significant than the endless racing machines that dominated the 2024 Velocity proceedings.
