I spent a day at the Sonoma Raceway; my expertise in cars runs about as deep as playing Gran Tourismo and Forza Motorsports many years ago will get you. The cultural experience, the different scene in the pits, and all the forms and colors of the cars, the race track itself and its infrastructure made for a very interesting day. I’d do it again, for sure, just to see things that are totally out of my norm.

A flock of sheep grazing a golden hillside behind a chain-link fence, a hospitality building on the ridge above. Vintage open-wheel cars rounding a distant track turn below trackside Las Vegas, Sunoco and Toyota banners. A red brass-era open-wheel racer on the track, the driver in white, dry golden hills behind. An orange two-seat vintage racer, number 15, carrying a driver and passenger past a tire wall. A red-and-white Ford GT race car cornering on an otherwise empty stretch of track. A pack of GT cars mid-corner, a yellow Corvette and blue Ford GT leading Porsches, a Camaro and an Audi. A gold-and-black Hertz-liveried Porsche 911, number 11, leaning through a corner. A blue-and-red prototype racer on the track, passing a tire-lined barrier on the hillside. The nose of a red-and-white Ford GT, number 67, on display in the paddock among other GT cars and spectators. A black vintage race coupe with a red front air dam, number 49, parked in the paddock beside a number 48 car. Close-up of a supercar's flank in colour-shifting purple-green paint, with a gold wheel and mesh side intakes. Head-on view of a navy-and-pink 'ENGAGE'-liveried electric hypercar displayed on the grass, spectators behind. A purple Wynn's-liveried Porsche prototype, number 10, parked on a checkered paddock, dry hills behind. The rear of an orange-and-green Mazda 'Charge' Le Mans prototype on a painted paddock floor, a Ferrari F40 beyond. Spectators at picnic tables on a shaded patio as a car streaks past behind the catch fence. A teal-and-gold Porsche, number 14, cornering above a tire barrier, a spectator under an umbrella in the foreground. An orange-and-black Porsche 911 cup car, number 209, turning in below stacked tire barriers on the hillside. A white, yellow and black 'See See' Porsche Cayman, number 75, mid-corner. A blue-and-red car on a far stretch of track below empty grandstand terraces on the dry hillside. A blue-and-red Porsche GT car on the track beneath the Velocity banner tower, vineyards on the hills beyond. A blue Ford GT leading a second through a sweeping turn, Las Vegas and Sunoco banners behind. A vintage blue Ford GT40 trailed by a blue coupe along a downhill section of track. A pack of 1960s sports-racers rounding a turn, a dark-blue car and a red car leading, trackside banners behind. A field of vintage sports cars strung down a curving descent, Cobras, coupes and roadsters among them. A blue Corvette Sting Ray roadster, number 13, leading an orange sports-racer, number 70, through a turn. A powder-blue and orange Gulf Mirage prototype, number 5, cornering. A red vintage sports-racing coupe, number 23, on the track in low sun. A blue vintage GT coupe, number 32, turning through a corner. A red vintage coupe with a white stripe, number 35, cornering. A wide view of the circuit, a blue and a red car descending toward a turn, the Velocity tower, vineyards and empty grandstands behind. Empty concrete grandstand terraces with a scattering of spectators in the sun. A man in white riding a light-blue vintage Vespa scooter past a fence, a microphone strapped to a wooden crate on the back.

jg

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