2026 was our first ever Monterey Car Week, and the original plan was to do it in something properly R44: our BMW E30 M3. Unfortunately, the E30 wasn't finished in time. Luckily, Ravi from CSF Radiators stepped in and saved the day, handing us the keys to his 2015 Individual Imola Red BMW F10 M5 for the trip.
We've featured this car on the R44 blog before and it's far from standard. With a modified S63 V8 making around 700HP, upgraded cooling, intake, exhaust, suspension, carbon ceramic brakes and plenty more, it wasn't exactly a bad replacement for the E30. You can read the full feature and specification of Ravi's F10 M5 here.
With Ravi alongside us in his Audi RS6, we left Orange County at 5am on Wednesday morning and headed north.
Orange County To Monterey In A 700HP F10 M5
We left at 5am on Wednesday to try and beat the traffic, with our first stop coming in Santa Barbara at around 7am for coffee. From there, we continued north towards Solvang. For anyone who hasn't been, Solvang is basically a little Danish town in California, making it a pretty cool place to stop, grab another coffee and get some photos of the cars before carrying on towards Monterey.
The journey also gave us plenty of time behind the wheel of Ravi's F10. For a modified M5 making around 700HP, it was genuinely brilliant for the drive. The F10 has always been a great long-distance car and Ravi's build hasn't taken that away from it. It could get loud at times, but having the FI Exhaust valve controller made a huge difference over a journey like this.
After a morning of driving, we eventually arrived in Monterey ready for our first Car Week.
Wednesday: Motorlux
Our first event was Motorlux on Wednesday evening. We don't actually have any photos from this one, as we'd spent most of the day travelling up from Orange County and decided to just enjoy the evening rather than document everything.
From Thursday onwards, however, the cameras were very much back out.
Thursday: Legends Of The Autobahn
Thursday was Legends of the Autobahn, probably the most relevant event of the entire week for us. BMW, Audi and Mercedes-Benz were all represented, so naturally we took both Ravi's RS6 and the F10 along. The RS6 was being judged while the M5 spent the day parked up with the BMW guys.
For our first Monterey Car Week, Legends was a great event to attend and obviously a natural fit for R44. We're surrounded by BMWs every day back in the UK, so it was great to come over to California and experience another side of the BMW scene in the US. It also gave us another excuse to get plenty of photos of Ravi's Imola Red F10.
Friday: Werks Reunion
Friday afternoon we headed to Werks Reunion. This one was very different to Legends, being entirely focused around Porsche. We only spent a few hours there, but it was seriously cool, with loads of high-quality Porsche builds covering different generations and styles and a really good atmosphere throughout the event.
It was also free to attend, which made it even better. We're obviously very BMW-focused at R44, but Monterey Car Week is the perfect excuse to go and look at completely different cars for a few days, and there was definitely plenty to look at here.
Saturday: HRE Cars & Coffee In Carmel
Saturday was our busiest day of the week, starting bright and early at the HRE Cars & Coffee event in Carmel. By this point, we'd already been around Monterey for a few days, but the number and quality of cars you see throughout Car Week still takes some getting used to.
HRE Cars & Coffee was another chance to see a huge variety of cars before moving onto our next event of the day.
Concorso Italiano
From HRE, we headed over to Concorso Italiano. The easiest comparison would probably be Werks Reunion, except focused around Italian cars.
And clearly with a slightly higher budget...
As you'd expect, Ferrari was a major part of the event, with an incredible selection of Italian cars all in one place. Again, it was completely different to what we'd seen at Legends and Werks Reunion. That's probably one of the best things about Monterey Car Week: within a couple of days, you can go from BMW, Audi and Mercedes to Porsche and then straight into an event filled with Ferraris.
After Concorso, we headed to what ended up being our favourite part of the whole trip.
Our First Time At Laguna Seca
Saturday afternoon meant Laguna Seca. It was our first time visiting the circuit and, for us, this was probably the highlight of Monterey Car Week. It's one of those places we've seen countless times over the years, so finally getting to experience it in person was pretty special.
The calibre of cars, the circuit itself and the whole location were incredible. Sitting there in the California sunshine watching everything going on around the track was one of those moments that made the trip. Out of everything we did during our first Monterey Car Week, Laguna Seca was probably the standout.
What We Thought Of Our First Monterey Car Week
Going into the trip, we obviously knew Monterey Car Week was going to be big. Actually experiencing it is slightly different. Over just a few days we went from Motorlux to Legends of the Autobahn, Werks Reunion, HRE Cars & Coffee, Concorso Italiano and Laguna Seca, with every event offering something completely different.
For our first time, we really enjoyed it and would 100% go back. There was, however, one fairly major downside.
The Traffic
The traffic during Monterey Car Week is pretty brutal. At certain points it could take us 30 minutes to an hour just to travel five miles, which is definitely something worth knowing if you're planning your first visit.
Events can look relatively close together, but actually getting between them during Car Week can take far longer than you'd expect. Our early starts definitely helped, and we'd need one more before heading home.
Sunday: Back To Orange County
Sunday started exactly how Wednesday had: 5am. We wanted to beat the traffic again, so we left Monterey early and headed straight back down to Orange County.
After several days at Monterey and plenty of miles in between, the F10 had done its job perfectly. When Ravi offered us a modified 700HP M5 for the trip, we obviously weren't going to say no, but spending this much time with it reminded us just how good the F10 M5 can be. It's powerful, comfortable and, in Ravi's case, very well modified.
We'd happily drive it back to Monterey.
Would We Do Monterey Car Week Again?
Absolutely. For our first Monterey Car Week, we managed to pack a huge amount into just a few days. Legends of the Autobahn was probably the most R44 event of the week, Werks Reunion and Concorso Italiano gave us something completely different and our first visit to Laguna Seca was probably the highlight of the whole trip.
Ravi's F10 also turned out to be the perfect car for getting us there, but there's still some unfinished business. The original plan was to take our E30 M3 and it didn't quite happen this time.
So when R44 returns to Monterey Car Week, we'd like to do it in something properly R44.
Built by us.
Maybe the E30 will finally make it next time.
