The Monterey Car Week Schedule: The Whole Week, Day by Day

Monterey Car Week is the same shape every year. It is anchored to the Pebble Beach Concours on the Sunday, the Reunion runs the days before it, Werks Reunion and The Quail collide on the Friday, and the Pre-Reunion opens things a weekend early. Below is the whole week laid out day by day, with what each day is actually worth to a Porsche owner — because the good Porsche days are rarely the famous ones.

The short version

If you can only take two days off: the Friday and the Saturday. Friday is Werks Reunion — the all-Porsche day — plus The Quail. Saturday is Reunion race day at Laguna Seca. Sunday's Pebble Beach Concours is the week's most famous event and, for Porsche specifically, often its thinnest — in 2026 it had no Porsche class at all.

Day by day

The weekend before: Pre-Reunion & Corkscrew Hillclimb (2026: August 8–9)

WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, Salinas. The same cars and the same circuit as the main Reunion, a weekend earlier, with a fraction of the crowd. Entrants treat it as a shakedown, so there is more track time and far easier paddock access than you will get on race day. If your priority is getting close to the cars rather than watching a full race programme, this is the better of the two weekends — and it is the week's most underrated day.

Full Laguna Seca guide →

Monday–Tuesday: the quiet start (2026: August 10–11)

No marquee events. This is arrival, settling in, and the informal end of the week — hotel lots and coffee stops on the Peninsula fill with cars that are here for later in the week. If you are driving up from Los Angeles or the Bay Area, these are the days to do it; Highway 1 and 68 get materially worse from Wednesday.

Coming from the north, these are also the days the NorCoast Rally scout run is on the road — Ashland on the 10th, the Northern California coast that night, San Francisco the 11th, Santa Cruz the 12th, onto the Peninsula as the week opens.

Wednesday–Friday: Reunion practice and qualifying (2026: August 12–14)

The Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion main event runs Wednesday to Sunday (2026: August 12–15). Wednesday through Friday are practice and qualifying — cheaper, quieter, and the paddock is still approachable. The theme changes annually and Porsche is rarely the featured marque — 2026's was Salute to Japanese Motorsports. What matters instead is the run-group list, which is where Porsche usually shows up. In 2026 the Peter Gregg Trophy covers 1973–1981 IMSA GT machinery, the era Gregg defined in Brumos 911 RSRs, 934s and 935s, and a dedicated Hurley Haywood GTP/Group C group marks the 45th anniversary of IMSA GTP — the 956 and 962 era.

Friday: the collision (2026: August 14)

Three things happen at once, and this is the day that needs planning.

• PCA Werks Reunion Monterey — Monterey Pines Golf Course, 1250 Garden Road. The only gathering all week where Porsche is the entire point rather than a sponsor, and it has run at the same venue on the same Friday for years. Spectator entry is free; parking was $40, cash only in 2026, with no ATMs on site.
• The Quail, A Motorsports Gathering — Quail Lodge, Carmel-by-the-Sea, 9:00 am – 4:00 pm. Porsche was a Sapphire-tier sponsor in 2026, so there was an official presence, but none of the celebrated classes was Porsche. Check the current year's class list before paying for it.
• Reunion qualifying at Laguna Seca, 20 minutes from both.

Doing all three is possible but not enjoyable. The honest advice: if you own a Porsche, Werks in the morning and Laguna Seca in the afternoon is the better Friday. The Quail is worth its price if you specifically want to see debuts, and it is the one event that sells out well in advance.

Werks Reunion guide → · The Quail guide →

Saturday: Reunion race day (2026: August 15)

The best Porsche-watching day of the week. Thirteen race groups run in anger, including the two Porsche-heavy ones above. It is also the cheapest marquee day per hour of actual content, and general admission gets you paddock access that a Pebble Beach ticket does not.

Sunday: Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance (2026: August 16 · 2027: August 15)

The show field opens to ticketed spectators at 5:30 am, judging runs from 8:00 am, and the awards ceremony is 1:30–5:00 pm. Those hours hold year to year; the featured classes do not, and they are what decides whether the day is worth it to you. In 2026 — the 75th Concours — they were Ferrari with a Chinetti/NART focus, Carrozzeria Alfredo Vignale, Pre-WWI American Speedsters, Classic Streamliners, Pebble Beach Road Racing Greats, and Japanese Motorsports at Le Mans. There is no Porsche class, and Porsche appears only in passing inside the Japanese-at-Le-Mans context. Individual Porsches still turn up in the open postwar and sports-racing classes, but do not go expecting a Porsche showcase.

Tickets are tiered and rise as the week approaches: in 2026 general admission was $550 through July 31 and $650 from August 1. Expect the same shape and higher numbers each year — check the official store before you plan around it.

Pebble Beach guide →

If you only have one day

• You own a Porsche and want to be around them: Friday, at Werks.
• You want to see Porsches driven hard: Saturday, at Laguna Seca.
• You want the cars to yourself: Saturday or Sunday the weekend before, at the Pre-Reunion.
• You want the spectacle regardless of marque: Sunday, at Pebble Beach — after checking that year's featured classes.

Practical notes

• Traffic compounds from Wednesday. Highway 68 between Monterey and Salinas is the chokepoint for anything at Laguna Seca; leave far earlier than the map suggests.
• Cash for Werks parking. $40, no ATMs on site.
• Lodging on the Peninsula books 9–12 months out and roughly doubles in price for the week. Salinas and Seaside are the usual fallbacks — see the lodging strategy guide.
• Re-verify times and prices against the official pages below before you commit. Everything here was checked against primary sources, but Car Week details move.

Official sources

• Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion — WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca
• PCA Werks Reunion Monterey
• The Quail, A Motorsports Gathering
• Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance

Every event above is in the directory with dates and venues — see the full Monterey Car Week 2026 listing. If you are shopping for something to mark the trip, Mustard Motorsports makes leather accessories worth a look for the occasion.