Hard to believe that these Porsche RS Spyders are now considered vintage racing entries.

Take a spectacular group of the world’s most beautiful and successful race cars, put them at one of the world’s most scenic tracks and you have the Porsche Rennsport Reunion IV in Monterey. More than 300 Porsche race cars are on display and running on track at the event in the eight vintage racing classes at Mazda Raceway Laguan Seca.

Toyota Returns to Le Mans

Toyota announced Friday that it will return to the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2012 with a gasoline/hybrid LM P1 prototype.

The factory team will be based in Cologne, Germany where the car has been designed, developed, and built at the Toyota Motorsports GmbH High Performance Center. The Center was the home to the former Toyota F1 program.

Testing is expected to begin in late December or early January in advance of the team’s entry at Le Mans.

Were you there? The 14th running of Petit Le Mans drew a stellar international field, a record crowd and perfect weather. The ALMS open paddock, driver autgraph session, and open grid are always fan favorites. The photo above also suggests that there are sports car/endurance racing fans in the U.S. In the South. In football season. Unless, of course, we are all collective figments of each others imaginiations.

Check out ‘The Duel in the Desert’

Pitting drivers from a number of different disciplines in identical cars is always interesting and race fans can see the latest result, the Dodge Viper Celebrity Challenge on Sunday, October 9 at 3:00 pm Eastern time on Versus.

Highlighting the field is a rare appearance behind the wheel by racing legend Roger Penske.

Teamed with Viper factory driver Kuno Wittmer, Penske takes on NASCAR team drivers Kurt Busch, Brad Keselowski and Sam Hornish, plus Robbie Gordon, NHRA pro stock driver Allen Johnson, Hart and Huntington team owner Carey Hart and AMA supercross rider Ivan Tedesco.

They are joined by Formula Drifter and TORC driver Samuel Hubinette, monster trucker Mark Hall, Viper racer and instructor Cindi Lux, Chrysler honcho Ralph Gilles and a batch of Viper Cup series drivers.

The unique event was held earlier this year at Miller Motorsports Park in Tooele, Utah. The event raised $18,000 for various designated charities.