Monterey Automobile Week, the greatest assemblage of auto shows, auctions, miscellaneous sales and historic races anywhere on the planet, kicks off today and will run through Sunday. It includes, among other things, the Historic Car Races at Laguna Seca, six auctions; four different concours d’elegance, two automobilia sales, a party at Monterey airport, and various and sundry other attractions, including the world’s priciest used-car lot.

The Laguna Seca races are the 34th since Steve Earle made this form of the sport into a spectator attraction in the U.S., and the Pebble Beach Concours – this is where it all started in 1950 – will be the 57th annual. The Historics have practice Friday, races Saturday and Sunday. The Concours takes place Sunday.

Hotel rooms are scarce if not impossible to find, and prices have gone up, which in this era is practically standard practice at the site of any major sporting event. But even if you have a room, bring more money. Admission tickets to most (but not all) of the concours, parties and auctions will run somewhere north of $1,700 per person, if you can still find a ticket.

There are also events with no admission charge, such as the Blackhawk exposition at Pebble Beach, dubbed the world’s fanciest used-car lot. You can find one as cheap as $150,000, and some with price tags topping $2 million. On a more enthusiast level, the Pebble Beach Tour for concours entries, which departs from the polo field at 8:30 Thursday morning, is one of the world’s great sights if you are a vintage car fan.

Incidental intelligence: Activity actually started last weekend, with the Monterey Prehistorics, Earle’s no-spectator races held to weed out the excess entries and inexperienced drivers before the main event.