Velocity Invitational announces new live auction partnership

Plenty of strange and unsavory things can happen when the internet and the real world meet, but there’s a particular kind of magic that can happen as well. That is exactly what Velocity Invitational and Cars & Bids are betting on with a new partnership announced today.

Velocity Invitational — a premier luxury motorsports and lifestyle event — returns to Sonoma Raceway on May 29 through 31, 2026, and this year it is bringing a live on-site auction powered by Cars & Bids, the online enthusiast car auction platform founded by Doug DeMuro. The collaboration offers a curated collection of vehicles displayed at the venue, available for in-person inspection, with bidding open to Cars & Bids members both on-site and from home, with listings starting before the event and concluding before the weekend ends.

The headline lot has already been confirmed, and merely seeing it might be worth the trip by itself. Among the vehicles destined for the auction block is a 1964 Alfa Romeo Giulia TZ of Petersen Automotive Museum fame. Built by Alfa Romeo's performance division, Autodelta, starting in 1963, the TZ1 was produced in a run of just 112 examples. It features a tubular chassis, a wonderfully-shaped aluminum Zagato body with the model's distinctive short tail, a 1.6-liter twin-cam engine, and a five-speed transmission. It is a car that most people have only ever seen in photographs, and Velocity is putting it on the grass at Sonoma, where you can walk up and look at it. More vehicles from the Petersen's collection will be announced on Cars & Bids closer to the event.

For Cars & Bids members who want to sell rather than buy, the process is straightforward. Submit your vehicle for consideration, and if it meets the event's criteria, it gets fast-tracked to a featured auction listing and displayed at the venue. Sellers also receive two General Admission tickets to attend the weekend. Members who simply want to attend without putting a car on the block can access a special discount code as well. Vehicle submissions are open now at viavelocity.com

Velocity Invitational founder Jeff O'Neill put it plainly: "The next generation of enthusiasts have grown up online, yet the emotional connection to cars is still very much physical." That tension — between the digital world where car culture continues to creep further and the physical world where it actually matters — is what this partnership is designed to address. You can follow a car online for months, watch every photo and comment thread, and still not know fully how you feel about the thing until you get close to it, hear it, smell it, and view it from your own perspective, not a photographer’s. 

Velocity Invitational runs May 29 through 31 at Sonoma Raceway. Tickets start at $159 plus taxes and fees, with single-day passes, weekend packages, VIP access, hospitality with wine tastings, and ride-alongs available. Full information and tickets at viavelocity.com.