Lime Rock Vintage Festival

[cdh]

Who's going?

Event Info Here

Event Schedule Here (pdf)

There will be about 1000 MINIs there on Monday 9/4, this is the last stop on the MINIs Take the States X-Country Tour. You can find me in the corral, I'll be in the blue MINI with the white roof

Seriously, if anyone wants to meet we should set a time and place. I should get there around 10:00, Monday only, see ya there...

.

[MHP]

I'll see you there.

[WatertownNewbie]

Wandered up to LRP today (and saw DalyDuo while I was there). If for no other reason, everyone who can make it there on Monday should go to see the Trans-Am group. Some serious engine noise (and the weather is supposed to be much better on Monday than tomorrow). Whoever is driving the #77 lime green car is a real pleasure to watch through the Turn 2-to-Turn 4 section, and the laps were in the 1:02 range, which is not bad for a pretty heavy car. Practice for that group on Monday is perhaps 10:30-ish, and the 15-lap race is scheduled for 3:20 pm. And it's fun to watch all the other cars too, roam around the paddocks, and just be in the midst of racecars.

[OLDMAN]

Ted:
I'll be at the outside of turn 1. I'll be right behind the telephone pole in my special LRP chair. See you there.

OLDMAN

[dalyduo]

As Newby indicates there was a very healthy field of Trans-Am cars sounding goose bump gnarly. I was also enjoying the lime green 77 Challenger and an equally fast Sonoco blue #6 Camaro that I seem to recall Mark Donahue and Penske making famous.

Decided to time the Camaro after clocking the Challenger at about 1:02. Was first shocked to see the Camaro tun up 10 seconds faster than the Challenger at :52 seconds until 10 seconds later the OTHER Sunoco blue #6 Penske Camaro showed up... Only at the vintage festival.

[macdod]

Planning on being there on Monday. Call my cell at 508 259-0217 to hook up.
Donald

[dalyduo]

Fifty mph winds and 1-3 inches of predicted rain from "Ernesto" created an awful lot of happy vintage owner/racers at Lime Rock Park today when the winds arrived with absolutely none of the rain. All practice sessions and races went off without a hitch on a dry track to the delight of all in attendance. There was one short delay when a blown down tree had to be partially cleared due to branches overhanging the track. Then electricity was lost in mid-afternoon for the rest of the day, costing fans enjoyment of the public address system and scoreboard while the racing itself never missed a beat. Despite the dire weather predictions a good crowd turned up on the hill above the left hander and were treated to some really great racing with their wind burn as gale force winds whipped the hearty faithful for most of the day.

Race reporting legend and guest of honor Chris Economacki signed copies of his new book "Let 'Em All Go!" on the midway during lunch hour and will do the same tomorrow and Monday.

Nick Nick recently told me when he introduced himself to Economaki years ago Chris lit up, "Nick Nicholson... sure I know you... you're the first American to run Sebring, Daytona and LeMans all in the same year!" Nick Nick was surprised because at the time he didn't even know that! So I mentioned Nick Nick's story to Economaki and he shrugged it off... "Oh yeah well I'm kind of a depository of all kinds of racing stuff." And when I suggested he wouldn't remember "all kinds of racing stuff" unless he really loved what he was doing. He smiled and said, "You know... I've been blessed my whole life to be among the very few who get to have their hobby as a livelyhood." Someone then turned up with a vintage newsprint racing publication from 1938 for him to autograph and watching Economaki carefully turn the pages catching up on some very old racing news with the same enthusiasm as a kid being handed his first ice cream cone completely embodied what he'd just said. Ya gottta' love it.

Bruce MacInnes was in the pits advising no less than 9 vintage drivers on the subtleties of Lime Rock and MHP was coaching Nick Colonna, owner of the #18 1966 Ford GT40. Nick was going to run the GT40 today (Saturday) with Mark piloting it on Monday but sadly the car broke in practice today while Nick was driving and will not be running for the rest of the weekend.

This year the Vintage Festival is honoring the Trans-Am series with an ample field of historically significant big bore pony cars. So special to have those cars making the same sites, sounds and smells as they did between 1966 and 1972.

Tomorrow's quiet track day showcases the "Sunday in the Park" Concours d'Elegance and car show including the Show of Shelby's

Monday features another full day of 9 race groups and the arrival of about 800 Mini Coopers as LRP serves as the impressive finish line to a national cross country adventure sponsored by BMW.

[dalyduo]

As a follow up:

On Monday at the Vintage Festival I again crossed paths with Economaki and, having not yet read his book, asked him if he'd ever driven in a race. "I tell people that I had a very brief driving career and raced twice once!" Turns out he drove a motorcycle powered midget that vibrated so much the oversized helmet he'd borrowed flew off and was run over by another car. He finished last, never raced again, and had to replace the 15 dollar helmet on the installment plan at a rate of one dollar per week. (A big price in the 1930's)

There is a wonderful picture in the book of Economaki in the passenger seat of a stock car about to get a ride from a grinning AJ Foyt (both wearing open faced helmets). When I mentioned the picture to Ekonomaki he said, "Oh yeah I rode with Foyt, Gurney, Donahue, Nuvolari... lots of drivers." "Looking back, which ones stood out?" I asked. "Well, Mark Donahue gave me a ride in a Matador around Daytona one time and going through turn 3 was like threading a neadle. I was really impressed with the way he drove that car... I was riding with Nuvolari, who was famous for never making mistakes, and we're going into a corner he misses a shift... he nudges me with his elbow to acknowledge the mistake and when I look over at him he does a little shoulder shrug body english saying 'hey, what are you going to do?... Even the great Nuvolari missed a shift once in a while! "

He's an unparalleled walking talking history of racing with more great stories than pretty much anyone with a passion for racing.

The book is a wonderful collection of stories and opinion.