By Staff Writer
Sep 11, 2023
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Lime Rock
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Photo courtesy of Lime Rock Park
If you love vintage racing events, the Historic Festival at Lime Rock Park is the event to see. Special displays of rare cars. An outstanding concours. Loads of vendors. A festive camping atmosphere. And yes, incredible racing.
With more than 1000 entered vehicles, the Historic Festival 41 this past Labor Day weekend, September 1-4, had its largest turnout of participants, and with good reason.
Photo by Tim Suddard.
Tucked into the northwestern corner of Connecticut, Lime Rock Park is one of the most beautiful, most historic and most friendly race tracks in the country.
It opened in 1957, and many of the greats have turned laps around Lime Rock Park. Those legends include Mario Andretti, Dan Gurney and Paul Newman. While only 1.5 miles long, the challenging course is a favorite for many drivers. The lack of exceptionally long straightaways allows small-bore cars to run surprisingly close to their higher-horsepower brethren.
Likewise, the smaller size of the track makes it easy to get around the facility. Gentle hills throughout Lime Rock Park serve as natural bleachers for you to lay out your picnic blanket and basket and enjoy the show with family and friends. After the day ends, fire up the barbecue, break out the refreshments and mingle with so many friendly folks in the camping area.
For those moments between racing and socializing, the midway offers plenty of activities to entertain and vendors selling wares and keepsakes that you can take home.
Photo by Tom Suddard.
Racing takes place on Friday, Saturday and Monday. There’s no racing on Sundays due to a local ordinance. So what happens then? The Lime Rock Concours and Gathering of the Marques.
Skip Barber, Lowell Paddock and head judge Bill Scheffler organized the effort behind the Lime Rock Concours. More than 200 concours entrants lined up along the front straight. Of those, the judges selected 17 for awards.
One of the classes featured 11 concept cars from Chrysler. Among them included the 1960 Plymouth XNR and the 1963 Chrysler Turbine Car.
Display of Chrysler concept vehicles. Photo by Tim Suddard.
The concours also had Lawrence Auriana’s collection of 17 rare cars and motorcycles. One of them, a 1971 Ferrari 512 M, was reunited with Sam Posey, who had raced it in the 24 Hours of Daytona and 12 Hours of Sebring.
A procession of MGs spanning 100 years of the marque participated in the first ever Concours in Motion. Spectators could watch the cars make their way around the track while Barn Find Hunter host Tom Cotter told the story behind each vehicle.
Paul Gould’s 1954 DeSoto Adventurer won best in show. Santo Spadaro’s 1953 PBX H Modified took best in show in the Sport category.
Representatives from Hagerty, Autodromo and Marsh McLennan took part in the prestigious award ceremony.
The Gathering of the Marques filled the remainder of the track, with nearly 1000 cars total. The vehicles from car clubs for the event ranged from rare Glas convertibles to favorite icons from marques such as BMW, Porsche and Corvette.
MG display celebrating 100 years of the marque. Photo by Tim Suddard.
Photo courtesy Lime Rock Park.
Of course, the Historic Festival 41 offered racing–and it delivered, featuring a record-breaking 300-plus cars.
The entered drivers came from 29 states and three countries. Marques from nine countries were represented, with model years ranging from the early 1910s to the early 2000s.
The field of cars ranks among the best in the country. You could see Ferrari Formula 1 cars, Cobras and Jaguar C-types in the paddock.
In celebration of 100 years of MGs, the marque had its own class, with a whopping 52 cars from the 1950s to 1970s.
The vintage racers didn’t hold back on track, either. On Friday, Nathan Thompson set a fast time of 57.843 seconds in his 1963 Lotus 23C. To put things in perspective, Lime Rock Park’s track record in 1963 was a 1:02.9 lap set by Jim Haynes in a Formula Libre.
Speaking of Haynes, Lime Rock Park honored him with a Jim Haynes Memorial class featuring Formula Juniors. The other featured group was Sports 2000.
Autodromo, the official watch for the Historic Festival 41, presented nine drivers, one from each group, with an Autodromo Prototipo chronograph. Sanctioning partners Vintage Racing Group and Vintage Sports Car Club of America chose the winners based on their “vintage spirit” during the festival.
In addition, Autodromo presented Santo Spadaro with the Spirit of Lime Rock Award, which was determined by votes from his fellow drivers, the Historic Festival committee, and representatives from VSCCA and VRG. Spadaro had also won best in show in Sport during the Lime Rock Concours.
The Piston Foundation also honored Chris Kvaka with the Piston Technician Award, which recognizes contributions that auto technicians make to the collector car community. Kvaka works for Vintage Racing Services, supporting the Triumph Spitfire driven by Tom Brown.
Photo by Tim Suddard.
The season at Lime Rock Park does not conclude with the Historic Festival 41.
On October 27-28, the inaugural MiataCon takes place, celebrating all models of Miatas and MX-5s. Festivities include racing, car corrals, MiataCross and HPDE events.
If German cars are more your flavor, there’s the FCP Euro Sunday Motoring Meet Autoberfest on October 29. The feature marques for it include Volkswagen, Audi and Porsche.
And as far as vintage racing, be sure to mark Labor Day weekend on your 2024 calendar for Historic Festival 42 at Lime Rock Park.
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