Summer plans

Wow, summer is almost here. Anyone have any big travel plans?

I plan to go to the Fiat Freak Out in Asheville NC on July 8-11. This year should be a great show and you cannot beat the location at the Biltmore house. Check out www.flu.org for more details. Be sure to look me up if you come. I will be in either a Lancia Delta Integrale or a right hand X1/9 so I should be easy to spot.

Go racing in June for Mosport's big 50th bash.

Moving into a house with a bigger garage.

I'm assuming you're not thinking of our annual family trek to the ocean at Rehoboth Beach (June) and the Jersey Shore (Aug).

I have a long-term plan of going the Isle of Man TT races, but that's a few years away.

For 2010,, the New Hampshire Vintage Festival on May 21-23 (soon!) at Loudon, NH. Vintage cars like mine as well as vintage sidecar racing

PVGP/VRG Historic Races on July 16-18at BeaveRun, Wampum, PA (near Pittsbugh). We may stay around (or return) to the actual Sheneley Park "street races" in Pittsburgh the following weekend.

New Jersey Historic Races on Sept, 24- 25 at NJMP Millville, NJ (with MAAFM Air Show)

VRG Vintage Races on Oct 15-17at Watkins Glen, NY (it snowed last year!)

We'd like to get to the Mosport Vintage (June 18-20), but we just bought a new house (moving in the day we return from the NH Vintage!), so probably not.

It would be great to take one of our cars to the Small-Bore Cup on June 24-27 at Mid-Ohio, but again, a busy year, so not likely this year.

I have to level the house and build a deck!

Dave

Because I’m too cheap ... correction, I mean fiscally conservative to buy my way into an organized tour, last summer I decided to create my own Low Cost Tour. It wasn’t “vintage” because I used my ‘96 Miata, and I didn’t have a back up vehicle or a traveling mechanic following me. But I ate extremely well every day, stayed in a pretty nice country inn in Vermont for a few days, and drank some great wine … all for a fraction of the price of an organized tour. Last year my tour theme was hill climbs, not the competitive type, but just driving up State Park mountain roads in my Miata. This year will be a continuation of the theme but with just one “hill” to climb: Mt. Washington in NH. The plan is to stay at the grand old Victorian hotel at Bretton Woods for a few nights, motor up Mt. Washington one day and then explore the back roads of New Hampshire with the Miata for a couple more. Should be fun.

Other than that I’ll be cruising to the Newport Concours d’Elegance later this month, the British By the Sea car show at Harkness Memorial State Park in Waterford CT next month, the ALMS race at Lime Rock and "Day of Triumph" at the Larz Anderson Museum in July, and weekend drives through the great back roads of southern New England every other available weekend.

Rolex july 4th Daytona then scalloping keaton beach florida if oil has not made it there keaton beach

Big travel plans that are motorsports oriented? Naw, just local autcross, shows and races. I do plan on going over to Raliegh, NC to visit my new grandson and want to go to SoCal to visit my mom and sisters. Oh and I'm in North Alabama.

Taking the Corvair, the TR6, the kids and the parents and heading up through Hilton Head to work on a story and then a few days on the Blue Ridge Parkway.

Later in the summer, still planning on an Edsel trip to Michigan.

What no Gr 44 GT6 at Mosport?

We plan on having the Group 44 GT6 at the VTR national meet in Jekyll Island this fall. The trans is out of it right now.

Our big "Summer" trip will actually happen in the Fall at the Watkins Glen Vintage Festival again. This year, a group of us are planning to use the full week of the house rental so we can visit more wineries. We FINALLY convinced the g/f that her favorite winery in NJ isn't the only one in the country that makes the super-sweet dessert wines she likes.

Finances have curtailed a lot of my plans. But I'm going to the Mid-Ohio vintage races for the Griffith-TVR gathering and the gasser reunion at Summit Motorsports park in July. Mostly, I'll be spending weekends working with my 15 yr old twin boys on restoring my civic si so that they can drive it when they get their licenses. Oh, and that reminds me, much of my spare money is going into a "real" driver's education course they'll be taking in July and August. I also live about a mile from Summit Racing. They have a lot of free events every summer, so we always go to those!