Vintage Sports Car Festival

at

Lime Rock Park, CT.,  4 September, 2000

by

Tom Hildreth

            This presentation is a look back to the 18th annual Vintage Festival at Lime Rock Park in northwestern Connecticut. Held on Labor Day weekend, between September 1-4, 2000, it was an event rich in participants. In a single day a spectator could take in a huge slice of sports car racing history as the nine groups and dozens of classes took to the track. In addition to the scheduled arrivals, there were pleasant surprises to be found in the paddock area, and for the car enthusiast, the public parking lot was itself worth a close look. 

            The festival hosted two sports car racing bodies, these being Historic Sportscar Racing, Ltd., (HSR), and the Vintage Sports Car Club of America (VSCCA). The race groups were defined as follows.

                    Group 1 (HSR)        Vintage Production (under 2-liters)(Porsche, Triumph Spitfire, Lotus 7, Mini Cooper S and others)

                    Group 2 (VSCCA)    Pre-War, MG T-series and Abarth

                    Group 3 (HSR)        Vintage Production (over 2-liters) and Historic Production (under 2-liters)(Porsche 911/914, MG-B,Fiat 124 and others)

                    Group 4 (VSCCA)    VSCCA Classes C and E production sports cars. (Allard, Jag, Alfa Romeo, A.Healy, Lotus, MG and others)

                    Group 5 (HSR)        Historic production over 4-liters (Cobra, Corvette, Camaro Z-28, Porsche 911)

                    Group 6 (HSR)        Can-Am, IMSA GTP and GTP Lights

                    Group 7 (HSR)        IMSA GTO, GTX, GTU and Trans-Am (Porsche 911, Chevron, Buick Regal, Dodge Daytona, Ferrari 308 and others)

                    Group 8 (HSR)        Historic production under 4-liters, Pre-1966 Production and Sports Racers (Porsche, Corvette, Shelby, Jag, Lotus)

                    Group 9 (VSCCA)    Sports Racing (Late 1950s Cooper, Lola, Lotus, Scarab, Elva, Kurtis and others)

            On Monday, 4 September, the on-track competition consisted of three Vintage Enduro races comprised of the Rolex Vintage Enduro, Rolex Classic GT Enduro, and the Rolex Historic Enduro.

            The following images are a small sample of the subjects I photographed that day. This is film-based photography, and the images were recorded on color and B&W negative film, and color slide film.

1965 Lotus 23B, Group 8, Class 2C and 1974 Porsche 911 IROC. Drivers listed for these two cars were Gil Nickel  in the Lotus, and Ron Belletti in the Porsche.

Remember these? This is a 1962 Volvo P1800, (Group 1, Class 2J)  with Duane Matejka listed as driver.

Stable full of Cobras, presumably from Group 5, Class 2F.

Some of the American cars look....so huge. This is a 1983 Buick Regal from Group 7, Class C5 with Charlie Morgenthaler listed as driver.

This 1965 Mini Cooper S from Group 1, Class 2K isn't so huge, though it may have been noisier.  Robert Anderson was listed as driver.

I don't want to see this Lola T70 in the rear view mirror.  I would rather just pull over and watch this piece of art go flitting past. T70s were in both Group 6 and Group 8, though I can find no mention of #25 in the LRP Driver Entry List for this event.

I don't know the brand of the V-8 that seems to be tucked into this Group 9, Class 4 Scarab from 1958, but it would look very good in my driveway. It's also likely a few early-morning startups would bring a new level of respect from the tuner kid down the street.

To me, the Mazda Miata drew its good looks from classic 1950s roadsters such as this 1955 Elva Mk.1B from Group 9, Class 2.

This is actor Paul Newman's 1987 Nissan 300ZX #33, from Group 7, Class C13.

Perhaps not the sleekest fastback on the lot, but this 1958 Allard GT, from Group 4 Class E1 was a delight to see and hear on the track.

Porsche always makes a strong showing at the races. This is a 1966 Porsche 910, from Group 8, Class 2B. Driver listed (and graphically depicted) was Howard Cherry.

A pair of boxy Chevrons going at it. The near car, #2, may be a 1972  Chevron B-23 , while the distant car is a 1976 Chevron B-36 from Group 6, Class 3C with Larry Kessler and Archie Urciuoli listed as drivers.

As seen in the paddock, #164 is a 1959 Elva Courier, Group 4, Class C3. Michael Clifford is listed as driver.

From IMSA's Camel Lights class, the graphics reveal this car to be a Mazda-powered Argo JM19C in red.

American muscle in the form of Camaro #14, perhaps a 1967 issue, announces itself loud and clear on the downhill

Number 36 is a 1980 Porsche 924 GTR , from Group 6, Class C4

An Alfa waiting in the parking lot, perhaps with a bit of envy for its on-track brethren.

So there's a sample from my collection that I hope you enjoyed.

Best regards,

Tom Hildreth