The 28th Annual Historic Festival took place at Lime Rock Park on September 3-6, 2010 bringing the raw excitement of vintage racing to the scenic Litchfield, Connecticut hills.  The entry field included over 300 classic pre-war and sports competition cars in 10 groups. Groups were as follows:

1. Pre-war Sports and Racing Cars: Motorsport Trophy
2. 50s Competition Cars: Lime Rock Challenge
3. Porsche 911 and 914: Klubsport Kup
4. Best of British Production Sports: Chairmans Chalice
5. F. Ford & F. Junior: Starter’s Delight; Group 5a, F. Ford: The Stimola Memorial
6. Abarths & Alfas Galore: The Turin Tankard
7. Wild, Wild Horses – Big Bore Production: Detroit Dilemma
8. Speedy, Eclectic Mix: Sports Racing Cars: The Bennett Bowl
9. Minis Against the Rest: Giant’s Despair
10. Memories of Gilles, F2/Formula Atlantic: Fabulous Formulas

Participants in the Historic Festival actually begin their weekend on the previous Tuesday, August 31st with “test and tune” sessions. By Friday, September 3rd practices and qualifying have begun and the first race events are run.

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The 2009 Monterey Sports Car Championships at Laguna Seca saw amazing action in ALMS GT2 class. Once again, Corvette racing and Flying Lizard Motorsports Porsches battled heavily with Risi Ferrari; so heavily that at the final lap of the race, Magnussen in the Corvette ended up hitting the wall hard, bumped by Bergmeister in the the Flying Lizard Porsche GT3. Everyone has seen and heard about this by now, but it’s certainly worth mentioning as one of the scary highlights of the year. (more…)

Fresh off the boat from the 2009 24 Hours of Le Mans, the American Le Mans competitors came to Lime Rock Park, in Lakeville, Connecticut on July 18th. Great weather brought out large crowds for the main event.

Competition in GT2 class was really strong with new entrants BMW Rahal Letterman Racing M3’s making a very impressive appearance by battling the ever strong and reliable Flying Lizard Porsche GT3 RSRs and the mighty Risi Ferrari F430 GT. These three teams are nothing short of remarkable in their expertise at putting together truly competitive cars. Even with the wide diversity of tracks the teams encounter, they always adjust their race cars to perform at the top of the game. Rounding out the field in GT2 were the Ford GT, Panoz, Farnbacher Loles’ Porsche GT3 RSR and Vici Racing’s Porsche GT3 RSR.

Absent from Lime Rock this year was Audi Sport North American, Aston Martin, and Corvette Racing. Audi is saving the R15 for the big shows and Corvette Racing is in transition from GT1 to GT2.  Corvette will make it’s GT2 debut at Mid-Ohio in the coming weeks. Corvette was always impressive in GT1 class racing and we expect nothing less in GT2.

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The Vintage Grand Prix of Mid-Ohio will be held this summer at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, June 26th-28th. There will be 10 SVRA group races, two enduros, a Formula B, S2000 and Mini Cooper race (the featured marque of the event). Additionally, there is a British Car Showdown and a Concours d’Elegance taking up the weekend.   One day general admission tickets range from $10 to $30.  Mid-Ohio official comment:

“SVRA, along with Mid-Ohio Sports Course have selected the Mini Cooper as the feature for 2009 at the Vintage Grand Prix of Mid-Ohio. As the featured marque, the Mini Cooper will be the highlight of many weekend activities including the 11th Annual British Car Showdown.”

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Is the Formula 1 (F1) Grand Prix du Canada really going by the way-side for Formula 1 world tour? According to several articles posted over the past few days, it appears as if the last North American F1 Race may indeed be gone for this year and perhaps for good? This will be the first time since 1987 that Montreal’s Circuit Gilles Villeneuve would not see the F1 chassis pound the pavement in this great motor-sports race.

Sunday July 27 was an historic day for sports car enthusiasts and motor sports as a whole. Monticello Motor Club (MMC), a private country club / race track and resort with a massive 4.2 mile track exclusive to member opened in Thompson, New York. Mario Andretti and Brian Redman lead a procession of member cars on a 2 lap innaugural racetrack tour. Andretti drove his John Player Special sponsored Formula 1 Lotus and Brian Redman commanded the Blue and Orange Gulf Livery Porsche 908 . A helicopter took footage of the entire event.

Drinks and hors d’ouvres were served in the temporary clubhouse overlooking the parking lot which was PACKED with the most impressive track-ready automobiles. Rain threatened the ribbon cutting, but held out until a couple of laps were completed. (more…)

The American Le Mans Series came to Lime Rock for the July 12, Northeast Grand Prix in Lakeville Connecticut. The race was action packed with drivers jockeying for position from start to finish on a revamped course. Spectator turnout to the Grand Prix was larger than ever filling both the infield and the outfield with colorful umbrellas and American Flags, still the cozy intimacy of Lime Rock’s paddock area was not lost. It was bound to be a special race; Dyson Racing was celebrating 25 years in motorsports by doing a lap in the Dyson Porsche 962 (Driven by Rob Dyson), flanked by the Porsche RS Spyder (Driven by Chris Dyson).

Following are some pictures of the day just prior to checkered flag dropping and some video of the race itself. (more…)