One of the highlights of Limerock’s annual Labor Day weekend Vintage Fall Festival is the Sunday in the Park car show and concours.  This unique event allows participants to park their cherished cars around the edge of the famed 1.5 mile road course.  Spectators and participants can walk the entire track and see some of the best cars in the region on display.   Since racing is not allowed on Sunday at Lime Rock, Sunday in the Park is the perfect interlude to the four days of exciting vintage and historic races.

In addition to the premium concours event, visitors may arrive at the park with their everyday driving classics. Pending a car is rare or in decent condition one may receive a coveted invitation to join their marque’s section on the track. This is really two car shows in one; you don’t need to be in the concours to enter into the general car show. This inclusive feature makes for a diverse collection of cars and a strong turnout of spectators.

This year the weather on Sunday was a sunny 75 degrees with light breezes to grace the spectators and gorgeous vehicles. Good weather lead to a great turnout and a perfect opportunity for the shutterbugs to immortalize a wide array of cars.  From Aston Martin to Citroen, from BMW to Rolls-Bentley, there were over 20 official marque categories spread around the track and what seemed to be several more that were unofficially grouped.

There was a great display of BMW cars. The Bimmers were parked on “no-name straight” just past (walking clockwise around the track) the Volvo display and just before the Italian makes. There were approximately twenty 2002 cars and ten E30 M3 cars. Among the standouts lining the back of the track were a fully restored convertible M3 decked out in a rare metallic green color and several impressive 2002s. (more…)

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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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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