The American Speed Festival Sept 30-Oct 3 salutes Jim Hall and his innovative and winning Chaparral racing cars includes three days of special events, track time and the Oct 3 Performance and Racing Car Show at M1 Concourse near Detroit.
Info: www.americanspeedfestival.com
The VSCCA Fall Finale – A PreWar Celebration Oct 1-2 returns to Lime Rock Park with Friday and Saturday vintage races for all VSCCA classes. This event annually salutes PreWar racing cars with the Victory Lane Magazine annual trophy for outstanding car.
Info: www.vscca.org
CSRG Charity Challenge Oct 1-3 at Sonoma Raceway is the largest fall vintage racing weekend on the West Coast. This 18th version will showcase all CSRG vintage racing groups and the special USRRC Tribute Saturday race.
Info: www.csrgracing.org
The Friends of Steve McQueen Car & Motorcycle Show Oct 2-3. This years theme is LeMans. The event opens with a Saturday gala banquet raising money for The Boys Republic in Chino, CA. Steve McQueen credits his years there for changing him from a troubled youth to putting him on the road to his success. The huge show for performance racing cars and motorcycles is Sunday.
The Vintage Formula Atlantic Cars will race 20 minutes on Saturday at 4:30 pm and Sunday at 11:05 am. The IMSA Sports Car grand Prix has a 100 minute race Saturday starting at 2:06 pm. All times Pacific Daylight Time.
Professional formula Atlantic grew out of SCCA’s first pro-formula racing series, the Continental Grand Prix that began in 1967 for FA-3 liter GP cars, FB – 1600cc formula cars and FC – 1100cc formula cars. The 1967 season was contested almost exclusively with FB cars. Gus Hutchinson was SCCA’s first pro-formula champion driving a FB Lotus 41C. F5000 was added to the series in 1968 with equal F5000 and FB entries. Lou Sell driving an Eagle F5000 car was champion. The SCCA F 5000 series continued through 1976. The FB cars had their own series starting in 1969. FB soon became popular worldwide with countries using both the FB and F Atlantic name. SCCA adopted F Atlantic rules in 1975, but kept the FB name until 1979. Formula Atlantic continued through various changes around the world. Until 1990 when it became Toyota Atlantic with the Toyota 4A-GE engine and became a support series for the CART series for Indy Cars. Formula Atlantic continued through 2008 with CART. Various pro and amateur series for formula Atlantic cars continues today with much changed rules.
Over the years many future Indy Car and formula One drivers got their start in the FB and Formula Atlantic based series.
Sources: www.oldracingcars.com and Victory Lane Magazine archives.
Jim Hall is a USRRC and Sebring 12 Hour Drivers Champion and creator of the legendary USRRC, Can-Am, Indy 500 and FIA Manufacturers Championship Endurance race winning Chaparrals. He is the honored
guest for the three days of the American Speed Festival at the M1 Concours auto club and racetrack facility just west of Detroit. The USRRC 2A, Can-Am and innovative 2E, 2F FIA International Endurance winner and Indy 500 winning car will do exhibition laps on the 1.5 mile circuit.
The opening reception party starts a festival filled with parties, tours, rally, Chaparral on-track expo laps, entrant laps for USRRC, Can-Am, Indy Car and Endurance car special groups, Saturday night gala honoring Jim Hall and the Sunday performance and racing car show, Tickets are available for all or selected events.
Pete Brock raced Datsun’s then created the BRE winning 2.5 Challenge Team with Datsun 510s. His Shelby and Chevrolet years involved creating the Cobra Daytona Coupe and development on the Corvette Stingray. Both of these achievements are saluted with special races: A 50th Anniversary 2.5 Challenge race and The American Challenge for vintage Ford vs Chevrolet cars.
This is a special vintage racing and festival weekend. The vintage and historic races for all VSCDA classes begin with Friday practice and an endurance race after Thursday registration and tech. the traditional meet and greet Friday evening party celebrates all the weekend entrants and workers. Saturday is qualifying and sprint races. There is also a tour of the original 1950-52 through the town and countryside original circuit. The Saturday Gathering on The Green Concours adds to the festivities. That is followed by a gala banquet honoring Pete Brock. Sunday has feature races for all VSCDA classes, plus the special features honoring Pete Brock.
This is one of the top vintage and historic racing weekends in North America. It is a open weekend to spectators. Schedule and event info at www.vscda.org Spectator tickets and info are at www.roadamerica.com
VRG invites members and visiting vintage racers to one of the most special experiences in vintage racing. Racing on the circuit where legends were created in USRRC, Can-Am, Trans-Am, F5000, Formula One, NASCAR and SCCA club racing is a rare and special treat. There is only one race a year at The Glen for three days of all vintage action. There is liberal track time for all with a friendly vintage racing club who since 2004 emphasizes fun, enthusiastic, safe racing with vintage and historic cars prepared in the spirit of vintage racing.
All VRG vintage classes will be racing in groups of similar performance. This is a feature weekend for the VRG Formula Ford Challenge series. VRG features production sports and GT cars through 1988, selected sedans recognized by SCCA or FIA through 1988, Improved Touring, SCCA IA-ITB-ITC of 1980-1993, Sports Racing Cars made through 1972 on treaded tires, Sports 2000 under current VS2-NA rules, Formula Cars eligible under Monoposto Classic rules in production before 12/31/72, plus historic FF - Club Ford – later FF, Formula Vees of VRG Vee challenge rules, plus PreWar sports and racing cars. Full eligibility details are at www.vrgonline.org.
The famous Watkins Glen International circuit is 2.45 miles of long and medium straights, elevation changes with 11 turns of every type. It is located just southwest of the town of Watkins Glen where modern sports car road racing began in 1948 on the town and country roads. A chance to race in the fall on this circuit in an all vintage and historic weekend is not to be missed.
Info: www.vrgonline.org
Sports car road racing came to the US in 1948, through the streets of Watkins Glen, New York and on surrounding country roads. Pre and post war MGs made up the majority of the grids racing with and against Morgans, Allards, Healeys, Ferraris, Jaguars for the next few years. Those days are celebrated in town Friday with a festival which includes tours of the original 1948 circuit.
The Collier Cup race for MGs, organized by the MG Vintage Racers Club, is part of the SVRA vintage races that support the pro Speed Tour road racing weekend. These are held on the nearby Watkins Glen International circuit.
Info: www.grandprixfestival.com Collier Cup www.mgvr.org
SOVREN's annual Columbia River Classic took over Portland International Raceway in advance of the IndyCar weekend, showcasing vintage and historic racing alongside the All British Field Meet –the West's largest gathering of British cars. Superb early fall weather, clear blue skies, and good entries in both events were the perfect ingredients from which to distill a motoring enthusiasts holiday weekend and the CRC didn't disappoint.
Victory Lane once again presented the annual British Cup which recognizes an outstanding historic racing car and it's owner's dedication to preserving history at speed. Watch this space for an upcoming article on the 2021 winner and further articles on past recipients.
The magazine also participated once again with the Sprite / Midget Challenge. The Challenge is a feature race for "Spridgets" and caps off Saturday's activities. This year's event welcomed Moss Motors and Trackside Motorsports as sponsors and featured a new MG Challenge trophy from Moss. The Spridget's proved unbeatable though, with Will Carson's Midget home the overall victor.
Watch for a full report on the event in the October issue of Victory Lane Magazine.
This event is a party for vintage racers that allows one to enjoy racing 1950s/1960s style. Sportsmanlike competition on-track, parties, car shows, tours of some of the original circuit layouts and a celebration of the original road races.
Some of the original cars were the famous H-Mods. These were small sports racing (called modifieds back in the day) powered originally by 750cc displacement engines. Some were built by race car factories of teams, notably Italian. Most were home built in the racers garage. Originally they used engines from FIAT, Panhard, Climax, Renault, Crosley, SAAB. Over time 850cc and larger were allowed.
H-Mod info contact: Richard Campbell [email protected]
Event info: Phone 734-502-2435 or 803-463-5388 www.pibroadrace.com
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