I attended the Lime Rock Vintage festival this weekend and had an absolute blast! My friend Santo (pictured below), who with his brother Frank runs the Dominick's foreign car shop in White Plains, NY, posted this wonderful video of himself dicing with another Alfa. Grab some popcorn and watch the race!
Fellow Automobiliacs: I have been travelling, and apologize for the week of radio silence! While I get my clothes unpacked and sift through my photos, here's a little something to enjoy.
This Alfa Romeo GP car , circa 1936, was lapping at around 1:10! That's pretty damn fast for a 75 year old racing car on skinny tires!Labor Day weekend, I managed to escape from the Metropolis for a few hours to enjoy the Historic Races and Lime Rock Park. The track is near and dear to my heart and it's always a lot of fun to come up there. I was there on the Monday, and it rained like crazy, but I did manage to get a few rather evocative shots before I booked it home. Click the pics below for the full gallery.
This video is a gem. First, we have Cronkite at the wheel of an Austin Healey, explaining the concept of a "Sports Car" the general American public in an era when chrome grill and bumper assemblies probably weighed more than an entire Lotus chassis. Then he takes us to Lime Rock in the 1950s, complete with in-car camera-work behind the roll bar. Lotus 11's galore. And is that Walter himself at the wheel of the Healey at 1:56?? I see a moustahce in the tiny mirror! The piece ends at the glamorous Monaco Grand Prix with Stirling Moss's victory in the Lotus 18. Without ever mentioning the marque, this piece is almost an infomercial for Colin Chapman's fledgling brand, showing its stellar capabilities at both amateur and professional levels.
Also, isn't it just remarkable how little Lime Rock has changed in all these years??
Just got back from what I might describe as a perfect day, without a trace of exaggeration. My buddy Drew (of Motoring Con Brio fame) and I went up to Lime Rock Park for a most enjoyable track day. I had never run my Alfa on the track before, so I was really worrying something would break, but I'm happy to report that despite its 28 years of age, my car held its own gallantly, even keeping up with some badly-driven modern machinery! Much to my pleasure there was another GTV6 present at the event, and the owner and I became fast friends. I think we both defended the honor of the marque with our efforts, and with the lack of any mechanical failures! His car is in the foreground, and mine is behind with the hood open.
I was paired with a really great instructor named Carmine, who gave a lot of insightful feedback and encouragement, and I had an absolute blast. Below are 2 of my better laps from the final session of the day.
This is the same lap, seen from Drew's Golf GTI, which was tailing me!
This next clip is a drive-by showing how a badly-driven M5 can be tailed by an underpowered old Italian heap being driven hard! Of course, with his 400+ bhp he pulled away on the straights...
My all-weather tires were not the best shoes for the track, and my stock brake pads didn't hold up so great after hard driving, but all in all I feel blessed to have had an incident-free and exciting day in my car. After I left the track, the trusty GTV6 got me all the way back to the metropolis without so much as a hiccup. Che bella macchina! The drive home, through beautiful Connecticut back roads, was just a slice of heaven. See the whole gallery HERE! and Drew also took some fantastic shots (much better than mine!) that can be seen HERE