-
Highlights
HSR and a group of Northeast racers visit the newly renovated Moroso facility renamed Palm Beach International.
Our client tested his 1800 at the SVRA 12 Hours of Sebring, Fla. with a third place finish. Produced by Loose Nut Behind The Wheel the 1800 tested 206Hp at the rear wheels with a normally aspirated B20.
We also had the opportunity to spend some time with KPAX Racing Team at Sebring. They were Volvo's partner several years ago with the SCCA Speed World Challenge AWD S60 Volvo Race car. That project was unsuccessful and lost funding. KPAX abandoned the Volvo and turned to Porsche GT3's prepared by 3R Racing and won the manufacturers championship for Porsche with a 911 GT3 in 2007 and 2008. They contracted 3R Racing to build a pair of S60 AWD race cars from the ground up. The S60's were finished on Friday, they tested for 6 hours on Saturday in high altitude and packed up for Sebring and arrived for Tuesday testing. They had two engine failures during practice and finally only ran one car starting in last place because of a lack of a qualifying time. Andy Pilgrim drove the sole car to a 13th place finish. Enjoy the attached photos of the old vs. new Volvo race cars @ Sebring.
KPAX S60 wins pole position at Long Beach.
KPAX S60 Finishes 1st and 2nd at New jersey Motorsports Park
See details @ www.kpaxracing.com
www.world-challenge.com pobst wins pole
-
New Hampshire Motorsports Park
Loose Nut Behind The Wheel / Swedish Motors 122 Amazon burn up the track at New Hampshire Motorsport park May 21-24.
This was a vintage festival which included vintage motorcycle racing, a car show, flee market and vintage oval / indy cars. It was actually a week long racing festival with lots of track time. VRG consolidated the race cars into 4 groups which put the little 122 on the road course with Mustangs, Camaros, Corvettes. We finished Saturday's race behind those cars and a really fast 510 Datsun. This is a really great event growing larger every year and one to consider either spectating or competing in next year.
-
Lime Rock Park Vintage Festival
The cars were the stars. Labor day weekend in Lime Rock Connecticut 2009 proved to be one of the best vintage events we have attended on the east coast. Rich took his 1963 Volvo 122 Amazon to an almost incredible 3rd place finish beating a '61 Ferrari 250 and an Aston Martin DB when on the 18th lap of a 20 lap race the engine temperature began to climb to an uncomfortable range and we decided to enter the pits and let it cool down. All and all the fans were ecstatic and the Ferrari and DB drivers were embarrassed. The entire 4 day event was well attended with spectators and competitors including several car clubs, 4 vintage cars from the prestigious Collier Collection from Florida and the Lime Rock Park traditional Sunday car show on the race track itself. The track also hosted a Friday night reception for the drivers and crew members with guest speaker Porsche racing legend Vic Elford. The room fell silent as he told stories of his spins at Daytona and flying down Mulsanne straight at LeMans and many more racing stories. The organizers hosted a first class event not to be missed!
-
New Jersey Motorsports Park
This was an SVRA sanctioned event at the Thunderbolt Circuit with wonderful October weather. There were fewer competitors than last years event for a number of reasons including our economy but track time was very generous and WWII air field adjacent hosted tours and fly-overs by the vintage warbirds. There was also a race car parade into downtown Millville with a static display of the vintage race cars in the heart of the business district. This is a great spectator event at this world class facility with plenty of activities for the whole family.
It was quite a volatile event, which is unusual for an SVRA race, with lots of reckless aggressive driving resulting in lots of crashes. The worst crash involved a 914 Porsche caused by the hood lifting up at the braking point at the front straight, which is the fastest part of the track. The Porsche driver was stunned and veered to the left hitting the Armco and launching the car over the guide rail and over the track fence ultimately depositing the 914 outside the track rolling several times. Miraculously the driver was unhurt, the car totaled and about an hour delay to clean up the mess.
The 122 Amazon ran flawless but I was hit in the right rear during our Saturday race by a Lotus Super Seven at turn two which spun me off the track. The Lotus front suspension was damaged and he retired but the beefy 122 survived with minimal damage but was passed by 8 or 10 cars before getting back on the track. I could never make up the lost time on my off- track excursion and finished mid-pack. The good news, later that afternoon, happened during the IMSA Two-Five reunion enduro where the Amazon got a podium finish with a third place, bottle of champagne and a trophy. Sunday’s race was also marred by some over-aggressive driving with a pile up on lap one at turn three causing us to come to a complete stop to avoid hitting those cars careening back and forth across that portion track. Again we lost about 8 positions resulting in mid-pack finish. Lots of action for the spectators and even more thrills for the drivers involved.
Overall a good event and one I would recommend to attend if your in the area next year
-
Turkey Bowl at Summit Point
Another great racing weekend hosted by VRG over the Thanksgiving weekend. The weather is always a factor this time of year and it certainly co-operated this year. A little cool in the morning but warming up to the high 40's and into the low 50's. The turnout was great for this season finale in the northeast and everyone had a lot of fun at this low key racing weekend. My most exciting session was closely following Robert Andersons Ford GT40 for two laps until his gearbox, tires and engine warmed up at which point he took off like a bolt of lightning. A good time was had by all.
|
|
