The issue of older, less prepared cars, even street-legal, has been well
addressed by the VSCCA. Besides Prewar cars, they have a "Preservation
Class", defined as any car that laps Lime ROck at 1:20 or slower. It is
generally street cars that are used for a fun time on race weekends.
Last weekend (before the monsoon hit Sat AM), there were 17 Prewar cars and
the Preservation Class (hmmmmm, PC is a questionable acronym...) totalled 23
cars, a nice grid for the LR course, representing 14 different makes (4 -
MGs, 3 ea. Porsche & Lotus, 2 ea. Austin-Healey and Alfa, and 9 other makes
including a Siata, Abarth, Peerless (!), Morgan, Tojeiro, AC Bristol,
Crosley HotSHot (Lap times by hourglass!) Denzel/Porsche and Elva.
I had a blast in my new toy, a '57 Alfa Spider with a Pinin Farina steel
hardtop, full street equipment, Michelin radials and maybe 80 HP. The
hardtop was great once the rain began. I had a marvelous dice in the rain
with a Healey, and the driver and I got together afterwards (standing in the
storm) to shake hands and chuckle over how much fun it was. And, I've put
over 800 miles on the car this summer and now have a real 'dual-purpose'
car.
So when I want to go fast, I get out the yellow '62 Spider with twice the
HP, disks, CR 5 spd, Panasports and race tires and go for it. But you know,
the '57 seems to be just as much fun....
jeh@fotec.com http://www.fotec.com/jim.htm
veni, vedi, veloce
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