As a racer in VSCCA Group 2, let me say that the Fall Vintage Festival has
never been about lots of track time, its more the entire experience of all
the unusual cars coming out, the spectators, the exhibits and the concours
that have set it apart from more typical VSCCA weekends. Past Fall Festivals
always included several classes of later (non VSCCA-eligible) racers and each
group was given equal track tiem and treatment.
I actually enjoyed seeing a lot of the more recent racers that participated
in the HSR part of the event and the individuals that I met paddocked near us
were terrific people, very enthusiastic about their cars and also very
willing to help others with theirs.
However, I counted a grand total of 8 laps (yes 8!) over the two sessions in
Group 2 (VSCCA production) on Saturday. The morning qualifying session was
checkered early after 5 laps because of oil in the left-hander and a bit in
the uphill.
Then the "12 lap" qualifying race in the afternoon was checkered after 3
racing laps because of an incident where Tim McCann's Lotus Elite
unfortunately collected Jim Smith's Healey during his spin in West Bend and
ended up immobile on the track surface.
A dangerous place where the car needed to be removed? No question. Did that
mean the race should have been checkered? Absolutely not. It would have
taken 10 minutes maximum to clear Tim's car from the tarmac and Group 2
easily should have been able to complete its already shortened (because of
delay for an earlier Group 6 incident) 10 lap allotment. Instead we got
checkered after 3 laps.
In contrast, in the earlier session the Group 6 racers sent a few cars into
the bog on the outside of Big Bend that, owing to the heavy rains the night
before, took nearly an hour to clear because the tow trucks got stuck trying
to get them out. Their race was patiently regridded and allowed to be
completed.
I don't know why the VSCCA group was treated differently than the HSR group
and who made the respective decisions, but I sure didn't appreciate the
shortened sessions versus the "glamorous" cars.
The crowds seemed smaller than in years past, maybe because of the
threatening weather. The concours entry was lots smaller, and not just
because of the absence of the Shelby/Mustang contingent.
It was an okay event from this VSCCA participant's viewpoint, but major
changes in terms of equitable treatment for all race groups are needed before
I'll get excited about the Fall Festival again.
John Ashburne
1959 Turner Mk 1
In a message dated 9/8/00 7:05:56 AM Eastern Daylight Time,
geodav-lou@worldnet.att.net writes:
> Did anybody here go to Lime Rock over Labor Day? How was it with the
> diminished VSCCA involvement?
>
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