Reader Roy sent this over for us to enjoy:
Another year and another Fall Festival at Lime Rock! This time KTR brought 25 race cars to the track, a new record, and the next largest shop brought 5 or 6 cars, so the KTR paddock was quite huge and the variety of cars ranged from production Alfa Romeo Guliettas and Jaguar XK120’s to the race Chevrons, the special Porsche 904, and the extra special Jaguar D-type.
We arrived Wednesday afternoon and as we started to setup the paddock – tent city – we took in an unforcasted massive 1 hour rain storm. At least most of the cars stayed dry under their EZ ups or in their trailers still. Thursday, we completed the paddock and unloaded the 25 cars, put in position, checked fluids, tires, etc. and met with their drivers. Some drivers were fresh off the Monterey Historics races of a few weeks ago and others had run Road Atlanta, Mont Tremblant, or Mid Ohio this summer. One driver from Australia came to claim and test his newly purchased Lotus 18. After some brake adjustment, he loved it, now he owns 5 18’s!
So all ready to go for the biggest Lime Rock event of the year. One driver brought in a fabulous streetcar, a Ferrari 250SWB from GTO Engineering. Gorgeous in all respects and just needs a clever plate on it. . .”unreal” or something. Saving my sheckles now. More exciting though, the Porsche 904 came to test its new Jim Burns 4 cam engine (KTR) and prep for a trip to the new F1 track in Texas, COTA, next month.
On Friday, conditions were hot and humid. Our drivers and crew running practice and race qualifying could relate to US Open players struggling in the heat, just 2 hours south at Flushing Meadow, NY. 20 sessions on the day, all drivers held up well and smiling, the TOJ 2.0 hitting 0.54s and the 911 special running in the 1:02s, really good stuff. During the lunch break, Skip Barber’s BMW M3s hot lapped the track with prospective buyers onboard and their V8’s sounded NASCAR great, but certainly lacked the excitement of the McLaren F1 and BMW V12 LMR that provided duelling entertainment at lunch just a few years ago. Running so hard, the F1 was spun off track at the left hander. . .fantastic.
Saturday brought 20 sprints, including a 1st place for the TOJ and generally strong results. And the crew kept busy! A plugged radiator stopped a Jag 120 from running race #2, the Lola Mk I lost its clutch, same for a throw out bearing in an Alfa Giulietta, the TOJ’s starter quit, the MGA hit a tire wall backwards, and the 904 was having shifter problems. . .so plenty of triage for KTR’s crew and most cars were back on track for Monday’s races.
Here are a few pics from the weekend, enjoy.
Cheers,
Roy
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