Yup, sounds like we all should have been there…"A great day at the races for Alfisti and Italian car lovers everywhere! Skip Barber, owner of Lime Rock Park, asked Steve Earle, founder of the Monterey Historic Races, to come in and run the show on the 20th anniversary of the Vintage Festival. It’s clear that some folks will show up for Earle’s events where they won’t for other, more pedestrian events solely because of his rather draconian policy regarding damage to your own car or anyone else’s. Normally, you would think that this would preclude good racing but nothing could be further from the truth! It was GREAT racing with great cars this past weekend. Peter Giddings’s 3-liter 8C-35 Grand Prix car, John Kendall’s 8C-2300 Monza, Lawrence Auriana’s 6C-3500 coupe and TZ-1, Bob Kullas’s Alfa Giulietta Spider and GTV, David Rivkin’s GTA, Scott Terry’s, Andrew Perlman’s and Santo Spadaro’s Giulietta Spiders, Tom Lacosta’s Giulietta Sprint Veloce, Bob Russell’s roundtail SZ … and that’s just the Alfas! Sam Mann’s 6CM Maserati voiturette, John Igleheart’s O.S.C.A. S-187 750cc sports racer, Lynne Alexander’s Siata 300BC, Jim McNeil’s and Tony Wang’s 250GTO’s, Bob Bodin’s and Lulu Wang’s 250SWB’s, John Giordano’s 512S, John McCaw’s 250LM, Tony Wang’s Maserati 300S, Walter Dethiers’s DeTomaso Pantera, Bruce Male’s Maserati A6G Zagato, Jim Duffield’s and Mahlon Craft’s 1000 Abarths, Kurt Bissell’s ex-Trans Am Fiat 124 Coupe, and my partner’s Fiat 850 powered Beach Mk4B H-Mod sports racer. Wow! You should have been there!"
Italian Cars Corralled at Lime Rock[Here's a report about this year’s Italian Car Corral written by Fiat Lancia Unlimited’s Tim Beeble:]
Many who did not attend will be surprised to learn that it didn't rain in northwest Connecticut on Labor Day! I live 50 miles south of Lime Rock, and it rained all Sunday night and into the morning. I left the house around 7am, after seeing that the Weather Channel radar was showing that the rain was not reaching up into the Lime Rock area. By the time I drove 20 miles north, the rain had stopped. I arrived at the Outfield Gate around 8:30am, and Mark Cantamessa pulled in right behind me. The Corral was located on a flat grassy area along the straightaway fence. Corrals for BMW Ms, Miatas and Audis were also assembling there in clusters.
Thanks go out to Mark and Leonard Zapala, who worked with me to direct the cars from Route 112 into a parking spot in the Corral. We had over 20 cars ranging from a Fiat 500L to a Ferrari Mondial. In between, we had Fiat Spiders, an X1/9, a Lancia Fulvia, Lancia Scorpian, Alfa GTVs, Alfa 164s, Alfa GTV6, Ferrari 308 GTS, and a Ferrari GT4.
Jeff Harmon of Portland, ME had the breakdown of the day. His beautiful orange '67 GTV didn't feel like starting at about 11:30am. This gave us about five hours to get it fixed. After two hours of trying everything, Jeff was distraught. He determined that he was not getting spark, but didn't know the cause. He checked the fuses. Unable to find starter spray, he tried using WD 40 to no avail. Mysteriously, Jeff's parking lights were staying on. Unbeknownst to Jeff, this though was just a smoke screen—an unrelated electrical problem.
Fiat Lancia Unlimited drew a pair of aces, Danny O'Donnell and Mark Cantamessa, who, with the aid of their test light, quickly determined the problem to be a faulty capacitive discharge unit that they bypassed to fire up the engine. Jeff had an ear-to-ear grin. He knew that he would be getting back to Portland that night thanks to Mark and Danny.
The hill in the outfield provides for nice viewing of the races. We look forward to seeing everyone at Lime Rock next Labor Day for our TENTH Annual Italian Car Corral. Let's get back to the days when we drew 85-100 Italian cars!
Thanks to all of you who believed in FLU's ability to control the weather!
Anyone wishing to be notified of upcoming Fiat
Lancia Unlimited events in the southern New England area can forward their email address
to Tim Beeble at beeblet@umich.edu.
All Italian marques are welcome at our events. FLU membership is encouraged but not
required. The Northeast Coast Chapter of FLU looks forward to many joint events with AONE!
(Click on the thumbnails below for a
larger view,
and then use your browser's Back button)
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Bob Russell’s Sprint Zagato Steve Silverstein photo |
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Bob Kullas’s GTV Steve Silverstein photo |
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David Rivkin’s GTA Steve Silverstein photo |
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Peter Giddings’s 8C-35... Steve Silverstein photo |
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...and another shot Kevin Murphy photo |
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The 8C-35 under way Steve Silverstein photo |
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The 8C-35’s engine bay Steve Silverstein photo |
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An unidentified but beautiful GT Sprint Steve Silverstein photo |
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Lawrence Auriana’s TZ-1 Kevin Murphy photo |
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Scott Terry’s 1959 Giulietta Kevin Murphy photo |
