lime rock questions

[vanzuuk1]

Does anyone here take their muscle car to limerock? I am looking do track days and I want an overview- cost , tracktips etc.

I would also like to see the trans am type cars run there, i was told the scca has a class for old camaros, cudas and mustangs that runs there once a month.

Any lime rock regulars please check in, thanks.

[Tom]

Lime Rock is a great little track. Arguably the most picturesque track in the States. There are no grandstands etc… so the grassy hillside is where spectators sit to watch. Any easy track to bring your family to. The track food is pretty good.

There’s the fluff. Now to the meat…. LRP is a very technical, momentum track. It’s only 1.53 mi and has but one left hand turn. IMSA uses a chicane that ruins the flow of the track…1.54mi. Drivers usually love it or hate it.

Despite its small size, LRP has some exciting, fast corners and there is little runoff room. The back half of the course is great – a fast uphill section that many cars will leave the ground and spin the wheels - then a fast right hand sweeper that leads to the downhill, diving turn (Grab our stones and keep your foot in it!) and onto the front straight.

Lap times of 1 minute flat for most street-based cars, is quite fast. Fast SCCA GT-1 class cars (tube-frame pony cars w/ 700hp aka TransAm) will lap in apx. 52 seconds.

The SCCA does have a vintage class (HRG) for period big and small bore racecars. It is not an open track situation, however. It is for racecars only and the tech requirements are strict.

There is no racing on Sundays at LRP, so weekend dates are like gold – sanctioning bodies covet them. There are very few open track events during the race season. Check the LRP site for clubs that do have events (mostly marque clubs, like the Porsche or Viper clubs). PDA is one group that does have some dates and they run a good event.

If you are looking for track time in the NE, you might have better luck at Watkins Glen. There are more events there and it is a better overall track to drive. That said, I love LRP – I’ve raced there for a long time and it’s one of my favorites.

Here’s some links.

www.limerock.com
www.historicracing.org
www.pdadrivingschool.com

Good luck and have fun!

Tom

[Rick Dorion]

Ditto. It's been a while but I used to be able to get 4-5 events a year in by going to track rental days by car clubs. Morning group practice, then afternoon timed runs. Very exciting and fun.

[YoungGun]

I just got an email back from them about the rest of the season. Seems they are booked to do a track rental..so he didnt give me prices, and no mention of vintage camaros/mustangs, I specifically asked in my email.

I'm sorry I didn't get back to you earlier, but you e-mailed the day
before our biggest event of the year, which was July 1-4.

Unfortunately, our track is booked for the year. Our dates are usually
set during the winter.

We only have two major events left - the Vintage Festival, which has a
Shelby Show on Sunday, and the NASCAR Busch North race on Sept. 30-Oct.
1. The Vintage Festival is on Labor Day weekend.

We do have car corrals at the track and group discounts on tickets.
Please contact Donna Lloyd at 860-435-5000, ext. 306 or at
[email protected] to find out more about that.

Roy Hasty
Public Relations Manager
Lime Rock Park

Thanks
Tim

[vanzuuk1]

Thanks for the info, I had two questions ,the first was when do the old trans am type cars run at lime rock? I dont think the fall vintage event will have the old pony cars, just a few vettes and shelbys.

The one you answered was about getting my street car on the track. The glen sounds good but lime rock is close by.I found out its about eight grand to rent the track for the day. If you got 16 cars to go thats only 500 each.

Are the gt1 cars older or newer body styles?

Tom in your opinion, would a group of street based musclecars have a good day running at lime rock or the glen, or would cars fall victim to the short runoff area?

Rick how far are you from the bear mountain bridge? We could hook up at the bear mt. show on a wed. nite or you could take the cruise to the long island thing , its the best in the area.

Thanks for the info guys,it would be great to see the old cars run and even better for us to get out there ourselves.

[Rick Dorion]

I'm about 2 hrs from Bear Mtn and want to get there. I used to call the car clubs who had track days and schedule through them.

BTW - at Lime Rock, I would see quite a mix. At the time I had a 240Z but there was everything from Vettes to Saabs!

[vanzuuk1]

Rick I might go tonight but I think we have a monsoon scheduled. I still want to see your rims in person, I am getting close to spending the money.Call me when you get a chance 914 747 9447, ask for Dirk.

[Tom]

The old TransAm cars have run at Lime Rock at the Vintage Festival in the past. But, the sanctioning body likes to mix things up and has not had them back. A-Production and B-Production cars may run this year, but you never know until a couple of weeks before. It’s a long story, but the organizers prefer the more exotic hardware. Plus, it’s not real racing. Grids are set by the Gods, not by lap times. (don’t ask) I have my entry in, but it’s more for promotion than sport.

If you want to see a great event, come to Watkins Glen for the SVRA Zippo Grand Prix on Sept. 9-11th. If you like vintage race cars, this is heaven. (www.svra.com)

The GT-1 cars that I mentioned are shod w/ modern bodywork. Paul Newman had the pole at last year’s SCCA July National. If you are not familiar with the size and power of a modern GT-1 car, you cannot imagine how impressive that is for an 80 year old man to do!

I think you can have fun at either track. You’ll get more bang for your buck at the Glen. The ride from Westchester is not that bad. I did it 2 weeks ago in 4hrs w/ a 2-car trailer in tow. Either way, don’t try to rent the track. Get all your buddies together and hook up with PDA, Track Guys, Trackmasters etc and run with them. Also, check out www.emraracing.org and NASA’s www.americanironracing.com . If you want to race or do time trials, they have more liberal rules packages – run what you brung.

Bear Mtn. is a good event. LOTS of cars…and beer.

[ALLFAITH]

You almost sound like you know something about race cars, are you a professional driver ? Are you the guy with the GT-350 clone that used be to really fast ?

Brad


PS Tom has agreat Shelby race car and can drive

[Tom]

"I know a little."



Thanks Brad.

[vanzuuk1]

Tom Where do you live? I was trying to get some guys to meet at bear mountain, feel free to invite yourself or contact me.

I found out some of whats going on at lime rock, it sounds like the glen is friendlier to the crude american cars.

I spoke to the guys at hudson historics, they are right up the road from me and they invited me up this afternoon to check out their shop.

Tom THANKS for your help, I may hit you with more questions.

The Deniro line you should use is "I know a thing or two about a thing or two"

P.S. I ran the old loudon on a bike, I loved that dumpy track before nascar got to it.

[vintageracer]

The SVRA event in September is lot's of fun. Last year there were 562 race cars. This was the largest Vintage race ever held in North America. About 160 of the cars were MG's as they had there National event in conjunction with "Zippo at the Glen".

Given the amount of cars last year I was VERY impressed at how well the event was run. Track time was good and the racing exciting. I had a great time.

One of the signature evenings at the Glen is the race car show and demonstration in the village of Watkins Glen on Friday evening. Probably 50K people are there. 100 cars from the race are selected to go to the village for a display in the center of THEN acutally run the "OLD" 6 mile long street course. This was a lot of fun. My car was selected as one of the 100 cars invited the evening event. Those guys in the 50's had some BIG BALLS to run those small roads at speed. The old race course crosses a railroad track crossing at one point!

All in all a fun weekend. If you are in the NE and want to see a quality event with "marquis" vintage cars, go to "Zippo at the Glen"!

[Tom]

I live in CT, but own a race engine shop in Brewster, so I go to Bear Mtn. and Marcus Dairy from time to time. Haven’t made it yet this year…just too busy…and lot of rain too.

Gordon and the HH crew are nice guys. He was kind enough to lend us an antenna for our pit radio at the Glen a few weeks back. They prep some incredible cars and do excellent work.

[Little Bob]

If your looking for track time, try to get into a bmwcca or Car Guys school event. Sometime you get into Timetrial events held at the track. Those are the best, because you get to be the only car on the track at the time your run. I know the guys that run the Auto-X event in Bristol, CT hold timetrials at Limerock. One other little piece of info from the races this past weekend. The old track record was broken. The new record is 46 something.

Hope this helps

[Rick Dorion]

Won't be tonight - the wife and I are going to see War of the Worlds

[vanzuuk1]

Tom
Your not doing a ford big block for ken brown are you? , i am going with him this saturday if thats you its a small world.Tim at hudson historics was very nice, he helped me with a few things, very friendly.

Rick
War of the worlds was only so so. Alien war machines awesome, tom cruise not so awesome.My wife fell asleep.See it if you are a sci fi buff but parts of it may dissapoint.

[Tom]

Yes, that's us. We just did Ken's 408 for his Mach.

It is a very small world.

Hope to get a chance to meet you on Saturday.

[vanzuuk1]

Tom Nice to talk to you, my name is Dirk. I will come up with Ken but this saturday I may be installing my hei.

I have a 383 stroker motor that I will have to freshen up eventually, its an rhs motor with some miles on it.

Now get to work on Kens motor! And thanks for the lime rock info.

[ALLFAITH]

For those local TriNy Staters, Tom's shop RED is awesome. They did a Boss 302 for me and several strokers for other guys I know. Eventually when I find a good block they will do a stroker Pontiac for my GTO.

It always seems to rain on Ber Mountain Night.


Brad

[Tom]

Dirk
I'm glad to share the information on Lime Rock.

If you don't make it this weekend with Ken, please stop by the shop anytime. You're always welcome!

Brad
The BOSS project was a fun one. We knew it would run great...it was whether we could make it look as good as the rest of the car that had us nervous. Guess we did OK? Great car.

Thanks for the kind words.