LAKEVILLE, Conn., Aug. 29-Sept. 2 — The cars are always the stars at Lime Rock Park during its annual Historic Festival, but the people behind them — whether racers or collectors — are feted as well.

John Fitch, Sam Posey, Stirling Moss and Paul Newman have been so honored. This year, Skip Barber joined them.

Celebration of “the Year of Skip Barber” kicked into high gear last May during Lime Rock’s Trans Am Memorial Day Classic, when the landmark Timing & Scoring Tower was officially renamed the Skip Barber Tower in an emotional ceremony. It continued on Labor Day weekend during the 42nd Historic Festival, with Governor Ned Lamont officially declaring Saturday, August 31st, as Skip Barber Day in the State of Connecticut.

Joining the Governor on the podium with Barber were Sen. Richard Blumenthal, who came with a proclamation from the U.S. Senate honoring Barber (“approved by an overwhelming bipartisan majority, and that doesn’t happen much these days,” quipped Blumenthal), and State Representative Maria Horn, following up with a similar proclamation from the Connecticut State Legislature.

People who know Lime Rock Park are well acquainted with the name Skip Barber as owner, up until recently, of the circuit. They probably know about his Racing School, started in the mid-1970s at Lime Rock and Thompson Speedway, and may be aware of him assembling a group of investors (all Racing School graduates) to take ownership of the track to protect it from real estate developers in the 1980s.

But they may not know of Barber’s deep and abiding connection with British cars, which is also worth celebrating.

Barber won his first club race in an Austin-Healey Bugeye Sprite — and it was at Lime Rock. He bested Jim Clark in his first professional race at Mosport in Canada in 1963, both men driving Lotus 23s. In the 1970s he turned to formula race cars, including the British-built, Cosworth-powered March 701 Formula One car on display in Lime Rock’s A Paddock during this year’s Historic Festival.

Today that connection continues. Though he’s been retired from racing for many years, the team Skip Barber Racing is campaigning an Aston Martin Vantage GT4 in IMSA’s Michelin Pilot Challenge series with drivers Will Lambros and Ken Fukuda.

In addition to recognizing Barber’s role in establishing and maintaining Lime Rock’s good relations with the local community — he and his wife live in nearby Sharon, Conn. — on his special day, the Historic Festival followed its usual formula: vintage race car and sports car drive on Thursday, practice on Friday, and racing on Saturday and Monday.

Cars and drivers took a breather on Sunday, when the weekend’s organizers staged a “Sunday in the Park” Concours d’Elegance and Gathering of the Marques that attracted well over 700 vehicles — cars, trucks and motorcycles.

All events were well attended by participants, racing fans and the general public.

The races

British manufacturers from Austin-Healey to Van Diemen were represented in eight of the nine groups racing on Saturday and Monday (the remaining group featured Porsche 911s exclusively). The racing machinery ranged from Formula Juniors to swoopy sports prototypes, with fan favorites popping up in the prewar/early postwar, under 2-litre and “tin top” groups.

Ford was this year’s featured marque, and there were several Formula Fords and two Lotus Cortinas on the track. David Porter’s 1965 Lotus Cortina duked it out in all four races with Mike Agnifilo’s 1972 Datsun PL510, with Porter claiming victory in the Saturday morning and Monday afternoon sessions and Agnifilo Saturday afternoon and Monday morning.

Porter also drove a 1975 TOJ SC205, German-built and BMW-powered, in the “wings/slicks & Formula Ford” group, finishing as runner-up and winner respectively in the Saturday races, but retiring after completing only 11 laps in the third race on Monday. However, he went home with the Spirit of Lime Rock Award, voted on by his fellow racers, the Historic Festival Committee, and the VSCCA and VRG.

Premium watch manufacturer Autodromo presented the award to Porter, and gave out additional “spirit” awards to drivers in each racing group. Among those honored were Robert Hoemke, 1962 Cooper T59 Edward Callo, 1947 MG TC Kurt Uzbay, 1962 Lotus 23 and Mitchell Eitel, 1975 Chevron B31.

Another special award came from the Piston Foundation, which supports training for young people in vintage car restoration and maintenance through scholarships at technical schools and apprenticeship programs. David Lindy won the Foundation’s Piston Technician Award in recognition of his work with Mitchell Eitel, preparing Eitel’s Chevron for competition and managing his racing program in various series including the VSCCA, SVRA, HSR and VRG.

There were several members of British Marque’s Participating Clubs racing this weekend. Among them were Chris Towner, 1951 Morgan Plus 4, from VSCCA Stu Forer, 1958 Turner 950S, from JANE Butch O’Connor, 1959 MGA, from MGCC-CJC and James Juhas, 1957 MGA Coupe, from the Connecticut MG Club.

Not racing himself but helping to manage a racing program was Pete Sturtevant from the AHCA New England Region. The car involved was a lightweight (for competition) 1959 Austin-Healey BN7 with an aluminum body and hardtop. It was allowed to run in two groups, over 2 litre and under 2 litre, when race officials reviewed each driver’s lap times and level of experience.

The Healey and its drivers, Jack Rawles and Andy Inglis, came from England and were on their way to the AHCA Conclave in Elkhart Lake, Wisc., with laps in store at Road America.

Rawles did quite well in his group, competing against Lotus 7s, a Triumph TR250 and Huffaker TR7, Lotus 23s, an Aston Martin DB4 and a Datsun 240Z, among others. The team did not run on Monday, but on Saturday he placed 6th in the first race and 5th in the second out of 26 on the field. Not bad for a first-timer at Lime Rock.

Also not racing but very much a presence that weekend was Ernie Steubesand, who up until a few years ago had his familiar #110 Lotus 7 running with the best of them at Lime Rock — famously in a race one year in the pouring rain when the only other driver daring to be on the track was his friend Stu Forer (Ernie won). Ernie now conducts paddock tours during the Historic Festival weekend and introduces fans to drivers he has known for years, much to the delight of everyone. It was great catching up with him, his wife Erica and his friend Phil Roettjer, and sharing some time with them watching the races.

Vintage racing, like modern motorsports, is not without drama. That started during practice on Friday, when Thomas Donatelli’s 1964 Ginetta G4 and James Goodson III’s 1962 Lotus Super 7 collided and ended the weekend early for both. Other casualties during the Historic Festival included James Trudeau’s 1963 Triumph Spitfire, Michael Barstow’s 1953 MG TD, and James Glass’ 1965 Corvette. No serious driver injuries were reported.

Jack Busch had a great weekend in Donovan Motorsports’ #61 car, a 1967 Jaguar E-type OTS, running 2nd in his group on Saturday and then winning both races on Monday. Depending on the session, he battled a Datsun 240Z, Corvette, or Porsche 911 for the lead. The outcome was called a “fitting tribute” to the Jag’s original driver, Bob Hebert, who passed away a week prior to this event.

Hebert’s name is still on the driver’s door.

Sunday in the Park

It’s always a challenge to get all the way around the track to take in Sunday in the Park. The Concours d’Elegance starts at bottom of the Downhill and stretches to the end of the Sam Posey Straight. The Gathering of the Marques begins at Big Bend and terminates at the opposite end, at West Bend.

Naturally you could sprint past all the vehicles on display without stopping, but then you’d miss the best part of the event — talking to the people showing them.

Understandably this writer’s focus was on the British cars, and there were a slew of interesting ones in the Concours. Standouts included Nick Soprano’s 1967 Ford GT40 MkII, Gerald Lettieri’s 1949 Allard J2, Kurt Uzbay’s 1963 AC Shelby Cobra Le Mans Roadster, Richard King’s 1925 Vauxhall 30/98, Jay Miller’s 1909 Rolls-Royce 40/50 Silver Ghost, and Benjamin Levy’s 1965 Ford GT40 MkI. All came home with awards.

Stunning as these all were, I was drawn to Marc Evans’ 1952 Dellow MkIIB Trials car, a supercharged, four-cylinder, 1172cc Ford-engined machine not known for its good looks but for its success in the rugged and very British sport called, like the car, “Trials” — hillclimbs and obstacle courses run on muddy farm roads where traction and endurance were key.

The Dellow had gobs of both. Evans’ placard in front of the car described it as “the epitome of ‘basic’,” but maybe that’s where its true beauty lay.

Evans was interviewed by “the voice of Lime Rock Park,” commentator Greg Rickes, and revealed that despite the Dellow’s very humble origins — essentially scrap from World War II, including old rocket casings used for the chassis — the car has proven remarkably durable. Enthusiasts believe that 90% of the Dellows produced still exist, “on the road, in the mud, or in pieces.”

Evans is a member of the U.K. Dellow Registry, which called to mind the late Alex Tarpinian, the car dealer who managed the North American Dellow Registry for many years and aligned it with British Marque as a Participating Club. That chapter of the Registry is no longer active and the main contact now is with the club in England.

Outside the Concours and within the Gathering of the Marques, the space allotted for British cars was along the esses just north of the Paul Newman Straight. Generally speaking it was a hodgepodge of different makes and models parked next to each other, though the 3/4 Morgan Group staked out and managed a line of their cars together, as did a handful of Minis and maybe a dozen Lotus.

The Concours awards ceremony came shortly after 1 p.m. The John Fitch Trophy went to David Greenlees and his 1914 Mercer 35-J race car, a remarkable example of preservation. Best in Show d’Elegance was awarded to Paul Tacy and his 1937 Packard 1508, and Best in Show Sport to Lawrence Auriana and his 1950 Ferrari 166MM.

No, they weren’t British, but they were dazzling.

[With thanks to Amy Greenway, Greg Clark and all the support staff of Lime Rock Park.]

BOWMANVILLE, Ont., July 12-14 — Sometimes things just go right, even when at first it seems they are going wrong. Despite an electrical glitch during practice, it all came together for the Heart of Racing Team’s GTD entry during IMSA’s Chevrolet Grand Prix at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park, beginning with driver Spencer Pumpelly delivering a front row seat during qualifying and teammate Roman De Angelis bring home the win on race day.

Last year De Angelis, who hails from Windsor, Ont., and considers CTMP his home track, set a record here during GTD qualifying in the team’s #27 Aston Martin Vantage GT3. This year Pumpelly broke that record with the new Evo Aston by just shy of a tenth of a second, though he was ultimately bested for pole position by Vasser Sullivan’s Frankie Montecalvo in his #12 Lexus RC F GT3.

During the two-hour, 40-minute race, however, after lap 4 when Pumpelly overtook Montecalvo, it was all Spencer Pumpelly (except for the usual pit rotations) — and then, all Roman De Angelis. This included a flawless driver change when Pumpelly handed #27 over to De Angelis, who exited the pits still in the lead.

Said Pumpelly after the race, “The car was awesome. The team was awesome. I knew as soon as I gave Roman the car it was a done deal, and just kind of relaxed the rest of the way. Roman nailed it, and the guys were awesome in the pit box.”

This was the first GTD victory this season for Heart of Racing. Their sister car, the #23 Aston piloted by Ross Gunn and Mario Farnbarcher, placed 5th in GTD Pro. That car, it will be remembered, won the class at Watkins Glen in June. The result at CTMP was good enough to push the team into 2nd place in championship points.

With a win and a top-five finish for the Astons, it was a pretty good day for British machinery. It was made all the sweeter by a podium finish in GTD by Inception Racing’s #70 McLaren 720S GT3 Evo, with driver Frederik Schandorff moving up through the field and grabbing and holding 3rd place in the race’s final seven minutes.

Another car to watch at CTMP — and in its plaid livery, special for this race, how could it be missed? — was Pfaff Motorsports’ #9 McLaren entry in GTD Pro.

Pfaff was celebrating two anniversaries, its 50th IWSC race and the 60th year since the founding of the Pfaff dealership group in 1964. With a 2nd-place finish at Watkins Glen just behind it, the Canadian team was looking forward to a good result on their home turf.

An unfortunately long pit stop caused by a seized wheel lug dropped driver Oliver Jarvis several positions, but he was able to regain position and finished right after Ross Gunn in the #23 Aston. Not top five, but 6th, which Jarvis after the race said was “disappointing” considering all the Pfaff fans that had shown up at CTMP, wearing plaid, to root for them. It was still good for 274 championship points.

A three-class race

Easing track traffic somewhat was the absence of GTP prototypes, the fastest cars (though not necessarily the nimblest) in a typical IWSC race. The “top” class at CTMP was Le Mans Prototype 2, and nearly all the entries were Oreca LMP2 07s. As British Marque readers know, all the cars in that class are powered by U.K.-built Gibson V8 engines, as opposed to the GTPs, which have engines of various configurations from proprietary manufacturers — Porsche, Acura, Cadillac, or BMW.

But there was still plenty of traffic, with the slower GT cars often presenting “rolling chicanes” for the prototypes to work around, and GT drivers constantly watching their rear view mirrors for fast-approaching LMP2s.

The mix of classes had other impacts as well. The crash of one of the LMP2s into the tire wall at Turn 9 in the last quarter-hour of the race led to a short caution period for everyone that was either welcomed or cursed by the GT crews — a chance for a last-minute dash into the pits for some, and a lost opportunity for others to run full-throttle and maybe gain position.

After seven-and-a-half minutes the race returned to green. The white flag waved for the leaders on their last lap, and then the checkered.

The overall victory went to Nick Boulle and Tom Dillman, in Inter Europol’s #52 Oreca LMP2 07. Alexander Sims and Antonio Garcia grabbed the GTD Pro win in Corvette Racing’s #3 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R, and, as already mentioned, it was Spencer Pumpelly and Roman De Angelis in Heart of Racing’s #27 Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo in GTD.

Corvette Racing also took 2nd in GTD Pro with their #4 car, breaking the jinx about naming IMSA races after manufacturers — in case you remember how the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach and the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix turned out.

[With thanks to IMSA commentator John Oreovicz, IMSA Radio, the Heart of Racing Team, and Lee Driggers’ Pit Notes.]

ELKHART LAKE, Wisc., Aug. 4 — The 2024 edition of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship keeps going from strength to strength, with British machinery and British drivers the motivating force.

The latest IWSC session was at Road America and called the IMSA Sports Car Weekend. The overall win was taken in dramatic fashion by the Porsche Penske 963 piloted by British driver Nick Tandy and France’s Mathieu Jaminet, who finished just ahead of their Penske sister car.

In LMP2, it was a British team (United Autosports) taking their first IMSA win, with American Ben Keating and Manchester, England native Ben Hanley sharing the driving duties.

In GTD Pro, Ferrari took top honors, with BMW 2nd — but the Heart of Racing Team’s Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo completed the podium.

In GTD, BMW came out on top, with Inception Racing’s McLaren 720S Evo taking 2nd and the popular “Roxy” Porsche, resplendent in pink and sporting dinosaur teeth, finishing 3rd. Heart of Racing’s GTD entry placed 9th, a disappointment after taking the class win at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park in July.

The details

For the United Autosports’ “two Bens” (Keating and Hanley), the LMP2 victory was all the more sweet considering the work the team had to do to even get into the race after Keating heavily damaged the #2 machine in practice. The team repaired the car in time for qualifying, and then the two drivers put in an excellent combo drive to lead most of the race, and most importantly be in the front at the finish.

Ben Hanley said in a post-race interview, “Around here, a gap of four or five seconds can go away in a lap. It depends on when you are catching the GT traffic. That can make or break your race around here. I was still pushing hard right to the end.”

Heart of Racing’s GTD Pro podium was a mix of good pit strategy and luck. Alex Riberas started the #23 Aston in 8th place, a position he held until he pitted for fuel on lap 9 under a full-course caution. Gaining position in the scramble, he passed the car on to Ross Gunn on lap 28, who got a full tank of fuel and new tires.

There were multiple caution periods throughout the two-hour, 40-minute race. During the third caution, Gunn was called to pit lane for a splash of fuel and collided with another GTD Pro car that was pulling out of its pit box. Gunn was forced to pass his own pit box, unable to get fuel. Bad luck? Not really. The other car was assessed a penalty for the incident, and when the race restarted Gunn found himself in 2nd place.

There were two more yellows to come, which slackened the pace of the field and stretched fuel supplies. Gunn later commented that for him that was fortunate, as #23 was “very, very tight on fuel.”

Heart of Racing’s GTD team, Zach Robichon and Roman De Angelis, started strong with an excellent qualifying run by Robichon that placed their #27 Aston 2nd. Pit rotations worked against them on race day, however, and by the time De Angelis took over #27 was running 7th. Their misfortune continued when De Angelis had contact with a GTD Pro cars on at least two occasions and then had to deal with a steering issue.

A late call into the pits for new tires during the race’s final caution had De Angelis restarting 11th, but he was able to gain two positions by race’s end.

Inception Racing’s Brendan Iribe meanwhile benefited from an excellent pit stop and exit during the second caution period, even gaining praise from IMSA commentator Shea Adam for gaining a couple of GTD positions.

Iribe’s co-driver, Frederik Schandorff, drove most of his race in 3rd place, which changed when the leading Ferrari had a lengthy pit stop in the last 23 minutes of the race. This boosted Schandorff’s McLaren into 2nd and a Lexus into the lead. But a BMW then passed the McLaren, the Lexus had to pit at the last minute for fuel, and the shuffle brought the McLaren once again to 2nd, where it finished behind the BMW.

A record crowd

The race at Road America, “America’s National Park of Speed,” certainly built upon the fantastic season of racing that started in January at Daytona and will conclude at Petit Le Mans in October. A record crowd showed up to watch the cars and drivers of IMSA compete on the 4.08-mile, natural-terrain road course that winds up and down the hills around the picturesque village of Elkhart Lake.

The weather was perfect all weekend, if a bit hot, but for once there was no rain to interfere with the racing action that took place on a course that many, if not most, of the IMSA drivers list as their favorite in the United States.

Now we are getting down to the end of the 2024 IMSA racing season, with three rounds remaining for the GT classes (VIR, Indianapolis and Petit Le Mans), and only two left for the prototype classes, GTP and LMP2 (Indianapolis and Petit Le Mans).

Championships are still up for grabs in all classes, with Aston Martin in a solid 2nd place among manufacturers in both GTD Pro and GTD, and Heart of Racing driver Ross Gunn 2nd among drivers. Anything is liable to happen in the final races of the season and the outcome might not be determined until the last lap of Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta on October 12th.

We are looking forward to seeing how this year’s IWSC plays out in the coming weeks. There is a chance that we could see British drivers come out on top of all the class championships: GTP, LMP2, GTD Pro and GTD. Stay tuned.

[With thanks to the Heart of Racing Team, IMSA Radio, and Lee Driggers’ Pit Notes.]

WATKINS GLEN, N.Y., Jun. 22-23 — The Heart of Racing Team finished at the top of IMSA’s GTD Pro class at the 2024 running of the Sahlen’s Six Hours of the Glen — marking the first North American victory for their new Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo.

The team played the strategy just right and took over the class lead on the last lap of the race when the class-leading #4 Corvette Z06 GT3.R driven by Tommy Milner had to peel off and into the pits for a splash of fuel at the beginning of the last lap.

Ross Gunn in the winning Aston Martin knew the Corvette was low on fuel and kept the pressure on, forcing the Corvette’s hand and grabbing the lead at the very last moment.

Gunn commented later than he and the team knew it was “really important not to take any unnecessary risks, but if there was a chance, take it” — and so he did.

“I could see that whenever [Milner in the Corvette] had a tiny gap, he was lifting and coasting in Turn 8 and Turn 1. I just made sure I pressed him as hard as I could. In the end, it was enough.”

While Heart of Racing took the top spot in GTD Pro, their sister car, running in the GTD class, failed to finish after getting caught out on slick tires when a sudden rainstorm quickly flooded the circuit. The #27 Aston slid off the track and was hit by another GTD car in the process. With left front suspension damage and lots of body damage, driver Zacharie Robichon made it back to the pits but the Aston’s day was done.

The huge rainstorm caught a lot of the competitors by surprise, and cars were sliding off all around the 3.4-mile historic Grand Prix circuit. Drivers had difficulty keeping up with the safety car as they followed it under yellow, on slicks, and spins and slides continued. It actually got so bad that the race was red-flagged for some 40 minutes so the flooded track could drain.

The skies eventually cleared, the track dried — and it set up a mad 16-minute dash to the finish.

It turned out to be a good day for British marques in GTD Pro. Not only did Aston Martin snag the win, McLaren finished 2nd. Pfaff Motorsports’ #9 McLaren 720S GT3 Evo, driven by Marvin Kirchhöffer, came in just 1.34 seconds behind Ross Gunn.

Said Kirchhöffer’s co-driver Oliver Jarvis, “It was a fantastic result for the team. Coming into the race, we knew it was going to be difficult, not having the outright pace of our competitors, but as usual the team did an outstanding job: perfect strategy and a little bit of luck got us to the podium, getting some good points.

“For us, the turning point was the downpour,” Jarvis added. “We were on a slightly different strategy than everyone in front, and when the heavens opened, at one point it looked like it was going to hurt us. But as the track dried, our slicks on the restart were key, allowing us to move up a number of positions.

“It was a small reward for all the hard work the team put in. Now we look forward to our home race and hopefully fight for a win there.”

Also in the mix for the Six Hours were the #44 Magnus Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo, finishing 4th in GTD, and the #70 Inception Racing McLaren 720S GT3 Evo, finishing 14th in GTD.

Inception’s McLaren led the class for 22 laps at the hands of driver Ollie Millroy but lost several positions after the restart following the red flag. While winding up 14th, Millroy’s co-driver Frederik Schandorff failed to meet the minimum driver time and the car was moved to last place in class (21st) by race officials.

Meeting a similar fate was the 2nd-placed #120 Porsche 911 GT3R of Wright Motorsports and driver Jan Heylen. Dropping that car to the back of the GTD field elevated the Magnus Aston to 3rd and the podium.

As the man said, it’s not over till it’s over.

Next up for the IMSA WeatherTech series: Canadian Tire Motorsports Park, July 14th. That’s the home track for Pfaff Motorsports, which explains Jarvis’ comment about their “home race.” Read the September issue for more.

[With thanks to John Dagys, Sportscar365, for the post-race results update, and Lee Driggers’ Pit Notes.]