Lime Rock Vintage Festival 2015

[CBUEB1771]

I drove out to Lime Rock with Gary Anderson on Friday for the first day of the Labor Day weekend vintage festival. The entry seemed a bit sparse this year but there was a fair number of Elans and it is always good to catch up with friends I only see once per year. Unfortunately not many on track images as I took most before the Elan-centric group went out for its first practice session. The one on track image is Clark Lance lining up the very late apex of the first corner of the esses. We also have Gary and Clark chewing the fat, and the Elans of Alan Tosler (01), Thomas Walko (30), Dave LeBrun (65) and Bob Leitzinger (99).

[gjz30075]

Thanks for posting, Russ. I like the stripe on Clark's car, with the 'Team Lance' thing. Very historic.

[memini55]

Russ great to see you and the old dude, Gary got out to see some fun. Really nice to see the Elan's!
Thanks for posting the pictures

[elj221c]

Russ great to see you and the old dude, Gary got out to see some fun.

Good to see the 'Old Boy' still out and about.

Good pictures , by the way.

[pharriso]

I went yesterday... Saw nobody! Clark was gone... Dave was gone... 95 degrees....

[CBUEB1771]

I went yesterday... Saw nobody! Clark was gone... Dave was gone... 95 degrees....

Phil, All I can say is that most of my vintage racer friends always recommend that I get to the event before the first practice session on the first day, after that there is no guaranty that their lovely racer will still be working! Not good news about Clark being gone, he has had a very good season to date with no DNFs. He must have had a mechanical problem.

[lance54]

Fortunately no mechanical problem here just 95 degrees and a crew who preferred to get home before midnight so we passed on the 5:00 PM Monday race.

We completed 3 of the 4 Group 8 races. In 24 car field of 14 Porsches (911 & 914/6), 4 Elans, 3 Datsuns, 2 Alfa GTVs and 1 BMW I had a 12th place car.

Alan Tolser in Elan #01 was super super fast winning the Monday AM race overall from a 3rd row start....he vanquished all the Stuttgart Panzers with 2 911s less that 1 second behind.

In Group 5 Bob Leitzinger Elan #99 placed 3rd, 4th and 5th among a strong field of Lotus 23s and Elva Mk7s while Robert Bodin placed mid-pack in the mostly Sports Racer field in his 26R 26-S2-29.

While not piloting his Lotus 69 Formula Ford and March 79B Formula Atlantic David Porter from Darien CT took First Place in Class in the Sunday in the Park Concours with is lovely 1970 Lotus Elan S4 SE/Sprint.

2015 Lime Rock Historic is now history....a weekend filled with Family, Friends and Fun.

And oh I should also mention the presence of Sir Stirling Moss and his #722 Mercedes Benz 300 SLR that he drove to perhaps the greatest road racing victory in history....the 1955 Mille Miglia. 1,000 miles of Italian public roads in ten hours and seven minutes, averaging 98.53 mph over the 992-mile circuit.....a Legend Indeed.

The Esses at Lime Rock with Alan Tosler pressuring the top 5 Porsches.....

The Downhill Turn at Lime Rock...a genuine Bum Puckering corner....

[lance54]

Race 1 Lap 1.
Race 2 Laps 1,2.
Race 3 Laps 1,2,3.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKMQwjO4qVE

[pharriso]

Finally managed to download pictures from my camera.

So as to not duplicate what's been posted already, here is Robert Bodin's 26R 26-S2-29:

David Porter's S4:

And a beautiful Eleven:

[lance54]

Thanks to Russ and Phil for providing photos of the six Elans racing at the 2015 Lime Rock Historics.

It should be noted that fellow Elan owner and highly successful historic racer David Porter is now the outright Lap Record Holder for the Watkins Glen Short (NASCAR) Course. Back in July at the SVRA US Vintage Grand Prix David drove his 2007 Pescarolo Judd to victory with a fastest lap of 1:05.4 minutes and average speed of
135 MPH. Congratulations David.

David's lovely Elan Sprint along with the Elans of Greg Zelazek and Phil Harrison are still featured on the ElanNet Homepage (photo from the 2013 50 Years in USA event at Lime Rock Park).

[SJ Lambert]

Nice Elans!

Sorry to go OT -but Lime Rock was a second home (to Watkins Glen) to my open wheeler from 68 to around 1970!

I'd love to see any period shots of it in the hands of either Phil Hotchkiss or Chuck Krueger (both Upstate New Yorkers!!)