Thoughts on the Barber Historics.....
1. Barber Motorsports Park may be the finest road racing facility in the USA. 2.3 miles of natural terrain race track with plenty of ups and downs. No grandstands to spoil the landscape and all spectator viewing is from the expansive lawns that surround the track. The participant facilities and paved paddock are first class and the bathrooms with showers even brought approval from my wife and daughter with grandson.
2. My first opportunity to attend a Lotus Feature Race Meeting was highly anticipated. 19 Lotus cars were present. Unfortunately only 6 posted for the Sunday all Lotus race.....5 Mk 23s a Mk 51 FF and my Elan.
3. Clearly the star of the event was Chris McAllisters Lotus 49 Chassis R2 the 1967 Dutch Grand Prix winner with World Champion Jim Clark at the wheel. What an amazing car and piece of history.
4. I had a nice visit with Ken Anderson who's photos of the Barber Historics can be viewed on his fine Garagista Website via the link posted earlier in this thread. Thanks to Ken for recording all the great details of the Lotus 49 so that all the ElanNet faithful can see what we saw in Alabama. All that is missing from Ken's great photos is the magnificent sound that comes from the Cosworth DFV in the very car in which the famous engine made its debut in 1967.
5. My first visit to the magnificent Barber Motorsports Museum lasted just 90 minutes during which I was pretty much overwhelmed by the motorcycle history displayed within.....a return visit will be needed for sure. The Lotus cars in the museum are all displayed for easy viewing and that's were I spent most of my time. It is a wonderful collection of early Lotus cars. Thanks to George Barber for sharing his collection of Lotus cars with those who visit his museum.
In 3 weeks time we will be at the SVRA Brickyard Races where the Lotus victory at the 1965 Indy 500 will be celebrated. Perhaps the most significant Lotus car of all time the Type 38 that Jim Clark drove to victory in the 1965 500 will be on display.
seeing Jim Clark's Lotus 38 and Lotus 49 in just 30 days time.....this will be a summer to remember!