Lime Rock Park Historic Festival 2020

September 8, 2020September 9, 2020 fittiLotus72 1526 Views 2020 Lime Rock park Historic Festival, AC, bentley, bugatti, corvette, crossle, elva, ferrari, formula atlantic, Formula Ford, lime rock park, lola, lotus, maserati, mg, morgan, ralt, vintage racing cars

Terrific, even in the time of Covid

It was an interesting Lime Rock Park Historic Festival 2020 over the Labor Day weekend. The Covid epidemic forced this year’s event to be spectator-free. A spectator, vendor or reporter since the 1980s, I have to say that it was weird without all the people. Countless motorheads would watch from the manicured hillside and many other choice viewing areas. Many more milling about the paddock and the parking areas made this a car and people watching event as well. And oh! the incredible cars and motorcycles in the parking areas. It’s a really great event year after year in a really beautiful setting.

This year was different though. All those superlatives above are true about the Lime Rock Park Historic Festival 2020. Except the people part. It was eerily quiet without the fans.

The racing and racing cars are a great show

This year’s event featured a diverse selection of cars. The age of the Ancien Pilotes was ably represented by a 1928 Bugatti and 1950 Alfa 158. The 50s and 60s provided Lotus Super 7, Osca, Devin and Elva cars. Other older race cars of interest included the Jag XKE, Camaro, Corvette, Mustang, Datsuns and lots of Porsches. Bringing us into the modern (yet vintage) era came Ralt, Lola, Shrike, Swift and cars from the German Porsche SuperCup and DTM.

The racing was the usual mix of hard chargers and fast enough to have funs. That’s truly what vintage events are all about. A bunch of drivers sharing their older, colorful, noisy, beautiful and sometimes priceless cars with many of us who never saw them run in their prime. They look great, sound great and even smell great. Race car smells are totally hot.

Just for kicks, demonstration laps were performed by an Alfa TT33 and Peugeot 908 turbo-diesel.

Wait, there’s more!

Sorta vintage and real colorful were the herd of Mazda Miatas competing in a Skip Barber Drivers Club event. If you’ve never witnessed a Miata race, it’s something else altogether. Take a bunch of identical cars, race prep them within strict equalization rules and mix it up. Serious fender to fender action ensues every time. Many drivers will go home with those fenders bent.

Since the cars all resemble each other, the owners go to great lengths with their car’s liveries to stand out. Wraps and all kinds of vinyl colors make an appearance.

Sunday in the Park and Concours

A bonus of the Historic Festival is the Sunday in the Park Show and Concours. Racers and collectors bring out their cars to display for all to admire. Truly old, rare and gorgeous cars fill the curves of the Lime Rock track. You can get up close and personal with many cars you’ve only seen (or never seen) in photos. Limited spectators were allowed in for this part of the event. It was a little subdued but still an absolute treat.

You can see many of the great cars at the Lime Rock Historic Festival 2020 below.

For more info on other Lime Rock events, click here.

See previous Lime Rock Historic Festivals.
More racing action here.