vintage racing

Always fun to feature a bit of vintage racing, so our video this week is for the Walter Mitty in all of us and features the recent SVRA Drivers School at Roebling Road near Savannah, Georgia. New to this year’s schedule was an SVRA drivers school. 2017 1ST National Drivers’ School in Savannah & Bob Williams Heritage Cup at Roebling Road Raceway – Bloomingdale, Georgia. The weekend school is designed to provide prospective vintage racers an accelerated, cost-effective path to getting a vintage racing license, whilst coming away from the track ready to go wheel-to-wheel racing. The entire weekend pays homage to “old school” vintage racing and events with throwback races and low-pressure club feel. For those of you who may be interested in vintage racing, and I highly recommend at least getting to a race as a spectator some time, you can find […]

The MG Vintage Racers Newsletter is celebrating its 35th anniversary this December 2016. It has been around longer than many vintage racing organizations! The newsletter was founded in December 1981 by MGTD racer Greg Prehodka, with 40 MG vintage racers, as a way for them to stay in touch with each other and to share information. Today its ranks include over 250 MG racers in North America. It is a grassroots newsletter, sans advertising, just for MG racers. It was awarded Moss Motors “Journalism Award” in 1995. In July of this year, MGVR celebrated its 35th anniversary at the Waterford Hills Historic Races in Michigan, where MGVR also celebrated its 20th anniversary “Focus Event”.

Our Video of the Week this go-round comes from the vintage racing circuit. Vintage racing is great, and classic British sportscar racing is even better. So take a look at the new racing course in Palmer, Massachusetts, from the view of George Pardee racing his MGTF there. For a brief overview of historic MG racing, make sure to check out the MG Vintage Racers website. We were unable to get to Waterford Hills, but did try out the spectacular new course at Palmer, MA with VSCCA/VRG. The video from our street equipped TF1250 stars Peter Ross and Jim Warren (MGA) two true gentleman drivers, and features a brilliant start by Mark Sherman. — George & Nick Pardee This video is from the The Whiskey Hill Classic at in July of 2016.

This just in from Greg Prehodka MG Vintage Racers. I just wanted to let you know that annual awarding of the MG Vintage Racers’ “Bill Parish Master of Speed Deception Award” that Ford Heacock of Heacock Classic Car Insurance established with MGVR years ago in Bill’s memory, continues! There have been so many deserving recipients of this award over the years! At the MGVR “Focus Event” at Waterford Hills, Michigan the end of July, MG racer Mark Brandow was awarded it as the MG racer “Having the most fun!” Mark’s MG vintage racing goes back to the 70’s, and he was a founding member of MGVR in 1981. He races both an MGTC and an MGA, and lives in Minnesota . Mark always has a smile on his face, helps other MG racers, and has great MG spirit! I’m sure if […]

The Historic Motor Sports Association (HMSA) and Bonhams today announced a new series for under 2 Liter sports racing cars built between 1950 and 1962 to take place at the HMSA’s Barber Historics and The Sommet des Legends in 2016. The U2 series will feature the “giant killer” sports racing cars from the 1950’s such as the Lotus 11, Lola Mk1, Maserati 200S(I), Ferrari 500TR(C), Ferrari 196 Dino SP and Porsche 550/RSK/RS60-62. Drivers will be competing both on and off the track with awards given for race results and best “giant killer” performance, as well as the most period correct car on the grid and for the person and or team who best exhibits the spirit of the 1950’s sports racing scene. “At Bonhams we see the world’s best collectable automobiles at our auctions every year,” commented Mark Osborne. “The […]

Jaguar announced today that it has entered into a partnership with the Sportscar Vintage Racing Association (SVRA) to introduce its newest high performance models to some of the nation’s most fervent automotive enthusiasts. The partnership will feature seven Jaguar-sponsored SVRA races throughout the US starting with a Gold Medallion Invitational at the Sonoma Raceway on May 28-31. The Gold Medallion program aims to protect the integrity of these vintage vehicles by maintaining and racing them as they were prepared in period. At each of the seven events, Jaguar will offer consumers the opportunity to test the dynamic performance of the newest additions to the Jaguar line-up including the 550-hp Jaguar F-TYPE R AWD1. Activities will include an autocross track specially designed by the Jaguar Performance driving team.

Billed as the largest British car gathering west of the Mississippi, the Portland All-British Field Meet regularly draws well over 800 cars for the weekend long event. This year the meet will be held Friday, August 29 through Sunday, August 31, 2014. The weekend kicks off with the Friday Welcome Party, followed by the Saturday car show, which includes a BBQ, a slalom competition, People’s Choice balloting, a Funkhana, a huge photo concours, a Best in Show designation and a Land Rover Adventure Ride sponsored  by the Pacific Coast Rover Club. Sunday’s activities include a Rallye, a swap meet and an off road excursion for registered Land Rovers. In conjunction with the event, SOVREN will be holding the Columbia River Classic vintage races. SOVREN, the Society Of Vintage Racing ENthusiasts, is a Seattle based non-profit racing organization with members throughout Washington, Oregon, […]

Planning for the 10th Annual Hilton Head Island Motoring Festival & Concours d’Elegance is underway. This is one of the most prestigious events on the East Coast, and 2011 is shaping up to be know different. This year they will again host events at two different venues. As in last year, the two different venues will be on two separate weekends. The Savannah Speed Classic will be held Friday, October 28 – Sunday, October 30 on Savannah’s Hutchinson Island at the Westin Savannah Harbor Golf Resort & Spa. This is a sanctioned event of the Historic Sportscar Racing, Ltd (HSR). The remainder of the Motoring Festival’s events will take place again at the Coastal Discovery Museum at Honey Horn on Saturday, November 5 and Sunday, November 6. With the two locations split between two different weekends, volunteers are encouraged to […]

A delectable line-up of Lister Jaguars – the Cambridge-built sports cars that took the big manufacturers on at their own game and won – will be showcased at this year’s Race Retro, held at Stoneleigh Park, Coventry from 12-14 March. Examples of the earliest models – including founder Brian Lister’s first car, through the classic Lister ‘knobbly’ and Costin-bodied models and onto the 1990s Storm, which saw the name’s revival, will be reunited with the man behind the marque. Their appearance coincides with a book written by highly-regarded Jaguar enthusiast Paul Skilleter, which chronicles the company’s sports cars, their founder Brian Lister and their successes during the late-1950s. Closely associated with driver Archie Scott-Brown, Listers originally used MG and Bristol engines, but the switch to Jaguar engines and the shape of the car, dubbed ‘knobbly’, brought the company unparalleled success […]

April 30th through May 3rd, 2009, marks the return of The Mitty to Road Atlanta in Georgia. I first attended the event about 25 years ago when it was still called The Walter Mitty Challenge. At that time the vintage racing group SVRA was still knows as teh Southern Vintage Racing Association. Times have changed. The event is now just called “The Mitty”, the SVRA is now the Sportscar Vintage Racing Association, and the event is now part of the HSR – Historic Sportscar Racing series. Oh, and I now am married, have kids, and am supposedly a responsible adult. But best of all I am actually going back to enjoy the festivities! With Classic Motorsports Magazine hosting the event, this year looks to be the best one ever. For 2009 Jaguar is the featured marque at The Mitty, dozens […]