A little bit of a wide part in the road, so I thought I'd post an update.
Elkhart Lake Vintage Races were an incredible experience. I was adopted by
Dean Butler's race crew for the weekend. Needless to say, it was stunning
to help unload and assist through tech the following famous race cars some
of which had been shipped over from the UK and been held at the New York
docks. Out of the loaned race car rig emerged a '31 Bugatti Type J1, '56
Cooper bobtail, '34 MG KN special, '34 ERA R1A and '34 MG K3.
The MG Vintage Racers group put on a great dinner on the Friday night,
followed by movies of early Southern California racing on loan from Al Moss.
Unfortunately Al wasn't able to attend, as he had broken his foot loading
his MG TC race car earlier in the week.
The feature races on Sunday were held in cold, pouring rain. Drivers really
showed their mettle as 27 MGs were gridded for the MG feature race. It was
striking to watch the start, as so many MGs from the '34 K3 through a '70
BGT took the green in a snarling pack.
Steve Plater driving a blazing fast MGC on stock wire wheels took the
checkered flag with a best lap of 3:26.069. Bill Hollingsworth showed what
a TC could do in 5th overall with a best lap of 4:04.885. Proof of MGs
racing history was illustrated by Martin Walford in the '34 K3 finishing
10th overall with a best lap of 4:02.316, that's the 5th lowest lap time of
the group!
The last race of the day was the Pre-war class. Alone on the grid was the
'34 ERA R1A of Dean Butler driven by a very damp Martin Walford. The
reputation of American racers was upheld by Mark Brandow who brought up his
'47 TC and convinced George Pardee to stop loading and grid his "54 TF. For
25 minutes Road America was treated to the howl of the supercharged Riley
engined ERA, followed by the battling MGs after a (ahem) polite period of
time.
So that was my weekend. I got to meet lots of great people,
including old friends from Colorado. Great racing, wonderful folks and a
stunningly beautyful track and town.
Now it's back to crawling under my 79 MGB and replacing the fuel
pump for the umpteenth time.
All the best.
Kelvin Dodd.
Ventura, CA
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