Tiger Vintage Race fans,
I just had to share with you the fantastic racing by one of "Our Own"
at the Steamboat Springs Vintage Auto Race event last weekend.
The Indian summer was running hot and so were the cars, especially the
lone Sunbeam Tiger driven by Pete Sabeff from Denver. Pete was eating
up most of the competition in B-Production which included many
Corvettes and Mustangs.
Pete runs an Mk1a with a 289 which just screams. The car handled the
tight road course like it was on rails. In contrast the Mustangs
looked like they were having all sorts of body roll problems. I don't
think that there was a smaller displacement out there which makes
Pete's fete even more impressive.
Results:
Morning session:
Started 20th
Finished 9th
Afternoon session:
Started 17th
Finished 7th - 3rd in class (BP)!
My heart skipped a beat at least twice in the afternoon session when
Pete made some awesome passes. He took out 2 Vettes in the same lap.
I went down close to the track to take some photos and got a big
surprise. I spotted the Tiger quite a distance behind a Shelby 350
Mustang coming out of turn 2. I set my focus on a closer spot and
mentally readied myself to shoot as soon as I saw the 'stang. Pete
had already passed it so to my surprise I got the shot of the wrong
car! He really was eating them up!
Pete shared with me his 3 points of keeping a Tiger cool:
1) A good (read: BIG) radiator. Pete's got a huge aluminum radiator
tilted at a large angle to fit under the hood.
2) Run the water pump at 1/2 speed. Does anyone know where I can get
a pulley set up like this?
3) Force all the air into the path of the radiator. He's got some
formed sheet metal guiding all available air towards the huge
radiator.
As with all the race cars there, they don't run fans since they are
driving much faster than we (at least I) do on the street.
The weekend was a great event with Concours (missed the show - anyone
else there?) and Art activities (bought a great signed Ferrari print
for $20), even if they weren't all related to Tigers.
Regrettably, this may be the last one of these in Steamboat. A local
store keeper told me that the Sheraton Hotel there has complained to
the town board about lost revenues during the event. The current
track layout circles this hotel and restricts auto access during the
races and practices. One can only hope that a solution can be found.
Many other store owners told me that the race brings in healthy
business for this time of the year.
Your track-side reporter,
Frank Bonifazi
B9472682LRXFE
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