Don't know if any other listers where there, but Road Atlanta hosted the
SVRA Atlanta Vintage Grand Prix last weekend.
This was my first time out to the track, and I drove my newly acquired '71
Spitfire MKIV out there. It is about 30 miles, some highway, some nice,
twisty country backroads.
The Spitfire had been running great, so I figured what the heck! I loaded
up a college buddy, and off we went (he owns a Sprite, and was envious of
my recent purchase). The weather had been sort of cool and rainy all week,
but proved to be sunny and '60-65 on Sunday - perfect cruising weather!
We took the highway out, and were passed by just about everyone - even a
Huyndai!
(gotta get that new Cam...)
Once we got off the highway, though, it was a different story! The 1296
really pulled well, and we had a blast on the country roads. Went by
Chateau Elan, a really nice French style winery, and the site of the
British Car Show held here once a year. A few more miles, and we arrived
at the track.
It was a sports car fanatics dream! Among the many cars there were a
Ferrari 250, Ferrari Daytona convertible, Lotus Esprit v-8, Mini-Coopers,
Lotus Super-7's, a '63 Cobra, an early Stingray corvette (Gran Sport?), a
Yenko Stinger, some super Jaguar XKE's, Elva Couriers, Ford/Lotus
Cortina's, v-8 Allards, a '69 Ford Escort (English) and many more (I'll
remember more when I develop the 4 rolls of film that I took!).
We watched the first race, and saw a great duel between a square-bodied AH
Sprite and an early Spitfire. The Spit tried to pass the Sprite the whole
race, and would just about make it - when the Sprite would cut him off.
Made for a very entertaining race! I had to root for the Spit, of course,
if I had any hopes of making it home that day...
Then we watched a spectacular duel between an XKE convertible and a Shelby
GT-350 Mustang. The Mustang had a much larger engine, but just couldnt'
catch the well prepared Jag.
Another great race was between an early Formula car and a GTP Porsche.
Those guys can really go!
One of the last races that we watched featured a very fast TR8 fixed head -
white with neon-green stripes down the sides. It didn't win, maybe came in
5th, but was very, very fast - beat a lot of bigger displacement Camaros,
Mustangs, Corvettes and a Ford Falcon!
The featured marque this year was Lotus, so they had an all-Lotus fun run -
neat to see so many Loti in one place. Too bad, though - a guy drove a
nice hard-top Elan off the course and had to be dragged back.
The coolest part was when a guy flew a WWII vintage RAF fighter plane over
the course. He followed the same track the cars did, and it was quite a
sight seeing a pack of cars heading into a corner, with a plane banking
above them about 100 feet up!
Saw some excellent examples of street LBC's, as well. Someone had a
concours Deep Purple/Burgundy (almost looked black - NICE) chrome-bumper
MGB w/knockoffs and a biscuit top. Some nice Mini-Coopers, two very nice
XKE hard tops (one burgundy, one red), and a nice silver/grey XK-140. Also
saw a nice BRG Jensen Healey, a nice white early Spitfire, a few
Mini-Mokes, and a nice green wire-wheel MGB. It looked like a
rubber-bumper MGB was having trouble right at the gravel parking lot, near
where I parked 'Ol Smokey.
Anyone in/around Atlanta? Listers? Bueller?
Fueled with the spirit and enthusiasm of racing, we took the long way home,
winding through the Georgia countryside. While crossing a four-way stop,
we happened to look right and saw another LBC! We waved to him, and he
followed us down the road a bit. It was a '74 Spitfire 1500, the guys
daily driver. Turns out he works in the Pit area of Road Atlanta. What a
cool job that must be!
We said goodbye, and each headed off in our own direction, happy to have
seen another LBC on the road. Sunburned, tired, and dehydrated, we could
hardly wait to go back to the track! (Which, by the way, we will be next
weekend, working the SCCA SARRC race)
Like the Victoria British catalog says that I picked up at the race - "Keep
'Em On The Road!"
Chip
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Chip Mautz
Greenbrier & Russel
Atlanta, Ga
'71 Triumph Spitfire #FK16099L ('Ol Smokey)
WAR Eagle! Go Auburn!
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