All,
If I may add a bit ... I was pleased to finally meet my "long lost cousin
Lew" at this event. We also had another long lost cousin, Kelvin Palmer,
racing an MGB at Elkhart.
Martin Walford's drive in the K3 was very, very impressive in the appaling
conditions on Sunday. The final results show him finishing 10th overall out
of 27 starters, after he started at the rear of the field (had no qualifying
time). Martin turned the 5th fastest lap of the race, and would have
finished ahead of all the T-series, MGA's, Midgets, and other Pre-war MG's
had he been gridded correctly!
The Pre-war MG's were certainly the hit of the weekend ... the entry list
included Dean's genuine K3 and KN special, Mac and Frank's C-types ("from C
to shining C" I thought), Pete Thelander's NE, Peter Fino's ND, Bill
Goulette's J2, George Chilberg's L-type special, Rob Sterling's NA, and
Jerry Morici's K-type special. I'm not exactly sure of final attendance,
but I know I saw Mac, Frank, Pete, Jerry and George for sure. This may be
the largest number of MMM cars ever at a U.S. vintage race!
Dean also had his Bugatti and ERA there -- the ERA was quite incredible,
really too fast for the Pre-war race group. It would have sat on the pole
in several of the more modern race groups!
Fortunately Friday and Saturday had been beautiful days, allowing us to get
in some good hot laps & learn the track. There were a large number of
T-types there (28 entered), along with the modern MG's.
Dean's KN special is an impressive machine ... dual overhead cam conversion,
and supercharged. I cannot recall the exact history of the head but I seemt
to recall that it was designed, and one example built, before WWII ... Dean
has had it faithfully reproduced for use on the KN. He tells me that this
may be the fastest MMM car in the world, faster than a K3. It would have
been entertaining to see it on the track, but it was not quite race-ready
with a steering box problem.
If any of you can make it to Lime Rock, CT for the VSCCA Fall Finale
(October 19-20 Fri/Sat) you may get to see Dean's cars, and a fine selection
of other Pre-war racers. I don't know how many MG's will be there but it is
a feature race for the Bugatti clan, and they will probably have 10 or more
Bug's, along with their rival Bentleys and a few Pre-war Astons and such.
Regards,
Mark Palmer
>From: "Lew Palmer" <lpalmer@roundaboutmanor.com>
>Reply-To: "Lew Palmer" <lpalmer@roundaboutmanor.com>
>To: <mg-mmm@autox.team.net>
>Subject: Elkhart Lake Fall Vintage Rages
>Date: Sun, 23 Sep 2001 20:06:15 -0500
>
>I just returned from a fabulous, albeit wet, weekend at Elkhart Lake. We
>drove over in the TD - took about 7 hours. But what a surprise when we
>got there! There were (by my count) 9 MMM cars there and RACING! Some
>included Mac Reynolds and Frank Diaz, both in their own C-types, Bob
>Sterling in the NA, Pete Thelander in the NE, Curtis Liposcak in a
>borrowed J2 (supercharged), Dean Butler's K3 and KN special (K3
>replica). I'm forgetting someone, so please pardon.
>
>
>
>Other notables racing were Denver Cornett in his #7 TC, now 53 years on
>from his first race in that very same car; Don Martine, and way too many
>for this faded brain to remember.
>
>
>
>Great weekend, but unfortunately, the Sunday was pretty much a wash out.
>Many of the older cars simply packed up and went home. Two solid days of
>really fun spectating, though.
>
>
>
>Lew Palmer
>British Cars Web: http://www.team.net/sol
>MMM list subscription info: http://www.team.net/cgi-bin/majorcool
_________________________________________________________________
British Cars Web: http://www.team.net/sol
MMM list subscription info: http://www.team.net/cgi-bin/majorcool
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