>Hi Gang: Happy Memorial day!!
>
>Just moments ago, I returned from the above noted event and thought I'd try
>to post it within the bounds of "your holiday weekend" I have 15 minutes
>then , so this will be brief.
>
>The event @ Brainerd MN is the first event for the locals, both SCCA and
>Vintage. The Vintage group are the same that came to Gimli, Mb, last
summer
>with 14 of their cars. This time, they had closer to 30!! Rich and Liz
>Stadther, a husband and wife Formula Ford team (Lotus 61 and Merlyn)
>persuaded me to quit whining about my seasonal allergies/flu and come down
>anyway - and I'm glad I did.
>
>You'll wish you were there - two of "us" were... a freshly restored Devin
>Healey and "THE" Ambro TR3 - the very same one that we drooled over at the
>VTR 98. Imagine these two specials, both immaculate, one in green and one
>in blue, dicing through the longest straight of any permanent sports car
>course in the world!! (Brainerd is a 3 mile 10 turn track. Eight of them
>are within one mile, there is a one mile straight and then nearly another
>mile of one banked, and one flat 75 degree turn ending in a 110 degree 2nd
>gear corner!!)
>
>Neither car sounded like it's street brethren. Ditto for a one off 1100cc
>midget one off in hand beaten aluminium (no paint, no hammer marks) -
>looking like a miniature late 50's indy car. Now of course there were
>several Porsches of 4 and 6 cyl variety and about 6 vees, but the balance
>of the field included 6 Formula Fords - all "LBC's", an S4 Lotus Super 7,
>and one very fast Elva Courier on a steroid fed MGB powerplant.
>
>Vintage racing has no "winner" per se, but at the end of the timed session,
>the next car to cross the line "wins" - even if it had been lapped 3 times.
>While all the drivers were mindful of their sizeable investments, they also
>took great pleasure in exercising them to near their limits at times.
>While Saturday was well into the 90's with not a cloud around, Sunday's
>rains brought the drivers to their skill limits - but none went beyond. By
>luck, Rich (who kindly adopted me as pit crew - made me feel right in)
>managed technically to win BOTH sessions - a feat nearly never performed
and
>certainly not in the "spirit of the games". But, his performance of
>consistent 2 minute laps on vintage style tires in a car that just turned
>30, certainly merits note.
>
>Can you think of a better way to be celebrating BCW3 than taking a Monday
>drive like that?
>
>Yet further incentive to sort the GT6 out and share in the fun next year.
>
>Dave Terrick
>Winnipeg
>
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