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Our annual pilgrimage to the Glen seems to grow and grow not just in the number of our competitors, but the number of their fans who come
to watch the action. But which action, we wonder? Sure, they all dutifully watch the races, but we've since discovered their real motive for coming. It's to take part in the annual food fight that has become a tradition for us in the
Radisson's private dining room. This year, our party of knuckleheads was huge, as the word must have gotten out. Among the return participants were our two esteemed U.S. Ambassadors and their lovely wives. Also in attendance was our
friend and professional hot-shoe at Mont Tremblant, Divina Galica, who was back for more fun. In fact, rumor has it that she threw the first projectile at our Saturday night
bacchanalia. Other notable guests were Hamish Somerville's nephew,
Jamie, who had decided he'd like to sample racing in America for the first time in Hamish's Elva. Indeed,
Hamish brought a whole clan from north of the border with him this
year, and all were in a party mood. |
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Test day was something of a washout, with heavy rain most of the time.
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Jamie soon came to grips with
Hamish's
Elva Mk7, finding his way around the foreign track with a little advice from Divina. She was
out
in the rainy conditions as well, this time driving Peter "Van" Gulick's March 75S, which
she was to share with him in the Historic Enduro race. After we had fitted rain tires and trimmed the aerodynamics, she pronounced the car nigh on perfect. The weekend
was looking good. |
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Pete loved it until the engine let go big
time. |
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Right: Paul Flowers
in his Toleman A trip home to our workshop in Connecticut that night solved both problems we made up another hub for the Toleman, and we returned with Pete's trusty gray Elan so that he could finish out the weekend's racing. |
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Our Vintage Enduro racers included Tom Yeager, Ed Mettelman and Peter Schultz. Tom was running strongly and was already in second place when, of all things, he ran out of gas. |
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Robbed of certain victory!!!! |
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We had left him out just one lap too long. He obviously needed more fuel at the Glen than we calculated. (This almost lost us second place in the Historic Enduro as well!) |
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Pete S. and Ed had good runs, without any further dramas. The gray Elan benefited from a change of racing rubber and Pete enjoyed the extra grip, if a little short of straight-line speed. Left: Pete Schultz in his #1
Lotus Elan |
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 - Photos by Gordon Jolley |
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Our Formula 2 guys four in all made an impressive sight, all regaled in their
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Gordon Medenica's freshly-painted and decaled ex-Surer March 782 looked fabulous. Once we eliminated the front-end vibration, he really began to enjoy himself in his most recent acquisition. He had a great run, despite the best efforts of one other F/2 pilot who persisted in trying to put Gordon into the fence. Anyway, justice prevailed with said menace subsequently putting his own car into the retaining wall |
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way to go! |
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Paul's dramas didn't cease. Whilst the Toleman was running better than it had done for years and Paul was really getting into the groove, he lost the hub bearing on the other side of the car. Poohbah! The car had looked and sounded great... |
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...at last, everything was working well... - Photos by Wayne LeBlanc - click to enlarge |
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Pete Gulick and the Chevron B42 were, as ever, stunning running consistently in the top three or four, with such luminaries as Rahal and Bobby Brown. |
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- Photos by Wayne LeBlanc |
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"Van" and
Spike
together again .... |
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Most stunning of all was Hamish in his
March 782, who, after St. Jovite, really took the car by the scruff of the neck and put it on pole.
- Photos at left by Wayne LeBlanc - click to enlarge |
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Unfortunately, the qualifying results did not manifest themselves in the race. Taking the green, something went amiss with Hamish's March and he was engulfed by the entire pack. He pulled in at the end of lap one. Pete Gulick, not getting the best of starts, had to sit behind a mobile chicane of an F5000 car that took off down the straights and fairly and squarely blocked him through every corner. Not the results we had hoped for. |
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The sports cars in Group 7 were fabulous. Hamish in his Chevron B23 again ran alongside Rahal on the front straight, with a pack of Chevrons behind them. |
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 - Photo by Bob Harrington - click to enlarge |
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Paul Flowers piloted his plane home early Sunday because of
impending bad weather there, but not before finding his Chevron B31 to be running better than ever. The
hump removal, the lightening of the car, and the addition of a cold-air
scoop for the induction system proved to have made all the difference. |
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Sunday's Group 5 race almost gave Tom Yeager
another chance, but it was cancelled! Later in the day, the Merlyn's water pump prevented any return to the track. Bad luck Tom!!! |
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Having flown home early, Paul also missed the Group 5 race. Too bad, since he would have been a major contender in his lightning quick Elva. Hamish's Elva had dropped by the wayside earlier in the weekend due to a broken diff carrier, giving nephew Jamie something of a surprise... |
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Group 8 went off as scheduled, with Ed Mettelman in his Lotus 47 and Pete Schultz in the Elan. Ed ran really well, having a great time as usual; and Pete kept his promise yet again, bringing the car back sunny side up without any damage. Much to his satisfaction, he had also moved up through the field every lap. |
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- Photos by Wayne LeBlanc - click to enlarge |
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The historic Enduro was one of the weekend's highlights for our team, with Hamish
on pole. His co-driver was Divina, who had lost her
ride with Pete Gulick in the March 75S, and Jamie had kindly relinquished his seat in the
B23 to her. This race was exciting and close throughout the first-place car, a 600+ HP 1990s Trans-Am car, followed by Hamish and
Divina in their early 70s
sports car, and then two more late period Trans-Am cars. |
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- Photos by Gordon Jolley |
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- Photos by Wayne LeBlanc - click to enlarge |
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The sports car race may well have been the highlight of the weekend. Rahal just checked out, but Hamish, James King, John Higgins and veteran Joel Finn were trading places back and forth, time and again on every lap. Hamish actually dropped back to fifth at one point before finally coming in a close third to Finn's second Hamish almost getting by him. A great result by any stretch, but especially considering that after his first lap, Hamish had no fifth gear at all. Every lap, everybody went by him on the back straight. Hence, a spectacular effort! One wonders how far away Rahal would have got if Hamish had had all five gears. |
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Hamish Somerville and his B23, - Photos by Wayne LeBlanc |
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All in all, we had a great weekend |
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A Special Thanks
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