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SVRA FORMULA CAR FESTIVAL |
Alton, VA |
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From Watkins Glen, we continued to follow the SVRA trail with very little time separating events. Still, we managed to get all four of the F1 cars up and running for the Formula Car Festival – Hamish Somerville and Pete Gulick with the two Williams cars (Pete was joining us after a two-month absence), Paul Flowers with the Tyrrell and Rick Carlino with his Surtees. In addition, Pete Schultz was back with his Elan (the brake problems now finally resolved), and Phil Meany with his Aldon. Pete "G" had also brought out his trusty Chevron B23; Rick had his Gropa Chevron, and Hamish, his beautiful Lola T70. |
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We had taken a spectacular ride down the Shenandoah Valley |
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On our arrival at VIR, we found to our surprise a new row of garages and apartments lining the front straight. We immediately availed ourselves of the garages. What a terrific addition to this fabulous place! We now had all the comforts of home. Cleaner in fact..... (click photos to enlarge) |
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Dean Jones,
pry-bar professional
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 - Photo by Mike Farka (click photos to enlarge) |
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The weather for this fall weekend was little short of spectacular. The rain we did have was in the evenings, but after some mist in the early mornings, the days were gorgeous. |
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(click photos to enlarge) |
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It was amazing to see contrails emanating from the wings of the Group 9 machinery one morning, particularly the high wing of Mark Harmer's Surtees TS5. It was almost eerie, the long ghostlike streams coming off the ends of the high-strutted rear wing. |
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 ....and liking it. - Photos by Junmei Zhao |
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 Surtees & Rick - ready for action - Photo by Mike Farka (click photos to enlarge) |
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 Lola history, in short |
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 Bruce & Lee are unable to decide if the FW07 is half full or half empty.... |
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 Paul Flowers in the Tyrrell - Photo by Bob Harrington |
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The F1 cars were in their element here, really able to stretch their legs on the long back straight. With the exception of Larry Connors in his '92 Benetton (in a league of his own), the two Williams cars and the Tyrrell ruled the roost in Group 9, overshadowing much newer Indy Lights and F/A cars. |
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The Gropa, the Aldon, and the Lola T70 were running superbly all weekend. Then the gremlins hit the T70. Just prior to the Endurance race, Pete and Hamish had expressed concern over increasing difficulty shifting gears. |
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The normal tranny teardown preceding the Enduro revealed a broken 2-3 fork. No replacement could be found and, being Saturday, an overnight fly-in was out of the question. So the old girl was parked for the remainder of the weekend. Such a shame! Up until then it was fine. |
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Phil Meany fared well all weekend in the Aldon, getting in miles of track time and again putting all the 23s and Ginettas in his dust. Come the Enduro – basically an all comers Formula-libre race – Phil finished well up the finishing order only to discover in post- race checks that he'd lost a couple of cylinders (it transpired to be bent valves). He had complained of what he thought was a dubious tacho so it all rang true. Alas, Phil's weekend with the Aldon ended on Saturday. |
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 Ed Barker checks the wheels on the Aldon - Photos by Mike Farka |
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Pete Schultz in the Lotus Elan just ran like a train all weekend. Because of the nature of the entry for the one and only Enduro, he could place no better than the top third of the grid, and in the Group 8 race, the steam of the 911 and 934 Porsches left him gasping a little; but he finished well in his class. Once again, the car came home in one piece, looking as good at the end of the weekend as when it arrived. Nice job Pete! |
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ENDURO PIT STOP 101 |
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Schultz
pits -- hands
Meany gets
briefing before taking the wheel
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"Group 7, the first of the weekend's Mike Stott*UBS Sprints was next on the agenda. Leading the strong field into turn one was Henry Payne IV's '69 Porsche 908/2 hotly pursued by Peter Gulick, '73 Chevron B23 and Robert Blain, '75 Chevron B31/36. By the end of the first lap Payne and Gulick had swapped positions and the next time around, Blain's Chevron was missing, with Lee Brahin's '75 Lola T296 now in third.
We now had two distinct
battles going on with Payne still challenging
Gulick for the lead
while just slightly behind them Brahin was facing a strong challenge from
Dino Crescenti's '77 Wolf Dallora. The two battles continued with no
changes in position until the penultimate lap, when Crescentini powered by
Brahin to take third, holding to the end."
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 Pete Gulick in his Chevron B23 - Photo by September 8th (click to enlarge) |
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- Photo by September 8th |
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Rick had a fabulous weekend in the '71 Gropa Chevron. With Hamish's demise in the T70, Rick had pole for qualifying and the race. He had continually upped his game, blowing off Henry Payne's 907 Longtail, another T70, the Ginetta, and Brabham BT8, etc. Rick established a commanding, comfort-level lead on the first lap and maintained that cushion for the remainder of the race. The expression on this face standing on the top step of the podium made all of our efforts worthwhile. |
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 - Photo by Mike Farka |
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"Paul Wilson's '65 Lola T70 Mk II led the field from the start in the group 5 Mike Stott*UBS Sprint with Rick Carlino's '71 Chevron Gropa next, then Larry Neviaser's '68 Ginetta G16. By the end of the opening lap, Carlino was out front and drawing away, Wilson was next, Neviaser was at the back of the pack, with Larry Wilson's '72 Royale RP 17 now third. The next time around, Henry Payne III, who had started back in seventh in the lovely '67 Porsche 907LH, had taken over third and a lap later second. Carlino was well out in front now, but Payne had a good group of cars behind him challenging, but no change in the running order until the last lap when Larry Wilson failed to come around, moving Robert McLenagan's '65 Brabham BT8 into third." - Bob Harrington, SVRA Race Report |
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Way to go, Rick!
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THIS
ONE'S FOR YOU! |
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Wait......there's more!
The F1 Boys Club
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