Lakeville, Connecticut. A bucolic piece of New England. A Norman Rockwell painting come to life. And right there in the middle of it is Limerock Motorsports Park. A place I have been coming to around Labor Day Weekend for close to two decades. And I have been in the company of thousands of like-minded others. That is because every September, it is home to the Limerock Vintage Festival (See Lapping Limerock). A chance to walk around and see and hear and touch a prewar Alfa, or a postwar OSCA, or a seriously hopped up 911 race car. There is something very special about sitting on a grassy hillside, on a warm late summer’s eve, seeing and hearing sports cars or Formula Junior cars, or Can Am cars fly down the Sam Posey straight, and dare to out brake each other into the esses. Then you can go down to the pits and talk to the owners, drivers, and mechanics. Sometimes, they are all the same person. The open wheel cars are my favorites, and these cars are both beautiful and genius in their simplicity.
There are also two vendor areas witha swap meet area mixed in with the lower paddock. This area produced my first ever sighting of a BMW-powered Farmobil. Racing is banned on Sundays due to a noise ordinance, so there is a massive car show complete with a Concours. You can walk the track, which is lined on both sides with different marques and categories. Italian exotica along the straight, Bentleys in the braking zone, mercedes in the Esses, Citroens coming up the back hill, Triumphs at the crest, Porsches on the run down under the bridge to the infield, Brass cars to begin the main straight. Mixing vintage cars and exercise was never done so well. Pictures and sound are the only way to attempt to do it justice…