something different - Coatesville Vintage Grand Prix - Super Seven in car video

[d15b7]

I got invited last minute to this event; it's approximately a 2 mile loop run straight through the City of Coatesville, PA. there were 4 groups; I ran in Group 2 (the 'fast' group). they split our Group into 2 heats. each heat got 3 separate sessions to attempt the course. the start was 'Isle of Man' style separated by 10 second intervals. below is my in car GoPro footage of the last session; I was fortunate to start first in line, and was just catching lapped traffic on my last hot lap.

 

https://1drv.ms/v/s!AmUHWCpbUJmApjga0hOZtGvi1hRw

 

course was pretty tight and zero run off room; some sections very bumpy and some fairly smooth. my last lap was my fastest of the day, and ended up being the fastest of the entire event! there was a wicked fast hill climb special Sunbeam Tiger which was a tube frame affair with mega hp and full slicks and he and I were close up til my last session. Go Lotus!!! enjoy!

 

PS with my welded rear end, the only way through those 90 degree turns was to toss and drift it. otherwise it would plow like a mule team.

PPS there were some incredibly rare cars there. there was an original Porsche 904 and a 906. and my fav by far was a Ferrari Daytona N.A.R.T. factory racecar that placed 5th at the 1969 LeMans. it was beautiful and sounded orgasmic winding out!

[TurboWood]

Very nice, thanks for sharing. Why the welded diff?

 

Daniel

[geoz3]

Outstanding

[Certified Lotus]

That is very cool. I wish more towns would do something like this. Thanks for sharing the video. Nice driving!

Edited September 25, 2016 by Certified Lotus

[mrmustang]

You didn't happen to see my old ERA 427SC (British Racing Green with Tan seats and black carpet) taking a few laps while you were there?

 

 

Bill S

[Croc]

How come my buddies in PA area did not tell me about this great event?

 

I wish I knew it was on and I would have headed out to watch. Unfortunately my oldest race car is 1965 so cannot participate in this although I could throw in an entry for shits and giggles for them to reject next year.

 

I hope this town and the participants realize how precious an event like this is. So many health and safety muppets would be freaking out and every attorney dribbling in anticipation given the street set up. But I just love it.

[d15b7]

Hey Daniel! reason it's welded is that it was cheap hahaha! cost me $135 to have it welded up about 20 yrs ago vs. $2000 for the AP lsd. Once you get used to the welded diff on track, I think it's pretty good (in the dry at least. in the wet its a HANDFUL). I've never raced it on a track with turns as tight as those; they were all 2nd gear 90 deg turns, and I never encounter them on a typical racetrack. once I figured it out though, well, I think it got around pretty well!

 

Mike -- these guys were really easy going -- I am POSITIVE that they'd accept pretty much anything that looked/resembled a cool vintage car. it was all about having fun, and more importantly being safe and giving the spectators something to look at and enjoy, etc. I'd say that 90% of the Coatesvillians had never in their life been to a car race of any kind in person, and certainly had not been able to wander around and ask questions and watch from close up. I put quite a few little kids in the seat for pictures in the pits!!!

 

I agree that if there had been more promotion (maybe some radio ads or something like that in the Wilmington DE and Exton PA and Philly areas) that attendance would have really been big. I'm really hoping that it becomes a yearly event and that it gets bigger and better each year! the guys involved did a really great job managing the mayhem, especially given the time and resources that they had.

 

Bill -- sorry there weren't any Cobras in attendence, unless it was out at the car show section which was about 4 blocks from where I spent most of my time. there definitely was an original AC Ace that competed though!

 

thanks guys -- I'm glad you liked the vid! I've got two more but in both I get caught up in traffic early in the laps and it's not as exciting (there was passing only on the uphill 8th Ave straightaway and I didn't want to be a bad boy and break any rules !!!)

[MichaelD]

Did you get time to see the course before you drove it?

[d15b7]

Did you get time to see the course before you drove it?

 

ya we got 2 recon laps behind the pacecar in the morning. i'd say the speed was very very low though; maybe a max of 25-30 mph. during each heat, we got 3 laps at speed plus a cooldown lap. my last lap in the third and final heat was the fastest (I was still figuring things out and refining my lines and approaches to the corners. some of the corners were very bumpy and a non conventional line was better in some of them). I was getting pretty close near the end; I think if there had been one more heat, I could have dropped maybe 3 more secs from my time. but it would have been tough.

[Yeti]

Great video. What organization ran the event?

[d15b7]

Great video. What organization ran the event?

 

thanks Yeti! the City of Coatesville ran the event. they had two guys who spearheaded it; Dick Miles and John Lawless. both car guys/gearheads with experience in vintage cars and motorcycles.

 

when I heard about the event about 3 months ago, my first thought was 'that sounds AWESOME but there is NO WAY this is ever going to actually happen!'. if you check their facebook page for the Coatesville Vintage Grand Prix, it is blowing up with literally hundreds (or more) of comments. 99% seem very positive with the most common being 'please please please do this again next year and make it even bigger!'

 

they basically had downtown Coatesville closed down for all day on Saturday; I was wondering if the locals would complain about that, but they seemed to have so much fun watching the racing and wandering the pits and talking to us that it wasn't much of a problem. the organizers tried to at least open the crosswalks once every half hour for 5 mins so that people could cross the track. there were hundreds of police at every location around the track to ensure that pedestrians couldn't cross otherwise

[Kitcat]

I watched that video and said "What a looming ClusterFek". The whole reason racing was sent to dedicated tracks and away from city streets in the '50's is that inevitably some pedestrian or 2 were mowed down. Here some were not even watching, so they were in no position to dodge harm if a driver lost control, had a blowout, hit spilled oil, etc. The great lesson I learned in 10 years of auto-x is what can go wrong, will go wrong, stuff you never even imagined happening can happen. Croc will say :"Oh you attorneys want to ruin everything!" But this is a disaster waiting to happen, IMHO, of course.

[Dan3030]

Great video again and I can't believe this was 20 mins from my place and I didn't even know about it. Looks like a LOT of fun and I also have to agree w/ Kitcat on likelihood of disaster. Was just watching Chapman and Enzo Ferrari biographies this weekend, seeing the spectator incidents and (somewhat unfair) manslaughter charges. Looks like you're not running your normal 10/10th, though not everyone is that sensible in these situations.

 

In total, pretty awesome and I would still attend next year, do not get me wrong.

[Croc]

Croc will say :"Oh you attorneys want to ruin everything!"

 

Brilliantly said if I may say so. And its true!

[d15b7]

it was definitely run like an old fashioned event, that's for certain. at the driver's meeting they stressed over and over not to overdrive or take chances (I tried to follow that directive). there were also many priceless cars attending/racing. my favs were the 1969 Daytona factory racecar that was 5th at LeMans. it was beautiful and original. there was an all original non restored Porsche 904 with the cammer motor. and a restored 906. on top of that, there was a whole class of early open wheel Indy cars (Millers, Offys, etc) plus some very old racers (a 1911 Mercer that was all orig including the paint!). here's a few pics:

[Croc]

Daytona with gold wheels! :willy_nilly:

 

I have gone all tingly in that special spot! :conehead:

[MichaelD]

With every lap I watched, I wondered when some a child chasing a soccer ball or resident would step out their front door and into the street while talking on their cell phone. That's worse than looking out for deer and ground hogs at Summit Point.

[Bonjo2]

Damn. Awesome! Would love to see more like this.