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2007 Rolex Vintage Festival At Lime Rock Park
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Posted (09/03/2007) -
© Andrew S. Hartwell
It is Labor Day weekend in America and one wonderful and traditional celebration of man's opportunity to relax away from his work - a tradition that has carried on for 25 years now - is The Rolex Vintage Festival presented by BMW at Lime Rock Park. Here, those whose hard work has earned them the ability to own precious vintage race cars come together to test their skills at speed against others who too have worked for the means to enjoy a very fast Labor Day holiday.
And we less-than-affluent spectators get to enjoy the sights and sounds of vintage race cars at speed as we relax on the hill overlooking the esses, taking our own well-earned respite from the grind of earning a living. We sit in our camp chairs, sip our beverages, push down on our camera shutter buttons and simply enjoy watching these exotic and valuable cars as they drift through the entrance to the esses only to straighten out again and then turn right to quickly disappear from view as they head down no-name straight.
Lime Rock turned 50 years old this year, having first opened in 1957. This weekend, some of the cars touring this beautiful 1.53 mile circuit nestled in a valley of the Berkshire Mountains were the latest iterations of automotive technology 50 years ago. And some go back much further than that. Cars like Ben Bragg's open wheel 1935 Reuter V-8 Special 'Old Grey Mare', or Jonathan Feiber's 1930 Bugatti T-35B, and Frank Mount's 1939 MG TB Special are outstanding examples of the race cars built between the great wars.
After World War II, the world of auto racing began to expand tremendously as more and more cars were built for the purpose of racing. The cars of the '50s and '60s are well represented here this weekend as well. Cars like the 1952 Allard K2 owned by Lawrence Marks. Others include Mark Sherman's 1953 MG TD - perhaps the ultimate classic vintage car and just one of several MG's squealing tires this weekend - and a 1957 Morgan+4 belonging to Richard Odgers.
Mother Nature must be a car nut too for she has provided the most appropriate form of weather this weekend in which to enjoy this festival. The vendor's midway is crowded with fans and car owners mingling together in a mutual love for this sport of speed. And once again Rolex has set up its spectacular "Moments In Time" exhibit, this year featuring several unique cars that made history 50 years ago, when Lime Rock was first cut out of a gravel pit.
We present this album of images from this weekend's event with admiration for the technology that went into building these cars and the bravery of those who first raced these jewels. And we encourage everyone to make it a point to attend a vintage festival in the future. While some of these photos may convey a sense of the speed of the cars, none of them can reproduce the sound of squealing tires or the smell of burning rubber, or the noise of a high-compression engine at work. No, for that you simply have to be here to let your senses absorb all that a vintage racing weekend has to offer!
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