I was invited up to Lime Rock ahead of their Historic Festival to have a look at some special Mercedes race cars. Some of the Silver Arrows come from the Mercedes Classic collection and some from The Revs Institute, the Miles Collier collection in Naples, Florida.
This one is one of the Revs cars, a 1939 W154/39 raced by Von Brauchitsch and was rescued after World War 2 in Romania. You should look it up, it's a fascinating story.
I wish I could convey smell over the internet : Castor Oil, Alcohols, NitroBenzene and Acetone. A wiff and you'll never forget despite all the destroyed brain cells!
Like all race cars of the era, you don't just get in and turn the key, the engine block has to be warmed with a special heater, engine has to be fired first with a set of soft plugs when are then changed for the running ones before the actual run.
After the week end the car has to be completely drained and the engine flushed to get rid of the corrosive fuel which would damage the precious magnesium parts.
It's a joy to see cars like this one up close, the quality of the workmanship, the surprise of details like the hydraulically adjustable rear suspension (to compensate for fuel load).
Jochen Mass will be behind the wheel of the W154 this week end at Lime Rock while Sir Stirling Moss will be back behind the wheel of the famous 722 Mille Miglia car.
Trust me, driving on a track in the rain is fun, unless your window fogs up, but I digress, contrary to popular belief crashing is not mandatory!
Jim Perry of DrivesTV put together this clip from a Lime Rock Club race and comments:
"When you think of members only track clubs you imagine luxury automobiles and owners sipping Campari.
Not so, at Lime Rock's Drivers Club. Here, you'll find members who are here because they love cars and they love racing.
What would you expect, after all, from the track that gave us such greats as Sam Posey and Paul Newman and run by Skip Barber (who knows a thing or two about learning to race). So, when the forecast was for a torrential downpour, the members did what any self-respecting racer would do - they donned their helmets and went out to test their limits. See if it doesn't look like fun to you."
Ricky Taylor and Max Angelelli scored their third consecutive Daytona Prototype victory at Lime Rock Park, while Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas took their third straight DP championship with a seventh-place finish.
Taylor held off Antonio Garcia to win by .334 seconds, giving the No. 10 SunTrust Corvette DP its third victory of the season. Garcia and Richard Westbrook also ended the season as three-time winners in the No. 90 Spirit of Daytona Corvette DP.
Jon Fogarty and Alex Gurney rounded out the podium in the No. 99 GAINSCO Auto Insurance Corvette DP, followed by the two Action Express entries (the No. 5 of David Donohue and Brian Frisselle, and the No. 9 of Darren Law and Joao Barbosa), giving the Corvette DP a sweep of the top five places to cap its first year of competition.
Needing a ninth-place finish, Pruett and Rojas iced their fourth DP title in five years by finishing seventh in the No. 01 TELMEX BMW/Riley. Ryan Dalziel entered the race with a mathematical shot at the championship, but finished sixth in the No. 8 Starworks Motorsport Ford/Riley started by Alex Popow.
Robin Liddell and John Edwards took their third GT victory of the season in the No. 57 Stevenson Auto Group Chevrolet Camaro. Liddell passed Andy Lally with three laps remaining, denying the No. 44 Magnus Racing Porsche GT3 started by John Potter its third triumph of 2012.
Lally then had to pit for fuel, promoting the No. 51 APR Motorsport Audi R8 of Dion von Moltke and Jim Norman to a second-place finish.
While 2012 GT champions Emil Assentato and Jeff Segal had problems early in the race that resulted in an eighth-place finish for the No. 69 AIM Autosport/Team FXDD Ferrari 458 Italia, a third-place finish by the late-entered No. 63 Scuderia Corsa Ferrari 458 Italia of Alessandro Balzan and Johannes van Overbeek gave Ferrari the GT manufacturers championship.
Need a pick me up? Check out this video from one of CG's IMSA Challenge competitors, Michael Schein.
Michael was at Lime Rock competing in the Shell Historic races on board a Ferrari F40 LM and was kind enough to stick a camera right next to the pipes.....ah, music! Check it out after the jump and turn it up.
The Axis of Oversteer GT3 Cup saw a lot of action this past week end in gorgeous North Western Connecticut when the IMSA GT3 Challenge by Yokohama series made its first ever stop at historic Lime Rock Park.
There were two IMSA Challenge races Saturday, one before and one after the week end's main event, the ALMS Northeast Grand Prix. First race was tough for AxisCG who, after gaining a couple of sports on the first lap, had to take the John Deere line through Big Bend to avoid a guy who thought it was a good idea not to use his brakes after a spin and rolling right across the racing line! That was followed by a puncture and it was all downhill from there.
Race two was much better with CG again gaining some spots on the start and then defending like mad from the pack of wild coyotes nipping at his heels for the next 45 minutes. It was a great P5 at the end, well done. Sadly, the first race's agricultural excursion must have knocked the power from the SmartyCam and by race two all we got was...
It was a great event, love how ALMS has an open pit policy and the fans can mix with the cars and teams. Lime Rock may be tiny but it's great for spectators and the atmosphere is fantastic. For me the highlight of the week end, aside from watching my friend rip the cup car was when the track announcer mentioned AXIS OF OVERSTEER and what a cool name it was! Nice!
Check out Carlos' full race report and lots of pictures after the jump...
I was very excited for my second IMSA race at LimeRock after having completed (successfully in one piece!) my first race at Montreal during the F1 weekend in very adverse conditions of heavy rain. Good thing was that ALMS and IMSA decided to run only one chicane and West Bend was back in its original fast configuration which I prefer.
Arrived to the track early on Friday, and as usual the car was in tip top shape, prepared by Spencer Cox at SpeedSport and with all the support on track from the TRG Pro outfit who where also running 2 cars in ALMS GTC, one of them piloted by good racing buddy Mike Piera. (AC: Rennlist readers are probably familiar with AlanogMike...")
Got down to business in the first practice. Although I never driven a Cup Car at LimeRock, I have raced that track for the last three years, so it was relatively easy to be in the right line and just having to adapt to the brakes and a lot earlier braking for the uphill chicane. Did a few laps in the 56.3s that put me in P4 within 5/10ths of P1, but almost in the same tenth as the others ahead. I was very eager for the next dry practice or qualifying session to go for a real flyer, but as things turned out that was never meant to be.
Rain started pouring all afternoon as soon as our Practice 2 got started and had to change to Rain tires on pit lane. Used Practice 2 to get used to the wet track but brought the car in early as there was no point in taking more risk in a practice session. Qualifying was also in the wet with the best conditions at the beginning of the session when I struggled with too much understeer. Once we had dialed the car and started really pushing hard I couldn’t get down to the times done on those first few laps. Qualified P9 in the 1:04s, 1.3 secs from Pole, that once again was done by Henrique Cisneros. Hats off to some really over the edge car control in the rain from Henrique.
The Axis and kids (AC, AB, kids and me) went for some nice dinner at the Boathouse. Had a good night sleep, early 5 mile run in the beautiful Berkshire surroundings and was ready for some race action.
In the last 10 years I’ve never had a flat tire (nor street or race car) other than in my Mountain or Road bike but that’s how my 1st race started! Before the start there was a good amount of optimistic anticipation (maybe they can see the future?) of some racers behind as to when the green flag dropped, and made turn 1 and 2 even more interesting. Preserved my line running 2 and 3 wide through Big Bend, and was conscious of getting a better run in No Name Straight by diving well into the Apex that precedes it. I was able to get a good run on the Orange Cup Car ahead and turn in 1st into the chicane; but real estate narrows down significantly there and got hit on my side and left rear.
As soon as I took the downhill turn fast I felt something wrong with the car but wasn’t able to pull into the pits right there as I had an avalanche of Cup Cars coming to my right. Had to crawl (at 60+mph!) for I whole lap that destroyed the flat tire. RACE OVER. Came into pits, changed the tire and came out, almost 3 laps down.
Tried having some fun passing cars but as soon as I got to push hard for a good lap the rear would start stepping out significantly. Came into the pits once more and we had the left rear 10psi up in pressure, partially due to pressures being to high initially and also some dragging from misalignment after the lap 1 contact.
Once we had the car in better shape, just went out to try a faster laptime for a better starting position, but my fellow racers did the usual antics and we had a 10 lap full course yellow to end the race in a Colorful Cup Car. So yet again, lucky #9 seems to be my number of choice at IMSA as that will be my starting position for Race 2 (same as in Race 1 and Montreal).
Got over quickly from my frustration of race 1 by enjoying time with the whole family and Axis friends that came to watch the race. Had a great lunch, watch the fantastic ALMS race under beautiful weather and was very happy to see Mike Piera get his first Pro Win in the GTC car, and an awesome 1-2 for TRG!
Had a good start in Race 2, and went through the usual 2-3 wide for most of the first lap and was able to make 3 positions with good passes into the Chicane and Turn 1. But, by then my on track battles have left me few hundred yards behind the leaders, and no matter how hard you try and be 1 or 2/10ths faster, you need 20-30 laps to make a 2-5 sec gap! That’s what makes this races SO hard.
From there on most of my battles came from behind, and had to fight really hard to defend my position with Mark Bullit (who just came back after a P42 in the Porsche Carrera World Cup) and Michael Schein. At the end I was up to P4, only to lose one position to Mark Bullit who found grip and speed in his tires and started posting his fastest laptimes in the 56s towards the end of the race while the rest of us struggled to keep the worn, heated tires under us by doing low 57s.
I have never fought so hard for 5th place. Towards the last 10 minutes (of the 45min race) I was yelling to my team on the radio to let me know how much time was left while I struggled for grip and didn’t hear anything back as my earphones got disconnected! There’s no measured approach to GT3 Cup racing. You have to be at 105% all the time if you want to be running up front. Once you lose contact with the lead its almost impossible to catch up. You decide to take it easy one lap, or 1 or 2 corners and you have a train of 6 cars all over you. Even an aggressive approach is required in practice and qualifying as you never know when conditions will change and have to go for that ultimate laptime ALL the time. Nevertheless, my measured approach at least allows me to finish the race!, so some of that it is still required.
Next race in Mosport, in 2 weeks, will focus on making sure I get myself as far up front as I can in Qualifying, and hopefully have the pace and the guts to hang up there for the race. Will have plenty of opportunity to do so, as I plan to run not only the IMSA GT3 Cup (2) races but the GT3 Cup Canada challenge (2 races also), so will have to make quick changes between Yokohamas and Michelins between both series. Can’t Wait!!
Thanks to everyone who supported us during the race and stopped by to say Hi or take pictures of our car. I promise to keep trying my best.
Come to Lime Rock this Friday and Saturday, for ALMS but also for the IMSA GT3 Challenge races. That's right, there are two GT3 Challenge races on Saturday, one at 10 AM and one at 5PM. (tickets available online)
Find up in the Paddock, drop by to say hello and maybe purchase one of the new Axis T-shirts and stickers, now finally availabe (woohoo, finally).
And please, do send us your best shots of the Axis GT3 for the blog!
In the mean time have a look at this clip, Lime Rock in 2010 narrated by Patrick Long of Flying Lizards. Nice pass Pat!
Pretty video by Iain Browne, a photographer for FastLaneDaily, who was at Lime Rock for the ALSM race last week end.
BMW ended up 2nd and 3rd in GT behind the Flying Lizard Porsche but nobody will tell me how it was that BMW started so far to the back of the grid...it's all a mystery, kind of like the mood of this clip! Enjoy.
OK the other ALMS clip was more, shall we say, decorative. This is more ...badass. Bill Auberlen was always at home in the rain at Lime Rock, catch some tips, just in case you ever find yourself driving a 500+hp car on that slippery New England track!
Like release cool raw video... I don't care that the Dyson Mazda in its new suit is just idling behind a photo car. Look at it, this video looks great!
Our own CG laid waste to the previous Porsche Club of America I-Prepared lap record on during last Friday's qualifying with a blistering 58:42. The car is a Cayman S set up for H-Prepared car but, on occasion, CG will slap on a bigger wing, change ECU and move up one class to harass some of the big boys!.
CG's was not the only record breaker this past week end , Axis Pete scored a Spec e30 track record at New Jersey Motorsport Park. We'll get full details of his and Justin's race, tomorrow, for now, enjoy lapping HIstoric Lime Rock in well under a minute!
It was a clear 1-2 for Team Axis on Friday in the NASA GTS3 race with CG taking the top spot in his Cayman S and Stee coming second in his 3.4 Boxster. Saturday's race had CG in a dogfight for second place with a widebody e36 M3 and inherit the lead when the class leader crashed out of the race. In Spec e30, Justin was on the podium both days. Great job guys!
As promised here are some clips from the races:
This one is from Saturday's race from CG's Cayman S.
"The key five laps that made my race. After having seen the group leader Radical outbrake himself into the dirt at Big Bend decided to be nice and let him go by easily into West Bend. BIG mistake, as the black E36 of Yaskin slipped by when I had to lift more than I wanted for the Radical. Followed him patiently for 4 laps until the opportunity arrived to make the pass when we encountered traffic. That was the key pass for the class win..."
The second is from Friday's race and you are riding with Stee in the Boxster with the 3.4 Carrera motor. Both Stee and CG have a great start, check it out.
As anyone who has ever driven behind me at a track in the past year or so can attest, my car always tended to, ahem, spew a touch of differential fluid.
This was not really BMW's fault, the differential I had in the car was not the "good for fuel economy but not so good for the track" 3.15 unit the MZ3 came with but an 80's vintage 3.46 unit from a 6 series and, to be honest, it looked like a piece raised from the Titanic when it was put in.
That's not inherently a bad thing, it's just that the unit probably had 200K miles on it. The gear ratio is a good one for the car and lap times at all the tracks I visited dropped considerably. However, heavy use soon took its toll and what started as nuisance became a smelly stream of burnt brown crap covering the back of my car and other people's windshields. Not good.
For a while I made the mistake of trying to cure the leak, the symptom of the problem, rather than trying to figure out why fluid was coming out in the first place. Mistake of course.
Earlier this year I went to Watkins Glen with Group52 and was forced to quit after only one session, the first time I ha a mechanical interrupt a track day in seven years. The differential got extremely loud and I was black flagged for the nasty stuff spewing from the back of my car.
It was silly to have worried about venting when in fact the differential was running so hot that the plastic speed sensor mechanism completely melted! You can see in the picture what remained of the part. The damage inside the case was not immediately obvious so we figured the problem was with the front bearing.
I limped home from the Glen with a a whine so loud it made telephone conversations impossible, not much choice but to get a rebuild. Dan Fitzgerald's Diffsonline.com was the most highly recommended and a few calls later I had a newly rebuilt unit on the way. The new differential in not just a stock factory LSD unit but a much more specialized ramped variable lock build. So what's the difference?
This past week end most of the Axis was at Lime Rock with NASA and I was most curious to find out how the new differential compared. It had been quite a while since I had driven at the Connecticut club but the last time I was there my best lap times were in the mid 1:02 range, this past Saturday my best was a 1:00.7. It was not all about the differential of course, the track has been repaved, tires might be different, I got better, lots of factors but car did behave in a different manner.
The first thing I noticed was more stability under threshold braking with the rear feeling much sell squirrelly. The next sensation is that mid-corner the car does not want to oversteer as much when lifting. This surprised me, I would have thought the opposite. I used more aggressive lifts or left foot braking to rotate the car in Big Bend, that worked.
The best part though was corner exit, way more thrust and much more control, very nice.
You can find some video clips after the jump. Next up we'll have some much more exciting racing footage from Lime Rock so stay tuned.
CG jumped right in at Lime Rock last week end and did quite well with his H class Cayman S. Backed by the best, Farnbacher-Loles Club Sport he managed class wins in both of the week end's races. But let's hear it from the man himself...
A lot of anticipation for my first Race Weekend, specially since I haven't driven the car yet! Car is a 2006 Stock Cayman S built for H Stock Porsche Club Racing. Basically it's a regular Cayman S, with stock engine, aftermarket exhaust (w/o catalytic converter), a full Kalani Gohara cage, safety systems, triple adjustable Motons, stiffer springs, GT3 Cup control arms and a Guard LSD. Car has to weigh 3105#s with driver. Mine weighs 3200#s.
It was just 7 weeks ago that I had no plans to start racing this year other than a probable rental deal with Stee at some point. Having the right car available at the right price with the right mechanical/team support was a big factor in jumping the gun. Since I had no seat time in the car, I signed up for the DE day on Thursday before the race. Woke up early, packed for 3 days, plus the obvious-rookie shiny brand new racesuit (thought about greasing it a bit, but remembered that nevertheless my car will wear a big X in the rear exposing the rookie status).
continues after the jump
Practice Day
Got to LRP at 7:15am. Typical early spring day: Wet and Cold (30F). I was even worried on my way there since I just took off my winter tires from the GT2 and was driving on the Michelin Sport Cup R-Comps when it started to snow lightly about 10mi from the track!
The car looked GREAT!! Farnbacher did a great job with a quickish color change in 2 weeks and the candy red contrast of wheels, mirrors and wings looks good but still misses proper race car livery that will come soon.
It was supposed to clear out in the afternoon but it never happened. There was a dryish window of 30mins in which I went out and pussyfooted for 10 laps (with light sprinkling rain). There was no point in putting Wet weather tires for practice as it was clear that the race was going to be dry, so why risk an shunt or a mis-aligning off to the mud. I didn't even bother looking at lap times as I knew they would suck and would just destroy my confidence too early.
Spent the day making sure everything felt comfortable in the cockpit (hate the harnesses as they are a big hassle with the HANS, while change to Schroth at the first chance), making sure the electronics worked: AIM dash, Radio and camera and checking all the important little details (mirrors, plan for tire swaps, etc.)
Attended the rookie talk: Valuable common sense advice being dispensed. I must imagine some fear factor can be triggered for someone who has never than this at all before. Went for a nice dinner and wine at the Interlaken with my team mates driving the other Cayman S in H Stock. Good talk, some bench racing and not so late to bed.
Day 1 - Practice sessions, rookie school and race starts / fun race
Finally fantastic weather at LRP. First two sessions started really driving the car and got down to high 1:00.x. A second off the prior owners record, but I'm having brake bias problems after 5 hot laps, where it goes into ABS and the car brakes mostly from the rear. Need to ease off for a lap for cooling to get them back to comfort level where it doesnt feel like pulling the handbrake when I try to trailbrake! A big confidence destroyer of the entry line into Big Bend.
Changed pads for the 3rd session to see if completely different compound could work better. Wrong choice, ABS problem was a nightmare, these other pads were too grabby and triggered ABS right away screwing up every braking zone. Therefore made no progress and we put the other pads back in. I rather manage the brake temperature at some point but be able to pull hot laps at the beginning.
Now going into the practice starts and will be done for the day. Qualifying is tomorrow but I'm already comfortably in P1 in my class (7 cars) by 6/10ths. Had a good follow-on with the 2nd guy (964 US Cup Car or RSA?) where I let him go in front and put pressure for 3 laps until he spun coming out of big bend.... Good reminder that this is half skill, half mental, and not to let rearview mirror intimidation screw up my consistency.
Had a lot fun in the practice starts and Fun Races. Everything came back after so many years and the racecraft intuition is still there. I love it.
Another fine dinner at the Boathouse in Lakeville with the team mates, and great wine find at reasonable price. Earlier to bed than the night before. but spent a few hours toying with the endless data from the AIM Dash. Wished I had someone else's fast laps to compare and now where to make time. However, LRP is very simple and I know I'm leaving too much apex speed on the table on the uphill and downhill. 4-6mph faster apex speed is certainly possible as I feel that in those 2 corners my safety margin is much bigger than anywhere else (Come out too easy with no real need for all track out space). Nailing those two at the limit can certainly shave more than 1 sec.
Race Day!
Better weather than on Friday and its supposed to reach almost 90F!. In the morning practice got down to almost breaking the 1min in the morning but just couldn't get my mind to brake less on the uphill and downhill. Theoretically, I feel this car can probably take the downhill apex at 100mph at 10/10. I'm at 90mph but will settle for doing it at 95!
Qualifying was traffic mayhem and basically a mini sprint race as everyone raced from pits to T1 and it took us 3-4 laps to sort us out and have a go at decent lap times on the racing line.Unfortunately when times were dropping down I had a black flag with my # (meaning that I need to go to the pits) just after I noticed the Car is making loud noises in the corners. Apparently some fluid was leaking out of the rear and making a big white cloud when in burned.
Diagnostic was that the power steering main hydraulic hose burnt its retaining ring (plastic part) due to the fluid excessive temperature and the hose popped out! We only had 45mins before the race start, Spencer and the Farnbacher crew did a magical fix using a 32mm socket with Zip ties to hold in a 1000psi hydraulic hose line in place!!
Lined up in grid with only 1min to go! Qualified and started P8 in the race, P1 for my class, with only Cup Cars (964) and a I class 996 Carrera in front. In the first two laps put a lot of pressure on the guys in front while they were fighting for position and that hurt their ability to run fast laps. Took advantage of their own fight and sneaked in 3 wide into Big Bend, down to 2 wide in esses and No Name straight and held the inside line through the Uphill. Was running fifth on the tailights of the 996 and couldn't pass him as he had a lot more engine coming out of corners but gave me no room to sneak into the corners side by side.
By lap 7-8 my front brakes usually start to fade and I get too much rear bias which kills my consistency into Big Bend. Just couldn't hold their pace and the Cup Cars were all over me and drag raced me up the Uphill and while I lifted to let one by into West Bend the other one sneaked in train with him, and just made no sense to shut the door on the second one. I was wishing for them to cause trouble for the 996 while they worked their pass around him, but both passes on him were clear with little time lost on No-name straight, so had no chance to squeeze by behind them.
Now in P7 I ended up in a tough battle for position with a 964 RS (The class record holder in G). My lap times were up due to having to brake earlier and straight-only, but manage to hold him fairly through the end of the race.
In the Enduro, for some strange reason they didn't have a grid slot for me so started dead last! (I was the slowest class of the Enduro with all The Cup Cars and 600hp+ MobyDick Porsche monsters.... 54sec cars!) however, this was a lot more fun! By the end of first 2 laps I was up to 18th (passed 5-6 cars I think).
Was able to move all the way up to 15th by passing a couple of cars more including the 996 (same one of the Sprint). Basically thanks to lapping traffic (by lap 12) was able to catch up and kept the pressure on the 996 (I ran his bumper for 5 laps) and despite him being faster, eventually he made a mistake (probably his brakes or tires went away) and I went by on the inside of the downhill. Pits were opened and then my car started slipping the clutch in 4th and 5th gear. Had to do a lap and a half crawling at 40-50mph (got passed by 4 cars). Came to the pits, used the time as my mandatory 5min stop to let the clutch cool down.
It worked, but every 5-6 hotlaps it started slipping again, so I either had to baby it using 3rd gear only or with HUGE pauses in between gears with no throttle. Finally made it home 13th with no more battles for the remainder of the race (other than checking mirrors for the crazy fast cars). Spencer thinks it was the steering fluid from the failure we had in qualifying that might have glazed the surface of the clutch (??!).
Definitively a great weekend, full of everything including mechanical incidents that are part of the whole experience. Can't wait for the next one!
I have to say, I'm conflicted about this post. I received an email from our friend Max about it yesterday and my first reaction was to not add it. It's morbid, not confirmed, it's more or less anonymous and there are no pictures.
Like many of you probably, I love Paul Newman as an actor and of course a racer. (The old man is fast, ever check his lap times about Lime Rock? wow). We all know he is getting on in years so in the end I thought that a story which confirms his lifelong passion for the sport we love is something you might enjoy knowing about.
All the best to Paul Newman from the Axis!
Wednesday August 13th 2008
Lime Rock was closed down for an hour and a half to honor Paul Newman. He was attended by his family, close friends, Skip Barber, mechanicson his race team, and those who happened to be at the track. PLN toured the track in his Corvette race car with his Buick V8 powered Volvo station wagon following. He had come to say goodbye....
Pictures by RSO34 from Pound Ridge NY and 2Seat on Trackpedia.com
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Lime Rock Park was closed down for an hour and half today to honor Paul Newman. He was attended by his family, close friends, Skip Barber, mechanicson his race team, and those who happened to be at the track. PLN toured the track in his Corvette race car with his Buick V8 powered Volvo station wagon following. He had come to say goodbye. Diagnosed with terminal cancer he is not expected to live beyond September. Race driver, actor, humanitarian, family man and friend, they did not come any better."
Stonebridge20 on Apexspeed.com wrote:
LimeRock was closed down today Wednesday for an hour and a half so Paul Newman could take a few last laps there in his GT1 Corvette and say goodbye. He was diagnosed with cancer 18 months ago and is not expected to make it past September. Hearing this has left a sick feeling in my stomach. Newman was and will always be one of my racing hero's. Bob Sharp Racing being our local "big race team" and the fact that my Dad raced with Bob Sharp back when he was racing Sprites in G Production in the 60's was my "connection" When Bob got the Datsun deal and showed up at LimeRock with those Red White and Blue 510's, it really but the bug in me for racing. I was a bit too young to remember the Datsun Roadsters but for some reason the 510's made a big impression on me. When I was 7 years old in 1972 my Dad and I walked into the old timing tower at the Glen and met up with Bob and Paul who were standing there eating peanuts. My dad said to say hello to Mr. Sharp and Mr. Newman They drive the Red White and Blue cars you like so much. All I could do is stand there and stare. Newman said hi, took my hand and filled it up with peanuts and said "have some, there good for ya". From that moment on all I could think about is driving race cars and someday having my own Red White and Blue 510. It was one of those defining moments in your life that you will never forget. 32 years later at the 2004 LimeRock National I drove my first GT race in a 77 Datsun 200SX. Newman was the first GT1 car to lap me. As he went past I gave him the thumbs up and he did the same to me. Surreal !
This one is one of the Revs cars, a 1939 W154/39 raced by Von Brauchitsch and was rescued after World War 2 in Romania. You should look it up, it's a fascinating story.
Like all race cars of the era, you don't just get in and turn the key, the engine block has to be warmed with a special heater, engine has to be fired first with a set of soft plugs when are then changed for the running ones before the actual run. 
