Vintage View
by Bill Medcaff
President VSCRVintage racing, what is it? Like it’s a trip back in time to when the automobile age was considered "golden", before gas shortages, auto emissions, computerized fuel injection, corporate racing sponsors and specialized race drivers. It was a time when you either drove or towed your racecar to the track. It’s about Cobras, Grand Sports, A and B Production Sedans, Can Am, and Trans Am, Formula 1 series racing at Watkins Glen, Sebring, Laguna Seca, Road America and Brainerd to name a few, by the likes of Bob Bondurant, Roger Penske, Jim Hall, Mark Donohue, Dick Kantrud and others.
How do you get started? First, to find out if racing is for you, take a professional driving school. There are many around, Skip Barber, Bob Bondurant, Danny Collins, to name a few. After three days of the most intense instruction and seat time you’ll ever experience, you’ll know if racing is for you. The cost, about $3,000. This cost includes instruction, track time, the use of personal safety equipment (helmet, driving suit, shoes, gloves, etc.). All the major schools have web sites that are easily accessible, and include
all the information you’ll need to get you there and in the car. Once you’ve decided that racing is for you, and Vintage is where you want to go, you’ll need a car, but what type? There are plenty of "Vintage" cars around for you to choose from. Just check the back pages of magazines such as "Victory Lane and SportsCar," the official publication of the Sport Car Club of America, or attend a vintage event such as the "Chicago Historics". Vintage racing can be expensive, such as running a F1, CanAm, or late model Cup Car; or it can be modest, competing in a Vintage Street Stock (basically, a street stock, unmodified, except for safety items to keep you alive such as a roll bar, fuel cell, driver harness, etc). The choice is yours. There are no wrong choices, it’s whatever you want to drive from a 34 MG ND, to an 84 Corvette GTP; or if your interest is in formula racing, how about a Formula Vee, Ford, Junior, F1, F2, F3000, F5000 and many more.
If you would like more information about vintage racing or about VSCR, contact me or any of our VSCR members. We’ll be happy to answer your questions and take you from watching "Le Mans", the movie, for the 100th time, to actually experiencing dicing with another car through Canada Corner at Road America, or going flat out through turn one at Brainerd. So what are you waiting for? Give me a call. I can be reached at (612) 493-8937. Your vintage racing future starts now.
The checker is out for this session, see you somewhere down the road, or maybe that’s me coming up on your drivers left.
WHAT THE HECK IS A RALLYCROSS?
By Todd Erickson
RallyCross is an event similar to an autocross (See page 6). A course is laid out in pylons. There are start and finish gates. The object is to get from the start to the finish as quickly and neatly as possible. If you knock over pylons, seconds are added to your time. The difference is that a RallyCross is not held on pavement. They are on a low-traction surface such as dirt or gravel with plenty of opportunity to slide about. Driving skills and car-handling knowledge are the predominant factors of competition.
Competition levels are grouped similarly to the 1998 Divisional Pro Rally rulebook. The U2 class is for two-wheel-drive cars with an adjusted displacement of under 2.4 liters. The O2 class is for two-wheel-drive cars with a displacement over that amount. U4, a new class, is for four-wheel-drive cars under 2.7 liters. O4 is for four-wheel-drive cars over 2.7 liters. There is also a Truck/SUV class. Each class also offers three levels of preparation. This way, street cars do not compete against the same car model that has been prepared to ProRally standards.
Dates will be announced in The Tonneau and on LOL’s web page as event sites are confirmed.
Wide open throttle, slide, brake, slide, POOF! "What happened?" Well, you oversteered and just hit a snowbank. "A snowbank? What the?"
Welcome to RallyCross winter-style. Why stop racing just because it’s winter? If you’ve ever enjoyed
RallyCross, cont on page 11
Tonneau On-Line 2000 Auto Show
Page 10
Copyright 2000, Land O'Lakes Region Last revised: March 13, 2003
