Walter Mitty Road Atlanta Ferrari Coral May-2-3-4: Plus Parade Laps

One good thing about the Monaco event is that it only takes place every other year! If we can convince Historic GP and Road Atlanta to get together again next year (and in odd-numbered years thereafter), it should be a much larger field.

 

I was driving the green Tyrrell F1 with Benetton livery. Placed second on Saturday. Had engine problems on Sunday and did not finish the race. I have owned that car for a little over a year. Bought it from Jim Busby in California. Was originally driven by Michele Alboreto who drove for Ferrari F1 team later. I have some video of the Saturday race from my in car camera. Our HGP group usually have at least 20 cars at a race. A number of factors kept the numbers lower than usual. HSR wants us back next year and I expect the turn out to be much better.

 

Let's hope they do. A strong field next year could help build the Mitty to the level of participation and attendance it deserves.

 

Paul, you're livin' the dream!

Thanks for bringing your car out. You made my weekend!

 

I posted several laps of video from the Saturday race. Quality is not as good as the original as I had to compress it to post on YouTube. If you are interested the link is below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLgmbRHX6Ww

 

I skipped Saturday because of the weather and returned Sunday. Here are some early photos from around the corrals, including the slowest Porsche on the premises. (No, not the Cayman!) The Daytona and 328 were at the Old World Motorcars booth; the 328's engine looked like new; much nicer than mine!

Then I headed down into the new paddock, which was much emptier than Friday, since the Mustangs and Miatas from the support races had finished their racing and had all departed. I did find John Finger, whose shop in Greenville I had visited last fall. The Mini out front was a Clubman, making interesting comparison with the new Clubman now at dealers. BTW, the #11 Thunderbird was for sale, so if there are any Bill Elliott wannabees out there, just contact Mr. Finger. (And at least it looked like a T-Bird, which is more than can be said for today's NASCAR "funny cars".)
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I walked across the bridge to the old paddock, which was quite a bit busier. I found the Porsche tractor and took a few pics. Unfortunately some of the cars had been relegated to non-runners: no one was working on them. That included the Tyrrell 004 and the Nissan GTP.
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Towards the end of this set, the F1 cars were being wheeled down to the false grid in the old pit lane, even the non-runners. I'll show the grid in the next set.
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As part of the Historic Grand Prix festivities, they set up a "false grid" in the old pit lane, complete with grid girls (high school cheerleaders, in this case) and grid signs. (Unfortunately, the signs had a number of typos: sharp eyes might catch "Derel Daly" in the first photo. Also, some of the signs had the names of the original drivers (a few of whom are deceased), while others had the names of the current drivers!) But what counts is the effect, and that was brought forth quite well.

In the 6th photo, a young fellow gets to pretend that he's Jackie Stewart. In the 7th, you can see just how cluttered the back ends of F1 cars of that era really were, and in the 9th, Bob Varsha (who called the HGP race on the PA system) interviews Hamish Somerville, the Canadian who drives the very fast #27 Williams FW07.

Meanwhile, back in the corrals, some interesting cars showed up in my absence.
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More Misc. Mitty Meanderings
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Even More Misc. Mitty Meanderings
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After the Historic Grand Prix race, which I watched from Spectator Hill and turn 7, I returned to the corral for one reason: to have lunch! (None of the concessions at the back of the course was open.) I found that a Carrera GT had joined the German corral, and a turbocharged monstrosity called a Berkeley had joined the British. The fellow in the yellow Diablo -- I believe it was a VT -- drove by several times but never stopped. The engine was in the green Esprit with the yellow wheels.

Later I returned to the skidpad to watch the later races. The 599 parked behind my 328, which at that point became "invisible". And when I returned to the corral for the last time, I was surprised to see -- a Unimog! I only wish I had grabbed the camera quick enough to shoot the Mercedes star on its front.

The rest of my photos are all on-track and will be put up on the other thread.
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