For more than 40 years, every Labor Day weekend in Lakeville, Connecticut, historic cars have raced at the Lime Rock Park track to celebrate the world of classic automobiles.
The main part of the event takes place on the track, where drivers of cars from as early as the 1920s all the way to the early 2000s do their best to cross the finish line first.
On Friday, I arrived at the track and looked up by friend Bradley Price, the founder of Autodromo watches. He created the Lime Rock Park Edition Prototipo Chronograph to celebrate Lime Rock and the historic festival and brought one to me at the track, where he was racing his Alfa Romeo. I found him and his Giulietta quickly afterwards. He presented me with my watch, which had the word “JUDGE” engraved on the caseback as I was a judge on Sunday. The watch is great. If you are a fan of Lime Rock and cool racing-inspired watches, you should act fast as there are only a few of the 125 limited-edition watches left.
One of the best things about the weekend is the facility itself. Originally opened in 1956, Lime Rock Park is the third-oldest track still operating in the entire country. It is incredibly spectator-friendly in that you have access to the entire facility and there are places to watch the races from any angle you wish. It is also a shorter track at only 1.53 miles long, which makes getting around to all the different areas quite easy.
One of the idiosyncrasies of Lime Rock Park is that, due to a town ordinance, there is no racing on Sunday. What happens at the track that day is The Lime Rock Concours. Cars are judged and people walk the course checking out amazing cars from every era of the automobile.
This year, Historic Festival 42 had several special features. The first was that the Honored Collector was Ross Myers, who brought a beautiful collection of Ford race cars to the track. My personal favorite was the 1968 Cougar, but check out the rest above to get an idea of what was there and pick your favorite. With Ford as the Featured Marque of the event, the collection definitely added to the mix of cars.
I was assigned by head judge Bill Scheffler to be the lead judge in the Porsche 911 60th Anniversary class, which thrilled me as I know these cars inside and out because of the scores of 911s I have owned over the years. The 1st-place award went to Steven Harris for his stunning, all-original Riviera Blue 1992 911 RS Lightweight. This was the car out of all the 911s on display that I most wanted to take home. The 2nd-place award went to a stunningly restored Tangerine Orange 1973 911 Carrera RS owned by Jeff Greenberg. Our special Chairman’s Choice award went to a wonderful 1971 911 T Targa owned by Seamus Brown and his two daughters. The two girls were heavily involved with the car and have even been on cross-country road trips with their dad in it. It was an award that was well deserved.
The Lime Rock Concours gives a Best-in-Show Award for elegance and one for sport. This year, Best in Show d’Elegance went to the 1937 Packard 1508 owned by Paul Tacy; Lawrence Auriana’s 1950 Ferrari 166 MM was deemed Best in Show Sport.
If you have yet to attend the Lime Rock Historic festival, you should seriously consider doing so in 2025. Given that it takes place on Labor Day, it’s easy to plan for.
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