LAKEVILLE, Conn.—The Historic Festival at Lime Rock Park, now in its 36th year, brought together one of the largest gatherings of historic Bugatti vehicles in North America. With more than 60 Bugattis taking part in this year’s event, held over Labor Day Weekend (Aug. 30 – Sept. 3, 2018), the festival is the only North American classic car race and concours held on the same race track. This year’s event was one of the largest classic car events in North America with Bugatti as the featured marque.
Among the exceptional Bugattis showcased were five belonging to Peter Mullin, the Festival’s Honored Collector, including his extraordinary Type 57SC Atlantic Coupe. Also in the show was the 57G “Tank” from Philadelphia’s Simeone Foundation Automotive Museum that won the 1937 Le Mans 24 Hour race, and the Type 57SC Gangloff Convertible belonging to Ralph Lauren, which won Best in Show honors at the Festival’s Concours d’ Elegance held on Sunday.
A commemorative poster by celebrated automotive artist Chuck Queener highlighted the historical significance of having three notable Bugattis at one place. Queener was extremely busy autographing posters, which were in great demand.
The festival drew in car owners and enthusiasts from across North America and Europe like Charles Knill-Jones from North Beach, England, who took the top finish in three of the four Bugatti Grand Prix races in Richard Collier’s 1931 Bugatti T51.
In all, over 200 competitors participated among eight race groups and 32 total races. It was the largest event for the Vintage Sports Car Club of America, which is celebrating its 60th year and is the sanctioning body of the Historic Festival.
Nearly 1,000 cars were featured on the entire mile-and-a-half track for the Concours d’Elegance as well as the Gathering of the Marques, a celebration of individual car enthusiast clubs sharing their passion for their favorite vehicles from around the world.
The Festival also offered a 100-plus car parade through local towns, a panel discussion on the IMSA GTP Era by six legends pf the Motorsports industry, and author signing sessions for the new book, “Lime Rock Park, Six Decades of Speed, Beauty and Tradition,” as well as biographies like David Hobbs’ newly released book. Fundraising activities such as hot lap raffles and green flag waving experiences raised money for The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research.
Murray Smith, Historic Festival Chairman, said he felt from an automotive enthusiast point of view this was one of the “most interesting and dramatic examples of the 36 years of the festival. The presence of an iconic figure in the classic car field as Peter Mullin, the owner of the Mullin Automotive Museum in Oxnard, Calif., and chairman of the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles, and the key figure in the extraordinary Mullin Collection of both cars and Art Deco objects underlines the prestige of the Lime Rock Historic Festival.”
Smith continued, “The fact that prominent personalities like Ralph Lauren and Fred Simeone are prepared to send their fabulous automobiles to be part of this Lime Rock event underlines the prestige and significance of which the event has achieved. In addition to the important concours d’Elegance, festival-goers experienced 16 short races over two days featuring everything from a 1913 Bugatti to some of the fastest cars of the ’70s and a whole gamut of sports cars.”
Smith and his team are already planning the 37th edition of the event to be held over Labor Day weekend in 2019, which he said, will undoubtedly prove even more “eclectic, interesting and exciting.”
About Lime Rock Park: Opened in 1957, Lime Rock Park is a historic automotive and entertainment venue located in Litchfield County, Conn. Along with hosting several televised spectator race weekends, Lime Rock is home to numerous special events, racing schools, driving schools, the exclusive Lime Rock Drivers Club. Visit www.limerock.com or @limerockpark on social media for more information.
