TUDOR United Sports Car rolls through Lime Rock Park

"Chaz Adams" (chazadams) 07/27/2015 at 08:09 • Filed to: Racing, TUDOR, Continental, Lime Rock, Lime Rock Park, United Sports Car, IMSA, Prototype, GT, North East Grand Prix, Photography

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This past weekend the TUDOR series returned to beautiful northwest Connecticut and the historic 1.5 mile “bull ring” of Lime Rock Park for the North East Grand Prix. Friday was a combination of practice and qualifying for the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge and United Sports Car series with the main events filling the Saturday slate. The Continental series concluded with both the Grand Sport and Street Tuner classes running side by side while the United Sports Car series saw only its Prototype Challenge and GT Daytona classes return to Lime Rock Park

amp0730: now part of CJA's pelvis throne > Chaz Adams 07/27/2015 at 08:47

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I’m really annoyed the GT LM and P2 cars didn’t run. I get not wanting to have a track that’s too crowded, but they could have run prototypes one session, GT in another or run P2 with GT LM.

That said Lime Rock is freaking ancient and it might not be safe enough for the faster cars; so I do kinda understand. It's still annoying though.

Chaz Adams > amp0730: now part of CJA's pelvis throne 07/27/2015 at 08:52

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Some of the feedback I heard from officials revolved around like you mentioned the crowded track, not enough pit space and how tight the garage area would be. At the very least I hope the get the GT LM car’s back next year and a support series like Ferrari Challenge as well. The Continental Series crammed way more cars on track with minimal issues after all.

Drakkon- Most Glorious and Upright Person of Genius > Chaz Adams 07/27/2015 at 08:58

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I have to make it up there sometime. Get away from this Midwest heat and see some racing too.

Brumos59-2 > Chaz Adams 07/27/2015 at 09:02

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We here in the Northeast are lucky Lime Rock was on the schedule at all this year. Last year we only got Continental, no Tudor series at all. See, when ALMS and Grand Am combined to make up the TUSC, some tracks had to go. Traditionally the Conti GS and ST cars race together but they are split into two separate races at Lime Rock due to the number of cars. This year, they were also supposed to be split, but only 12 GS cars entered and maybe 10 started the race, so they decided to combine them at the last minute. That's why there was such a huge gap between races on Saturday. Also, at some big events like Long Beach and Detroit, only the big Prototypes and GTLM cars get to play, so IMSA needs to shuffle things around a bit so that everybody gets the same number of races in over the course of the season. If you are within driving distance of Lime Rock, Watkins Glen is not much further away. Come to the 6 hours in June and see all 4 TUSC classes do battle for 6 hours along with a Conti race, Porsche Cup, Lamborghini Super Trofeo, IMSA Lights prototypes, etc.

eforeal > Chaz Adams 07/27/2015 at 09:03

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I really wanted to make it this year. Ive been to Lime Rock before to see Ferrari Club of Americas 25 Anniversary. Beautiful track and awesome location.

How was the crowd turn out? I watched the race on FS1 and it seemed like there were a good amount of people.

WMUCarGuy > amp0730: now part of CJA's pelvis throne 07/27/2015 at 09:04

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They’ve run LMP1 cars there before, which were much quicker than today’s DP/P2s. It’s not about speed, or space. It’s just scheduling. P/GTLM have had races that PC/GTD don’t and vice versa.

Who needs sway bars anyway > Chaz Adams 07/27/2015 at 09:10

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Looks like you stole my shot from 2 years ago, either that or great minds think alike!

Like others I was disappointed that only two of the classes were there this year. The last ALMS race that was there two years ago had the continental sports car series, Lamborghini race series AND the full ALMS field and it was fantastic! I hope they find a way to make the whole thing work again or I might be headed to Watkins Glen next time.

therealdealjohnnyscarecrow > amp0730: now part of CJA's pelvis throne 07/27/2015 at 09:28

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Same. I think there were only 17 cars in the field for the race Saturday. I was very disappointed.

I miss the old Memorial Day and July 4th long weekends with races on Mondays and a free day on Sunday. Plus, the fact that there were absolutely no support races made the weekend extremely light on excitement, and for the first time ever, I left Lime Rock disappointed in the money I shelled out for a ticket. And that counts Memorial Day 2005 when a storm popped up on Thursday evening and a large branch fell down and crushed my Pathfinder near the no name straight (I still think they should have let me cut that tree down this year....) At least I got to see some fun amateur racing this year on July 4th before the fireworks....

GR1M RACER : Wrong Most of the Time > Chaz Adams 07/27/2015 at 09:37

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That Forza 6 hype thou.

Squad41 > amp0730: now part of CJA's pelvis throne 07/27/2015 at 09:49

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Not to date myself too much, but back in IMSA’s GTP-era, they split the races at Lime Rock. The GTP races featured “Camel GT” and “Camel Lights” prototype cars, and there were separate races for the GTO and GTU cars. (GT Over 2.5L, GT Under 2.5L). Now that they’ve moved from Memorial Day Weekend, to the Independence Day Weekend, to some random July Saturday, we can say that “Big League Racing” at LRP has finally died. It’s really sad to say that, but it is true. Ask anybody who sat in NASCAR-type race day traffic at Lime Rock in the 80’s, and they’ll agree. Stick a fork in LRP, they’re done. (Note: I’m local, and traditionally go to LRP a few times per year, and I didn’t even know that there was a race this weekend... How is that even possible?)

Gurble > Chaz Adams 07/27/2015 at 11:05

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No mention of the GT350 that started dead last and finished 1st. Not even a picture. Not cool man, not cool.

PaulW > Chaz Adams 07/27/2015 at 11:24

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Some photos I took from Saturday

PaulW > Gurble 07/27/2015 at 11:25

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I added some photos of Billy with the GT350 RC

Chaz Adams > Gurble 07/27/2015 at 11:30

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Just added in one of the GT350 RC. I thought about doing a bit more of a race recap but wanted to get the post up sooner rather than later. I could have gone into the story about Turner having to rebuild the car etc also

Gurble > Chaz Adams 07/27/2015 at 11:59

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heh, yeah just giving you a hard time. Definitely some fun racing this weekend.

TorqueandMindy > Chaz Adams 07/27/2015 at 12:07

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I love Lime Rock and wish the track the best. I was disappointed when the track was left out during the series merger and am only slightly less disappointed at this week’s race being a minor league event... HOWEVER, I have to say that the track management seems to be as big of a factor in its decline as anything. While historic and beautiful, the track is not up to par with the rest of the big league tracks. If management truly wants to be at that level then there’s little doubt in my mind that the facility needs a major overall. Also, here’s a pic I took at Lime Rock because why not