Sonoma Historic Motorsports Festival 2011

Sonoma Historic Motorsports Festival

Historic Motorsports Festival and car race

Starts: 06/04/2011

Ends: 2011-06-05

Infineon Raceway

Sonoma, California

USA

Second Annual Sonoma Historic Motorsports Festival. Previously known as Wine Country Classic Historic Car Races.

McLaren will be the featured marque at the Sonoma Historic Motorsports Festival, June 4-5. Bruce McLaren founded his racing team in 1963, His cars will headline the full weekend of vintage racing at the Infineon Raceway, Sonoma, California.

McLaren cars dominated the Can-Am series from 1967 through 1971 and McLaren was considered unbeatable. Mclaren also gained victories at the Indianapolis 500, and Formula 1. The worlds top drivers have competed in the McLaren cars.

For 2011, the company will introduce its new road car, the McLaren MP4-12C, a carbon fiber composite chassis with a 3.8 liter twin turbo V8 engine, that develops 600 horsepower and has a top speed of 200 mph. The MP4-12C's shapely form and extraordinary performance pays tribute to McLaren's racing heritage.

Again this year as always, the event will blend the historic cars and the historic wine country into a memorable event. A huge field of historic cars will race the twisting road course, including machines from Porsche, Ferrari, Aston Martin, Corvette and Lotus which will give fans a high speed historic car show while the drivers make pass after pass on the rising and falling track. Many of these cars could rightly make their home in automotive museums around the world, but each is driven to the highest skill level which their private owner/driver possess.

In the beginning, auto racing was about who had the fastest car, just like now. However there were no race tracks. That came much later. Auto racing was done on roads, sometimes with local traffic using the roads along with the racers. The races were run from city to city and sometimes from one country to another and over great distances. The earliest long distance races were over several days. Given the long distance and the different terrain which was encountered, the weather was also a changing factor. Rain was the norm. The cars and drivers pressed on and the best driver was the one who could compete under all weather conditions.

This early racing set the tone for road racing as the races moved from the open roadways to the closed circuit road race tracks. The most notable exception however is oval racing which is popular in the USA, like the Indianapolis 500. Oval track racing stops at the first hint of rain.

Vintage racing recognizes the history of road racing as well as the history of the cars, and to that effect, the rain which stayed in the area over the first 2 days, dampened the track but not the desires of all. Several drivers charged around the track and gave all the hardy spectators a show. The downside to the rainy days were the overall lack of cars on the track. This is not a complaint but a statement of fact. These cars, after all, are rare artifacts and the gentleman drivers are there for their enjoyment and pleasure. Setting in the rain in an open car may not be everyone's idea of a fun day. The paddock is open to all and walking through the cars and speaking with the drivers is good entertainment while waiting for the racing to go out on the track. There should never be any downside to hanging around a vast collection of the most desirable cars that ever turned a wheel in combat.

Sunday's late morning period gave way to a dry track and put mostly full fields on the track and the show really got under way. Passing and spinouts on the damp track was great entertainment. Over all the weekend of speed and cars was in my opinion well worth the time.