Sonoma Historic Motorsports Festival 2012

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Sonoma Historic Motorsports Festival at Infineon Raceway Wrap-up 2012

The Sonoma Historic Motorsports Festival at Infineon Raceway billed as "Moments in Time: A Celebration of the History of Motorsports" this past June 2nd and 3 rd lived up to its billing. All weekend a parade of motorsports history passed before our eyes. From old relics to much newer we saw it all.

To our appreciation this was not only an event where past glories perform a Sunday parade on track. Some entrants came in finely tuned machines to take names and kick tail.

Some sounds in motorsports are not forgotten. For me, one of these is a modern F1 engine shrieking at 18,000 RPM. Another is the raspy high rev of a Dino Ferrari, always sounding like is has more cylinders than it does. High on this Richter Scale of car sounds are the unlimited Can Am giants when they fire up at trackside, especially when you are standing next to them. Their rolling thunder hits a crescendo on Lap 1 at Infineon when as a group they ascend the long incline between Turns 6 and 7. They remind me of an armada of dragsters with their throttles stuck full on.

The race of Group 13, 1966 - 1974 Historic Can-Am Cars was as exciting as I have ever seen. The racing commentator corroborated stating this race would stand up to the best during Can Am's professional era.

Steve Cook's yellow #76, 6.0 liter 1968 McLaren M6B took the lead with one of the two orange #5s in hot pursuit. All the cars sounded in top tune, with the leaders revving exceptionally high, crisp, and smooth. Fred Cziska's 1974 8.1 liter black Shadow DN4A rumbled menacingly in fifth. After a few laps Wade Carter's 8.4 liter 1972 orange McLaren, # 55, worked its way from 7th position to replace #5 in second place. Carter had the advantage of a larger engine, but the commentator said Cook had the superb experience on this track. The duel ensued. These cars raced each other so hard reaching such speeds that I found myself tensely thinking "Careful guys, don't overcook it." On Lap 8 when they were out of my sight near turn 11 I heard the commentator yell "They're side by side!" But when they came into view, engines screaming, Cook was still in front. Carter's McLaren was all over Cook's like a cheap suit, but he just couldn't make the pass. When they weren't trying to out accelerate each other, they were having a battle on the brakes into the turns. On Lap 10 I saw an orange car exiting Turn 6 send up a small dust cloud at the start of the incline. Then things became jumbled - I could no longer identify positions. Momentarily, the commentator announced a new leader, Carter, which I confirmed as the cars broke back into view. Carter held on another lap to nail the win in a real thriller.

The Group 12 Race, 1973-1979 IMSA GT & 1964-1970 FIA Cars was dominated in entrants by Porsches, but Tommy Thompson's 7.7 liter maroon Corvette #26 took the lead. The Corvette probably was out front by virtue of its low end torque produced by an engine over two and one half times the size of the Ranson Webster's pink and white large tailed, 3 liter, #42 Porsche. Even so, the second place Porsche reportedly had more horsepower due to turbo charging. Probably the Porsche would need to keep the revs high to take advantage of the turbo charging, so in this case displacement trumps ponies. After a few laps, in Turn 1 the Corvette twitched left-right but seemed to regain control as it disappeared from view uphill at the end of the grandstand. Then I saw a large dust cloud just as the commentator announced the Corvette was off track. It did not return, and Webster's Porsche took the lead to the finish.
Michael Rockich ACC Editor

Chevrolet Camaro Z28 1968
Sonoma Historic Motorsports Festival 2012
Sonoma Raceway 2012

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The 26 Annual Sonoma Historic Motersports Festival was held at the newly named Sonoma Raceway, formally called Infineon Raceway, and it was a show. The theme was "Moments in Time: A Celebration of the History of Motorsports.". The meaning of the theme, as I was watching the group labeled "Pre-1941 Sports and Touring Cars" circle the track, came to me. There were 2 National race cars racing side by side and the track announcer noted that the 1911 Nation was over 100 years old and still competing on the race track. The cars in Sundays first group were the cars that really were the stars in the beginning of motorsport racing. And we were right next to the stage watching it re-play. How great is that.

The day consisted of races for the 15 groups of cars running from the 1911 National to the 1971-1982 FIA Sports Racing Cars.

The day was fill with the sound of engines as there was hardly a brake between races, no small feat given all the complexities of dealing with some many, nearly 400 cars, over such a large area.

The cars running on the track were available in the paddock for all to see and speaking with the owners was worth the price of admission alone.

Ferrari Sparling Spl sn-0872 1972
Sonoma Historic Motorsports Festival 2012
Sonoma Raceway 2012

The winners of the different race groups were:
Group 1 - pre-1941 Sports and Touring Cars; Pete Thelander 1934 MG NE
Group 2 - 1956-1963 Formula Cars; Danny Baker; 1963 Lotus 27 F-Jr
Group 4 - 1963-1973 Durand National Stock; Jim Hague 1972 Ford Gran Torino
Group 3 - 1956-1963 Sports Racing Cars Jeff Abramson 1966 Lotus 23C
Group 5 - 1955-1962 production/GT-Cars Jeff Abramson 1959 Morgan +4
Group 6 - 1962-1966 Prod/GT Cars >2000cc John McKenna 1963 Cobra 289
Group 7 - 1982-1991 Hist. IMSA GTO/SCCA Peter Baljet 1990 Chevy Beretta
Group 8 - 1925-1941 Racing Cars Paddins Dowling 1939 Maserati 4CL
Group 9 - 1946-1955 Sports Racing and Prod; Robert Manson 1952 Manning Spl.
Group 13 - 1966-1974 Hist. Can-AM Cars Carter 1972 McLaren M8-FP
Group 12 - 1973-1979 IMSA GT h FIA Cars Webster 1976 Porsche 935 K3
Group 10 - 1955-1,960 sports Racing Cars Edward Nigro 1960 Lola MK1
Group 13 - 1966-1974 Historic Can-Am Cars; Wade Carter, 1972 McLaren M8-FP
Group 14 - 1966-1972 Historic Trans-Am Cars; Chad Raynal, 1969 Chevrolet Camaro Z28
Group 15 - 1971-1982 FIA Sports Racing; Keith Frieser, 1972 Lola 290

Sonoma Historic Motorsports Festival 2012
Sonoma Raceway 2012

Sonoma Historic Motorsports Festival 2012
Sonoma Raceway 2012

Chevron B2 sn-65 B2-4 1965
Sonoma Historic Motorsports Festival 2012
Sonoma Raceway 2012

Corvette SN-VE55S001196 1955
Sonoma Historic Motorsports Festival 2012
Sonoma Raceway 2012

Ferrari Sparling Spl sn-0872 1972
Sonoma Historic Motorsports Festival 2012
Sonoma Raceway 2012

Ferrari Sparling Spl sn-0872 1972
Sonoma Historic Motorsports Festival 2012
Sonoma Raceway 2012

Ferrari Sparling Spl sn-0872 1972
Sonoma Historic Motorsports Festival 2012
Sonoma Raceway 2012

Lola MK I sn-BY1 1958
Sonoma Historic Motorsports Festival 2012
Sonoma Raceway 2012

Lola T-70 sn-SL71-21 1966
Sonoma Historic Motorsports Festival 2012
Sonoma Raceway 2012

Lotus 11 sn-0259 1956
Sonoma Historic Motorsports Festival 2012
Sonoma Raceway 2012

Lola T-163 sn-HUT163-19 1969
Sonoma Historic Motorsports Festival 2012
Sonoma Raceway 2012

Lola T-163 sn-HUT163-19 1969
Sonoma Historic Motorsports Festival 2012
Sonoma Raceway 2012

Martin BM8 sn-1 1970
Sonoma Historic Motorsports Festival 2012
Sonoma Raceway 2012

McLaren M8FP sn-72-09 1972
Sonoma Historic Motorsports Festival 2012
Sonoma Raceway 2012

Porsche 935 K3 sn-930370-0163 1976
Sonoma Historic Motorsports Festival 2012
Sonoma Raceway 2012

Porsche RSR sn-9113600610 1973
Sonoma Historic Motorsports Festival 2012
Sonoma Raceway 2012

Peerless AmBro sn-GT2-0189 1959
Sonoma Historic Motorsports Festival 2012
Sonoma Raceway 2012

Sonoma Historic Motorsports Festival 2012
Sonoma Raceway 2012

Sonoma Historic Motorsports Festival 2012
Sonoma Raceway 2012

Sonoma Historic Motorsports Festival 2012
Sonoma Raceway 2012

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