Even in its 40th edition, the Lime Rock Park Historic Festival presented by Corvette continues evolving and raising the bar. Nine run groups and over 200 cars present a diverse and dynamic field that will animate Lime Rock Park’s 1.5 miles with bevy of sound and speed to delight any automotive enthusiast. With so much to see and experience, Skip Barber gives us his five things to look out for a Historic Festival 40.

HISTORIC TRANS AM

“The neat thing about this group is that these are the cars that ran between 1966 and 1972, which were the glory days of Trans Am. We will have six of the seven manufacturer brands that competed in the over 2.0L class represented. They include a 1969 Chevrolet Camaro run by Penske Racing alongside a 1972 Penske AMC Javelin and Sam Posey’s Dodge Challenger. Plus, there are several Fords including Mustang Boss 302s and a Shelby, a Mercury Cougar, several more Chevy Camaros and Z28s as well as a Pontiac GTO.”

IMSA RS AND TIN TOPS

“In the ’70s and ’80s small sedan racing got very popular, in particular the IMSA RS Series here at Lime Rock. We have a sort of reunion of those cars here plus ‘Tin Tops,’ which is what they were referred to by the Brits. We’re talking about cars like the Datsun 510, the BMW 2002, the Ford Lotus Cortina, Alfa Romeo GTV and even a 1963 Hillman Imp. One entry that stands out is a 1972 Ford Pinto that was originally raced by a guy named Racer Walsh who was a popular figure here at Lime Rock and the car is going to be driven by his son Brian.”

PRE- AND EARLY POST-WORLD WAR II

“We have a class that’s a combination of pre-World War II and early post World War II cars when a lot of the cars, particularly the British cars were really pre-war cars with maybe a different grill. This group is studded by three Bugattis, a Stutz Special Brisson Lem, multiple MGs and Morgans and the 1935 Old Gray Mare Special.”

CORVETTES GALORE

“As the featured marque of Historic Festival 40, Corvettes are well represented across two different run groups with a dozen examples in all. Among them is a 1963 Corvette Grand Sport (pictured above) that’s coming from the Revs Institute and automotive author Tom Cotter is racing his 1964 Corvette, and we go all the way up to a 1978 Corvette that raced in both IMSA and Trans Am.”

NO NAME GETS A NAME

“Lime Rock Park is a track from the era when corners were always given names, not just a number. There’s Big Bend, the Uphill, West Bend, the Downhill, the Sam Posey Straight and ironically the ‘No Name Straight.’ Well finally this year, No Name will get a very well-deserved real name that we will unveil in a ceremony on Saturday evening.”