Lime_Rock_Park

Lime Rock Park

Lime Rock Park

Motorsport road racing venue located in Lakeville, CT, US

Lime Rock Park is a natural-terrain motorsport road racing venue located in Lakeville, Connecticut, United States, a hamlet in the town of Salisbury, in the state's northwest corner. Built in 1956, it is the nation's third oldest continuously operating road racing venue, behind Road America (1955) and Willow Springs International Motorsports Park (1953).[2] The track was owned by Skip Barber from 1984 to April 2021, a former race car driver who started the Skip Barber Racing School in 1975. Now, it is owned by Lime Rock Group, LLC.[3] It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2009.[1]

Quick Facts "Road Racing Center of the East", Location ...

History

The 1.530 mi (2.462 km) Lime Rock track was originally conceived of in 1956 by Jim Vaill, who, along with John Fitch and Cornell Aeronautical Laboratory, built the track utilizing state-of-the-art road and highway safety principles of the time. The first race, a mix of G-Production class and an MG class, was held on April 28, 1957. The winner of the G-Production was Ted Sprigg in an Alfa Romeo Giulietta. The winner of the MG class was Charles Callanan in an MG TC.

Rodger Ward (24) battles George Constantine in 1959

In 1959, Lime Rock was the site of a notable upset, when Rodger Ward won a Formula Libre race driving an Offenhauser-engined midget car, usually used on oval tracks. Ward used an advantageous power-to-weight ratio and his dirt-track cornering abilities to defeat several highly regarded sports cars and drivers for the victory. The year, the track also hosted the Little Le Mans race, won by Charles Callanan and Roger Penske in a Fiat Abarth. In 2008, the track was re-paved and two new corner complexes were added.[4]

The track has a loyal following,[4] though it did face some resistance from the local community shortly after it opened. In 1959, the Lime Rock Protective Association, with support from the nearby Trinity Episcopal Church,[5] took the park to Litchfield Superior Court in an effort to ban Sunday racing. The court issued a permanent injunction against Sunday racing, and its decision was upheld by the Connecticut Supreme Court. While restrictive, the carefully crafted injunction was also enabling. It preserved the track's right to conduct unmuffled sports car racing on Fridays and Saturdays, plus testing on Tuesdays and other operating benefits. The injunction stands to this day.[6]

The track has featured many well-known racers including Paul Newman, who supported his own Newman-Haas team with Bob Sharp,[7] Mario Andretti, Stirling Moss, Dan Gurney, Sam Posey, and Mark Donohue.[4] Other racers have included Parnelli Jones, Joey Logano, Austin Dillon, Simon Pagenaud, Alexander Rossi, and Tom Cruise.[8] Posey and Newman have sections of the circuit named for them.[9][10]

The Rolex Sports Car Series, American Le Mans Series and IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship have used a configuration which included the chicane at turn five and West Bend.

Track

The track is a natural terrain road course, constructed over hilly terrain in the Berkshire Mountains, part of the greater Appalachian mountain range. The famous Appalachian Trail hiking route passes by the circuit on the ridge lines visible from the track a half mile to the east. The venue is somewhat unique in that it features no grandstands or bleacher seating, instead inviting fans to bring chairs and blankets and enjoy the racing from its grassy hillside areas under the shade of trees. While the venue is relatively compact, the relatively short track is renowned for its spectator experience, offering fans an up close view and close quarters racing.[11][12]

BMW M6 GT3 race car rounds "Big Bend", turns 1–2, at Lime Rock Park during an IMSA GT event

For years the track was listed as being 1.530 mi (2.462 km) in length—the story goes that right after it was built, somebody used the odometer in a Chevrolet to measure the track length—and 1.53 was taken as gospel. Following the 2008 reconstruction (see below), Lime Rock's operations people measured all four possible configurations, and as it turns out, each was 1.500 mi (2.414 km) long, plus or minus a few hundred feet. The IMSA Weathertech Sportscar Championship gives the distance of the track as 1.474 mi (2.372 km).[13] The "classic" configuration is seven turns, while the three optional layouts are eight, nine and ten turns, respectively.

Events

Current
Former

Lap records

The fastest unofficial all-time track record set during a race weekend is 0:43.112 seconds, set by P. J. Jones in a Toyota Eagle MkIII, during qualifying for the 1993 Toyota Trucks Lime Rock Grand Prix. As of July 2023, the fastest official race lap records at Lime Rock Park are listed as:

More information Category, Time ...
  • Lime Rock Park, Connecticut
  • Lime Rock Park, Connecticut
  • Lime Rock Park, Connecticut
  • View from the Sam Posey Straight spectator area during an American Le mans Series event
  • GT3 cars battle through "The Left Hander", turn 3, headed up towards Paul Newman Straight during an IMSA event at Lime Rock Park

See also

Notes

    References

    1. [1]
      "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
    2. [2]
      Libov, Charlotte (June 25, 1989). "The View From Lime Rock: Neighbors learn to live with the noise". New York Times. Retrieved February 13, 2017.
    3. [3]
      "New Ownership Group for Lime Rock". April 7, 2021. Retrieved August 5, 2023.
    4. [4]
      "About Us". Lime Rock Park. Archived from the original on December 25, 2014. Retrieved March 19, 2014.
    5. [5]
      "Trinity and Lime Rock Park...and before". Trinity Lime Rock. Archived from the original on May 8, 2014. Retrieved July 7, 2013.
    6. [6]
      Cowgill, Terry D. (December 8, 2005). "Sunday Racing at Lime Rock Part? Plan Riles Residents". The Lakeville Journal. Vol. 109, no. 16. pp. 1, 12.
    7. [7]
      Crudele, John (January 18, 2011). "Newman's own will not enough to find a way". New York Post.
    8. [8]
      Racer Staff (January 24, 2019). "Bertil Roos set for Lime Rock Park return". racer.com. Retrieved January 25, 2019.
    9. [9]
      "Sam Posey Straight at Lime Rock Park". Sports Car Digest. March 13, 2013.
    10. [10]
      Lime Rock Park (September 3, 2022). "Paul Newman Straight revealed during Lime Rock Park Historic Festival". Racer.
    11. [11]
      Sinclair, Adam (July 15, 2021). "From Agony To Ecstasy Robichon Recalls 2019 Lime Rock Win". Speedway Digest. Archived from the original on July 22, 2021. Retrieved July 22, 2021.
    12. [12]
      Learner, Preston (June 17, 2021). "Lime Rock Park: the rescued racing venue with a rich sporting history". Motor Sport Magazine. Archived from the original on May 13, 2022. Retrieved July 22, 2021.
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      "Northeast Grand Prix Race Official Results (160')" (PDF). International Motor Sports Association (IMSA). July 23, 2016. Retrieved February 12, 2023.
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      "2023 FCP Euro Northeast Grand Prix Presented by Liqui Moly IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship Lime Rock Race Official Results (2 Hours 40 Minutes)" (PDF). International Motor Sports Association (IMSA). July 22, 2023. Retrieved August 5, 2023.
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    42. [42]
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    43. [43]
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    44. [44]
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    45. [45]
      "NATCC 1996 » Lime Rock Park Round 1 Results". Retrieved May 8, 2022.
    46. [46]
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    47. [47]
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    48. [48]
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    49. [49]
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    50. [50]
      "1999 Ferrari F355 Challenge Race Results". Retrieved March 20, 2023.
    51. [51]
      "IMSA Supercar Lime Rock 1995". Retrieved October 16, 2022.
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