2010 Classic Motorsports Small Bore Cup- Round 1

Apr 08 - Apr 11 at ,

###Round One of the Classic Motorsports Small-Bore Cup a Success

SAVANNAH, GA.—The Classic Motorsports Small-Bore Cup race series for vintage cars got off to a great start at Roebling Road race track. Held as part of the Sportscar Vintage Race Association’s Savannah Spring Races, 26 small-bore cars initially took part in the practice and qualifying sessions of the April 8-11 weekend. A well-attended kickoff party for the new series was open to drivers of small-bore and big-bore cars alike.

For the small-bore enduro race on Sunday morning, SVRA competition director Jack Whoerle devised a unique indexing system that allowed all 17 cars to compete in one class: The length of each entrant’s mandatory pit stop was set to reflect their qualifying time; faster cars had to take a longer pit stop to level the competition. This system also made it possible for teams with slower lap times to compete. While the racing was close before the pit stops, the staggered starts made things even closer.

Tom Turner of Jacksonville, Florida, won the overall race in his Alfa Guilia Super. Second place went to Charles Guest in his MG Midget, while Jerry Peters took third in his Porsche 911.

The race proved that you don’t need a monstrous machine to have fun on track. “As years go by, cars keep getting bigger. It’s neat to see this series put the focus back on smaller cars,” said veteran racer Jack Lewis, who co-drove the third-place car. “We had a blast. The racing was close, the handicapping was fair, and we can’t wait to run the next event in the series at the Classic Motorsports Mitty!”

The unique enduro format made co-driving easy and fun. Manley Ford was able to copilot two different cars, claiming both fourth and ninth place with Lou Marchant and Steve Konsin, respectively. “I can assure you that had it not been for the magazine’s effort to create this really cool series,” Ford says, “the MGs entered in the enduro by Torsten Kunze, Steve Konsin and Lou Marchant would most likely NOT have been at Savannah at all, and we would have missed a whole lot of fun!”

Jack Whoerle probably summed it up best when he concluded, “This whole small-bore series really went better than expected. Competitors really seemed to enjoy the idea and the format, and it seems we brought some new competitors to the SVRA.” The next race of the series will be held at Road Atlanta as part of the Classic Motorsports Mitty April 30-May 2nd. Check out classicmotorsports.net for full information on eligibility and rules.

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