news | New England Auto Museum

29 May

Rare Kurtis 500S on display at NEAM Father’s Day Car Show in Norwalk Sunday, June 21st

Norwalk, CT – In December 1953, Road & Track wrote “Frank Kurtis of Glendale, California deserves full credit for being the first man in America to attempt to produce an American production sports car.” In 1956, Motor Life added “the Kurtis 500S practically owned West Coast sports car racing for a couple of years.” A 500S broke the Del Monte Forest track record by five seconds in 1954, and another was on the pole at 1955’s 12 Hours of Sebring. As the accolades mounted, Frank Kurtis earned his place in sports car history. Like all of the cars built by Kurtis, the 500S is a healthy slice of the American automotive pie.

From its beginnings in 1935, Kurtis Kraft built midget cars, quartermidgets, sprint cars, Bonneville speed record cars and USAC Championship cars. According to historian Alan Girdler, from 1950 until 1964, every winner of the Indy 500 was either built by Kurtis or directly influenced by his designs. The heritage shows in this example, as presented by Automotive Restorations Inc. of Stratford, CT; the 500S profile is pure Indy roadster. Its chassis is a classic Indy car design right down to the torsion bar suspension and quick change rear end. The build quality and details of each of the 500S models are also worthy of an Indy car, showing it was planned by a man who had done this sort of thing many times before.

Fewer than 30 of the 500S models were ever produced. Many like this version were sold as kits with complete chassis, wheels and suspension parts. In this instance, Cadillac motor mounts accompanied the kit when ordered by original owner Darrel W. Johnson of Ferndale, MI. Although started by Johnson, the car remained unfinished for many years until purchased by Warren Wetterlund of California, who commissioned its completion by John Wyals and noted hot rod builder Roy Brizio. As was the custom of the time, a lighter small block Chevrolet engine was substituted for the original and more powerful Caddy. Everything on the body and suspension panel layout was left as Kurtis intended for its original customer in 1956.

Also to be featured by Automotive Restorations at the Father’s Day Car Show in Norwalk will be a race-prepared 1964 Morgan 4/4. Equipped with a 1700 Ford crossflow engine featuring twin Weber carbs and dry sump oil system, the car produces 173 horsepower. It’s fast and easy to drive with an excellent power to weight ratio and is a consistent finisher in vintage racing with only minor maintenance required during the season. A great looking vintage Morgan, this car will go head-to-head with Porsche 956’s and Jag XK’s all day long.

The Father’s Day Car Show, sponsored by the New England Auto Museum, will be held at Norwalk’s Mathews Park, adjacent to the historic Lockwood-Mathews Mansion Museum on June 21st from 10 AM to 3 PM. Admission to the show is free, with a donation to the New England Auto Museum building fund gently suggested and appreciated. Tours of the mansion will be conducted from 12 noon to 4 PM and the next door Stepping Stones Children’s Museum will also be open for visitors of all ages. The show will feature over 100 antique, classic and a broad variety of collector cars along with food, ice cream and a chance to select your favorite car.

Story and photos courtesy Automotive Restorations Inc.

20 May

Malcolm S. Pray Jr.’s 1934 Packard Sport Phaeton to be featured at Norwalk Father’s Day Car Show June 21st

Norwalk, CT – The late Malcolm S. Pray Jr.’s immaculate 1934 Packard 1108 Dual Cowl Phaeton will be featured at the Father’s Day Car Show at Mathews Park in Norwalk on Sunday, June 21st from 10AM to 3PM.

The Packard Twelve was produced from 1933 to 1939. It is considered by many to be one of the finest automobiles ever produced by the legendary American automaker, and one of the most significant automobiles of the classic car era. This 1934 Packard is a re-creation of the LeBaron style 1108 Sport Phaeton. It was the work of the craftsman Fran Roxas of Chicago, Illinois. It is equipped with a side-valve V-12, 445.5 cubic inch engine producing 160 horsepower. The vehicle is built on a massive 147 7/8 inch wheelbase, and is patterned after one of the most elegant and rare coachbuilt bodies ever created. The car has been a three-time entrant at the Greenwich Concours d’Elegance, winning Best American Open Car in 2006, as well as a winner of awards at Concours in Amelia Island, New York and Stamford. The Pray Family Foundation will display the car in Norwalk.

The Pray Family Foundation is carrying on Malcolm Pray’s legacy at the Malcolm Pray Achievement Center in Bedford, New York using his extraordinary car collection to inspire thousands of underprivileged kids to realize their potential by working hard and daring to dream.

Mr. Pray, who passed away in 2013, a longtime Greenwich icon known as much for his business success as for his philanthropy, established the Pray Achievement Center in 2001 after the sale of his Greenwich automobile dealerships in the fall of 1999. He taught his staff the principles of Honesty, Integrity and Reputation, and today his Achievement Center continues to teach these essentials to a new generation.

Using his cars, he delivered a message that anything can be accomplished through hard work and a positive attitude. Mr. Pray used many of the guiding principles he learned as a Boy Scout in a booklet he shared with his young visitors which teaches such concepts as valuing one’s reputation, trustworthiness and pride in one’s conduct.

Malcolm Pray planned for the Malcolm Pray Achievement Center to continue in perpetuity and to be run by the Pray Family Foundation, established expressly for the purpose of continuing his work. Since 2001, the Achievement Center has engaged young people to consider their future careers by introducing them to the field of entrepreneurism. Malcolm Pray’s legacy, namely, his lifelong passion for cars and his extraordinary journey as an entrepreneur in the automobile business, continues to inspire young people today. “The cars are a way for me to prove to these kids that I have become an achiever on my own and they can, too,” Mr. Pray had said.

Malcom S. Pray Jr.

The Malcolm Pray Achievement Center is located in Bedford, NY and houses a collection of antique and collectible automobiles spanning over 100 years of automotive history.

The Center is open to private tours for youth groups in the area by appointment only; it is aimed to complement the inspiration and guidance of educators, counsellors and parents. To learn more or schedule a visit, contact Executive Director Marikay Satryano during business hours at (914) 234-2579 or www.malcolmprayacheivementcenter.com

Entrance Lobby Malcolm Pray Achievement Center

Story contribution & photos courtesy The Pray Family Foundation

14 May

Ultra-Rare 1964 Pontiac Banshee Concept Headed to Dragone Spring Auction May 30

Westport, CT – Intended as a shot across Ford’s bow, Pontiac’s Banshee XP-833 coupe was an answer to Ford’s Cougar II show car, and Pontiac brass felt confident they could bring the Banshee to market before Ford launched its own two-seater. History tells us that neither car saw production, but a glimpse at the Banshee gives us a look at design cues that would later appear on the third-generation Corvette and the first-generation Firebird. One of two first-generation Banshees built (the other a white convertible that’s long been a part of Joe Bortz’s collection), the silver coupe will head to auction later this month as part of the Dragone Spring Auction in Westport, Connecticut.

The initial success of Ford’s Mustang left GM scrambling to offer a counterpoint, and it would take until 1967 before the Chevrolet Camaro and Pontiac Firebird hit dealerships. Determined not to make the same mistake twice, Pontiac head John DeLorean asked his designers to come up with a lightweight two-seat sports car, one that could be brought to market for the 1967 model year, potentially ahead of the Ford Cougar II that was rumored to be bound for production. Two first-generation Banshees were put together, using an A-body chassis and fiberglass-reinforced plastic body panels. The convertible was built with a V-8, but GM management reportedly felt that such a car would be too close in positioning to the Corvette.

The coupe was powered by an overhead camshaft inline six-cylinder, fitted with a crossflow head and reportedly good for 155 horsepower. Given the Banshee’s curb weight below 2,300 pounds, even such a modest engine would have produced spirited performance, while delivering exceptional handling. The Banshee, at least in the eyes of Pontiac executives, would complement the Corvette, offering buyers of more modest means another GM two-seat sports car to choose from.

banshee3

As Bob Hovorka wrote in the February 1989 issue of Special Interest Autos, production of the Banshee was never seriously considered by GM management. Perhaps any challenge to the Corvette as GM’s sole two-seat sports car was seen as too much, or perhaps the Ford Cougar II was never seen as a serious candidate for production, but in 1966 the first Banshee project was scrapped. The cars should have been as well, but rumor has it they escaped the crusher by being secreted away and later sold to employees close to the project. Both coupe and convertible are semi-functional drivers, minus key details like functional headlamps.

The coupe remained with its original owner until 2006, when it sold at a Barrett-Jackson auction for $214,500. Since then, it’s been offered for sale numerous times, including a trip across the stage at RM’s 2010 Amelia Island sale, where it bid to $325,000 but failed to meet reserve, and at Mecum’s 2010 Monterey sale, where it bid to $400,000 without changing hands. It’s twice been featured as a Find of the Day in the Hemmings Daily, but neither running included a price in the listing.

Officially, the third-generation Corvette was inspired by the 1965 Mako Shark II concept, but one has to wonder how much the concept was itself inspired by the Banshee. Even if the answer is “not at all,” it’s impossible not to see the Banshee’s influence on the first generation Firebird’s rear and on the production Opel GT, which seems to duplicate the Banshee’s pop-up headlamps, sloping nose, fastback roof and Kamm tail in slightly smaller scale. Perhaps John DeLorean and his designers were onto something after all.

Dragone Auctions is predicting a selling price between $600,000 and $650,000 when the 1964 Pontiac Banshee XP-833 crosses the stage on Saturday, May 30 as part of its 2015 Greenwich Concours Car Event Weekend auction. For complete details, visit DragoneClassic.com.

Courtesy Kurt Ernst, Hemmings Daily
Photos Dragone Auctions

15 Apr

Lime Rock spending millions as it builds a better fan experience

LAKEVILLE, Conn. – Late last year, Lime Rock Park Track President Skip Barber committed more than $3 million to a wide variety of projects to rebuild, refine and renew Lime Rock’s infrastructure. The goal of the so-called Road to 60 Project is to dramatically enhance the spectator experience from 2015 onward.

“From the paddocks and the bathrooms to the hillside viewing areas, we’re changing Lime Rock’s infrastructure from pre-historic to be perhaps the most fan friendly road course in North America,” Barber said.

Not since Lime Rock Park’s race track surface itself was re-built in 2008 has a construction project of this magnitude been greenlighted at the famous 1.5-mile automotive and motorsports venue in Connecticut’s Northwest Corner. Some of those projects will be complete in time for Lime Rock’s season-opener – the Memorial Day Weekend Trans Am Series, and Royals Sunday Car Show, May 22-24 – and many more in time for the IMSA TUDOR United SportsCar weekend July 24-25.

“In 2008, the track itself had to get done – it was exceedingly bumpy, it needed more guardrail, better run-off areas – and that’s what we did for the competitors. Road to 60 is for the fans,” Barber said. The target for completion of all Road to 60 projects is 2017, when Lime Rock Park celebrates its 60th anniversary.

“We’re doing what we need to do – what we want to do – to ensure the track’s professional racing future,” Barber says. “Major sports car races have defined Lime Rock since the day it opened, and I’m making sure that continues well into the future.

“It’s important to note that everything we’re doing, all the changes, all the improvements… all will make Lime Rock more useful, easier to navigate, more sensible – but all with an eye to making Lime Rock even more beautiful than it already is. I have no doubt that, just in the case of our paddocks, Lime Rock’s will be the most attractive in the U.S.”

Of the multitude of Road to 60 projects underway, the highlights are…

A-Paddock
To be completely re-done and much larger, plus: laser-graded-and-paved to eliminate standing water; it will be landscaped; there’ll be defined spectator walkways and cobblestone curbing; and the roadways through the paddock will be much wider. The new A-Paddock is specifically designed to allow two complete race rigs, tractors included, to park in-line – with a walkway in between – from inside Big Bend up to Victory Circle. Additionally, it will provide large and extremely efficient driving exercise and hospitality acreage for automakers as well as other ride-and-drive, press day and driver-training clients.

A-Paddock one week after construction began

April 2015: A-Paddock will have an attractive retention pond behind the newly placed Big Bend inside guardrail

B-Paddock
Being completely re-done: Paved in its entirety (and also laser-graded to eliminate standing water), there’ll be much more usable space. Like A-Paddock, it will provide large and extremely efficient driving exercise and hospitality acreage.

April 2015, B-Paddock: You can see all the white base gravel, in preparation for paving

Infield Spectator Hillside
Completely re-done: Close to 100,000 square yards of earth was moved, re-contoured, re-sloped and/or removed to dramatically improve and expand the sightlines as well as make Lime Rock’s famous “picnic-blanket-and-lawn-chair” experience even more enjoyable. With this re-working of the hill, close to 45 percent of the track can now be seen from this Hillside; with just a turn of the head.

Additionally, the Infield Spectator Hillside has been extended all the way through the inside curve of the Right-hander, creating an entirely new and exciting viewing area of No Name Straight and the Uphill. The Hillside reconfiguration has also allowed the spectator fencing to be moved even closer to the circuit in many locations.

April 2015: The re-contoured and lengthened Infield Hillside

Hospitality Acreage
There will now be a total of three large areas of Lime Rock property dedicated to corporate, race team and VIP hospitality. The popular Outfield hospitality acreage remains essentially the same but the existing hospitality area in the Infield (between the Chalets) has been significantly increased in size and laser-graded. The third is an exciting new hospitality area that overlooks the Right-hander and No Name Straight.

April 2015: The beginnings of the all-new Hospitality area overlooking the Right-hander. This is looking southwest, toward No Name Straight.

A-Paddock Rest Rooms
The Men’s Room will be completely rebuilt, and the Ladies Room totally refreshed.

Handicap Access
It will be improved and/or added throughout much of the facility.

Also: There’ll be a new PA system; expanded and robust Wi-Fi; improved cellular service; and improvements and expansions to the other spectator areas

Skip Barber added, “Road to 60 accomplishes many things for Lime Rock’s future, both short term and long. For each project, I asked myself, ‘What’s the best way to do this to make the Lime Rock experience better for the fan?’ While not forgetting the competitors, sanctioning bodies, the car makers, hospitality clients, the Lime Rock Drivers Club and all the driving and racing organizations, I’m pretty sure we’ve made good decisions.”

About Lime Rock Park
Lime Rock Park, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, has been “New England’s Road Racing Home” since its opening in 1957. It is a 7-turn, 1.5-mile road racing circuit in Connecticut’s celebrated Northwest Corner – approximately halfway between New York City and Boston – and holds FIA-listed national and international road racing events, driving schools, track days, corporate events, and non-automotive public and private functions. The president and owner of Lime Rock Park is Skip Barber. Learn more at www.limerock.com

28 Mar

Darien Collectors’ Car Show moving to Lockwood-Mathews Mansion Park Father’s Day June 21st

Norwalk, CT – On Sunday, June 21, 2015, the New England Auto Museum in partnership with the Darien Collectors’ Car Show will present a Father’s Day Car Show at the Lockwood-Mathews Mansion Park in Norwalk, CT. The event will be held from 10AM-3PM and will offer hundreds of unique cars to view. Admission to the event is free to spectators; a donation will be encouraged and proceeds will go towards the New England Auto Museum’s building and education funds. The New England Auto Museum is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization.

Come out and enjoy an afternoon of classic cars in all shapes and sizes, talk with the owners, be a judge and select your favorite car, grab a bite to eat and even visit the Stepping Stones Children’s Museum and the historic Lockwood-Mathews Mansion, right next door. It’s a great afternoon for Dad and the whole family!

Anyone interested in showing a car may pre-register online at the New England Auto Museum website; it’s only $10/per car. Prizes will include awards for The Peoples’ Choice, The Mayor’s Choice, The Museum President’s Choice and a Charles England Trophy for the Most Interesting Car. Dash plaques will be available for the first 100 cars to register.

New England Auto Museum

The New England Auto Museum will be an exciting new attraction for the state of Connecticut and throughout New England. This non-profit organization will become a first class facility dedicated to preserving, interpreting and exhibiting historic automobiles and automobile artifacts. It will serve as both an educational learning center as well as a display center to highlight an ever changing evolution of car history and its impact on society.

17 Mar

Classic Cars and Memorabilia Museum opens in Oyster Bay, NY

Oyster Bay, NY – “It’s a combination of a gas station, Disneyland and a man cave,” owner and Oyster Bay resident David Jacobson says. “Long Island has a tremendous car culture. I thought Oyster Bay was a natural fit.” Enter the showcase and you are faced with a collection of 17 cars displayed behind velvet ropes, and more than 1,000 automotive signs hanging all over.

“I like old stuff,” says Jacobson, 51. “We wanted everything to be as authentic as possible. It represents a different time.” Cars range from a 1974 Ferrari 365 GT4 — the first 12-cylinder mid-engine Ferrari ever made — to a 1965 Volkswagen bus to a 1953 Chevrolet 5 window pickup truck. There’s even a 1958 BMW Isetta, which Jacobson found in Oregon.

“The Isetta is loud and obnoxious,” Jacobson says. “It feels like a motorcycle with a shell around it.” There’s a 1932 black Ford Roadster, completely restored. “This is one of the most fun cars you will ever ride in,” Jacobson says, grinning. The cars — most are owned by Jacobson, but a few are on loan from fellow collectors — will be rotated every four to six weeks to keep the display fresh. As the owner of GrooveCar auto buying service, he knows something about the allure of a good ride.

“Cars identify people. They can tell a lot about the personality of someone,” Jacobson says. “I’m a Porsche guy.” Among his personal collection: a 1960 signal red Porsche 356, a 1973 Porsche Carrera RS (which he deems “the Mona Lisa of Porsches”) plus a very rare 1995 Porsche Carrera RS, one of only five in the country. (Comedian Jerry Seinfeld has one as well.)

While some may come purely to check out the wheels, there’s a service area where you can get your vehicle hand washed for $29.99 or a full detailing from $250 to $1,000. Annual club membership ($150-$500) allows access to a lounge area and the first floor, where more cars are on display and a working slot car racetrack is available for members only. The museum also is hosting catered events for up to 100 people, from adult birthday parties to corporate events to fundraisers.

Mark Tulley, 65, of Carle Place serves as the regional director of the National Corvette Restorers Society, which will hold its annual general membership meeting in the space next month. For the event, Jacobson will have a host of Corvettes on display, ranging from 1953 to 1982. “There’s nothing like this on Long Island,” says Tulley. “It’s like an adult toy store.”

Dominick Randazzo, 45, of Bayville has been watching construction take place over the past two years and stops in for a peek on a recent Saturday afternoon. “I didn’t know what to expect, but it’s quite nice,” says Randazzo, who drove a 1969 Dodge Coronet RT while growing up. “It’s a lot to take in.”

Jason Roske, 35, of North Bellmore is amazed by the atmosphere of the showroom. “The work they put into this place is crazy,” says Roske, a self-described muscle car guy. “This is what we grew up on. What little kid doesn’t play with Matchbox cars? Now these are the life-size versions.”

COLLECTOR CAR SHOWCASE

WHEN | WHERE 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays, 10 a.m.-7 p.m. Thursdays and 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturdays, 85 Pine Hollow Rd., Oyster Bay
INFO 516-802-5297, collectorcarshowcase.com
ADMISSION $7 ($10 adult and child age 8-15)

Source: New York Newsday

09 Mar

1st U.S. Auto Show Opened in New York City 115 Years Ago

New York, NY – Of the 4,200 new automobiles sold in the United States at the turn of the century, gasoline powered less than 1,000. On November 3, 1900, America’s first national automobile show opened in New York City’s Madison Square Garden.

An innovative assortment of electric, steam, and “internal explosion” engines powered these horseless carriages. New manufactures like Olds Motor Works of Lansing, Michigan, built models of each kind to compete in the developing market.

The manufacturers presented 160 different vehicles at the first national automobile show. Future leaders of the nation’s greatest transportation industry gave driving and maneuverability demonstrations on a 20-foot-wide track that surrounded the exhibits. A wooden 200-foot ramp tested hill-climbing power.

Automobiles powered by internal combustion engines at the 1900 National Automobile Show were primitive. The most popular models proved to be electric, steam, and gasoline…in that order.

About 48,000 show visitors paid 50¢ each to see the latest automotive technology. Hundreds of “Hansom” cabs built by the Electric Vehicle Company worked well, but heavy lead-acid batteries, muddy roads, and lack of electrical infrastructure confined these early electrics to metropolitan areas. Thomas Edison spent years working on battery power for automobiles, but abandoned the effort.

This ad for the Winton motor carriage – often identified as the first American automobile ad, according to the Henry Ford Museum – appeared in a 1898 issue of Scientific American magazine.

Consumers favored “steamers” over their gasoline-powered competitors. Steam-powered automobiles traced their roots back to 1768, when a French military engineer, Nicholas-Joseph Cugnot, built a self-propelled steam tricycle to move artillery.

By 1900, manufacturers like Bridgeport, Connecticut-based Locomobile (from the words locomotive and automobile), Stanley Motor Carriage Co., Tarrytown, N.Y., and others boasted of their products’ safety and touted the virtues of simple steam power over “complex and sinister” internal combustion engines.

Locomobile produced 750 steamers in 1900, second in sales only to Columbia & Electric Vehicle Co. of Hartford, Conn., but consumers complained of the time required to heat boilers and the necessarily frequent stops for water. Progress in the development of internal combustion engines soon outpaced steam technology.

At the turn of the century, about 8,000 vehicles shared mostly unpaved roads with horses and wagons. Automobiles powered by internal combustion engines at the 1900 National Automobile Show were primitive, noisy and cantankerous. Most were based on Nikolas Otto’s 1876 four-stroke design and ran on a variety of “light spirits” such as stove gas, kerosene, naphtha, lamp oil, benzene, mineral spirits, alcohol, and gasoline.

One early critic complained that the internal combustion engine was, “Noxious, noisy, unreliable, and elephantine. It vibrates so violently as to loosen one’s dentures. The automobile industry will surely burgeon in America, but this motor will not be a factor.”

The critic was wrong. Gasoline, once an unwanted byproduct of kerosene refining, cost only about 15 cents a gallon in 1900 and produced dramatic increases in engine horsepower. Despite the absence of “filling stations,” gasoline was readily available in a market where electric lights were making kerosene obsolete.

The refining industry needed a product to replace kerosene and gasoline was it. In 1901, Olds Motor Works sold 425 models of a gasoline-powered “Curved Dash Runabout” for $650 each. Four years later, when the model was discontinued, almost 19,000 had been sold. America’s consumer preference for gasoline-powered internal combustion engines was thoroughly established.

Source: The American Oil & Gas Historical Society

25 Feb

Calling all wagons: AACA Museum planning longroof celebration opening May 23

The museum exhibit will pay tribute to many rare station wagons, including the Edsel Villager. Photos by Jay Ramey

Hershey, PA – The Antique Automobile Club of America Museum will host an exhibition celebrating that once-essential American automotive workhorse, the station wagon. Before this body style was pushed out by minivans, SUVs and crossovers, millions of family truckers, some with faux-wood siding, filled our roads and driveways. Just two decades ago we probably would have never guessed that the Buick Roadmaster and its Oldsmobile twin that were sold through the middle of the 1990s would be the swan song for traditional full-size American station wagons.

The AACA Museum’s exhibition will take a look back at the age of the station wagon with a special exhibition titled “A Family Affair: Station Wagons” opening May 23, 2015, the weekend of the Carlisle Import and Kit Nationals in nearby Carlisle, PA.

The Museum has a wish list of cars it would like to exhibit, and wants to hear from owners of these examples who would be willing to lend their longroofs to the museum for five months.

HemmingsBlog reports that so far the museum has just over a dozen confirmed examples ranging from a 1958 Edsel Villager to a Ford Pinto Rallye, but it needs help filling out the rest of the lineup. The museum seeks a variety of woody wagons and coachbuilt shooting brakes from Aston Martin, Bentley, Rolls-Royce, and a few others.

The full wish list, reproduced below, can also be found on the AACA Museum website, so if you have one of these or know someone who does, and would be willing to loan it to the museum for the exhibition, contact the AACA. The exhibit itself will run May 23-Oct. 12 at the AACA Museum in Hershey, PA.

Here are the station wagons that the AACA museum is looking for:

Volvo P1800ES/ PV544
Citroen DS/Ami
Chevrolet Vega
Ford Pinto
AMC Pacer/Hornet
Ford County Squire
Chrysler Town & Country
1984 Dodge Caravan/Plymouth Voyager
Oldsmobile Vista Cruiser
Chevrolet Corvair
Mercedes 300TD
Rolls-Royce/Bentley/Aston Martin Shooting Break
Fiat 128/131
Edsel
National Lampoon Family Vacation’s “Family Truckster”
Checker
Variety of Woodies
Volkswagen Squareback
Dodge Aries/Plymouth Reliant
Custom Mustang/Corvette/Firebird
Nash Rambler
Studebaker Wagonaire
SAAB 95

Source: Jay Ramey – Associate Editor with Autoweek

02 Feb

Magnum MK5 to debut at Boca Raton Concours February 21

Photos by KSP-Productions.com

Boca Raton, FL – Magnum, a Canadian company with roots in F1, Formula Ford and Rolex Grand-Am, will reveal its new MK5 sports car at the 8th annual Boca Raton Concours d’Elegance on February 21.

The skeletal MK5 uses a four-cylinder engine from a Hayabusa motorcycle making 250 hp, with redlines pegged at a stratospheric 11,000 rpm. The engine is mid-mounted and sends power through a six-speed sequential gearbox and through a limited-slip differential to the rear wheels. It has a dry weight of 1,200 pounds.

MK5 says the topless Canadian speedster can go 0-62 mph (100 km/h) in 3.2 seconds, with a top speed of 149 mph. The company also says the MK5 can unbelievably pull more than 2g’s of lateral force on the racetrack.

Magnum has been working on its machines in Quebec since 1968. Jean-Pierre St-Jacques first tried his hand at building a race car in his father’s shed. St-Jacques entered this car in the 1968 and ’69 Formula Vee season. In 1970, he produced the Magnum MkI, followed by MkII and MkIII in proceeding years. In 1973, a young driver named Gilles Villeneuve was looking to jump into the sport, and he became close friends with St-Jacques. The car proved to be strong, and Magnum continued building and racing into the 1980s. Since then, the company has been prepping cars for the bigger series. Jean Pierre shared his love with son Bruno, a racer in his own right, and now both father and son manage of Magnum’s day-to-day operations.

The bodywork on the MK5 is made from carbon fiber, according to Magnum, with easily removable front and rear sections. As for aerodynamics, the MK5 has an internal front wing, front splitter, a flat underbody and rear diffuser. The cargo area fits two helmets and a briefcase — just enough for an amateur-racing weekend.

Magnum says the MK5 uses an adjustable pushrod-activated suspension with unequal a-arms in the front and rear. Shocks and antiroll bars are adjustable, in addition to the ride height, from 90 to 110 mm.

In the cockpit, the MK5 features carbon-fiber seats, machined-aluminum levers and a GPS-enabled lap timer mounted on the detachable steering wheel. A six-point racing harness keeps drivers in place.

Magnum says the MK5 is as good for the street as it is for the track, but looking at those hard-shelled seats, we’re not so sure. It does, however, have a rearview camera, presumably for backing out of a race garage.

The Magnum MK5 will cost $139,000 when it officially goes on sale.

Source: Jake Lingeman, Autoweek

28 Jan

Historic Racing Returns to Thompson Speedway’s Oval Track May 13-16

Scene from Opening Day at the Thompson Speedway, May 26, 1940

Thompson, CT – The 2015 season will mark the 75th anniversary of Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park, so it is fitting that it would also see the return of historic racing on the 5/8 mile oval, for the first time since 2012. The Historic Oval Invitational will be a two-day event held on Friday and Saturday, May 15-16, 2015.

The races are open to any race cars built before 2000, and will include Midgets, Sprints, 3/4 Midgets, Super Modifieds, Champ Cars, Vintage Outlaws, Stock Cars and more.

The event will also feature a Hot Rod & Classic Car Show on Saturday morning from 10AM until 2PM. The cost to display a car is $10, which includes grandstand admission for the event.

Spectator prices, entry fees and more information can be found on TSMP’s website at www.thompsonspeedway.com, or by phone at 860-923-2280. Updates will be posted on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

Racing, yes, and so much more.

Tucked away in the beautiful countryside of Northeastern Connecticut, Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park (TSMP) is the home of a historic raceway and a classic 18-hole golf course. Now, as the facility is continuously improved, Thompson Speedway offers more than ever before.

Owned and operated by the Hoenig family for four generations since before it became a racetrack in 1939, TSMP today offers more options than any other track in New England.

As always, the historic 5/8 mile high banked oval hosts a number of annual NASCAR stock car and open wheel racing events, including the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour and NASCAR Whelen All American Series.

The 1.7 mile road course is the rebirth of the first purpose-built closed-circuit road racing track in the United States. It offers elements to challenge amateur and professional drivers alike – and includes the nostalgia inherent in its history.

The Raceway Golf Club offers 18 holes of classic New England golf course design. The Clubhouse, Restaurant and Banquet Facility overlook both the golf course and motorsports facility. Bogey’s Ice Cream Stand continues to serve up the region’s best ice cream.

And today, TSMP also includes a unique Drivers Club, the High Performance Driving Experience, and Corporate/Private events of all types.

Just 50 minutes from downtown Boston, 2.5 hours from New York City and 40 minutes from Hartford and Providence, Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park continues to strive to bring more excitement and entertainment to fans of all ages. In 2015, race goers will find something at TSMP for the whole family to enjoy.

Courtesy: Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park