Historic Motorsports Festival - Sonoma........aka 'Wine Country Classic'.

[John Z Goriup]

I was going to go to EASY and spend the morning, but Saturday is also the best day by far to attend the newly revived and massively improved current version of that great oild event, the Wine Country Classic......now in its third iteration.

What used to be referred to as the Wine Country Classic started out in 1986 as an annual vintage weekend with an annual theme, but over time sort of died a slow painful death about 8 or ten years ago. It was then taken over by Steve Earl's General Racing Ltd. organization ( he's the visionary who started the greatest vintage racing festival in the western hemisphere in the form of the Monterey Historic Races almost 40 years ago ) and with help and input by Steve Page, the President & Gen'l Manager of Sears Point, by then renamed Sonoma Raceway - the event was also renamed as the SONOMA HISTORIC MOTORSPORTS FESTIVAL. They held their first event under the new name in the spring of 2010. As I have been reporting in my annual trip reports to this site and in the accompanying photo essays, attendance slipped annually, the fire and enthusiasm had gone out of the thing and I recall lamenting that something big had to occur soon or goodbye Wine Country Classic.

Well, the necessary big thing finally did occur, just prior to the 2015 event at Sears Point - (I know, but please don't correct me, it'll always be Sears Point in my eyes no matter who the sponsor or which commercial organization may be in charge.....with the growth in the area, the environmental hysteria so prevalent in northern California, and all the developers and various Indian tribes salivating to get their hands on the property, God only knows how long this grand old track will be around ) when Tony Parella, President and CEO of SVRA (Sportscar Vintage Racing Association ) purchased all rights to the name and the event and has now included it in SVRA's GOLD MEDALLION EVENT series.

This is not a commercial nor do I have any involvement or financial interest in any of this, but I sincerely urge you to google svra.com. look up their schedule, where & when the Gold Madallion events are held and get involved. I challenge anyone to show me a better deal than the $100.00 annual fee for a year's wortrh of SVRA general membership, 2 (two ) VIP / HOT passes to all SVRA events nationally ( this year there are thirteen all in all at tracks like Sebring, Circuit of the Americas, Road America, Watkins Glen, Portland International Raceway, etc. and a subscription to Vintage Racing Quarterly. Best value for a hundert bucks I've received in a long time.

Jim Breazeale's done a great job of covering the EASY part of Saturday, and I enjoyed an hour or so of what at about 9:00 AM looked to be one of the epic get-to-gethers in recent memories, with new cars, new people and great weather, but the pull of the 50th anniversary celebration of the CAN-AM & Trans-Am series was too much.

Still getting used to shooting with an altogether new type of camera and processing the images in all new software, so I hope you'll understand that not every shot came out a 'keeper', but I think I did catch a few respectable photos of the fabulous cars and I paid particular attention to the basics.....light, composition, depth of field, and so on & so forth - it's a steep learning curve, but I'm beginning to understand it all and I'm enjoying evry bit of it immensely.

Enjoy & thanks as always for looking.

JZG
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Starting out with a couple of overviews of the paddock, the grandstands and barely visible portions of the track.

The PORSCHE coral - the viper green RSR was by far the best and most interesting car in the coral.

As happens so often, some of the machines in the perking lot are the most fascinating on the grounds.....and continuing into the paddock proper.

Last photo.....thank God noone was hurt but it proves that vintage racing is something you better take very seriously.......or best to just have a seat in the stands and watch.

[John Z Goriup]

....Next set.

I couldn't take my eyes off that impeccably prepared and very fast XKE.

[John Z Goriup]

.....and the next.

The white '70 Pontiac Firebird #8 is the most famous and original of the three Firebirds built by Titus Racing for Jerry T. The 400 cu.in. motor was destroked to 305 inches per SCCA rules. - a legend among Pontiac aficionados.

As a personal observation, I believe I have finally achieved photographic Nirvana - a full-frame 35mm digital sensor equipped camera that actually captures & reproduces red colors accurately & realistically in their full and true glory.

[brookedale091462]

Thank you for the treats!

.....and the next.

The white '70 Pontiac Firebird #8 is the most famous and original of the three Firebirds built by Titus Racing for Jerry T. The 400 cu.in. motor was desgtroked to 305 per SCCA rules. - a legend among Pontiac aficionados.

As a personal observation, I believe I have finally achieved photographic Nirvana - a full-frame digital sensor that actually captures & reproduces red color in its full, faithful and true glory.

[John Z Goriup]

Continuing ............it's always very special to see a Porsche 910, to see two under the same roof and racing together, even under the tightly regulated restrictions of today's US vintage racing rules, is a genuine thrill.

Both of these cars have racing provenance, as the names of Jo Siffert and Hans Herrmann on the side of #37 will attest, therefore I'd like to set aside this entire set for the 9 images I took of these two jewels.

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Incidentally, sorry but I don't have any track action shots, since I am without a suitable telephoto lens at the moment, but I am awaiting delivery of the 90-280 APO Vario-Elmar zoom telephoto lens for the new SL camera which was just recently introduced and is being produced in limited numbers and backordered for months and months worldwide.

[John Z Goriup]

.... another set, starting out with some Porsches in attendance, especially the beautifully preserved and maintained silver metallic gray '67S owned by local Early 911 S Reg. member and regular poster Bryan Ferrin, and ending with a couple of photos of the great number of smaller, open-wheel single seaters in various classes ( Junior, Atlantic, etc. ).

[928cs]

Thank you for the pictures!

As a French, I'm of course pleasantly surprised to see an Alpine in the USA. In fact, this is a DINALPIN, the mexican version, that is even rarer than the regular ones!

[johns4949]

What is this new camera you like so much ?

[John Z Goriup]

It's the new Leica SL 601 with their new 24-90 2.8 / 4.0 Asph.auto-focus Vario-Elmar lens.

To continue the SVRA coverage...........the next set, starting with a sensational '59 356 Coupe, built entirely by the owner ( or so he claims ) in a georgous shade of BMW metallic blue and housing an enlarged 2.4 liter 914 four cylinder flat four motor with carbs and 1o to 1 compression. A truly outstanding example of my favorite model of 356s.

The other blue car is a wonderfully preserved '66 Shelby Cobra that positively shook the ground when started.

The last image is strictly for fun and nostalgia - it shows the back end of a '72 UOP Shadow Mk III, but what specifically caught my eye is the intricately fabricated and elegant tubular structure that seems to be the designers version of the automotive Swiss army knife. If you'll count the functions this item serves, you'll see it supports the adjustable wing, stabilizes & supports the exhaust pipes, holds the taillights, the coolant overflow tank, undoubtedly feeds stresses into the mainmass of the powertrain & probably contributes to chassis stiffness and God knows what else. It probably took a master fabricator way too many hours to design, cut, miter, chamfer, fit & weld all the tubes. You can look high and low, but you're simply not going to encounter engineering and fabrication of that caliber on anything made nowadays. Carbon fiber structures may be just as strong, most likely a lot lighter than the part shown, but I submit that a detail like this says a lot about what has been lost in modern cars, and goes a long way to explain why some of us still prefer driving 50 year old machines for the sheer fun of it........no matter what.

[Nine17]

Nirvana indeed. Beautifully realized and rendered. Bravo!

-- David