Turkey Bowl - USA

[Nial McCabe]

Here in the USA, our local club (vrgonline.org) runs an event over the Thanksgiving holiday (which is the holiday when we traditionally gorge ourselves in a big turkey dinner). Hence, the event is called "The Turkey Bowl".
Since it's in the Fall, most of our cars are tired and in bad shape (as are many of the drivers!). So it's a "last chance" event for 2015.

We do this in conjunction with two other car clubs so that we have a mix of vintage cars, modern cars (such as VW Golfs, Mazda MX5s, etc) and Legend racers (peculiar little fiberglass cars designed to look like old car but with modern motorcycle engines).

This was my first time to enter even though I've wanted to do this for years.......I've been to the Turkey Bowl at Summit Point before but have never actually run it until this year.

I had a great time despite that fact that my car was tired and well-worn from the '15 season (actually, my tires were especially "tired" ) . I'd say most of my fellow-racers would agree that it was a good time.
And with a mix of the "modern" car and Legends, spectating is an eclectic experience.
Friday and Saturday brought mostly great weather. On Sunday, we had a bit of rain, but I'm sort of a fan of rain and I like how it helps a small-bore car gain advantage.

Anyway, here's a link to all the snaps and videos that Linda and I took over the weekend:

~LINK To All Photos/Videos~

And here's some sample photos (thanks to photogs Bill Stoler and Jimmy Saffell for the first two shots....you can Google them for more of their great photos).

[Lancsbreaker]

Looks like a good fun event - we have a few things along the same lines - an end-of-season event as Anglesey, the Victor Meldrew at Brands, and the Plum Pudding at Mallory Park......all commented on on here.....

We do have Legends racing over here - I last saw them at Anglesey - some fierce competition

[Mike Bell]

Thanks for sharing the pics! Love the one of the Lotus 18 and Peerless / Warwick taking a corner together. Any idea what engine the latter runs?

As Richards says, we also have 'Legends' racing, and the cars look very close to being same as those in your pics.

[Nial McCabe]

Nice to hear you have Legends on your side too. Although not my choice, they are great fun to watch. Most of the drivers in them at Turkey Bowl seemed to be 16 year old boys so the action was Fast & Furious.

The Peerless has a TR3 engine with bigger sleeves.

More info on it HERE---> http://www.britishracecar.com/MarkRo...eerless-GT.htm


Here's a snap of the engine in that car:



It will be nice to take a break from racing and concentrate on repairs to my Spridget.
And I am hoping to get my A35 racer finished up and on-track in 2016.

[Mike Bell]

Look forward to hearing more on the A35! With their own 'Academy' race series here, a one off race for them (and A30s to same spec) at Goodwood next year, suddenly the car is coming into the limelight.

Thanks for the Peerless info, reason I asked is because a family here have the original Le Mans car, and also race a GT350 Buick engined version. They are the only other two I know of racing.

More I look at the cars you are racing over there, more I think that a Gilbern GT1800 would be nice addition to your grids. Maybe Gilbert, my GT, needs a really big adventure in a couple of years time...... What tyres do you race on?

[Nial McCabe]

Originally Posted by Mike Bell

..... Maybe Gilbert, my GT, needs a really big adventure in a couple of years time...... What tyres do you race on?

That's an interesting subject...

Technically some cars are required to run the Dunlop L-series bias tires (tyres) which are no longer available....at least not in the USA.

We can also use Hoosier TD bias tires in an appropriate size. Good but don't last too long and are about 125 GBP each.

No slicks of any type are allowed.

For certain "newer" vintage cars (like my Spridget) Toyo R888s radials and similar "street/race" tires are OK. I like the R888 and have been using them. They are reasonable in cost (roughly 110 GBP each) and I can get through an entire season (8 events....or about 30 hours of track time) with 6 to 8 tires.

We can also race on ordinary (low performance) street radials and although it's not officially approved, no one seems to mind. Some of the less-serious fellows choose this path.