A few photos and video from PVGP

[Nial McCabe]

Here's a few photos and a video from the Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix. This is the second weekend of the event which is held on a street circuit of public roads in Schenley Park in Pittsburgh.

I will post many more photos and videos in a few days......plus photos/videos from the previous weekend of the PVGP (held at a normal race track called "Pitt-Race").

Surprisingly my "bitsa" engine and trans (cobbled together from spares just a few days before this event) held together.
My previous transmission seized at a recent event in Thompson, Connecticut and snapped the crankshaft in my engine as a result.

~Click Here to View In-Car VIDEO-PVGP~

In the video, I narrowly missed killing a squirrel at around the 5:00 time......and I spun at the 5:30 mark.

[grantp]

Good heavens Nial - proper old school 60's safety tech.

Wonderful stuff.

[Gary Critcher]

I rather enjoyed that!

[BudLightJaguar]

Cool stuff!

[Cliff Ryan]

Looks cool Nial, hopefully I'll get to do this event soon, it's just moved up my list

[Lancsbreaker]

Real "road racing" - no armco in sight!

Were you distracted by Joe in the Mini to cause the spin, or just pushing the limits a bit too far ?

Thanks for keeping us in touch with your world over there

[Nial McCabe]

The Mini was faster so my only hope was to try to out-drive him in the turns (I'm running a junky "bitsa" motor with stock cam and 35 lbs of oil pressure).
So I was pushing it.
It didn't help that I was trying to burn up an old, hard set of Toyo RA1s (I bought them in 2011).

You can't see it in the camera, but I actually waved him past while I was rolling backwards. As soon as he was clear, I cranked the wheel to complete the 360 turn and continue on.

In about three laps I was back on his tail.....if I had one or two more laps I might have gotten him.
The Mini driver (Joe) is a friend and I talked to him later on. He told me that he felt he'd slowed down after he passed me (I thought so too). He said he prefers to follow since he tends to lose focus on the speed if he is in the lead. To be honest, I think a lot of drivers do that to some degree.
Personally, I like to lead!

Glad you enjoyed seeing this. 2015 was the 33rd year that the PVGP has run in the public streets of Pittsburgh. Not surprisingly there is some pressure to stop it, but the PVGP committee has worked very hard over the years to make Friends in High Places. So far it has been a good strategy.