Bring SBRS Home!

[Magical Trevor]

Hi guys,

Thompson is reopening its (modified) road course! (Make sure you enlarge the image)

This was the track for Skip's first school. I think it would simply be wrong for SBRS not to be involved there in 2014 (if not fall of 2013! Paving may be done by then). I can't imagine how much fun our usual Lime Rock crew, instructors, and racers would have with a reborn place to play for a new generation just over two hours across the state.

[dalyduo]

Looks like they've got a long way to go but could be interesting if they pull it off.
Thanks Trevor.

[rcote]

Originally Posted by dalyduo

Looks like they've got a long way to go but could be interesting if they pull it off.
Thanks Trevor.

Piece of cake for the hearty Hoenig family. Certainly alot easier than when grandpop John ran the saw mill, rock crusher, and bulldozer all by himself to build the oval before 1940. Looks like they are mostly redoing the old roadcourse anyway. Most of it is still there. Some of it access road, parking areas, cold pits etc. Some of it running through the woods where local kids used to throw keg parties until finally, decades after its shutdown, a proper gate was put up. Until then even a fwd economy car could climb the rounded over piles of sand that blocked that section out by Quaddick pond.

A huge thank you to the family for making this happen again! Im sure just like the oval and the golf course theyll do a great job at putting it together AND running it.

Even though Thompson is basically my hometown, (I went to Killingly High School) LRP, over two hours away on the other side of the state was my intro to auto road racing since the roadcourse here was shutdown by the time I was of crawling age. I grew up being pretty dedicated to motorcycle racing and not interested in car racing at all since the only racing around me for "cages" was the "boring" roundy round. Back then I didnt know about the history and the treasure hidden in the woods.

Alot of people wouldnt know the skippy cars have turned laps at the Thompson oval. I believe it was Snyder and Holehouse that tested the "RT"s there a few years ago. I ran into one them on the way to the 19th hole after my round of golf. This was back when I still lived out there and commuted to LRP.Pretty damn ballsy. Its a FAST, highbanked oval thats bitten quite a few talented drivers, including taking the life of Tommy Balwin Sr.

More places for all of us overgrown kids to play. Thanks again Hoenigs!

[dalyduo]

Great history and report Roger... Thanks!

First time I got to start a Crossle FF from the drivers seat and drive it a few feet was in the pits at Thompson in the late 60's. Was the young teen helper of my older brothers friend Jack Elwell who raced his Crossle in SCCA events. Never saw more of the track than what could be seen from the paddock, with cars entering and exiting the small banked oval on their way to more conventional parts of the road course. It was oddly memorable. Skip hadn't started the school yet and Bruce MacInnes and Bob Ziegel were in their SCCA Formula Ford hay days. Lots of history there too.

Originally Posted by rcote

Piece of cake for the hearty Hoenig family. Certainly alot easier than when grandpop John ran the saw mill, rock crusher, and bulldozer all by himself to build the oval before 1940. Looks like they are mostly redoing the old roadcourse anyway. Most of it is still there. Some of it access road, parking areas, cold pits etc. Some of it running through the woods where local kids used to throw keg parties until finally, decades after its shutdown, a proper gate was put up. Until then even a fwd economy car could climb the rounded over piles of sand that blocked that section out by Quaddick pond.

A huge thank you to the family for making this happen again! Im sure just like the oval and the golf course theyll do a great job at putting it together AND running it.

Even though Thompson is basically my hometown, (I went to Killingly High School) LRP, over two hours away on the other side of the state was my intro to auto road racing since the roadcourse here was shutdown by the time I was of crawling age. I grew up being pretty dedicated to motorcycle racing and not interested in car racing at all since the only racing around me for "cages" was the "boring" roundy round. Back then I didnt know about the history and the treasure hidden in the woods.

Alot of people wouldnt know the skippy cars have turned laps at the Thompson oval. I believe it was Snyder and Holehouse that tested the "RT"s there a few years ago. I ran into one them on the way to the 19th hole after my round of golf. This was back when I still lived out there and commuted to LRP.Pretty damn ballsy. Its a FAST, highbanked oval thats bitten quite a few talented drivers, including taking the life of Tommy Balwin Sr.

More places for all of us overgrown kids to play. Thanks again Hoenigs!

[Fred K]

I towed there from Pittsburgh in '68 on $0.33 a gallon gasoline to fill in a logbook page, had brake problems and never really figured out which way the track went.

I do remember the kink in the back straight with the overhanging bush at the apex. Kind of like a steeplechase. That and driving with my eyes riveted on the rearview mirrors wanting for Reeves Callaway to lap me.

I was rolling at the end and got the page filled out.

--
Fred K

[rsr427]

More roadcourse?

YES PLEASE!


(I've raced it on my computer in Skip RT's, that's my experience!)

[Magical Trevor]

I learned last night that events may be in store come 2016...

[rsr427]

So, SBRS at Thompson?

Since my post, I actually raced and won there in an F500. Did the Track Night in America there too, love the layout and the location.

[dalyduo]

At this point the Skip Barber schedule shows some schools at Thompson late in the summer. There are no school programs listed for Lime Rock Park which would be a first.

[Magical Trevor]

I think there have been past years where Lime Rock schools had not been put on the calendar yet by this time, but some should be there by the end of January. Whether SBRS will be able to fulfill any of these dates is another question.

[Magical Trevor]

Originally Posted by dalyduo

There are no school programs listed for Lime Rock Park which would be a first.

Today at Lime Rock Park

[dalyduo]

Yeah... Doesn't surprise me. Things are devolving quickly.

[dalyduo]

The only SBRS Lime Rock Park race weekend is scheduled Oct. 13-15 (Thursday, Friday and Saturday)
There is also a 2 day advanced class scheduled Tuesday and Wednesday before the single practice and 2 race days.
That's all we see on the schedule for Lime Rock Park this year.

[Magical Trevor]

They also have a 3 Day scheduled for each type of car; MX-5 in May, Formula in June: http://skipbarber.com/master-lime-rock-parks-big-bend/