Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix

That's has always looked like a great event.  Maybe next year...

It is a fun event.  Not sure were my speedster would fit in really, but I usually enter a car just for the parking convenience.  There are a lot of vary rare cars there and I always enjoy that.  The race drivers IMHO are pretty crazy as it is a unforgiving track on our roadways with curbs and...well plenty of dangerous spots.  Great fun and it is free, other than entering a car or if you would you just enter.

Enjoy.

I always wanted to attend one of them Grand Prick races. Was living in St. Petersburg, FL when they held the first one there (1986) but moved to Boca Raton that week. Saw everything except the race. Seabring is still on my yet to do list. Keep on living!

I'm planning to go.  Have registered for the country tour, or whatever it is called, out of Ligonier on Thursday, I think.  Its supposed to be better touring than the Tail of The Dragon.  We will see, as I have done that beast.  After that don't know what all to try and do and see.  There is so much.  Besides the Big Race through Schenley Park on Sunday -- or is it Saturday??  I also posted a link here I think., announcing my intention.

Update:  I think the PVGP starts this week end, Something like 10 days of car hoopla in and around the 'burgh.  What a hoot.  Can't do it all.  My plan is to run the cross country tour out of Ligonier on Thursday, having arrived there wed.  On Friday I'll relocate to near Schenley park staying with a friend.  They will have a parade of racers Friday evening through the Squirrel Hill section.  Saturday is racing prelims all day at the park, Then the races proper are on Sunday.  I will tow the Speedster there and park next to the real Porsches at the park -- they call this General admission.   The question here then is: anybody else fixing to go?

@Jim Gilbert - Madison, Mississippi posted:

Seabring is still on my yet to do list. Keep on living!

As someone who’s been to both, I would recommend Daytona instead. Sebring is a young man’s game. Unless you go in an RV and park on the main straight. Unlike Daytona, there is very little infrastructure at Sebring. It’s pretty much a camp out/party.

At Daytona, you can pretty much sit wherever you want in the grandstands, and from 1/2 way up you can almost see the whole track.

The only real benefit to Sebring is that they have a WEC race the day before the 12hr. BTW, if you’re planning on going, next March would be a good time, as it will be the debut of the new LMDh class in both IMSA and WEC  with new prototypes from Porsche, Ferrari, and Peugeot.

Don't sleep on Pittsburgh VGP, people. Sorry I ain't going, Kelly. Been twice; wanna do it again....

Last time I happened to meet the Final Boss of British Coach Works—the guy who actually made my car originally.

Also there was

etc.

You know your car is small if it stil looks small next to a 914.  

@gg1 posted:

You know your car is small if it stil looks small next to a 914.  

The black Carrera Speedster pictured above was probably my biggest salesman when we displayed at Shinley many years ago.  They parked us right next to him and his freshly restored beauty.  All weekend he just kept saying, you should be after one of these Becks, you can actually drive and enjoy it!  LOL  It was fun.

Pittsburgh returned our race entry fee this year and said we weren't allowed to play in their clubhouse anymore.  I guess they got tired of being passed by Randy and his 904GTS...

@chines1 I was going to like your comment, but I can't. It's too bad the "real" Porsche people can't play nice.

Yeah, I "Liked" it before I read the second part.  Sad.

Was a great event as always. This wasn’t a good scene and it happened right in front of the Porsche section and they were the focus car this year. Ouch.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=EhflYVa9Fp4

Just to be clear, they like replicas just fine on the showfield, and at many of the attendant cruises and such that go on for ten days all over the city around the races.  On race day Sunday I parked right there along with all the "big boys".   What they do not approve of is a replica in the actual race.  So far as I know.  They say Vintage, and they mean it.  Gotta be old and original. So that's fine.  N.B.: I went to school next to Schenley Park and had my first 356 for a year while there.  Have scooted along those roads a few times, albeit several lifetimes ago.  Some pictures to follow. when I get my desktop and phone camera to talk to one another.

We raced PVGP @Pitt for many many years and they had no issue with replicas.  Most of the cobras were replicas, most of the GT40s were replicas and most of the Daytona coupes were replicas.  In our experience it wasn't until we couldn't be beat by the friends of the organizer that were were blackballed.  There might have been some choice words from Randy in response to some of their antics, and that didn't help the situation, but there were plenty of replicas racing.  But again, that was the PVGP races at Pitt.  I've never tried to enter Schenley, so I wouldn't doubt if they had a restriction replicas racing.  i was also under the impression that they had a strict limit on car size and HP, but that ,just not be the case after seeing the 911s in that video...

FWIW, I was upfront early on and asked what the policy was for the Vintage race.  I was told that for the race proper, a replica Speedster would not be permitted.  I was OK with that.  I do not race and do not have all the required gear and such for the car.  Certainly no roll bar.  Do not misunderstand, I would have loved to run that course.  What a hoot that would be!!

PS, There were only 356 coupes in the race, no Speedsters.  I'm guessing  anybody with a real Speedster would not want to put it in fast traffic with a bunch of amateurs. And yes there were a few mash-ups.  Some stuff got bent and broken.

Their sorting rules seemed to be: over 2.0 l, under 2.0 l, under 1.8 l, and then there was the featured marque heat, which was, this year,  only Porsches.   And so, I think I saw that some of the Porsches got two whacks at it: a spin around in the marque special, and then another in correct displacement class.  One of the heats did feature open wheel (formula??) cars.

@El Frazoo posted:

PS, There were only 356 coupes in the race, no Speedsters.  I'm guessing  anybody with a real Speedster would not want to put it in fast traffic with a bunch of amateurs. And yes there were a few mash-ups.  Some stuff got bent and broken.

The first time I went to the vintage car races in Steamboat an AC Cobra and a lightweight E-Type collided and crashed right in front of me. It was horrifying.

The Cobra fared better than the Jag, but I’d assume both were $50K+ repair bills, even back in 1992.