Masters Historic Racing’s first USA stand-alone event and the first USA event of the 2021 year was the Masters Speed Festival run at Weather Tech Raceway Laguna Seca.
In the Masters Historic Formula One USA race, Charles Nearburg’s Williams FW07C was fast. Over the start-finish hill down towards turn two, watching Charles was an education in what these Formula 1 cars can do. He went from full-out acceleration to full-out braking for turn two in what seemed to be ten feet. Great fun to watch.
Timothy de Silva’s Alfa Romeo 182 V12 finished second. The Alfa Romeo 182 V12 may have been as fast but Timothy had to start from the back of the grid. A bad oil gauge had seen him pull out of the qualifying race Sunday morning.
In the morning’s Formula 1 race Martin Lauber’s MARCH 741 finished second with Steve Romak’s MARCH 761 in third.
Master’s Endurance Legends USA race was another entertaining race. Spencer Trenery’s 2006 Riley Mk XI Gen I DP was the quickest.
Stephen Romak took his newly purchased Pescarolo Morgan to second place. Stephen suffered a small off-track in the second lap dropping back to fourth or fifth, bringing his car back through the field to second by the checkered.
Masters Formula Atlantic Plus was taken by the quick Timothy de Silva in his 1976 RALT RT1 in both races. Laurent Parmentier finished both races in second in his 1977 Chevron B39. “Fast” Danny Baker finished third in his 1979 RALT RT1.
Vintage Sports Car Trophy went to Jim Bouzaglou in his 1973 Lola T292 with “Fast” Danny Baker taking second in the morning race with Gray Gregory’s 1973 Chevron B26 in third.
In the afternoon’s race “Fast’ Danny dropped out with a broken half shaft letting Gray Gregory’s 1973 Chevron B26 inherit the second place. Chris Bender’s Lola 1976 Lola T296 came home third.
The Cross Flow Formula Ford Sunday morning race went to “Fast” Danny Baker’s 1969 Lotus 61 followed by Stephen Romak’s 1970 Titan Mk6 with Martin Lauber’s 1970 Titan Mk6a in third.
In this race, Stephen Romak and Martin Lauber went nose to tail from the green flag to the checkered flag. Often only inches separating the two cars with Stephen Romak only capturing second on the last lap in the last turn.
The afternoon Cross Flow Formula Ford race went to Dan Cowdry’s 1970 Titan Mk6b with Martin Lauber in second and Edward Lauber’s 1969 Titan Mk5 in third.
Again in this race, the two front cars put on a demonstration in braking performance. Each lap coming into turn two the car in second would dive to inside and underbrake the car in front to take the lead.
Often one or both Dan and Martin would enter turn two out of shape only to catch their cars and accelerate down the track towards turn three.
Masters Historic Racing brings historic racing that is fun to watch and great to hear. If you have any interest in historic cars you need to see one of these Masters Historic racing events.
Notes:
Saturday was cold and wet. Not rain but a heavy cold mist that left the track more than damp but not wet enough for medium or rain tires.
I heard the word treacherous used a few times in the paddock to describe the conditions. That said with one or two exceptions the drivers kept the cars on track and moving at speed. Many of my images have a slight glow to them brought out by the condensation on my lens element. Dry it off and two exposures later it was covered in dewdrops.
Sunday was similar. Cold or colder than Saturday but without the damp mist. The dry conditions were shown on track with quicker laps all around.
The next Masters USA Tour event is the Masters and HSR event July 8/11 at Watkins Glen followed a week later July 15/18 at the Hawk, Road America.
If you have a love for Historic F1, Formula Atlantic, and IMSA Legend cars, you need to find a way to visit both these tracks. These cars will transport you to another world, one grounded on the seventies to eighties race tracks. Great fun.
2021 Masters Speed Festival Photo Gallery by Dennis Gray
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Hey…thanks for the coverage of the NASCARS at the Masters event.
7 , Brian my #1 pick