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HMSA Club Event at Laguna Seca – Report and Photo Gallery

Ferrari 250 GTO
Ferrari 250 GTO

Story and photos by Dennis Gray

The Historic Motors Sports Association (HMSA) held a club event at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca on April 24-25, 2010.

HMSA events feature historic production cars built through 1966 and purpose-built Formula, Sports Racing and IMSA cars built through 1984. The April club event featured more than 130 vintage race cars circling the 11-turn, 2.238-mile Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca road course in Monterey, California.

Club Event Notes: Cris Vandagriff and his HMSA crew drew a good group of cars for this club event, and, as always, they ran their race weekend on a tight schedule, with races starting and ending on time. HMSA does not release winners, lap times or qualifying times so to play along no race results will be given. Classes are gridded on a first-come, first-go basis, which makes for some interesting passing situations as the faster cars that may have been late to the pre-grid work their way through the pack. For this club weekend, exhaust noise limits were in effect, limiting some of the audible thrill of the larger bore entrants.

In addition to the “Cars of Interest” below, the field included many notable cars: Greg Whitten’s Ferrari 250 GTO (3413GT); Nick Colonna’s Lola T70 Spyder and Costin Lister Chevrolet; Pete Whitehead’s Iso Rivolta GT; the Saab 96 of Paul Perry; Pete Thelander’s 1934 MG NE; several endurance Porsches and a pair of Cobras and Gullwings.

For more information, visit www.hmsausa.com.

HMSA Club Event at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca – Cars of Interest

1968 McLaren M6B
1968 McLaren M6B, S/N 5015 – Bob Lee’s 1968 McLaren M6B was driven this race weekend by both Bob and his stepson Ilja Burkoff. The \’snap\’ this car showed coming out of turn five and accelerating up the hill to turn six took many of us standing under the trees at turn five back to the heady days of the Can-Am. Crisp small block Chevy exhaust combined with real acceleration. Bob put this car through an extensive restoration back to the 1968 specifications including a 358 small block Chevy with Mickey Thompson side draft manifold and Lucas injection. The engine is mated to a Hewland LG600.

Chassis 5015 was Jo Bonnier’s Can-Am team car for the 1968 series, with Warren Scott as crew chief and Edi Wyss as mechanic. Their best finish was a second overall at the 8-11-68 GP Swerigge (Sweeden) Karlkoga combined with the pole position. This race was as a tune up for the upcoming North American Can-Am series. Jo’s best finish in \’68 was a 8th at the Las Vegas Can-Am, followed by a 3rd in the Mt. Fuji Japan 200 mile World Challenge.

In 1969, 5015 was raced by Young American Racing Team with a Ford big block and John Cannon, David Hobbs and John Cordts as drivers. Best finish was a 6th for John Cordts at the 1969 Can-Am race held at Laguna Seca.

The last race in anger was the 1972 LA Times GP at Riverside with a 11th place finish driven by Frank Kahlich.

1962 Alfa Romeo Giulietta Sprint Zagato Coda Tronca
1962 Alfa Romeo Giulietta Sprint Zagato \’Coda Tronca\’, chassis 00196 – Jeff Hill\’s late series SZ features the more aerodynamic \’Coda Tronca\’ tail that enablesling a higher top speed then the first series. This SZ was first delivered with a sister car to the Alfa Romeo dealership in Lugano, SUI. While both cars are now red, chassis 00196 was originally painted Celeste blue and her sister was painted white. The sister car now resides in a Los Angeles collection next to a white Alfa Romeo TZ.

Chassis 00196 had an active life in Switzerland competing for years in local motorsports, first arriving in the United States in 1977. Since Jeff Hill bought the car with the intention of racing in HMSA, CSRG and General Racing events, he added a roll cage, fuel cell and oil cooler to the car.

Hill got his start racing a stock 1967 Alfa Romeo Giulia Super in Track Day events in the mid-90s before graduating to the SCCA Miata Series and then onto his love driving his SZ in historic events. Hill notes, \’I spent so many years as a spectator at the Historics, it was really a special day to participate in such a great car. But as you always hear about vintage racing, it’s really about the people you meet and the friendships you make by taking care of these cars.\’

1970 Datsun 510
1970 Datsun 510 – Ken Mattice owns and drives the #18 1970 Datsun 510. This car was campaigned by Rob Dyson with Pat Smith as crew chief in 1976 and 1977. In his second race, Rob won the 1976 Watkins Glen National and had numerous podiums throughout the year. Rob and the #18 Datsun 510 finished 4th at the 1977 SCCA Runoffs.

After acquiring the Datsun 510, Ken commissioned Troy Ermish Racing to a complete mechanical and cosmetic restoration, returning the car to original 1977 specifications. After 38 years and 48 SCCA races, the #18 Datsun 510 remains much as it was raced in 1976 and 1977.

HMSA Club Event at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca – Photo Gallery (click image for larger photo and description)

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[Source: Dennis Gray]

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12 Comments

  5. It’s nice to have Dennis Gray and SCD covering our vintage track events. It’s tough to pick out individual cars when there are so many great photos and stories to go along with them.

    Thanks to Greg Whitten for bringing out his terrific sounding 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO. The group 4 Alfa Romeo contingent looked great! Sid Gage, Dan Higgins and Marlies Castaing helped to celebrate 100 years of Alfa Romeo history.

    1. Jeff.
      I could not get any one to comment on this but each time Greg Whitten’s 250GTO went by it left an aroma reminiscent of the Castrol oil used in the early fifties racing cars. Took me back to the fifties and sixties Stockton and Cotati road races. Wonder what fuel and or lubricant Greg was running? Dennis

  7. Thanks Dennis for the coverage of all the fine cars at Laguna Seca for the HMSA event. Everyone has their favorite, but mine is without a doubt, Bob Lee’s McLaren M6B!

  11. Dennise,Very much enjoyed reading your article. And you most certainly capture the action and beauty of this event. Looking forward to ordering some pictures of my son and I.