HSR Daytona Historic Races 2013 - Photos, Results, Report

Report and photos by David Ferguson

The 2013 Daytona Historic Races were held November 14-17 at the 12-turn, 3.56-mile Daytona International Speedway road course in Daytona Beach, Florida. The event was put on by Historic Sportscar Racing (HSR), and presented by Brumos Porsche. The featured car was the Porsche 911, and the featured events included a nighttime enduro and the Bob Snodgrass Two-Hour enduro. (Bob Snodgrass was the driving force behind Brumos Porsche racing).

There were 112 entries, with a large number of Porsches present. Also racing with the vintage cars were the Mission Foods GT3 Cup later model Porsches, and several Porsche Caymans that, though not vintage, were crowd pleasers because of the iconic Porsche race car liveries they sported.

Among the more interesting cars were Mike Smith’s Kremer-built 1978 Porsche 935 K3, Robert Boller’s beautiful green with yellow trim 1963 Lotus 23, Brian Johnson’s 1970 Royale RP4, and Bill Warner’s ex-Group 44 1971 Triumph TR6. The car that attracted the most attention in the paddock was Joel Lipperini’s Shelby Daytona Coupe. This car is not one of the originals that raced in 1964 and 1965, but one of 10 licensed by Carroll Shelby built in the 1990s. Regardless, it is an awesome looking machine.

A highlight of the weekend was a symposium with Hurley Haywood, Jochen Mass and Brian Redman. The moderator was Bill Warner, founder of the Amelia Island Concours. The three racing stars shared experiences they had as teammates and competitors. All of them are able and entertaining public speakers and the large crowd present was treated to a special time.

The weather was a factor again at the event. It rained for much of Friday and Saturday, affecting several of the races including the Vintage and Historic Night Race. Sunday saw the sun break through and the temperature rose to the 80s.

As always, there were many good races throughout the weekend. Some are for the lead but many are in the middle of the pack. Yet what stood out this weekend was the performance of Cody Ellsworth in his well-prepared 1973 Porsche 911 RSR. Maybe it is because the Speedway allows spectators to see much of the track from one place that we could clearly see Cody take the green flag and run away and hide from the rest of the field. It reminded some of Sebastian Vettel’s first laps for most of this year’s Formula One races.

It was very fitting that the Porsche 911 was celebrated at Daytona International Speedway. It was 40 years ago that Peter Gregg and Hurley Haywood drove their Brumos Porsche to an overall win at the 24 Hours of Endurance. It was the first major international win for the 911 (the story of that race was recently well told by Louis Galanos in Sports Car Digest), and the Speedway has seen several more overall wins by 911s, more by the 911-based Porsche 935, and countless class wins. And should you go to the Rolex 24 Hour race next January, you’ll see the 911 out there trying for yet another victory.

The 2013 Daytona Historic Races by HSR brought back many memories of days long gone. It was great to see Hurley Haywood behind the wheel again. It was also a special treat to see a 911 RSR with the white and red and blue stripe Brumos colors that Charles Harris drove on the Daytona banking again.

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Photographer David Ferguson documented the 2013 HSR Daytona Historics, offering the following picture gallery that highlights the entrants and the famed Daytona circuit. We split up David’s 195 pictures into two galleries. The first gallery starting below features our favorite images, all displayed in the full-width view of Sports Car Digest, while the second gallery and race winners can be found on the last page of the article and gives a comprehensive view of all the photographs.

HSR Daytona Historic Races 2013 – Featured Photo Gallery

Altfrid Heger, 1976 Porsche 935 in a cloud of oil-dry.

Simon Gregg in his T/A Corvette going through oil-dry.

Mike Smith, 1978 Porsche 935/K3 — Mike Smith, 1978 Porsche 935 K3

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