A new vintage car race will be held in association with the 2016 Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance. Sportscar Vintage Racing Association (SVRA) will stage a race the week following the Concours at the nearby Fernandina Beach Municipal Airport in Florida. The 2016 Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance, scheduled for March 11-13, will be followed by the inaugural SVRA Amelia Island Vintage Grand Prix on March 17-20.
The SVRA Amelia Island Vintage Grand Prix will use Fernandina Beach Municipal Airport to create a 2.4-mile road course. One of the runways will remain open to accommodate vintage aircraft as part of the show. The addition of motorcycle racing to the program will also mark SVRA’s debut into the vintage bike competition.
“I have raced with SVRA since its inception in the late seventies,” said Bill Warner, founder and chairman of the Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance. “Tony Parella (CEO of SVRA) runs a superb organization and brings to Amelia Island a world-class racing event. It will be a perfect addition to March on Amelia Island.”
“It is an absolute honor to launch our Amelia Island Vintage Grand Prix at historic Fernandina Beach on the Fernandina Airport within a week of the prestigious Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance,” said Parella. “I am also in awe of the accomplishments of the Concours Foundation and the tremendous charitable work it has done. I know the SVRA can produce a worthy complement to The Amelia Island Concours d’ Elegance. More importantly this is going to be a big treat for people who love cars, planes, bikes and their history.”
The SVRA Amelia Island Vintage Grand Prix signifies a return to racing on the Fernandina Airport course. Sports cars raced there briefly in the 1960’s and in homage to that fact Parella plans to focus the invitation-only SVRA race events on groups of race cars from pre-war and the decades ranging from the 1950’s to about 1980. These eras pre-date the heavy influence of aero technology and ground effects.
The SVRA has secured the Fernandina City Council and Airport’s approvals to put on the racing event. Full Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) approval is expected in the coming months.
For additional information, visit SVRA.com.
[Source: SVRA]
Oh, great …
Four auctions
Two car shows
And now an airport race with the flavor of General Curtis LeMay’s early SAC base races, plus airplanes and motorcycles.
The timing creates an opportunity for someone to fill in the three days in between with other events. Who will rise to the bait?
Big news! Wish it somehow were closer in schedule with Amelia, but obviously it cannot overlap just yet.
leaves room for a Rally