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Lime Rock Park

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Lime Rock Park is a natural-terrain motorsport road racing venue located in Lakeville, Connecticut, United States, a hamlet in the town of Salisbury, in the state's northwest corner. Built in 1956, it is the nation's third oldest continuously operating road racing venue, behind Road America (1955) and Willow Springs International Motorsports Park (1953).[2] The track is owned by Skip Barber, a former race car driver who started the Skip Barber Racing School in 1975. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2009.[1]

Lime Rock Park
"Road Racing Center of the East"
LRP-logo.png
Lime Rock Park
Track layout
LocationLakeville, Connecticut, United States
Time zoneUTC−5 (UTC−4 DST)
OwnerSkip Barber
OperatorSkip Barber
Broke ground1956
Opened1957
Major eventsCurrent:
IMSA SportsCar Championship
Northeast Grand Prix
(2015–2019, 2021–present)
Former:
Pirelli World Challenge
Lime Rock Park Grand Prix
(1992–1993, 1995–2005, 2007–2008, 2013, 2016–2018)
American Le Mans Series
Northeast Grand Prix
(2004–2013)
Rolex Sports Car Series
Lime Rock Grand Prix
(2000–2001, 2006–2008, 2010–2013)
SurfaceAsphalt
Length1.530 miles (2.462 km)
Turns7
Race lap record0:43.112 (United States P. J. Jones, Eagle MkIII, 1993, GTP)
Lime Rock Park Race Track
Lime Rock Park is located in Connecticut
Lime Rock Park
Lime Rock Park is located in the United States
Lime Rock Park
Area325.2 acres (131.6 ha)
Built1956 (1956)
Built byJim Vaill
Architectural styleRace track
NRHP reference No.08001380[1]
Added to NRHPOctober 16, 2009

HistoryEdit

The 1.53-mile Lime Rock track was originally conceived of in 1956 by Jim Vaill, who, along with John Fitch and Cornell Aeronautical Laboratory, built the track utilizing state-of-the-art road and highway safety principles of the time. The first race, a mix of G-Production class and an MG class, was held on April 28, 1957. The winner of the G-Production was Ted Sprigg in an Alfa Romeo Giulietta. The winner of the MG class was Charles Callanan in an MG TC. In 1959, Lime Rock hosted the Little Le Mans race, won by Charles Callanan and Roger Penske in a Fiat Abarth. In 2008, the track was re-paved and two new corner complexes were added.[3]

The track has a loyal following,[3] though it did face some resistance from the local community shortly after it opened. In 1959, the Lime Rock Protective Association, with support from the nearby Trinity Episcopal Church,[4] took the park to Litchfield Superior Court in an effort to ban Sunday racing. The court issued a permanent injunction against Sunday racing, and its decision was upheld by the Connecticut Supreme Court. While restrictive, the carefully crafted injunction was also enabling. It preserved the track's right to conduct unmuffled sports car racing on Fridays and Saturdays, plus testing on Tuesdays and other operating benefits. The injunction stands to this day.[5]

The track has featured many well-known racers including Paul Newman, who supported his own Newman-Haas team with Bob Sharp,[6] Mario Andretti, Stirling Moss, Dan Gurney, Sam Posey, and Mark Donohue.[3] Other racers have included Parnelli Jones, Joey Logano, Austin Dillon, Simon Pagenaud, Alexander Rossi, and Tom Cruise.[7]

The Rolex Sports Car Series, American Le Mans Series and IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship have used a configuration which included the chicane at turn five and West Bend.

TrackEdit

The track is a natural terrain road course, constructed over hilly terrain in the Berkshire Mountains, part of the greater Appalachian mountain range. The famous Appalachian Trail hiking route passes by the circuit on the ridge lines visible from the track a half mile to the east. The venue is somewhat unique in that it features no grandstands or bleacher seating, instead inviting fans to bring chairs and blankets and enjoy the racing from its grassy hillside areas under the shade of trees. While the venue is relatively compact, the relatively short track is renowned for its spectator experience, offering fans an up close view and close quarters racing.[8][9]

 
BMW M6 GT3 race car rounds "Big Bend", turns 1–2, at Lime Rock Park during an IMSA GT event

For years the track was listed as being 1.53 miles in length—the story goes that right after it was built, somebody used the odometer in a Chevrolet to measure the track length—and 1.53 was taken as gospel. Following the 2008 reconstruction (see below), Lime Rock's operations people measured all four possible configurations, and as it turns out, each was 1.5 miles long, plus or minus a few hundred feet. The IMSA Weathertech Sportscar Championship gives the distance of the track as 1.474 miles.[10] The "classic" configuration is seven turns, while the three optional layouts are eight, nine and ten turns, respectively.

Race Lap RecordsEdit

The fastest official all-time track record set during a race weekend is 43.112 seconds, set by P. J. Jones in a Toyota Eagle MkIII, during qualifying for the 1993 Toyota Trucks Lime Rock Grand Prix. The official race lap records at Lime Rock Park are listed as:

Category Time Driver Vehicle Date
Grand Prix Course: 2.462 km (1957–present)
GTP 45.105[11] Juan Manuel Fangio II Eagle MkIII 1993 Lime Rock Grand Prix
LMP2 45.371[12] Ryan Briscoe Porsche RS Spyder EVO 2007 Northeast Grand Prix
LMP1 46.519[12] Marco Werner Audi R10 TDI 2007 Northeast Grand Prix
Can-Am 46.930[13] Jacques Villeneuve Sr. Frissbee GR3 1983 Can-Am Challenge at Lime Rock Park
LMPC 48.480[14] Colin Braun Oreca FLM09 2013 Northeast Grand Prix
Star Mazda 48.736[15] C. R. Crews Star Formula Mazda 'Pro' 2004 Lime Rock Park Star Mazda Championship round
Formula Atlantic 49.004[16] Jeff Wood Ralt RT4 1980 Lime Rock Formula Atlantic round
Daytona Prototype 49.445[17] Max Angelelli Dallara DP01 2010 Memorial Day Classic
WSC 49.963[18] Wayne Taylor Ferrari 333 SP 1995 Lime Rock Grand Prix
F5000 50.000[19] Graham McRae McRae GM1 1972 Lime Rock F5000 round
LM GTE 50.746[20] Mathieu Jaminet Porsche 911 RSR-19 2021 Northeast Grand Prix
GT1 (GTS) 50.971[12] Johnny O'Connell Chevrolet Corvette C6.R 2007 Northeast Grand Prix
GTP Lights 51.260[21] Jim Pace Kudzu DG-1 1991 Lime Rock Grand Prix
GT3 51.646[22] Johnny O'Connell Cadillac CTS-V.R 2013 Lime Rock Grand Prix
GT1 (Prototype) 51.687[23] David Brabham Panoz GTR-1 1998 Lime Rock Grand Prix
TA1 52.162[24] Chris Dyson Ford Mustang 2019 Lime Rock Trans-Am round
TA2 52.631[25] Mike Skeen Chevrolet Camaro 2021 Lime Rock Trans-Am round
GT4 54.077[26] John Capestro-Dubets Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport 2022 Lime Rock Park 120
TCR Touring Car 54.129[27] Michael James Lewis Hyundai i30 N TCR 2018 Lime Rock Park Pirelli World Challenge round
Modified stock car racing 54.161[28] Todd Szegedy Ford stock car 2010 Lime Rock 100
Stock car racing 55.650[29] Matt Kobyluck Chevrolet Monte Carlo SS 2008 Mohegan Sun NASCAR Camping World Series 200
F1600 55.667[30] Marc-Antoine Camirand Van Diemen RF94 1996 Lime Rock Canadian F1600 round
Super Touring 55.892[31] Dominic Dobson Dodge Stratus 1996 Lime Rock Park NATCC round
GT2 56.131[32] João Barbosa Mosler Intruder 1999 Lime Rock Grand Prix
IMSA GT3 56.997[23] Rino Mastronardi Mazda RX-7 1998 Lime Rock Grand Prix
TC 58.646[33] Chip Herr Audi A4 2007 Lime Rock Grand Prix

RacesEdit

GalleryEdit

  • Lime Rock Park, Connecticut

  • Lime Rock Park, Connecticut

  • Lime Rock Park, Connecticut

  • View from the front strait spectator area during an American Le mans Series event

  • GT3 cars battle through "The Left Hander", turn 3, during an IMSA event at Lime Rock Park

See alsoEdit

ReferencesEdit

  1. ^ a b "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
  2. ^ "The View From Lime Rock: Neighbors learn to live with the noise". New York Times. June 25, 1989. Retrieved 13 February 2017.
  3. ^ a b c "About Us". Lime Rock Park. Retrieved 19 March 2014.
  4. ^ "Trinity and Lime Rock Park...and before". Trinity Lime Rock. Archived from the original on 8 May 2014. Retrieved 7 July 2013.
  5. ^ Lime Rock Park Floats Idea of Renewed Sunday Racing- Lakeville Journal – December 8, 2005
  6. ^ Crudele, John (January 18, 2011). "Newman's own will not enough to find a way". New York Post.
  7. ^ a b c d Racer Staff (January 24, 2019). "Bertil Roos set for Lime Rock Park return". racer.com. Retrieved 25 January 2019.
  8. ^ Sinclair, Adam. "From Agony To Ecstasy Robichon Recalls 2019 Lime Rock Win". Speedway Digest. Retrieved 22 July 2021.
  9. ^ Learner, Preston. "Lime Rock Park: the rescued racing venue with a rich sporting history". Motor Sport Magazine. Retrieved 22 July 2021.
  10. ^ https://sportscarchampionship.imsa.com/sites/default/files/2016_limerock_official.pdf[bare URL PDF]
  11. ^ "Lime Rock 2 Hours 1993". Retrieved 8 May 2022.
  12. ^ a b c "American Le Mans Series Lime Rock 2007". Retrieved 9 May 2022.
  13. ^ "Can-Am Lime Rock 1983". Retrieved 8 May 2022.
  14. ^ "American Le Mans Series Lime Rock 2013". Retrieved 9 May 2022.
  15. ^ "2004 Lime Rock Indy Pro Statistics". Retrieved 9 May 2022.
  16. ^ "Lime Rock Park, July 5 Juillet 1980". Retrieved 3 June 2022.
  17. ^ "2010 Lime Rock Grand-Am". Retrieved 9 May 2022.
  18. ^ "Lime Rock IMSA WSC 1995". Retrieved 8 May 2022.
  19. ^ "1972 Lime Rock F5000". Retrieved 8 May 2022.
  20. ^ "2021 Northeast Grand Prix Lime Rock Race Official Results (2 Hours 40 Minutes)" (PDF). Retrieved 8 May 2022.
  21. ^ "Lime Rock 2 Hours 1991". Retrieved 8 May 2022.
  22. ^ "Johnny O'Connell, Jack Baldwin earn Pirelli World Challenge wins at Lime Rock". Retrieved 29 May 2022.
  23. ^ a b "Lime Rock IMSA GT 1998". Retrieved 8 May 2022.
  24. ^ "2019 TA SGT GT Official Race Results" (PDF). Retrieved 8 May 2022.
  25. ^ "Lime Rock Park TA2 Round 4" (PDF). Retrieved 8 May 2022.
  26. ^ "2022 Lime Rock Park 120 Race Provisional Results (2 Hours)" (PDF). Retrieved 17 July 2022.
  27. ^ "Pirelli World Challenge Touring Car 2018 » Lime Rock Park Round 6 Results". Retrieved 8 May 2022.
  28. ^ "2010 LIME ROCK 100". Retrieved 1 June 2022.
  29. ^ "2008 MOHEGAN SUN NASCAR CAMPING WORLD 200". Retrieved 12 May 2022.
  30. ^ "Lime Rock Park, July 20 Juillet 1996". Retrieved 3 June 2022.
  31. ^ "NATCC 1996 » Lime Rock Park Round 1 Results". Retrieved 8 May 2022.
  32. ^ "Lime Rock USRRC 1999". Retrieved 8 May 2022.
  33. ^ "Lime Rock: Touring Car race report". Retrieved 29 May 2022.
  34. ^ "Trans Am Racing Returns To Lime Rock Park | Lime Rock Park". limerock.com. Retrieved 20 September 2018.
  35. ^ "Trans Am - America's Road Racing Series". gotransam.com. Retrieved 6 July 2021.

External linksEdit

 
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Lime Rock Park.

Coordinates: 41°55′40″N 73°23′01″W / 41.927688°N 73.383599°W / 41.927688; -73.383599

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