It’s strictly because of cool – and caring – people like you, the Lime Rock fan, that the “Sunday Royals’ Garage Car Show” has been a wonderful success over the past three years. Since the first one in 2010, more than $12,000 has been raised to benefit charities and institutions.

The Fourth Annual Royals’ show is Sunday, May 26, closing out the Trans-Am season-opening race weekend.

Skip Barber and Torrington’s Glenn Royals have chosen the Wounded Warrior Project to receive the funds from the entry fees this year. Everyone is a strong believer in the tremendous good WWP has accomplished since its founding in 2002. The Wounded Warrior Project “...works to raise awareness and enlist the public's aid for the needs of severely injured service men and women, to help severely injured service members aid and assist each other, and to provide unique, direct programs and services to meet their needs.”

And all you have to do to help is something that’s a lot of fun: Bring your cool vehicle to Lime Rock Park the morning of Sunday, May 26, and for $10, enter the car show!

The Sunday Royals’ Garage Car Show is what we like to call Lime Rock’s “Everyman’s Show.” The million dollar concours cars have their show Labor Day weekend.

This show is for people like you and me; we love our Ford Torinos and AMC Matadors and slammed Civics and want to show them off at one of the best venues in America, Lime Rock Park. And for a good cause to boot!

We want to see Muscle Cars, Tuners, Street Rods, Drift Machines, Motorcycles, Classic Cars, Antiques, Race Cars, Trucks of all kinds, and Exceptional Contemporary (that’s car-guy code for “Most excellent new cars, from SS Camaros to Lamborghini Aventadors!”), all lined up on Sam Posey Straight.

Skip’s goal is 500 vehicles, which would raise more than $5,000 for the Wounded Warrior Project.

Here are the details... See you May 26!

* Rain or Shine
* 4 Premium Trophies awarded: Royals’ Crown, Skip’s Selection, People’s Choice and Veterans Vote
* No pre-registration: Just arrive between 7:30 and 9:30 a.m.
* Car Show Entry Fee $10 ($5 for Military Personnel)
* Spectators $5
* Children 12 and under free
* Parking free

‘Spikes’ and friends made it happen at Lime Rock Park: The car show to benefit Sandy Hook families and first responders was, by all accounts, a big success. At the “Spike’s Ride for Sandy Hook,” organizers confirmed more than 2,400 vehicles – cars, motorcycles and trucks – made their way to Lakeville this past Saturday morning, collecting $26,000 in cash donations. That total does not include checks, vendor donations, pledges, t-shirt sales and matching funds, still being tallied.

George “Spikes” LeGrice, 27, an EMT and National Guardsman from Brockton, Mass., organized the event while Lime Rock donated the facility and its personnel. LeGrice recruited hundreds of volunteers for the cause, which he officially launched within a day of the mid-December tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Conn.

“I thought it would be a simple bike ride, and by 7:30 p.m. Saturday [Dec. 15] I had a Facebook page, but things went huge very, very quickly,” LeGrice told the Litchfield County Times. “People with any kind of nice car, bike or truck wanted to join in. Convoys came from Connecticut, obviously, but also New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Maine, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania – we even have people from as far away as Texas.”

Skip Barber said, “This is one of the most ‘democratic’ shows I’ve ever seen. We had Bentleys from the 1930s shoulder to shoulder with Honda Accords, which, by the way, were right next to jacked-up diesel pick-ups, Z28s and Austin-Healeys. Thousands of vehicles... It’s wonderful when everyone feels as one, to do what they can for Newtown.”

Jim Perry, Lime Rock Park’s video producer, uploaded his Spike’s Ride piece by Sunday afternoon (you may click on the “Preview” link for an instant-play, non-HD view), which provides a succinct overview of the show...

http://www.drivestv.com/index.php/component/content/article/260

Casey Keil, one of Lime Rock Park’s photographers, put up a terrific gallery of photos on the track’s Facebook page...
https://www.facebook.com/welcomeback/requests/#!/media/set/?set=a.10151454543879003.1073741827.44115954002&type=3

Many show attendees are also uploading videos of the event to the internet; search “Spikes Ride for Sandy Hook Lime Rock.”

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It was successfully kept secret for weeks in order to surprise a racing legend; on Saturday, March 9, at the Amelia Island (Fla.) Concours d’Elegance, where this year’s honored guest was Sam Posey, Lime Rock Park owner Skip Barber announced that the track’s front straightaway is now officially Sam Posey Straight. Barber reported that Posey was rendered speechless by the surprise honor – no mean feat for one of the most erudite, articulate gentlemen you’ll ever meet.



Posey competed in just about every form of racing, including Can-Am, Trans-Am, World Endurance Championship, IMSA, Indy Cars, Formula 5000 and Formula 1. Since 1981, Posey has been one of the most sought-out TV racing announcers, and he’s also an accomplished writer, painter and artist. An avid model railroader, he authored Playing with Trains: A Passion Beyond Scale. Posey not only wrote an autobiography, The Mudge Pond Express, he won a sports writing Emmy in the early 1990s.

“I know – we all know – that Sam deeply loves Lime Rock Park,” Barber said at the Saturday evening 'Mercedes-Benz U.S.A. Gala Dinner Honoring Sam Posey.' “He’s been racing here since he was a teen – he grew up five miles from the track. Sam was the first driver to lap the track in less than 60 seconds – that was a big, big deal when Sam did that, in 1967. He was driving a McLaren Can-Am car. And that was just two years after his very first race here, in a Formula Vee, a car that has less than a fifth of the power of that McLaren.

“Sam was able to use Lime Rock as a launching pad for what turned out to be an astoundingly steep early career path. One year after that FV race, he was racing a 350 horsepower Bizzarrini 5300 GT at Le Mans.

“And of course, we’ve been blessed that no less than three of the beautiful buildings here, including the now-iconic paddock tower, were designed by Sam,” Barber said.

Although Posey retired from professional driving in the 1980s, he has not retired from the cockpit; he still drives his PRS Formula Ford at speed during Lime Rock Drivers Club track days – consistently under a minute, to boot!

When Barber got back from Florida, he said, “I wanted to do this special thing, for Sam and Ellen and the kids, so that Sam could savor it, appreciate it, in the here and now. That’s not an opportunity commonly afforded. I’ll be sending him the revised track map in about a week...”

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It’s the moment many of you have been waiting for... the first-ever open-enrollment Autocross Competitions at Lime Rock Park!

   

Click here for the full schedule!

Anyone with a fun car – and we’ll let you define that – can sign-up!

You’ll be driving the full autocross layout, which is eight turns and nearly a half-mile long.

Lime Rock racing instructors will be there to provide feedback, tips and techniques that will make anyone, experienced or not, smoother and faster. In other words, your lap times will drop! Not to mention how much fun this whole thing is...

Toward the end of each of these first three open-enrollment Autocross Competition days, there will be a hand-timed competition as part of our exciting **Fastest Laps of the Year championship.

Details:
- No experience necessary! This is safe, fast fun, with lots of run-off area
- If you are an experienced autocrosser, you will love this layout – elevation changes, all corner types, and the track is not a sea of cones
- Lime Rock Autocross Competitions are run Rain or Shine
- You do not need a helmet, though you may wear one if you wish
- For the March 22 event, your car cannot exceed 86 decibels. This should not be an issue if you’re running an essentially stock exhaust system
- For the April 9 and June 18 days, you can run un-muffled; there is no db limit for these days
- For food and drink, Lime Rock Catering will have concession stands open
- Restrooms are in the Infield Chalet
- We do not time every lap -- bring your own in-car timing devices if you wish -- but we do time the final sessions for the Fastest Laps of the Year championship (see below)
- Your car must pass a walk-around assessment by the instructors and/or Lime Rock personnel for reasons of safety and appropriateness, including working seatbelts
- You must have a valid drivers license
- The Drivers Meeting and “Chalk Talk” begins promptly at 9:00 a.m. on March 22, and 12:00 noon for the April and June days
- Enter the facility starting at 7:30 a.m. through Lime Rock Park’s Main Entrance, which is 60 White Hollow Road, Lakeville, 06039
 
Do not pass up these opportunities to drive your car at the limit!

Call 860.435.5000 and ask for Walter Swervin’ Irvine or Ryan Slideways McIntosh to enroll. Enrollment is limited, so it's first come, first served. Don't wait too long to give us a buzz. Their email addies are This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.  

The cost is $225 (non-refundable) per driver, not per car.
 
Hints: Empty your interior and trunk of all items that are not strongly secured... arrive with full fuel... Air-up your tires to 45 lbs., then bleed down as necessary... wear comfortable, non-bulky shoes and clothes... we are not snobby about the kind of car you bring, but please present a clean, safe automobile...
 
**Fastest Lap Run-offs All through the year, we will keep record of the fastest laps set at the end of the day at each open-enrollment Autocross Competition day. We will continually update the year's 20-fastest laps and post the times/drivers on the LRP website. At the end of the year, the final top 20 "Fastest Lappers" will be invited to enter, free of charge, the “Lime Rock Park Autocross Run-offs,” to crown a champion. The prizes will probably be cheap, tchotchke-esk racing trinkets – but you will have earned huge bragging rights!
 
Keep an eye on emails from Lime Rock Park for further details of the year-end Autocross Run-offs.

In the meantime... Think Fast!
Your Fellow Cone Killers at Lime Rock Park