Historic Festival 42 (Aug. 29-Sept. 2) at Lime Rock Park is packed with exciting attractions for motorsport fans. This year’s event features a mix of classic cars, one-of-a-kind prototypes and notable drivers. Whether you’re into historic rally cars, vintage race cars or more modern competition vehicles, there are a variety of cars to check out. Here are five cars to watch for at HF42.

 

Historic Festival weekend is a great opportunity to get a close-up look at two historic Lancias that made their mark in international rallying. One of them is an S4 raced by Henri Toivonen, driven to victory in the British RAC Rally in 1985. This was the back-up car for Toivonen in winning the 1986 season-opening Monte Carlo Rally, shortly before his untimely death. The other car is a 1976 Lancia Stratos, a three-time winner of the Italian GT Championship and class winner of the 1976 Targa Florio. This car was comprehensively restored by Carlo Facetti. Both will be out during Sunday in The Park (September 1).

 

Group 1 celebrates Formula Junior, with 23 cars representing the popular stepping stone to Formula 1 that competed from 1958 to 1963. Formula Jr. raced worldwide, with its graduates including Jim Clark, John Surtees, Jochen Rindt, Jim Hall, Peter Revson and Mark Donohue. It was revived as a historic series in 1975, and was showcased at HF35, with 1963 Monaco winner Richard Attwood as the guest of honor.

 

If you were wondering about the Number 13 and camouflage paint scheme on Frank DelVecchio’s 1981 Van Dieman RF-81 competing in Group 8, there’s a reason. Skip Barber loaned Frank a Crossle 55-F back in 1983, which he numbered #13 and painted it in camo to promote his brother John DelVecchio’s gripping Vietnam war novel, The 13th Valley. Over the years, Frank has spent a lot of time in the PA booth when he wasn’t driving. Check out the car, and then look up John’s great book on Amazon.

 

Another former PA announcer who will be racing in Group 5 is the No. 48 Datsun 510 driven by Mike Joy. While better known for his work televising or broadcasting 45 Daytona 500s, Joy began calling races at Riverside Park Speedway in Agawam, Mass., in 1970. He stepped up to the Motor Racing Network booth from 1977-90, and began calling live NASCAR races on ESPN in 1981 and has been on NASCAR telecasts ever since. He’s also no stranger to competition, racing in the 1993 Rolex 24 At Daytona 24, and also won an historic Trans-Am race at Lime Rock in 2013.  Along the way, he was the promoter at LRP in 1990. A former resident of Windsor, Conn., he currently resides in North Carolina.

 

While HF42 celebrates cars from different stages of motorsports’ history, at least one car is still making its mark in current competition. The No. 1 2007 Audi A4 driven by Chip Herr in the Toyo Tires Turn of the Century World Challenge still competes in SCCA Majors competition, capturing the 2023 SCCA STU National Championship as Herr recovered from an early spin and charged from last to first, making the winning pass on the final lap. The driver from Lititz, PA captured back-to-back runner-up finishes in the Run-Offs prior to winning the title. Herr is a veteran of World Challenge and IMSA GT competition, winning eight races and seven poles.