Vintage Motorsport Inc used by permission – Sept/Oct 2015

PVGP
Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix
Michael Barstow’s hands follow his eyes as he bends
his ’53 MG TD around a Schenley Park corner.
Street Cred
Avoiding stone walls,
telephone poles, trees and
hay bales make ramped-up
excitement for drivers and
spectators alike.
STORY AND
PHOTOGRAPHY BY
BILL STOLER
Alan Patterson III leads the pack at the wave
of the green flag racing his ’61 Sprite.
V
intage racers visited Schenley Park for
the 33rd consecutive year during the
weekend of July 18-19 2015. The Pittsburgh
Vintage Grand Prix at Schenley Park is the
climax of a 10-day festival that celebrates the
automobile. Two racing weekends and a
weeklong schedule of car shows, parades and
concerts comprise the festival. It begins at the
newly expanded PITT-Race Complex 2.8-mile
road course. Now in its 13th year and under
Shant Saroukhanian three-wheels his ’70 Datsun 510.
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VINTAGE MOTORSPORT Sep/Oct 2015
the sanction of the Vintage Racer Group
(VRG), “The Historics at Pitt-Race” has
enabled the PVGP to grow by including the
big-bore cars of the ’60s and ’70s.
The challenging 20-turn course winding
through Schenley Park loosely follows the
perimeter of “Panther Hollow” and features
some significant elevation changes as well as
the famous stone walls along Serpentine
Drive. The best place for spectators to view
the action is along the snow fencing that runs
parallel to the adjacent golf course and is also
the site of the car shows.
The weekend started Friday with
registration and roving tech inspections. A
mandatory track walk is held for first-time
drivers to Schenley Park, followed by a
vintage car parade that starts in the paddock,
crosses the Panther Hollow Bridge and ends
with a driver’s reception at the Schenley Park
Café, located in the park.
The race cars take the streets early Saturday
morning with practice and qualifying sessions
of 20 minutes that include two laps under
yellow to familiarize drivers with the unique
circuit they only race once a year.
The racing is divided into eight race
groups including a Pre-War and select MG T
Series, as well as groups for preservation and
production, sports cars, sports racers,
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J.J. Rodman keeps his
’39 Ford Sprint car on
the proper line.
The ’60 Alfa Romeo Giulietta of Scott Hill was looking good.
Formula Junior and Formula Vee. Two more
groups were formed for the Italian Marque
and the British Heritage races.
Racing got underway in the afternoon
with 10-lap qualifying races. The first feature
of the weekend was the British Heritage race
for all makes of the UK cars and is sponsored
by the Roadster Factory. Starting from the
pole in this race and taking the win was Joey
Bojalad in his ’60 Elva MkVI prototype.
Bojalad’s first PVGP was a memorable one,
also racing to a win in Group 6—Vintage
Sports racers, Formula Jr and Formula Vee.
Sunday is race day and after morning
warmup and practice sessions and a drivers’
meeting, opening ceremonies take place.
The first race of the day was the Marque
Race—The Cars of Italy. Open to all qualified
Italian cars manufactured before 1973, the
race resulted in a 1-2-3 finish for Alfa Romeo.
Dottie Bechtol in her Duetto joined a pair of
GTVs driven by winner Don Wannagat and
runner-up Kevin Corrigan on the podium.
This race would produce a great vintage racing
story of perseverance and friendship that had
developed after Saturday’s qualifying races.
Alain Raymond driving a ’64 Abarth 1000
TC had suffered a suspension failure during
his qualifying race. As a result, he spent the
rest of the day and evening trying to locate
left-front suspension parts for the Abarth.
Ray Morgan’s ’28 Riley Brooklands
broke out of the shadows on the
tricky street circuit.
Easy on the brakes! Lester Neidell hangs on
to his ’33 Plymouth Speedster.
Randy Evans puts a little distance on his
competition racing his ’69 Porsche 911S.
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Sep/Oct 2015 VINTAGE MOTORSPORT
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Steve Konsin drew lots of attention with his
pretty little ’50 Lester MG T51.
Fortunately, his friend, Salvatore Montana, a
former Ferrari factory mechanic from
Montreal, had accompanied Raymond.
Together, they spent the remainder of the
afternoon locating a scrapyard at a local
garage that had been a Fiat dealership during
the ’70s. Working late into the evening,
Salvatore “located, de-mounted, refurbished,
and mounted what had been a “neglected and
rusted” front upright from a Fiat 850 on
Raymond’s Abarth. On this weekend, a
favorite of the spectators—the Little Red
Abarth—would not be denied! Raymond
made it to the grid on Sunday and raced to a
4th-place finish. As a result, Raymond was
awarded “Workers Choice” for the fine effort.
Other notable finishes on Sunday included
Michael Barstow capturing the Group 1 PreWar and Select MG “T” series. After finishing
3rd in 2012 and 2nd in 2013, Barstow
captured two wins in a row. Like so many, this
spectator-turned racer bought his first MG TD
locally and began racing in 1993. The former
“Pittsburgher” returns to Schenley Park each
year to race the car that still resides here.
Group 2’s Production Under 1.0 Liter saw
last year’s winner Mark Maehling take the
early lead in his Abarth Scorpion. After
several laps Alain Raymond (yes, the same
Abarth from above) moved up from his 6th
starting spot to take the lead. At the same
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VINTAGE MOTORSPORT Sep/Oct 2015
time, fellow Canadian, Amyot Bachand (who
blew a head gasket Saturday) raced from the
rear of the field into 2nd place. For a time, it
looked like it would be a 1-2 finish for the
racers from Quebec. But on the 6th lap the
PICK OF THE LITER
“Little Red Abarth” gave up. According to
Raymond, “a rear hub nut decided to take
leave, shearing the cotter pin and destroying
the hub in the process!” Bachand earned the
win with a borrowed head gasket, and took
the unofficial award for being the most
grateful winner of the day, thanking the
corner flaggers as well as competitors for
their “courtesy” as he worked his way
through the pack.
The 1,200 volunteers of the Pittsburgh
Vintage Grand Prix make it a most unique
vintage affair. The PVGP is a charity event
that has raised $3.5 million in donations
since 1983 with the proceeds going to the
Autism Society of Pittsburgh and Allegheny
Valley School. Last year’s donation set a
record of $350,000.
For more vintage racing coverage, go to:
www.vintagemotorsport.com
1960 Elva MkVI S/N 60/01 9
The Elva Mk VI prototype was Elva’s
first attempt at building a rear-engine
Sports Racer after Cooper had won
back-to-back World Championships with
rear-engine mounted Formula 1 cars in
1959-60. Cooper “Bobtail” sports
racers were also rear-engined, and only
the Lotus 19 pre-dated Elva’s switch to
the rear-engine configuration.
The MkVI was popular in SCCA and
club racing driven by the likes of Art
Snyder, Frank Baptista, Sr., Bill Molle
and Elva importers Carl Haas and
Chuck Dietrich. The Elva MkVI was the
first of the modern ultra-low “lay
down” sports racers. The MkVI is
powered by a Coventry Climax FWB
1460cc 4-cylinder built by Hutton
Engineering (110hp) and backed with a
Hewland 5-speed gearbox.
Joey Bojalad’s Elva MkVI carries its
original livery and No. 70. It is serial
60/01 9 of 28 built. This Elva made its
debut at the Brands Hatch Boxing Day
race in England, December of 1961.
Driven by Chris Ashmore, it took first in
class and 2nd overall, finishing closely
behind Graham Hill’s Ferrari Testa Rossa.
The Elva raced successfully in the British
National Series in ’62 and then ventured
to Germany, winning class at the 1000km
Nürburgring (long circuit). It arrived in
the U.S. in 1964 where it was raced by
Bunny Ribbs, father of Willy T. Ribbs. It
won the 1964 SCCA West Coast
Championship that year with Bunny at
the wheel. The car changed hands
among notable West Coast owner/racers
and has appeared at many prestigious
track events including the Wine Country
Classic and the Historics at Laguna Seca.
Bojalad purchased the car in October
of 2014 from Walt Cox who owned the
car for 12 years. Future races include the
VRG Historics at New Jersey
Motorsports Park, the site of the Elva
60th Anniversary Reunion. Bojalad is
very proud to carry on as custodian of
this important and historical part of the
1960’s Sports Racer era.
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