GRIDLIFE - Circuit Legends at Lime Rock
We got home Saturday evening and I looked in the mirror for the first time that day. There were little black specks of rubber all over my skin. My nose was burned, and I smelled like high-test fumes and sweat. Circuit Legends, an event from Gridlife and with support from Prime NYC, was held at Lime Rock Park August 19-21, and it had shaped up into something we couldn't miss. Lime Rock Park is the third-oldest continuously-operating race track in the United States, behind only Road America and Watkins Glen, and this was going to be the first event - ever - where drifting was allowed on track. It would make sense then, leaving the event covered in burned rubber and race fuel; it means they did it right.
Lime Rock is a short, narrow track with lots of right-handers, but the track is rather unique in that it affords spectators the opportunity to view the action from every single corner and straight, all in the same day if you've got your walking shoes on. The track follows the land, with some sweeper S's in front of a forested mountain backdrop, then steep uphill to the back side of the track, under the bridge and back down into a full compression sweeper onto the front straight, allowing amphitheater-style grassy hills surrounding the lower features and eye-level, up-close action around the back half of the track.
Gridlife Circuit Legends featured a number of Touring Cup races, a Time Attack Battle, a Legends Time Attack, an E-sports arcade, and to close out the action each day, a full course drift session with upwards of 40 cars. On top of all that, Prime NYC curated a Legends Concours and another few dozen absolutely pristine builds were strewn about under a large tent at the top of the hill overlooking the front straight; some of the finest examples of JDM, EDM, and USDM racing and tuning cars from the 80's to the early 2000's in the country.
On track, the racing was intense. With such narrow corners, passing with equally matched cars was difficult, but one race saw them enter turn 1 off the straight four-wide, and somehow they all came out the other side no worse for wear. Many different classes of the GLTC racecars had session after session, and in between, the Time Attack cars would go raging around the track, including Ryan Teurck's Formula Supra. These are some of the fastest cars in North America, and tracking them around corners from such close proximity was a striking challenge.
Speaking of the Formula Supra - holy crap. The Supra's Judd V-10 heart that screams to above 10,000rpm wasn't just loud, it made me hear colors. What a delicious symphony of sound. The track is enclosed by trees all the way around, and even with earplugs in, I could hear the Supra reverberating from the other side of the track, no matter where I was standing. This is taking nothing away from all of the other Time Attack cars; each one was entirely unique and carried insane speed across the entire course, but that V-10...
The show closer, as one would assume, was the drifting. The other racing and Time Atack battles were truly awesome, don't get me wrong, but in its 65 year history, Lime Rock has never hosted drifting. Until this weekend. The amphitheater surrounding the front S curves was the best place to be, and everyone knew it. The crowd which throughout the day was typically dispersed, seated in the shade or walking about the track; all pressed forward to the fenceline when the drift cars got organized.
Cars worked in a stream, leaving room between slides until everyone got comfortable closing the gaps, when pairs would start forming between teams for tandem drifting. The legendary photographer Larry Chen played chase for each session in his borrowed Supra with a whole bunch of Canon cameras and GoPros suctioned to the hood, keeping up with even the most powerful cars as they ripped up the track, absolutely sending it into turn 1 at 90mph and linking smoky corners for the first time in Lime Rock's history.
Smoke hung in the air, catching sunbeams in the shadows of the trees before drifting up into the crowd, occasionally obscuring light to the point that the crowd looked like alien shadows on another planet. It dawned on me on the way out that I hadn't put one hot lap in on the arcade E-sports racing game; it was impossible to do and see everything there was to offer over the duration of the event, and that speaks to the quality of the Gridlife Circuit Legends Festival. The race podiums, the Time Attack winners, the individual builds themselves; we encourage you all to check out the racers and cars that resonate with you. And if you get a chance to attend next year's Gridlife event at Lime Rock - do it. The Prime NYC curated Concours, the E-sports tent, the food, the Lime Rock amenities and staff - everything was world class, and we were humbled and fortunate to be a part of such a legendary event.
Special thanks to the Gridlife media team and Lime Rock staff for their hospitality.
~ Nicholas Pascarella // @nicksglasseye
Photos: Nicholas Pascarella, James Woodard
