May 15-17, 2015
Barber Motorsports Park
Anyone who has known me for more than about 15-minutes knows that two of my favorite things in life are sports cars and barbecue. A wonderful conjunction of these two happened at the Barber Motorsports Park on the weekend on May 15-17, 2015. Don Drasheff was there for the Saturday event, but not Sunday. I couldn’t go Friday or Saturday, but I went Sunday in spite of the threat of rain off and on all day. I had to use the wipers a couple of times on the way up and was seriously questioning my decision, but kept going. Together, Don and I got a pretty good sampling of the weekend’s events.
The first practice was to begin at 8:30, but no one went out on the damp track. There was a scheduled break before the All-Lotus class had their practice. 
Then, at last, the track was alive with ear-piercing screaming of mostly Lotus 23 cars. The track was still damp and a few drivers found their traction limits early. As they created a dry line, their braking points went deeper into the turns. Presumably, there were no takers for the Formula One car practice nor the all-class 1-hour enduro. This gave me time to check out the Car Corral, vendor’s row, swap meet, and the BBQ set-ups participating in the Alabama “Barber-Que” championship contest, located just behind the track-side Fan Zone.
As I was headed back to my place on the hill above the back straight, the track shuttle pulled up, so I hopped on to visit the paddock area. After photographing several of the teams’ cars in the paddock, the All-Louts race began, so I watched it from atop the race control building.
Returning to the Fan Zone, I had to visit the Full Moon BBQ trailer to sample their fare. The rest of the afternoon was back-to-back racing. While it could be expected to see these guys in their collector cars do processionals around the track, there was some actual “in anger” battles going on that made for exciting racing. I’m glad I went and would encourage you to attend next year’s Historic Races.
This event was billed as the “inaugural” Barber Historics. In 2010 and 2011, it was called 
Legends of Motorsport, but they were both sanction by the Historic Motor Sports Association. Whatever it’s called, I’m grateful to those who keep these cars looking and running like new. I was hoping to see more of the early MGs, Triumphs, Porsche 356s, RSKs, 904s, 906s, and Lotus 7s and 11s, but I suppose attrition has taken its toll on these wonderful old cars.
Russell Whigham
A complete list of all qualifying and race results can be found at:
https://www.race-monitor.com/Results/Race/27808
Barber-Que Championship links:
<http://www.sportsdestinations.com/destinations/alabama/news/first-annual-barber-que-take-place-during-barber-h-9152>
and
<http://www.smokeonthewaterbbq.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=305&Itemid=505>
Sunday’s Schedule
Sunday, May 17
8:00 AM – 11:00 AM Registration
8:30 AM Run Groups 2 & 5 Warm-up (No takers)
8:55 AM Run Groups 1& 3 Warm-up
9:20 AM Run Group 6 Warm-up
9:45 AM Prototype & Sports Racer Enduro (No takers)
10:50 AM Lotus only Grand Prix
11:15 AM – 1:20 PM Lunch Break
1:25 PM Group 6 Feature Race
1:55 PM Group 1 Feature Race
2:25 PM Group 2 Feature Race
2:55 PM Group 3 Feature Race
3:25 PM Group 4 Feature Race
3:55 PM Group 5 Feature Race
Cars registered for the weekend were:
Group 1: Classic Monoposto (For our non-Italian speakers, “Single Seat” open wheel)
(2) 1976 March 76B
1980 March 80A
1998 Formula Mazda
1978 Rat RT-1
1982 Toga 2000
1982 Rat RT4
Group 2 Production cars, IMSA GT
1965 Kirkham Cobra
1988 Mazda RX7
1962 Jaguar E-Type
1961 Daimler SP250
(2) 1964 Lotus 26R (AKA Lotus Élan)
1967 MG B GT
1959 Elva Courier
1970 Porsche 914/6
1966 Datsun 1600 Fairlady
1966 Lotus 47
1962 Lotus Seven
1974 Alfa Romeo GTV
1970 Porsche 914/6
1978 Datsun 280Z
1962 Lotus Super 7
1965 Lotus 7
1971 Ford Capri
Group 3: FIA Makes, 2 Liter SR, S2000
1964 Lotus 23
1964 Lotus 23C
1963 Lotus 23
1968 Lotus 51B
1965 Lotus 23B
1961 Lotus 20
1964 Lotus 23
1963 Merlyn Mk 6A
1963 Elva Mk 7
1969 Brabham BT29
1971 Crossle F20
1959 Lotus 18
1964 Merlyn Mk 6A
1962 Cooper Monaco
Group 4: Formula Libre AND Group 5 Group C, GTP, WSC, LMP
1972 Lola T290
1971 Chevron B19
1970 Lola T210
(2) 1979 Porsche 935
2009 Oreca FLM 09
1971 McLaren M8F
2012 Catheram SP 300 R
1990 Porsche 962
Group 6: Masters Formula One
1977 Wolf WR4
1974 Tyrrell 7
1973 Shadow DN1
1974 Lotus 76
1978 Arrows FA1
1975 Parnelli VPJ-4
1967 Lotus 49
1983 Tyrrell 11
1978 Lotus 79
1975 Hill GH1