The Vintage Drivers Club of America (VDCA) held the penultimate round of its 2007 season on November 17 & 18 at Moroso Motorsports Park in Florida. VDCA shared the weekend with the Florida region SCCA. The VDCA vintage races were held as one run group with a full complement of SCCA regional weekend warriors using the rest of the racing schedule. A strong grid of 26 vintage cars was entered to duke it out.

VDCA gave us two sessions and one race on Saturday. Then Sunday had us racing twice. Saturday’s race results sheet found Tim Smith’s 1967 Shelby Mustang at the top of the heap. Bob Shafer’s 911 and Mike Jackson’s TR-3 got steps 2 and 3 on the podium.

Our 10-lap race was the first thing on the docket at 8 AM Sunday. At least Florida’s mornings aren’t as cold as other states in November. At the green, the thunder out of the exhaust pipes tried to clear the excesses of the night before. Sure was a lot of tire smoke goin’ into T-2 on the first lap. Sure glad I wasn’t in the middle of it.

Everyone made it through fine and some cars started to pick off others. Unfortunately, Tim Smith had mechanical problems which meant that the Shelby didn’t take the green, so he couldn’t push Bob’s red 911. So Bob Kilpatrick and his white MGB stepped up to the task. Bob & Bob went after one another all race with the 911 coming out on top. Charlie Kates and his Super 7 made it up to third for this race.

After lunch we all headed out to try it again for 12 laps. This time Bob Kilpatrick crossed the stripe just in front of the hard charging, tire smoking, Lotus with Charlie Kates up. John Cox in a very fast 912 was third. Mike Jackson switched to the Shadowfax. He was just able to nip Fred Clark (in his Lynx) by a transponder beam width at the line for the Vee win.

There were many interesting stories this weekend. Here’s a few:

Tim Smith stopped at a gas station on the way to the track early Saturday morning to fill up his fuel jugs for the weekend. He had some problems with the credit card reader gizmo, but did fill up 3 or 4 jugs with 110 octane. Then he had to go inside to clear up the card reader thing.

When he came out, the jugs were gone. In the 3 or 4 minutes Tim was inside, someone saw the full jugs (with $150 in gas), loaded them into his silver SUV (as revealed by the surveillance tapes), and split.

Then, to continue his troubles, Tim had a number of problems with the Mustang’s drive train during the weekend. The drive shaft twisted, the diff went out, and the axles bent. He spent a long Saturday night replacing/repairing all kinds of power transmitting bits.

Beau Gable’s weekend ended early as the flywheel and crankshaft of his Super 7 started to rotate at 2 different speeds.

Charlie Kates used to race a TR-4 many years ago. After a 13-year break, he decided to start racing again early in 2007. After looking at a number of race cars, he bought a 1500 cc Lotus Super 7.

The grid for all 3 races was set by Saturday’s qualifying times. Charlie had a fuel pump issue in that one, so he was way down the starting order for all the races. He sprung into action at all 3 greens and quickly worked his way up the field. His lap times fell each race. He finished third in Saturday’s combat session. Then he was fifth in the Sunday morning race and second (and fighting hard for the lead) in the afternoon race.

Bob Lembcke was racing his Spitfire this weekend. Saturday afternoon the Spitfire entered our paddock area up on the top of a roll-back. Many of us figured that the little English power plant had gone kaplowy. But no, Bob simply had a flat tire. Tim Slater, who also races Spitfires, was able to loan Bob a set of wheels and tires, so Bob could finish out the weekend’s festivities.

Here’s the story of my weekend.

In early October, Mike Jackson and Flash had a conversation that went something like this:

Flash—"Doesn’t VDCA have one more race at Moroso in November?"

MJ—"Yeah."

Flash—"I might be able to make that one. Has anyone asked SandyBeach to the prom yet?"

MJ—"Yeah, Mike Kennedy did. He has even rented a tux, bought her a corsage and everything. She must go with him, because no one else will even date him."

Flash—"Oh."

MJ—"If you want to, you can drive the Shadowfax that weekend. Oh course, I just took the motor out to have it rebuilt. But I can put in the spare one if you want to come out and play."

Flash just about fainted: with those few words Flash gets an opportunity to race one of the 3 or 4 most famous FVs in the world. He stammered "Yes," and the deal was done.

The Shadowfax was designed and created by Harvey Templeton in 1969. At the age of 57 Templeton had earned the SCCA Rookie of the Year award for the 1966 season. He sat on the Formula Vee pole at Runoffs in 1966 and again in 1973.  

Harvey built two Vees (the Shadowfax and Ringwraith) from scratch in his garage. They were unique machines that utilized advanced designs and mechanical components. They were the first FV racers to utilize a zero-roll suspension. The other cars of the era used a Z-bar or cable compensator setup.

The name Shadowfax came from the Lord of the Rings trilogy, as did the name Ringwraith. The Ringwraith was Templeton's first attempt at building a FV racer. It was a technically advanced machine that lacked in aesthetics. It was the first Vee to use zero-roll suspension technology, meaning it had zero resistance to roll which improved handling. It uses two sets of shocks on the rear end.

The Shadowfax was Harvey’s second attempt at building a Formula Vee. Like the Ringwraith, the cockpit was at a very reclined angle, meaning the driver is almost lying down while in operation. It has a low frontal area with a frontal nose splitter that helps the car cut through the wind. Though the Shadowfax never won a national championship, it did provide Harvey with many overall victories and even the pole position at the SCCA runoffs on two occasions.

In 2003, Templeton passed away at the age of 94. He had built three racing machines (one was a Formula Ford) that had controversial design features, but fantastic racing results. In the Monoposto Group, the Shadowfax is the only car allowed to race with the zero-roll rear suspension setup (until the Ringwraith starts to race).

Mike owns both the Ringwraith and the Shadowfax. 

It turns out that Flash’s body is not quite the same shape as Harvey’s (or Mike’s).   By the end of the weekend, Flash had entry and exit wounds all over his body (bruises and raw tissue obtained from entering and exiting the Fax).  Once inside the Fax, the driving position was tolerable (as long as you have kid-sized feet).  If I could have bent my knees backward, it would have been a piece of cake getting into and out of the Fax.

After the Sunday morning race Flash had had enough.  Blood was just about oozing from large sections of both of his legs and torso.  The last time Flash saw his left nipple it was hanging on the left roll bar brace.   Flash had to pass on the Sunday afternoon race, because his body was so sore; the prospect of trying to get in and out of the Fax once more just about brought tears to his eyes.  

Flash also had some issues utilizing the Fax’s unique shifting mechanism. Sometimes he could up and down shift and sometimes he couldn’t. Running the entire track in fourth sure lengthened the lap times.

Another driver offered me his spare Zink C-4 for the Sunday afternoon race and Flash had fun with it. (Thanks Paul.) 

Mike is rebuilding the Ringwraith for the 45^th Formula Vee Birthday Party, April 2008, at Roebling Road in Savannah, GA.   I got to sit in the unfinished frame and I fit much better in that Templeton creation. At least I wasn’t bleeding.

I need to say thanks to Mike and Sandy Jackson for running a great club (VDCA). Also, thanks for letting me race the Shadowfax. And thanks to Paul Buttrose for loaning me his Zink for a race. Vintage racing people make this sport great fun.