Over the Labor Day weekend, one of my favorite events at Lime Rock Park occurred, the 41st edition of the Historic Festival (HF41). This blog is about a walk around the paddock during set-up day. Hope you like the photos.

Left Boston mid-morning for the approximately 3 hour drive west to Lime Rock Park, which is situated in the Berkshire Mountains in upstate Connecticut. After arriving at the track, headed down to the A Paddock. For the walk around the paddock, used the a 50mm lens, to give a “normal perspective” of what was going on, since this lens is considered to best approximate the human eye angle of view.

Seeing a Schwinn “dragster” style bicycle brought back memories from my youth.

Saw “Lenny” and a photo of what it will look like when fully restored.

The Chrysler brand was the marque honored at the HF41, and on display near the entrance to the A Paddock were contemporary, classic and concept cars from this famous American car manufacturer. Was the first time I’d seen these cars, and the one that caught my attention first, was the 1995 Chrysler Atlantic concept retro car, which was inspired by the Bugatti Atlantique. Wow, what a car. To highlight the curvaceous lines of this car, edited the photos in black and white (note that the car had a gold metallic paint color). Here’s a walk around and look inside this beautiful car.

Another concept car on display was the 1941 Chrysler Le Baron Newport Dual Cowl Phaeton with Fluid Drive.

At the other end of the display was the 2005 Chrysler Firepower grand tourer concept car, which was based on a Dodge Viper and Chrysler Crossfire. There was even talk that the Firepower would go into production, but unfortunately wasn’t possible. Really liked the lines of this car and the Hydro Silver Pearl paintwork. The car is powered by a Hemi V8 engine which produces 425 hp and could go from 0-60 mph in about 4.5 seconds.

To the right was the 1960 Plymouth XNR roadster concept car in brilliant red, with beautiful asymmetrical lines, which was built on a Plymouth Valiant chassis. The analog gauge cluster behind the wooden steering wheel was another details that I liked about this car.

Another car which caught my eye was the Chrysler Turbine two door coupe. Fifty-five of these cars were manufactured from 1963 to 1964, painted in “turbine bronze”. A Chrysler A-831 gas turbine engine powered this car, which could produce 130 bhp at 36,000 rpm, with maximum revolutions per minute of 60,000 rpm. A variety of fuels could be used including diesel, unleaded gasoline, kerosene and jet fuel. It must be amazing to hear the engine of this car revving at its maximum.

Left the Chrysler tent, thinking, that was an incredible car display. Here you can see the Chrysler Atlantic retro car with its gold metallic paint shining in the natural light.

Continued walking down the paddock and saw some beautiful Porsche sports cars from the 1960’s and 70’s, a 910 (top) and 917-032 (bottom).

The variety of cars you see at the historic festival is amazing, ranging from sports cars to open-wheelers. A 1969 Chevron B16 prototype race car above, and more examples of the diverse range of cars that were at this event, shown below.

After walking down to the end of the paddock, turned around, and walked back up the paddock, along the side which is next to the pit lane.

Next to the tower was the Maserati car and Ducati motorbike display, with a transporter parked outside.

Looked inside the tent, and most of the cars were covered by their protective plastic covers, but a couple of the motorbikes could be clearly seen. Will make sure I get to this display when its opens later in the week.

By now it was getting later in the afternoon, so walked back up the hill and headed to the car, then to the hotel to check-in and to get some early dinner. Looking forward to seeing the historic cars on track tomorrow. Thanks for spending your time reading this blog.