"Road Racing Center of the East" | |
---|---|
Location | Lakeville, Connecticut, United States |
Time zone | UTC−5 (UTC−4 DST) |
Coordinates | 41°55′39.68″N73°23′0.95″W / 41.9276889°N 73.3835972°W |
FIA Grade | 2 |
Owner | Lime Rock Group, LLC (April 2021–present) Skip Barber (1984–April 2021) |
Operator | Lime Rock Group, LLC |
Broke ground | 1956 |
Opened | 27 April 1957 |
Major events | Current: Trans-Am Series (1967–1974, 1981, 1985–1989, 1992–1993, 1995–1999, 2002–2003, 2010, 2012–2015, 2019, 2021–present) International Race of Champions (2024) Future: NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series NASCAR Truck Series race at Lime Rock (2025) ARCA Menards Series ARCA Menards Series race at Lime Rock (2025) Former: IMSA SportsCar Championship Northeast Grand Prix (1958–1964, 1986–1992, 2004–2013, 2015–2019, 2021–2023) Pirelli World Challenge (1992–1993, 1995–2005, 2007–2008, 2013, 2016–2018) Rolex Sports Car Series Lime Rock Grand Prix (2000–2001, 2006–2008, 2010–2013) NASCAR K&N Pro Series East (1993–2010) |
Website | https://limerock.com/ |
Grand Prix Circuit (1957–present) | |
Surface | Asphalt |
Length | 1.530 miles (2.462 km) |
Turns | 7 |
Race lap record | 0:45.105 ( Juan Manuel Fangio II, Eagle MkIII, 1993, IMSA GTP) |
Lime Rock Park Race Track | |
Area | 325.2 acres (131.6 ha) |
Built | 1956 |
Built by | Jim Vaill |
Architectural style | Race track |
NRHP reference No. | 08001380 [1] |
Added to NRHP | October 16, 2009 |
Lime Rock Park is a natural-terrain motorsport road racing venue located in Lakeville, Connecticut, United States, a hamlet in the town of Salisbury, in the state's northwest corner. Built in 1956, it is the nation's third oldest continuously operating road racing venue, behind Road America (1955) and Willow Springs International Motorsports Park (1953). [2] The track was owned by Skip Barber from 1984 to April 2021, a former race car driver who started the Skip Barber Racing School in 1975. Now, it is owned by Lime Rock Group, LLC. [3] It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2009. [1]
The 1.530 mi (2.462 km) Lime Rock track was originally conceived of in 1956 by Jim Vaill, who, along with John Fitch and Cornell Aeronautical Laboratory, built the track utilizing state-of-the-art road and highway safety principles of the time. The first race, a mix of G-Production class and an MG class, was held on April 28, 1957. The winner of the G-Production was Ted Sprigg in an Alfa Romeo Giulietta. The winner of the MG class was Charles Callanan in an MG TC.
In 1959, Lime Rock was the site of a notable upset, when Rodger Ward won a Formula Libre race driving an Offenhauser-engined midget car, usually used on oval tracks. Ward used an advantageous power-to-weight ratio and his dirt-track cornering abilities to defeat several highly regarded sports cars and drivers for the victory. The year, the track also hosted the Little Le Mans race, won by Charles Callanan and Roger Penske in a Fiat Abarth. In 2008, the track was re-paved and two new corner complexes were added. [4]
The track has a loyal following, [4] though it did face some resistance from the local community shortly after it opened. In 1959, the Lime Rock Protective Association, with support from the nearby Trinity Episcopal Church, [5] took the park to Litchfield Superior Court in an effort to ban Sunday racing. The court issued a permanent injunction against Sunday racing, and its decision was upheld by the Connecticut Supreme Court. While restrictive, the carefully crafted injunction was also enabling. It preserved the track's right to conduct unmuffled sports car racing on Fridays and Saturdays, plus testing on Tuesdays and other operating benefits. The injunction stands to this day. [6]
The track has featured many well-known racers including Paul Newman, who supported his own Newman-Haas team with Bob Sharp, [7] Mario Andretti, Stirling Moss, Dan Gurney, Sam Posey, and Mark Donohue. [4] Other racers have included Parnelli Jones, Joey Logano, Austin Dillon, Simon Pagenaud, Alexander Rossi, and Tom Cruise. [8] Posey and Newman have sections of the circuit named for them. [9] [10]
The Rolex Sports Car Series, American Le Mans Series and IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship have used a configuration which included the chicane at turn five and West Bend.
The track is a natural terrain road course, constructed over hilly terrain in the Berkshire Mountains, part of the greater Appalachian mountain range. The famous Appalachian Trail hiking route passes by the circuit on the ridge lines visible from the track a half mile to the east. The venue is somewhat unique in that it features no grandstands or bleacher seating, instead inviting fans to bring chairs and blankets and enjoy the racing from its grassy hillside areas under the shade of trees. While the venue is relatively compact, the relatively short track is renowned for its spectator experience, offering fans an up close view and close quarters racing. [11] [12]
For years the track was listed as being 1.530 mi (2.462 km) in length—the story goes that right after it was built, somebody used the odometer in a Chevrolet to measure the track length—and 1.53 was taken as gospel. Following the 2008 reconstruction (see below), Lime Rock's operations people measured all four possible configurations, and as it turns out, each was 1.500 mi (2.414 km) long, plus or minus a few hundred feet. The IMSA Weathertech Sportscar Championship gives the distance of the track as 1.474 mi (2.372 km). [13] The "classic" configuration is seven turns, while the three optional layouts are eight, nine and ten turns, respectively.
The fastest unofficial all-time track record set during a race weekend is 0:43.112 seconds, set by P. J. Jones in a Toyota Eagle MkIII, during qualifying for the 1993 Toyota Trucks Lime Rock Grand Prix. As of July 2023, the fastest official race lap records at Lime Rock Park are listed as:
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The 2021 Northeast Grand Prix was a sports car race sanctioned by the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA). The race was held at Lime Rock Park in Lakeville, Connecticut, on July 17, 2021. This race was the seventh round of the 2021 IMSA SportsCar Championship, and the fourth round of the 2021 WeatherTech Sprint Cup.
The 2022 Northeast Grand Prix was a sports car race sanctioned by the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA). The race was held at Lime Rock Park in Lakeville, Connecticut, on July 16, 2022. This race was the ninth round of the 2022 IMSA SportsCar Championship, and the sixth round of the 2022 WeatherTech Sprint Cup.
The 2018 Northeast Grand Prix was a sports car race sanctioned by the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA). The race was held at Lime Rock Park in Lakeville, Connecticut, on July 21, 2018. The race was the eighth round of the 2018 IMSA SportsCar Championship.
The 2023 Northeast Grand Prix was a sports car race sanctioned by the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA). The race was held at Lime Rock Park in Lakeville, Connecticut, on July 22, 2023. The race was seventh round of the 2023 IMSA SportsCar Championship, and the fourth round of the 2023 WeatherTech Sprint Cup.
The 2017 Northeast Grand Prix was a 2017 sports car race sanctioned by the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA). The race was held at Lime Rock Park in Lakeville, Connecticut on July 22, 2017. The race was the eighth round of the 2017 IMSA SportsCar Championship.