F4 – ROVA DRIVE

Everyone Wins At VIR SpeedTour

October 10, 2023October 12, 2023 Missed Gear

Winners. Racing, like any sport, places emphasis on winning. Club racing and enthusiast track events, however, showcase more than Victory Lane. The focus on these events is sharing the experience of driving and improving the road skills to advance that experience. The phrase “everyone is a winner” is almost tailored to club races and gatherings. Yes, winning is fun and all that but experiencing your car and skill in that setting is also quite exhilarating. For many, winning is not the reason or the goal. Having a performance based automobile and being able to experience the car for what it was designed for is the focus. Putting amateur and professional drivers and their vehicles in the same space creates a dynamic display of design, color and speed.

For a cool October weekend, SpeedTour set the stage for these shared automotive experiences. This event is a vintage car show within a varied range of racing. The “winners” here are not only the owners and drivers but the fans that are there to see these fabulous cars in action.

Virginia International Raceway has hosted this event (and the Heacock Classic before) for several seasons. The setting is as much of a vintage beauty as the classic cars that are in the show. For racing fans, the Trans AM series offers a pure spectacle of American muscle and speed. The F4, FR America and the International GT are right there for speed but also throw world class variety in the mix. Let’s be real… F1 at COTA is a bit pricey and IndyCar doesn’t get that close to us here in Virginia but the SpeedTour gives us a very close view with the F4 and FR America! It is an authentic open wheel race experience in a beautiful setting.

Of course, a big part of the SpeedTour event is the SportsCar Vintage Racing Association (SVRA) car show and vintage class racing. Ford GTs on track with an Aston Martin DB6, BMW 2002, split window ‘Vette and any number of MGs, Austin-Healeys and Sprites. Watching a classic Cobra race side by side with a vintage “whale tail” Porsche is almost as cool for the enthusiast fan as it is for the owner driver. As fans we get to enjoy these cars without that heavy maintenance price tag! It is a win-win for everyone!

Racing results can be found at the series websites: SVRA | Trans-Am | International GT | F4 US Champ | FR Americas

SpeedTour is a great showcase of Virginia International Raceway and an even better show of the variety of automotive design and progress. A photo gallery of the weekend is below!

Race Day Showcase

SpeedTour ’22 at VIR

October 10, 2022October 10, 2022 Missed Gear

Racing at Virginia International Raceway filled the weekend of October 6-9 with variety and speed. It was a full schedule of vintage style, classic racing and modern speed. The SportsCar Vintage Racing Association encompasses auto club camaraderie and friendly competition at tracks around the country. Practice sessions, class driving, car show and the racing offer something for every auto enthusiast. This was the Mission Foods VIR SpeedTour for 2022!

For our purposes, the winners on the races were not the primary. That information can be found easily enough at the SVRA website. Our focus for the weekend was to celebrate the culture and history of the automobile. Looking over the track during one particular race, for example, the combined group racing features vintage Corvettes and Mustangs, a couple of Datson 280s, a Capri, BMWs of 3 decades, Alpha and more.

Other groups ran MG, Fiat, Alpine and Sprite style sports cars. Classic road racers from different prototype eras were on track. Open wheel F4 and FR/America were going wheel to wheel with a look and style of Formula 1 and INDY Car. The weekend also featured full series racing with International GT featuring Porsche GT3 and Cayman classes and Trans Am / Grand Am styles of super fast muscle cars. There were also mixed big bore racing featuring retired, but still race worthy, NASCAR Cup cars.

The “Cars and Caffeine” car show put classic E-Type Jags next to C8R Corvettes and Minis next to Mustangs. The range in years and styles of classic cars was worth the visit.

Visits to Virginia International Raceway are always a pleasure. The SpeedTour is an expanded combination of what was the “Heacock Classic” with some additional track series. In this age of homogenized styling, this event is, for the car fan, a weekend to connect again with what makes the automobile such a unique part of our world.

The weekend isn’t necessarily about the most elaborate technology or the hybrid/electric moves in the showroom. It is about where the car came from and the sights and sounds that makes them attractive.

The next event at Virginia International Raceway is the annual fund raiser for the Victory Junction Camp for chronically ill children. That is on tap in November and gives everyone the chance to get their own car on the VIR track. It’s a fun visit, a fun car show and fun drive on a historic course for a great cause.

Keep an eye on Virginia International Raceway – The events coming for 2023 will, again, cover a wide range of motorsport. This is an automotive destination. The racing experience is open, large and much more available than oval track stadium settings.

PHOTO GALLERY – Mission Foods VIR SpedTour 2022 – Friday to Sunday

Tag: F4

Everyone Wins At VIR SpeedTour

SpeedTour ’22 at VIR