SVRA Amelia Island US Vintage Gran Prix, March 17-20 to feature motorcycles
The Sportscar Vintage Racing Association’s inaugural Amelia Island Vintage Gran Prix at the Fernandina Beach Airport pays tribute to the early sports car tradition of racing on airfield circuits. Once very popular racing venues, especially in the Southeast, airfields were a haven for speed. The Amelia Island Vintage Gran Prix marks a return to racing on the Fernandina Airport, where sports cars and motorcycles raced in the 1960s and 1970s. SVRA pays homage to those earlier races with this invitation-only event, with race groups ranging from pre-war cars up through the 1980s. Among the 250 entrants expected at Fernandina Beach will be Ross Bremer racing his 1967 English Ford Angelia Super – the same car he originally raced on the Fernandina Beach Airport during the 1968 The Gold Crown Prix.
“Back then, we raced at a number of airport tracks around Florida. The business of racing at airports was huge. It was the easiest, most convenient place to have a race track,” Bremer reminisced. “The front straight first turn was always exciting to me. Even though the course was flat, it was quite challenging – some of the turns nearly doubled back on themselves. And the front straights were actually quite fast. They were long enough to get up a good head of steam. That’s the reason they would put chicanes in the front straight, to slow it down a little bit.”
“It is memories such as Ross Bremer’s which have prompted us to reintroduce this race.” said Tony Parella SVRA President & CEO. “This race may become a destination for historic racers and sports car enthusiasts. If people want to escape winter weather for an entire week and enjoy both events it will be amazing. We will go beyond vintage race cars to include historic aircraft and motorcycles as well. These will be firsts for SVRA, and I am really looking forward to it. It is an absolute honor to launch our Amelia Island Vintage Gran Prix within a week of the prestigious Amelia Island Concours d’ Elegance.”
Historic Moto Grand Prix (HMGP) is honored to be providing the motorcycles for the event. HMGP founder Bill Brown recalls, “I raced at the Fernandina Beach Airport with the Florida Gran Prix Riders Association in 1967 and 1968. Hard as it might be for some people to believe today, I raced a Suzuki AS100 at those events. The second year I also had a 250 Suzuki X-6, but it broke so I only ran the little 100. The course was flat and very fast, which was typical of airport courses.”
The weekend not only promises a huge gathering of race cars but also some of the finest privately owned vintage and historic collector cars will be staged on the Amelia River Golf Club, next to the race track, for the Show and Shine car show. Multiple vintage airplane flyovers, and vintage motorcycle demonstrations are on the schedule. Race fans and car enthusiasts can enjoy the cars, meet the drivers, and enjoy participating in the unique racing history of airfield racing.
About HMGP
Historic Moto Gran Prix (HMGP) is collector organization led by former AMA Pro racer Bill Brown. It is designed as an alternate venue for acknowledged classics like Manx Nortons and air-cooled TD Yamahas, and is also looking to draw more recent “classic” racers including the likes of the legendary two-strokes of the 1970s and the AMA four-stroke superbikes of the 1980s and 1990s. Privateer and replica racer models are highly encouraged to attend. HMGP is the perfect place to share motorsports history with other enthusiasts and display the bikes in the proper setting; at speed on the race track. This is world-class gentleman’s racing. HMGP gratefully acknowledges their presenting sponsor, Yamaha Motor Corporation, for their dedication to preserving racing and engineering history. For information on membership, classes, this year’s calendar and event photos see www.hmgpracing.com. For up to the minute postings by the organization and its members see www.facebook.com/historicmoto.granprix. For questions or additional information contact Bill via phone at (404) 379-6091 or via email at [email protected].