A local gearhead’s bucket list probably includes each March’s annual Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance, or maybe the First Coast Car Council’s decades-long annual “Cruisin’ to the Creek” fall charity benefit show at Trout Creek Marina in Orangedale. There is also the Riding into History Motorcycle Concours at World Golf Village in St. Augustine too. These are all fantastic to see, but a new venue that pits classic cars and motorcycles in competition might just fill the bucket of those who want to see and hear them in motion.
The weekend following the Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance is the Sportscar Vintage Racing Association’s Amelia Island Vintage Gran Prix. Vintage autos roar around runways at Fernandina Beach Municipal Airport, reviving the Gold Crown Prix held there from 1961 to 1974.
In the 1950s and 60s airfields were popular venues for car races; The Sportscar Vintage Racing Association is now holding the AI Vintage Gran Prix at the Fernandina Beach Municipal Airport; Motorcycles are also apart of the vintage racing event held the weekend after AI Concours.
Airfields used to be a popular venue for auto racing in the 1950s and 1960s, until purpose-built tracks siphoned audience and racers away in the 1970s. Now the 36-year-old SVRA, with 2,000 members, has revived the nostalgia with a five-year agreement with the city of Fernandina Beach.
Resident Ralph Thomas, an avid vintage racer, suggested the race be revived while chatting with SVRA president Tony Parella. The inaugural AI Vintage Gran Prix took place last year with an estimated 13,000 spectators, 150 race cars and 40 historic motorcycles.
“It was better than we had a right to expect, but I also know that this is just the beginning and the potential of what could be here is hard to wrap your brain around,” Parella says. “The collective feedback on the race course is that they love it.”
Denis Bigioni ran a light blue Talbot-Lago Grand Prix racer, first raced in the 1948 Monaco Grand Prix, then four seasons with French driver Pierre Leveigh. With a 4.5-liter straight-six and about 250 horsepower, he said he liked competing on a classic airport racing layout.
“I try to respectively wring its neck as opposed to really kicking the pants off of it,” he says. “It’s extremely original … one of those cars that just doesn’t have anything to apologize for, which is refreshing.”
Last year, Bill Warner, founder of the Amelia Island Concours stuck around to race in the ex-Group 44 1971 Triumph TR-6. Warner had lobbied for racing in Jacksonville, and is glad to see SVRA holding a race in front on his “hometown crowd.”
While some racers were new to this track, Jacksonville businessman Ross Bremer enjoyed a homecoming. He and his tiny 1967 English Ford Anglia Super tackled the Gold Crown Prix in 1968, until its crankshaft pulley broke. This time, it held together.
“It’s been a lot of fun with some ups and downs,” Bremer says. “… The event has been absolutely fabulous.”
SVRA’s Amelia Island Vintage Gran Prix returns to Fernandina Beach Airport March 16 to 19. For information, go to svra.com