Incredibly historic yet modern. Not a hint of a grandstand but tremendous spectator viewing. Fan friendly in the extreme. A beautiful venue - it is truly a park - and even those who are not motorsports fans know what Lime Rock Park is. Of course, those who are savvy about auto racing in New England consider Lime Rock Park its actual and spiritual home.
Dreamed up in 1956 by Jim Vaill, the son of the landowner, and with the help of John Fitch and Cornell Aeronautical Labs, Lime Rock was the first road racing track to be engineered and designed using scientific and highway-safety principles. Lime Rock is 1.50- miles of up hill and down dale, a track that looks deceivingly simple but is immensely challenging to drive quickly. Its setting is a village in Connecticut's Litchfield County, renowned for its vast historical, cultural and recreational resources.
Lime Rock's history is inextricably entwined with that of sports car racing's. In its 55-year existence, almost all of the sport's greats have raced here: Andretti, Moss, Gurney, Posey, Rodriguez, Hobbs, Hill, Donohue, Ward, Fitch... the list of great drivers who've raced here is literally endless, from the drivers in the industry changing Formula Libre race of 1959 through the stars of the 1960s, 70s and 80s in Can-Am, Camel GTP, F5000, Trans-Am and Atlantic.
Lime Rock Park has seen virtually every kind of race car grace its corners and straights... ground-pounding NASCAR stock cars and modifieds... sports cars of every stripe... showroom stock, Formula Fords and Vees... the visceral Grand-Am Daytona Prototypes and the technological tour de force ALMS prototypes... McLarens, Lolas, Astons, Ferraris, Watson champ cars and Kurtis midgets, Jags, Allards and MGs... This list too is endless.
Today it is the leading-edge American Le Mans Series and Grand-Am with their own stars and cars that are writing the history.
In 2008, the track was re-paved. Two new, corner complexes were also built, giving Lime Rock the ability to be run in four different configurations. But owner Skip Barber went to great lengths to ensure that every aspect of the original layout, including width, camber, radius and elevation - even the "temporary" Bailey Bridge at the top of the Downhill - remained exactly as it was when the track opened for its first race on April 27, 1957.
Lime Rock is unique and cannot be compared to any other track, arena or sporting venue. Its fans are loyal, vocal and knowledgeable. It delivers what it promises: Great, safe racing at an historic but modern track, in a beautiful yet easily accessible setting.
