Hey Mike, Bring something to sign, many do. Its sort of expected because the event planners make the guys available after the seminar or they have in the past. There are times when you might have to purchase a poster or something but last year I accumulated a few signatures just by walking the hotel and grounds.....Hobbs, Haywood, Brock and Bondurant come to mind. Most of the "stars" are very accommodating too. You never know who you'll bump into like I did last year when I literally got hit by the bathroom door being swung open on me by none other then Sam Posey. Ouch. A very nice man though.
GT40 to be honoured at 2013 Amelia Island Concours
- Thread starter SunDude
- Start date
Amelia has been great so far. Both the Sting Ray and 911 panel discussions were great. Gigantic lines to get in them. Might not be able to meet 1/2 hr before cause I will already be in line to get a seat up front.
Pat
Supporter
Amelia was fantastic and it was great meeting up with Jim and so many others. I'm trying to figure out how to post multiple photos to give everyone a flavor of a great event.
Attachments
Pat, great spending time with you and your family over the weekend. Looks like you've got some great photos too. Please Post More.
Here are some highlights of the event for me:
1) Seeing that many original GT40's (at least 1 of each Mark) all in the same place at one time has to be tops. Unreal. I'm still pinching myself.
2) Meeting as many GT40's forum members as I did. Pat, Eric, Jim G, GT Joey (and yes Joey really did wear a very nice suit and tie...to say he looked like a "made" guy is an understatement) and many others was great. BTW you can catch a glimpse of GT Joey standing behind the Mark III in Pat's photos above.
3) Chatting with the very gracious and very knowledgable Jim G. early Saturday morning in front of Ritz hotel about various issues meant a lot. A very busy guy taking time to meet and greet was appreciated. Thanks Jim, it was my pleasure. A more down to earth guy you'll never meet.
4) Attending the GT40's seminar. Seeing those great GT40's lined up and listening to the likes of Gurney, Hobbs, Redman, Holman, Bondurant (and his extremely well informed wife!) and John Horsham tell story's will be remembered for some time.
5) Getting a bit of a side ways glance from Dario Franchitti. when I said good luck to him for this years racing season and oh yeah good luck to your wife as she prepares to run for political office. I found out later that sadly a divorce may be on the horizon for them. I did not know that. Sorry Dario.
6) Getting Edsel Ford to sign my CAV heater access panel. Unexpected but nice to have on my panel. I now have a pretty good assortment of signatures on the panel of some of GT40's greatest names. Someone mentioned the panel might be worth more then the car soon. Cheeky bugger!
7) Chatting with Valentino Balboni former Chief Test Driver for Lamborghini. I'd met him in 1987 trying to get into the Lambo factory. They could not let me in at that time but told me I could hang out at the guard shack and watch the cars come and go. After 10 minutes Balboni walked into the shack and this was just weeks after he appeared on 60 minutes. I recognized him right away and made a nice fuss over him much to the amusment of the guard on duty so Balboni himself took me around the factory and then gave me a signed Countach sales brochure before I left. I reminded him of this on Sunday and he loved the story. A very nice man.
8) Meeting with Neil from Bristol, England who is the caretaker of a collection of cars for an owner from Indiana. He was driving the greatest sounding GT 40 (IMO) to the golf course late Saturday night to get it parked in its spot. I heard the car before seeing it and went to see what made that unreal sound. Its the same car as seen in the You Tube video "GT 40 Loses Control." I can't recall the serial # buts its Dark Blue with Orange. Neil would drive the car 10 feet, shut it down, get out, get in, drive another 10 feet, shut it down, another 10 blah blah blah. What amazed me is the car never had trouble restarting, never coughed or sputtered, back fired etc. It ran like a toyota...why won't mine do that I pondered. What a job he has. When asked his favorite car in the collection.....Jimmy Clarks 1968 F1 car....Neil has great taste no doubt.
There are more but I've taken up enough space and your time. Great Time was had by all.
Here are some highlights of the event for me:
1) Seeing that many original GT40's (at least 1 of each Mark) all in the same place at one time has to be tops. Unreal. I'm still pinching myself.
2) Meeting as many GT40's forum members as I did. Pat, Eric, Jim G, GT Joey (and yes Joey really did wear a very nice suit and tie...to say he looked like a "made" guy is an understatement) and many others was great. BTW you can catch a glimpse of GT Joey standing behind the Mark III in Pat's photos above.
3) Chatting with the very gracious and very knowledgable Jim G. early Saturday morning in front of Ritz hotel about various issues meant a lot. A very busy guy taking time to meet and greet was appreciated. Thanks Jim, it was my pleasure. A more down to earth guy you'll never meet.
4) Attending the GT40's seminar. Seeing those great GT40's lined up and listening to the likes of Gurney, Hobbs, Redman, Holman, Bondurant (and his extremely well informed wife!) and John Horsham tell story's will be remembered for some time.
5) Getting a bit of a side ways glance from Dario Franchitti. when I said good luck to him for this years racing season and oh yeah good luck to your wife as she prepares to run for political office. I found out later that sadly a divorce may be on the horizon for them. I did not know that. Sorry Dario.
6) Getting Edsel Ford to sign my CAV heater access panel. Unexpected but nice to have on my panel. I now have a pretty good assortment of signatures on the panel of some of GT40's greatest names. Someone mentioned the panel might be worth more then the car soon. Cheeky bugger!
7) Chatting with Valentino Balboni former Chief Test Driver for Lamborghini. I'd met him in 1987 trying to get into the Lambo factory. They could not let me in at that time but told me I could hang out at the guard shack and watch the cars come and go. After 10 minutes Balboni walked into the shack and this was just weeks after he appeared on 60 minutes. I recognized him right away and made a nice fuss over him much to the amusment of the guard on duty so Balboni himself took me around the factory and then gave me a signed Countach sales brochure before I left. I reminded him of this on Sunday and he loved the story. A very nice man.
8) Meeting with Neil from Bristol, England who is the caretaker of a collection of cars for an owner from Indiana. He was driving the greatest sounding GT 40 (IMO) to the golf course late Saturday night to get it parked in its spot. I heard the car before seeing it and went to see what made that unreal sound. Its the same car as seen in the You Tube video "GT 40 Loses Control." I can't recall the serial # buts its Dark Blue with Orange. Neil would drive the car 10 feet, shut it down, get out, get in, drive another 10 feet, shut it down, another 10 blah blah blah. What amazed me is the car never had trouble restarting, never coughed or sputtered, back fired etc. It ran like a toyota...why won't mine do that I pondered. What a job he has. When asked his favorite car in the collection.....Jimmy Clarks 1968 F1 car....Neil has great taste no doubt.
There are more but I've taken up enough space and your time. Great Time was had by all.
Tim Kay
Lifetime Supporter
Does this have something to do with insurance? That thread on a Top Gear episode last week recorded the same thing.
Not in this case Tim.....Neil was only able to drive the car that far until a parking volunteer told him to stop until they were ready for him since they were just starting to park all the cars. They had a bit of a back log. BTW, I did speak to the caretaker involved with the original GT 40 car on Top Gear, Mr. Rhinehart (sp?) and he spoke of that. Most amusing.
Pat
Supporter
What a great narrative Jim. It was great connecting with you and catching up.
One big highlight for me was the banter between Messrs. Hobbs, Redman and Gurney. It was hilarious and brought to mind a very different era in racing.
I was able to get the remainder of my photos on Flickr for those that might be interested. They are of several areas of the event and a mere fraction of all that was there to see.
Amelia Island Concourse 2013 - a set on Flickr
One big highlight for me was the banter between Messrs. Hobbs, Redman and Gurney. It was hilarious and brought to mind a very different era in racing.
I was able to get the remainder of my photos on Flickr for those that might be interested. They are of several areas of the event and a mere fraction of all that was there to see.
Amelia Island Concourse 2013 - a set on Flickr
Pat, Thanks for posting your pic's. I took a few also but yours are far better. I have no eye for such things. Great stuff.
I thought some of you might like to read what a young enthusiast sent me regarding his day. This lad is from the island of St. Maarten I believe and his father has brought him to the event the past two years. His love for all things cars much be witnessed to be believed. I hardly recognize him this year as he's grown so much since last year. He's about 14-15 years old. Here's what he told me about his Sunday. His name is Emrys.
After you left I talked to Jim G and Nick, the owner of the unrestored MkII and the 330LMB of last year. They went to lunch and asked me to watch their cars for them! Bestowed with the authority over the safety of millions of dollars, I felt like an FBI dude and proudly guarded the cars for an hour. Jim and Nick eventually came back and Jim announced that he had won something. He invited me to go with him to collect the award in the 'passenger seat' of his GT40 for taking care of his car!!!!!!
He said he would be called up anytime now so I stuck around. After another 2+ hours, Concours people still maintained we would go up in a few minutes... Jim G was finally called and we got into the car. My feet almost touched the pedals! It was surprisingly quiet inside and he let me take a video of the ride. Jim won Car That Matters Most Historically. He drifted out of the podium, shocking some people which was amusing! When we parked, he was so happy with his prize and I was happy with the ride. That was an incredible experience. We talked about his P4/5 and he told me he's working with Maserati to make a Daytona 24 racer. If it goes through, he will race it in 2014. My dad is really enthusiastic and wants to go there next year. Jim said he'd even put me to work in the pits!!!
Me thinks JIM G. has made a long time friend. Great story.
I thought some of you might like to read what a young enthusiast sent me regarding his day. This lad is from the island of St. Maarten I believe and his father has brought him to the event the past two years. His love for all things cars much be witnessed to be believed. I hardly recognize him this year as he's grown so much since last year. He's about 14-15 years old. Here's what he told me about his Sunday. His name is Emrys.
After you left I talked to Jim G and Nick, the owner of the unrestored MkII and the 330LMB of last year. They went to lunch and asked me to watch their cars for them! Bestowed with the authority over the safety of millions of dollars, I felt like an FBI dude and proudly guarded the cars for an hour. Jim and Nick eventually came back and Jim announced that he had won something. He invited me to go with him to collect the award in the 'passenger seat' of his GT40 for taking care of his car!!!!!!
He said he would be called up anytime now so I stuck around. After another 2+ hours, Concours people still maintained we would go up in a few minutes... Jim G was finally called and we got into the car. My feet almost touched the pedals! It was surprisingly quiet inside and he let me take a video of the ride. Jim won Car That Matters Most Historically. He drifted out of the podium, shocking some people which was amusing! When we parked, he was so happy with his prize and I was happy with the ride. That was an incredible experience. We talked about his P4/5 and he told me he's working with Maserati to make a Daytona 24 racer. If it goes through, he will race it in 2014. My dad is really enthusiastic and wants to go there next year. Jim said he'd even put me to work in the pits!!!
Me thinks JIM G. has made a long time friend. Great story.
That's P/1051, owned by Chris MacAllister, one of the nicest and most down-to-earth people I've ever met. It began life as a road car, and when he bought it, he converted it to full Gulf specification. Here's the video you're referring to, which is absolutely famous in GT40 circles. It's at a hillclimb in France, many years ago.
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iN-J4Jydnkc]Gt40 losses control - YouTube[/ame]
Who was that sharp dressed man with the gold tie next to the markIII:happy:
WHAT A GREAT TIME! Guys nice to see everyone.
My frame rail for the AROUND THE WORLD GT , has been signed in one day, by the following.
DAN GURNEY
LEE HOLMAN
BRIAN REDMAN
BOB BONDURANT
BOBBY RAHAL
SAM POSEY
JOHN HORSMAN
All in one day and had great conversations with all.
I was blessed to have Sir Sterling Moss at my dinner table and Dario Franchitti to the right at the next table.
Great time!
GTJOEY1314
Somehow I managed to miss all of you guys. Of course, I was rather pre-occupied with the scenery. Wow. What an amazing experience. To see these famous machines in the "flesh", to listen to the panel sharing stories and opinions and jokes, to talk to the owners/caretakers and to be surrounded by warmth and sun. I don't think it gets much better.
Mark
Mark
Attachments
Jim Rosenthal
Supporter
I see 1075 won Best in Show for competition cars or something like that.... nice to see the old warrior get its due. I think the last time it was shown was at PB in 2003 and another car won BIS...
