Lime Rock Park is located in Connecticut, USA approximately two and a half hours Northwest of New York. It can also be found close to the heart of many a racer. The track was built in 1956-57 over farmlands owned by local farmer Frank Vaill. It began life a few years prior as a rough dusty track used by Frank’s son, Jim, and his friends on the odd Sunday. In 1954 representatives of the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) visited the so called ‘track’ and the idea was seeded to actually build a proper venue. In early Summer of 1955 Jim got hold of an aerial photo of the property and outlined the track that was all but dictated by the terrain.

Wasting no time, once finished in ’57, the track attracted driving school attendees and race events with thousands of spectators littering the sides and even some famous faces of the day like Walter Cronkite. In 1959 the track hosted a historic race called the International Formula Libre where entrants raced what they brought for money. All cars were eligible to enter and, amongst others, the field was made up of a Cooper Monaco, Jags, Porches, Aston Martins, Ferrari, and even a Maserati that competed in Formula 1 races. Mixing it with the professional and amateur drivers was successful female racer, Denise McCluggage.

In 1975 John ‘Skip’ Barber, a former Formula 1 driver, started his own driving school. The Skip Barber Racing School is the largest of its kind today and can be found at 30 race tracks across USA and Canada. Through his success he purchased, along with other investors, Lime Rock Park in 1984 and later became the sole owner of the track.

Major track improvements were carried out in 2008 at which time Skip Barber announced the creation of The Club at Lime Rock Park. It’s more along the lines of a golf club or an exclusive country club rather than your normal car club. It offers members-only benefits, one of which is an equity position. How much to own a piece of your own prestigious race circuit you ask? For starters the initiation will run you in the order of US$110,000 with a monthly fee of US$550. I would join this club but my private jet only fits one of my race cars so it’s not worth all the effort… if you know what I mean. I will consider the associate membership package though as it only costs US$27,500 with US$275 monthly fees. For a track that’s open 6 to 7 months of the year I think that’s more than fair.

Barber’s latest cash cow has the local track day community in a tizzy. Track rental fees at Lime Rock are almost double that of neighboring tracks in the Northeast and on many occasions the clubs renting the track must alternate sessions with ‘The Club’. This sometimes sees a single car on track all by itself while the club waits their turn to put 40 cars on track. The rental fees are getting so extravagant that last season they were cited as a major concern and in a post-race drivers meeting club racers were asked if they wanted to go back to LRP the following season (2010). It’s a great road racing circuit but it looks like current pricing is turning away racers and possibly the majority of local clubs in the near future.

Its close proximity to New York and Boston ensured its popularity would grow over the decades. In its 50+ year history most of the American racing series, drivers of note and a host of cars have turned up to take the 7 corners in around a minute or so. It should come as no surprise that LRP holds over 200 club track days a year despite being all but closed in the Winter months. It is simply one of the most beautiful race tracks I have seen. Surrounded by lush trees and hills where the spectators picnic rather than sit in grand stands, it might not be the most technically challenging circuit but it sports an interesting incline where you see the sky and a drop in to a corner. It is far from a Leguna Seca or a Bathurst – for many racing enthusiasts though, it is the only track that eats their rubber.

One of the many that visit Lime Rock Park is Cy Peake, a self confessed car junkie. You know there is truth behind this statement because he bought an aftermarket car parts store, Speed Shack, to fund his racing habits. Having participated in track days for 5 years he graduated to Spec Miata (Mazda MX-5 series) where he just completed his first season and placed very well in his regional standings. He was also en route to becoming an instructor but in his words, “racing bit me and I gave up on that idea”. It seems nothing can stand in the way of Cy’s racing, not even wrecking his car as we’ll find out in a moment.

His story is best told in his words so rather than reading my second hand version I thought it best to let him loose and this is what he had to say.

I’m 34 years old and I am a car junkie. My parents were into ocean racing sailboats when they grew up and as adults, so I didn’t get any exposure to auto racing from them. If I was on the water, I preferred the boat to be gas powered and used to mess around in dinghies in harbors if I was able to.

My first real summer job is what got me into cars. It was a small detailing business in Northwest Connecticut, where I grew up. I think I worked there for 5 Summers and over Christmas break a few times. The owner was great and let me pick up and deliver lots of high end cars for our customers. There was a race shop down the road that we did lots of work for so I got to drive various race prepped Porches in a highly illegal manner on public roads. This was my first contact with race cars. I remember watching every NASCAR race I could find on TV when I was a kid and still try to catch as many different forms of racing as I can; NASCAR, Grand Am, ALMS, BTCC, DTM, Off Road. Oddly the only form of racing that holds zero interest for me is Formula 1 (gasp!), as Bernie’s roving circus doesn’t really do it for me.

I’ve been driving since I got my license at the age of 16. I owned several MKII VWs (GTIs + Jettas) through high school and then stepped up to the utility and durability of an SUV for my college years. After graduation I bought an Audi A4 Turbo Quattro which gave me my first taste of a race track at Watkins Glen International. I was hooked. The next car was a 1991 Mitsubishi Galant VR4 which I modified for several years to fill the double role of daily driver and track car. I ran it at HPDE and time trial events with the Audi Club of North America, BMWCCA, Trackmasters, SCDA, and COMSCC for 3+ years before deciding to go door to door racing in Spec Miata. It was too much work prepping a street car for track events and there was always the possibility of wrecking my daily driver at the track. It was time to look for a dedicated track car.

I asked around and found that the Miata was a hoot to drive on a race track and was a very popular platform in the US from an amateur racing standpoint. I found a local shop two years ago that specialised in Spec Miatas and had them install a cage for me in a pristine 99 NB. I did the majority of the track prep work on it in my garage at home. I proceeded to run that car at HPDEs for a year while learning to drive a RWD momentum car at speed. I found that the GVR4 had taught me many bad habits that had to be unlearned. At 300HP+ and AWD the GVR4 could almost always get out of a sticky situation by flooring the throttle pedal. Not so with a low powered RWD roadster. The Miata needs to be finessed around the track, using the throttle to steer it and using the brakes as little as possible. They’re relatively forgiving cars but are tough to get 110% out of at the limit.

After a season of track days towing a 12 foot tyre trailer full of tools and tyres behind the Miata while wearing ear plugs and sitting on a pillow, I decided it was time to buy a truck/trailer and go door to door racing. I haven’t looked back since. I did pretty well in last season’s regional racing in the SCCA Spec Miata class. I gained some new friends, learned a whole lot about car control and race craft, tested the limits of my current abilities and also what it feels like to crash. Oh, and I learned that it costs a lot to race competitively no matter what level it is.

I wrecked my car this season during a rainy qualification session one Saturday. The car snapped around so fast that I didn’t have time to correct or even know what happened. Suddenly I was going backwards across the track up towards the wall. It took what seemed like 2 minutes to cross the 5 lanes going backwards into the NASCAR wall almost square. I was watching it get closer and closer in the mirror thinking “why the hell haven’t I hit yet?” Lots of things go through the mind in these situations. But in the end it’s just a BAM!

I saw stars for a few seconds and the gauges all popped out of the dash. Damage assessments later revealed; broke an ear off the rear diff housing, popped an axle out of the diff, killed the bumper cover, rear tails, crinkled the quarters/trunk lid and shortened the car by about 12″. I took a lap or two to gather my thoughts, put the gauges back in the dash and feel out the car. 20/20 dictates that I should have come into the pits because the car was seriously bent but I didn’t get black flagged and the car drove pretty good so I kept going with qualifying and ended up turning the 2nd best time of the session on lap 12. Go figure.

I later heard that the Chief of Tech was screaming at Race Control to bring me in but they said the times were good and the car looked alright. After just having the cage removed this week it appears that the damage was total. The rear cradle was bent, the trans tunnel was visibly buckled under my elbow and up under the dash as well. Poor car. We found a new rear housing and got it all back together that night with lots of gorilla tape and zip ties. Six of us worked on it for 6-7 hours and drank a few cases of beer in the process. Special thanks to LTD Racing! I somehow pulled one out of my ass for the race on Sunday starting DFL and somehow finishing 2nd.

The car made it through the remainder of the season with 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th place finishes. Then I retired it and have been building another 99 for the last 3 months while freezing out in my un-insulated garage. The old car lives on in the new one as I swapped all the good parts over; engine, trans, suspension, cage, hood/fenders/doors, etc. I’m looking forward to my sophmore season to begin as soon as the snow melts and the mercury starts to rise.

One of the more exciting tracks that I race on is Lime Rock Park. This track has a ton of history and is still one of the premier tracks in the USA after 50+ years. Lime Rock’s 1.5 miles is comprised of 7 corners, all right handers and one left. There are not many straights for the high horsepower cars to lay down the power so it’s well suited to low horsepower momentum cars like the Miata.

Lime Rock still draws spectators and racers alike to experience club racing, pro racing, vintage racing and the chance to meet some classic names from the history books. I had my picture taken with the great John Fitch last June.

A lap around LRP in my SM: The start/finish line is on the longest straight portion of the track adjacent to pit road and the control tower. Heavy braking and a downshift through two gears entering turns one and two, affectionately known as ‘Big Bend’, leads into a maintenance throttle 180* corner with a slight decreasing radius in the latter half. Big Bend can be driven using several different entry lines, utlizing a single or double apex strategy. Turn three, the ‘Left Hander’, is the only left at the track and requires a short and heavy stab of the brakes just prior to entry. The Left Hander is a throw away compromise corner so as to have an ideal entry into the Right Hander and resulting in maximum speed carried onto ‘No Name Straight’. No Name has a slight kink and leads into ‘The Uphill’ corner. In a Spec Miata, a light brush of the brake pedal is used to set the front tyres at turn-in for The Uphill. If the car starts to slide in the first half of the corner, the quick elevation change usually catches the car when the suspension is compressed by the hill. The Uphill ends with a crest, usually requiring a quick steering correction to account for minor oversteer at the peak of the crest. Another short straight leads into ‘West Bend’, a 90* right that requires a short stab of the brakes to set the front of the car. The final corner begins beneath the auto bridge and is taken almost flat out in a Spec Miata. ‘The Downhill’ is the fastest, scariest corner of the track and has claimed many a racecar over the years. I lift slightly at the base of the hill, just before the turn-in point. Prior to the re-pave last year, this corner had some nasty bumps at the apex that would really upset the car. While the apex is much smoother now, quick corrections for oversteer should be expected from the apex to track out. I shift to 5th gear around the entry point to the pits and then cross the start/finish line with a fast lap time somewhere in the 1:01 – 1:02 minute range.

Before we go to the Q&A let’s take a look at a video where Cy spins out early on and makes up for it with some solid driving.

Q&A With Cy Peake

What is your choice of fuel?

On my tight budget, whatever 93 octane is available near the track.

What is your choice of tyre?

The SCCA requires Spec Miatas to run the Toyo RA1.

What is your choice of brake pads?

I like Hawk Blues. They’re all I’ve used on my SM and I don’t see the need to try anything else. Some guys like a mixed compound setup with Carbotechs but the Hawks work for me.

What mods are next for your car?

Get it on the track after building from the tub up this winter and begin the sorting process.

Which track from around the world do you most want to race on?

Some of the tracks over in Europe look really fun.

Have you tracked without underpants to save weight?

Not yet. I have over 100# of ballast to make minimum weight so I need all the extra sets of underpants I can find.

What are your thoughts on the driver training kids are receiving in the US?

It’s a joke here in the States. Rules of the road are covered in ‘Driver’s Ed’ but there is no car control training whatsoever. Many of the marque-specific car clubs offer teen driver clinics that use wet skid pads, cone slaloms and threshold braking exercises to show students how a vehicle will react in certain situations. Put a new 17 year old driver into his mothers huge SUV, add a low traction situation and all bets are off as to the outcome.

As far as race training goes, I think starting at a young age (4-6 years old) in karts is the way to go. I wish my parents got me into this at that age rather than my intro to racing last year at the age of 34. All the big names in various professional racing series started in karts in the USA. Here in the New England region our racing season is April to October so it’s tough to get year-round practice.

What is your favourite car related movie?

Cannonball Run

What is your favourite driving song?

Something with a good beat…wait, we’re talking public roadways here right? All I want to listen to while I’m on track is the car.

What is your favourite piece of cutlery?

Tin snips

If a priest screaming Bingo as he’s running away from midgets gave you $163,260 which track car would you buy?

Same one I’ve got right now.

Is your fuel tank half full or half empty?

Half empty. I’m a pessimist at heart but I’m working on that.

There we have it. A gorgeous circuit and a dedicated racer telling it like it is. I’d like to thank Cy for his time and I’m sure I echo all of you when I wish him the best with the new car and the coming season.

Browse Timeline

• « Zip Ties #1
• » The Rain is Wet

Comments ( 2 )

Add a Comment