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Every year the Shelby American
Automobile Club holds its Annual Convention over the first weekend
in July. 2005’s edition - the 30th - took place from the 1st
to the 3rd of July, at California Speedway, located near
the town of Fontana, some 70 miles east of Los Angeles, and about 15
miles north of Riverside. Remember Riverside? It’s a name
guaranteed to evoke many wistful thoughts in the minds of GT40
enthusiasts. Sadly, Riverside Raceway is no more, and those of us
who never saw it in its heyday can only dream of those halcyon days,
when motor sport still had some of the sport left in it, and rather
less of the technology.
California Speedway is, as the name suggests, an oval, although
it also has an infield section which gives it some of the
attributes of a road course. Being a speedway, it is
rather clinical, with lots of tarmac and concrete, but little in
the way of grass or trees; finding picturesque backdrops for
photographing cars was something of a struggle. The upside
of the speedway location was good modern facilities, with
excellent garages for those who wanted them, lots of paved
parking and paddock space, splendid grandstands, and a safe and
spacious pits complex.
As usual, one hotel was
designated as the “official” venue for the event, and the
chosen one this year was the Mission Inn, at Riverside.
Whoever made this inspired choice should be congratulated
for coming up with an astonishingly good venue, at a
remarkably good concessionary price. It is difficult to
praise this hotel highly enough. It features delightful
Mexican/Spanish architecture, attentive staff, excellent
rooms, the most wonderful restaurants with superb menus, and
a host of paintings and other antiques and works of art
which would grace any gallery. Most US presidents over the
last 100 years have, at some time or another, stayed within
its walls. Richard Nixon was married there, and Ronald
Reagan had his honeymoon there. Steeped in history, the
Mission Inn is a recognised Californian historical landmark,
and its trademark mission bell symbol has even been adopted
as the badge of the city. If ever again I find myself
staying in the Riverside area it would unquestionably be my
first choice for accommodation. Absolutely superb, and
highly recommended.
SAAC-30 took place from Friday 1st
July to Sunday 3rd July. The first two days were given over to
on-track practice sessions and the Concours, with the racing being
allocated to the third and final day. As is often the case at these
events, by early Sunday afternoon many of the participants had
already left to make their way home. |
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On Friday and Saturday evenings official dinners, attended by
the boss himself, Carroll Shelby, were held at the modern
Riverside Convention Centre, a stone’s throw from the Mission
Inn. After the first dinner there were some short speeches by
some of the former Shelby team members, followed by an auction
of pieces from their memorabilia collections, including some
real gems, and with some quite surprising prices. The Saturday
dinner was followed by the customary speeches by SAAC officials
and others.
Alas, there wasn’t a lot for the GT40 aficionado. Only three
GT40s turned up, these being John Brice’s 1043 (still in the
white livery with red stripes which it has worn for several
years, but now carrying the race number 43), John Sadler’s Mark
V 1124 (red, with race number 8), and green-painted 1122
(another Mark V); the latter car was present only on Saturday,
and (to my knowledge) did not venture on track.
Lee Holman was there, but left his Mark II at home, bringing
instead a Ford Falcon. Lee’s display in the paddock included
early prototypes of his new range of GT40 models,
Chinese-manufactured 1/24th-scale Mark IIs, in Le Mans 1966
liveries; expect the production models soon.
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However, the lack of original GT40s was made up for by the presence
of several good replicas. There was a single GTD40, blue-painted, a
yellow Tornado, and a quartet of South African-built CAVs. Three of
these (red, white and blue) were lined up on the importer’s display,
with a fourth, finished in silver, nearby. CAV’s display area was
looked after by Roy Sayles, of Affordable VIP Classics. It’s a small
world - Roy is from Halifax, Yorkshire, and knows well my home city
of Leeds. This was the first time I had clapped eyes on a CAV, and
I found the stainless steel chassis panels particularly interesting.
The
GT40/Cobra race was contested by a handful of Cobras, a Daytona
coupe (whether original or copy I know not), and the GT40s of John
Sadler and John Brice. An interloper was Joe Diloreto’s ex Peter
Revson McLaren M6B Can-Am car. Being built to a different set of
rules from those applying to the GT40s and Cobras (with a larger
engine and substantially less weight) the McLaren, not surprisingly,
dominated the race, which was led off by a midnight blue Ford GT
pace car driven by Rick Titus (son of the late Jerry Titus). The
two GT40s, Mark I then Mark V, followed in the McLaren’s wake, and
took 2nd and 3rd places. John Sadler, chasing John Brice, couldn’t
help but notice that the Mark I was cornering rather flatter than
was his Mark V, and he is resolved to make some changes to springs
and dampers before the next time the Mark V comes up against the
Mark I.
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There were lots of other cars which were of only marginally less
interest than the GT40s: Cobras and Mustangs by the score, several
Daytona coupes, some at least being original, two Ford GTs, the
prototype 2007 model GT500, the unique Type 65 7-litre Super Coupe,
Panteras, and lots of other sporting Fords.
As
might be expected, the weather was well nigh perfect, with sunshine
all day and every day. As usual, organization of the whole event
was first class. There were other SAAC-organised side events which
people could attend if they chose to, and there was downtown
Riverside to explore. On 4th July, Independence Day, this
delightful town, with a centre rather reminiscent of some of
Europe’s prettiest, hosted a show of veteran Fords, and provided a
spectacular fireworks display. The Wednesday open-air craft fair
and market was well worth visiting, too. Next year’s Shelby
convention will be held at Virginia International Raceway, but SAAC
plan to return to Riverside and Fontana in three years time, for
SAAC33.
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