Lime Rock Park: A Very Special Auto 'Museum' And Vintage Car Parade

While New York City may be home to some of the world's finest museums, when it comes to celebrating the history of personal mobility, automotive enthusiasts will only need to travel 100 miles from the Big Apple to visit a unique once-per-year "museum" - Lime Rock Park's Sunday in the Park concours d'elegance. The concours, and its unusual companion event, the Gathering of the Marques, is Sunday, August 31. The historic weekend kicks off with a Vintage Racecar Parade that takes place on August 28.  More than 120 gorgeous sports cars, including un-muffled race cars, launch from Sam Posey Straight at 4:00 p.m., then do a 17-mile rally that includes driving slowly through the heart of Lakeville and Salisbury. Line the sidewalks and you’ll be just a few feet away from the coolest parade in the Litchfield Hills. The parade route winds from Lime Rock Park along Rte. 44 to downtown Lakeville and Salisbury where the street are lined with spectators.  The parade continues on through Noble Horizons and then proceeds to Falls Village where the cars line up to be admired at a festive community street fair.  This annual event is free and open to the public.  In honor of this festival, traffic in downtown Falls Village comes to a standstill for this two-hour kick off to the Labor Day weekend celebration.  A highly anticipated highlight of this event is the opportunity to win a chance to waive the green flag at a vintage race at Lime Rock as well as to see these rare historic cars up close and personal, one after another as they line the street.  When visiting the concours, participants will see a variety of cars from very old cars, some of which look virtually brand new to  race cars from more than half-a-century ago that are still raced today. The concours and marque gathering have been integral to Lime Rock Park's traditional Labor Day weekend vintage extravaganza since the 1980s. This year's Historic Festival 32 is presented by Bentley & Gathering of the Marques, with almost 1,000 tremendous cars on the track. Sir Stirling Moss is the Honored Guest. And cars from the spectacular collection of Ralph Lauren will be there and on display, Friday, August 29 through Monday, September 1.   While concours are staged throughout America, Lime Rock's is unique; no other venue in the U.S. has three days of on-track racing sandwiching a prestigious concours event - all on the same property. Historic Festival 32, the Sunday in the Park Concours & Gathering of the Marques is Friday, August 29 through Labor Day Monday, September 1. The vintage racing itself is Saturday and Monday, dawn to dusk, 300+ cars divided into 10 competitive race groups. The 2012 Honored Guest is Sir Stirling Moss, considered motorsports' greatest "all-rounder" driver in the sport. Many of the famous cars he drove to noteworthy victories at the peak of his F1 and sports car career - Vanwalls, Coopers, Jaguars, Maseratis - will be displayed, demonstrated and even raced over the weekend. ABOUT LIME ROCK PARK Lime Rock Park is one of America's most recognized road racing venues and has been continuously operated since its opening in 1957. Listed on the National Registry of Historic Places by the National Park Service, the track is 1.5 miles in length, encompassing seven corners and more than seven stories of elevation change. The track is considered one of the most beautiful - and challenging to drive - in the world, constructed in a natural valley in the Berkshire Mountains of Litchfield Hills in northwest Connecticut. Discounted advance-priced tickets can be purchased at www.limerock.comwww.limerock.com or by calling 860.435.5000 For area information www.litchfieldhills.com