{"id":29850,"date":"2022-10-04T12:33:23","date_gmt":"2022-10-04T16:33:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/?p=29850"},"modified":"2022-10-04T12:33:23","modified_gmt":"2022-10-04T16:33:23","slug":"payne-preview-from-the-drivers-seat-at-american-speed-festival","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/2022\/10\/payne-preview-from-the-drivers-seat-at-american-speed-festival","title":{"rendered":"Payne: Preview from the driver’s seat at American Speed Festival"},"content":{"rendered":"

Pontiac<\/em>\u00a0\u2014 Coming hard out of Champion Motor Speedway\u2019s Turn 9 in third gear, I dance my 1966 Porsche 906E around the long Turn 10 sweeper. It\u2019s test day for the Second Annual American Speed Festival at M1 Concourse, and come Saturday, hundreds of spectators will be lining the guardrails here when I will be on track again with other historic sports cars.<\/p>\n

The fall auto shows just keep coming. On the heels of the Detroit auto show, Detroit 4fest and Concours d\u2019 Elegance, the American Speed Festival comes to town Thursday through Sunday.<\/p>\n

\"Henry<\/p>\n
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What makes ASF special is not just the opportunity to see some of the most historic race cars ever made \u2014 but the opportunity to see them at speed in their natural habitat: a race track. M1 is Metro Detroit\u2019s premier enthusiast auto club with a 1.5-mile race track sharing 87 acres with private garages.<\/p>\n

My 906E has been invited to the show along with dozens of other significant racers from NASCAR, IndyCar and sportscar racing \u2014 including Carroll Shelby\u2019s legendary Cobras, which will be the featured marque this year celebrating Shelby America\u2019s 60th<\/sup>\u00a0anniversary. About two-dozen Cobras will be on display, including gems like the 1965 Cobra Daytona Coupe, 1964 Shelby Cobra 289 Hard Top Coupe, 1990 Shelby Aurora Can Am and the Cobra 289 used in the 2019 box office hit \u201cFord v Ferrari.\u201d Shelby Club Parade Laps will take place from 11:55 a.m.-12:45 p.m. Saturday.<\/p>\n

\"1964<\/p>\n
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Other notables include Al Unser Jr.\u2019s 1986 Lola T8600, his uncle Bobby Unser\u2019s 1972 Olsonite Eagle, the turbine-engine 1968 STP Lotus, Alberto Ascori\u2019s 1952 Ferrari 375, a 2004 Ferrari Enzo and a 2021 Ferrari Monza SP1. The Ferrari entries celebrate of 75 years of\u00a0the Italian brand with Ferrari Club Parade Laps from 12:25\u20131:30 p.m. Friday.<\/p>\n

There will also be a contingent of vintage go-kart racers and the V8-powered 1988 Fabcar IMSA prototype owned by David Nikolas, racer and owner of Pontiac\u2019s Nikolas Motorsport.<\/p>\n

On test day, I found myself sharing track time with the go-karts and the lightning-quick Fabcar. The latter was based on a Porsche 962 \u2014 then updated with a more modern rocker suspension and small-block Chevy V-8.<\/p>\n

When Nikolas fired up his V-8 next to my mid-engine Porsche, the earth shook \u2014 and I couldn\u2019t hear my 2.0-liter flat-6 engine even though it was directly behind my ears. A racing V-8 is a sight to see \u2014 and hear.<\/p>\n

\"From<\/p>\n
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Each year, ASF awards a Master of Motorsports and this year\u2019s headliner is legendary designer Peter Brock, who made his mark as a young Shelby America designer. A racing fanatic, Brock left General Motors in 1959 at the tender age of 21 to return to his native California. He was Shelby America\u2019s first employee, and there he would design a stable of cars including the Shelby Daytona Cobra coupes that won the world sports car championship in 1965.<\/p>\n

Brock will hold forth on his Shelby career Thursday and again Saturday at noon with driving ace David Hobbs. At noon Sunday, he\u2019ll discuss his work on the Chevy Corvette and Brock Racing Enterprises \u2014 a racing design firm he started in 1965. Hobbs will also talk to Vintage Indy\u2019s Mike Lashmett for Insiders\u2019 Garage from noon-1 p.m. Friday.<\/p>\n

Brock will receive his award at Saturday\u2019s Checkered Flag Ball presented by McLaren Oakland. The event benefits M1\u2019s philanthropic arm, the Checkered Flag Challenge, to address transportation challenges in Pontiac.<\/p>\n

ASF kicks off Thursday with\u00a0Drive & Dine, an intimate tour of Stahl\u2019s private car collection followed by a sumptuous M1 dinner.<\/p>\n

I get to take unleash my steed around M1\u2019s track in the Endurance Sports Car class beginning Friday, when seven groups will be on display: Shelby\/Cobra, Vintage Indy, Ferrari, Feature Race Cars, SuperCars, Endurance Sports Cars and Historic Go Karts. Track activities are from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Friday and 8:30-4:30 p.m. Saturday.<\/p>\n

On Friday evening, fans can hang around for the\u00a0M1 Garage Reveal and enjoy rare tours of M1\u00a0garages from 6-9:30 p.m. \u2014 complete with hors d\u2019 oeuvres.On Sunday, the track goes quiet (though guests can also take a ride in the right-hand seat of a hot car with a professional\u00a0instructor) and a juried car show, Speed & Style Expo, takes the fore. Awards will be given in each car class plus an overall Best in Show honoree. The Art Expo showcases top automotive artists, including Nico Rousselet, Dave Chappel, Charles Maher, Alex Buchan, Steve Macy, John Baker, Robert Matthews, Garen Nicoghosian and Francois Bruere.<\/p>\n

The weekend also includes\u00a0live music\u00a0by Vavoom,\u00a0pedal\/RC\/slot cars for kids, food trucks and Carroll Shelby official licensed apparel.If you go<\/strong><\/p>\n

Tickets: $75 Friday\/Saturday for 18 and older. Friday, 17 and under are free. Saturday ages 13-17 are $25 and 12 and under are free. Sunday is $50 for 18 and over and free for 17 and under. Tickets for the Drive & Dine Tour on Thursday are $200. Free parking is included with every ticket. Parking and shuttle buses are available at 2000 S. Opdyke Road.For more schedule details, go to:\u00a0www.m1concourse.com\/asf-overview<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or Twitter @HenryEPayne.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Pontiac\u00a0\u2014 Coming hard out of Champion Motor Speedway\u2019s Turn 9 in third gear, I dance my 1966 Porsche 906E around the long Turn 10 sweeper. It\u2019s test day for the Second Annual American Speed Festival at M1 Concourse, and come Saturday, hundreds of spectators will be lining the guardrails here when I will be on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29850"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29850"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29850\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29851,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29850\/revisions\/29851"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29850"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29850"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29850"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}