| Spring is here, and that can only mean one thing to us LIME Club members. Time for the Annual Spring Fling event. This years event had us returning to the roots of our very first Spring Fling event and caravaning out to the East end of Long Island for a day of fun and of course sightseeing. We began the day gathering at a rest stop and as time came to leave we already had a good turnout of Mini’s. First stop was an hour away at club member Bob and Barbara Rath’s house. We settle into the group behind Club President Allan Diamanti. His Tahiti Blue Mini is very well setup and sharp looking. With him at the wheel it took the FTD at last years East Coast Mini meet. Al has been tweaking it a lot lately, and I can tell it is running a tad rich as my eyes begin to tear while following him. That’s ok though, a Mini has a soul, and one of the components of that in addition to the wonderful sounds they make is the smell of Oil, Gas, and sometimes exhaust. Things were going great and we had almost arrived when one of the lead cars had a flat. | |
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| In record time it was changed, and we were once again on our way. Upon arriving at Bob’s house we were pleasantly surprised to see 7 more Mini’s had already arrived. In we all went, and breakfast was served. They don’t call New York the home of the Bagel for nothing and all of us ate well. | |||
Before long we needed to get going to our next destination the Parker Wickham Museum. Parker Wickham is a unique collector who favors obscure automobiles and his collection shows it. He has Dozens of very unique and low production automobiles from turn of the 1900’s to the 50’s This private collection that Parker opens up to the public shows the evolution and ingenuity of some really ingenious designs. Many of these were way before their time. I never realized they had electric cars at the turn of last century. Parker took us around his facility and we all got a good look at the eye candy. If only I had a two car garage, maybe he would let me take that lonely 1920’s Austin Seven home. Well maybe next time.
Leaving the Wickham museum saw us headed off to one of the numerous lighthouses that grace the 100 miles of the North shore of Long Island. Once again we snaked our way through the winding roads and began to pass some of the Winery’s located on the North Fork of Long Island. I think next time we change the itinerary and do some wine tasting. No time today though so we keep driving and ended up at Horton Point. Although not a necessity for Maritime navigation these days, lighthouses are great reminder of simpler times, and I can think of no greater compliment than a lot overflowing with Classic Mini’s at it’s base.
So what do you do when you have 24 Classic Mini’s tooling around an island? Why you put them on a Ferry and take them to an even smaller island. We rolled into the picturesque village of Greenport which is the last town on the North fork on Long Island. From here we had special arrangements with the Ferry manager and Fellow Mini Enthusiast Don Young arranged to get all the Mini’s on the same boat for a great photo op. We landed on Shelter Island which is nestled between the North and South forks of Long Island. As the Ferry pulls into port I see a man three stories up on a cherry picker taking pictures. Boy they weren’t joking about getting pictures. We roll off the Ferry and about 15 minutes later we have crossed the island and grab another Ferry off the other side back to Long Island. I had read that Eddy Merckx used to train by riding across Belgium in one day. Well if Eddy lived on Shelter Island, He would probably have had to cross it a dozen times to ride the same distance.
We are now driving along through the woods when the leader of the pack hangs a quick left. Up ahead through the trees I see a really great looking windy section of road. It looks too good, almost like a race track. Then I realize where we turned. We drove onto what is left of the Bridgehampton Racetrack. The Track opened in 1957 in response to laws being passed making racing on public roads illegal. It is recognized as one of the most challenging road courses ever designed as it melded elevation changes and course design together in ways you never see done today ( both Sterling Moss & Jack Brabham raced Can Am cars here in ~ 1967). The Bridge is mostly gone now with only a mile or so remaining of the once 2.7 Mile course still intact. There was a time when Mini’s ran rampant on this course in SCCA racing. Some of our own club members raced here, and as I spoke to them I could see they had a sad look in their eyes staring out upon what was left of the course. Once again like the Lighthouse I thought it fitting having these classics parked out upon another classic.
We bid farewell to the Bridge and head out to our next stop, a quick visit to one of the many Bed and Breakfast’s that cover the end of the Island. This one owned by club member(s) Chris & Kim Butler. . The visit is brief though as we are all very hungry at this point and looking to get to our final destination of the SouthHampton Publick house for food and just as important some Unique Microbrewed beers. Everyone arrived Safely at the final destination and all the Mini’s ran great. We had some wonderful weather, and some wonderful cars to make it all possible.
| Spring Fling 2007 : 1-9 | 10-18 | 19-27 | 28-34 | ||||||||||||||||||
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