Continuation cars - blessing or curse?
04/19/2011
One of the highlights of this year's Hockenheim Historic 2011was Michiel Campagne's drive in the 1963 Chevrolet Corvette Grand Sport.
Unfortunately, only five examples of the Grand Sport, which was created as a secret project under Zora Arkus-Duntov, were built and these are not only in good hands, but also exorbitantly expensive. As a result, we would hardly ever have the pleasure of seeing the car with which Roger Penske, A.J. Foyt, Jim Hall and others made racing history in historic racing in Europe.
To remedy this, Tachyon has started a "Continuation" series, the car at the Hockenheimring was chassis number 10 and already has the FIA-HTP. In this case, a Grand Sport with all the modifications was rebuilt on the basis of an original chassis.
Is this a good or a bad thing? Is it fair when really old cars with parts from the sixties have to compete against almost as good as new and completely rebuilt racing cars that adopt the construction principles of the time but are modernized in many respects? Does it make sense to pit old Lola T70s against "new" T70s? Well, from a spectator's point of view, the reappearance of racing cars that would otherwise have disappeared is definitely fun, and as long as the cars are properly declared, there's nothing wrong with that in principle. Depending on the situation, perhaps a handicap formula should be devised for really old cars. Or separate racing classes. But where exactly to draw the line? More questions than answers...
