Formula 1 and Indy Cars at the Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum

This is the Ferrari that John Surtees drove to win the F1 championship in 1964! He finished 1 point ahead of Graham Hill (two time F1 champ,) and Jim Clark (two time F1 champ) was third. Surtees had some DNFs, but in every other race that year he won 2 and was on the podium for the others. This car had direct injection, 248hp, and weighed 984 pounds. 

The Barber Museum features hundreds of motorcycles, and it also has some cars. One area had a huge collection of Lotus road cars and Formula 1 cars, dating back to the early 1950s. Another special exhibit featured John Surtees, who is still the only racer to have won world championships on both motorcycles and in Formula 1. In this area was another cool Indy Lotus that was driven by American Dan Gurney. 

1963 Lotus Type 29/2 Indy Car bult for Dan Gurney. When Lotus came to Indy with the engines behind drivers Gurney and Jim Clark, they showed the future for all Indy Cars. Gurney didn't win at Indy, but Clark won in 1965. This car raced at Indy for 4 years. The Ford V8 engine had 400hp, and could go over 200mph. 

1978 Team Surtees TS20 F1 car chassis #3. No longer driving, John Surtees ran his own F1 team, although 1978 was their last season.  

1969 Lotus Type 63. This car had four wheel drive, but this experiment didn't work very well, as only two of them were produced. 

1980 Lotus Type 81. Mario Andretti drove this car most of the F1 season, and finished in the points in 6th place at Watkins Glen. 

In the classic John Player Special livery, a 1984 Lotus Type 95 T. This car used a Renault V6 turbo engine, and the team drivers were Elio DeAngelis and Nigel Mansell. The car could run 1,100+hp for qualifying, but to meet the race fuel limits was detuned to "only" 750hp. After the season the drivers were allowed to buy their car, and this one retains the original F1 engine. 

1989 Lotus 101. This car was driven by former world champion Nelson Piquet, and used the new Judd V8 engine to score points but not get on any podiums. 

Judd engine with carbon fiber intakes. Unfortunately, there were NO live demonstrations of the engine firing up!

1991 Lotus Type 102B. For 91 Lotus returned to a Judd engine instead of the previous season's Lamborghini power. Early in his career, Mika Hakkinen drove this car to as high as 5th place. He later became a two time champion with McLaren.  

1992 Lotus Type 102D. This car was mostly driven by Johnny Herbert, who later was a broadcaster for Formula 1. 

Barber Motorsports Park Driving Report

NMS at Barber Motorsports Park. What a great track! Highly recommended for the facilities, elevation changes on track, and a good mix of corners. We didn't beat the IndyCar lap time of 1:06, so congrats to  Brian for taking  the NMS  honors by beating my best lap by 2 seconds with a 1:48. 

 This was my first time to drive at Barber, and also my first time to drive Brian's 350Z. Also, it was my first event since being promoted from DE2 level to the more advanced DE3. For what it's worth, my driving groups also included the highest level DE4 drivers, so let's just say that there were some quick cars out there! As I learned the track and the car, and let the faster guys go by, I had a lot of fun. With passing allowed at any point on track, even in the corners, man it was fun. Over my two days of driving sessions I dropped from a 1:59 lap Saturday morning to a 1:50 on Sunday, and enjoyed every minute! 

How was the full weekend? Strap in, let's go!  

Here's a YouTube video of Brian driving a Time Trial session:   BRIAN TIME TRIAL AT BARBER

Here's Robert in a DE3 session, (the first two laps are warming up):   ROBERT AT BARBER

First, we had to drive to Alabama, so early Friday we met with Adam in SC and filled up with gas. Brian's truck and trailer on the left, Adam's truck and trailer on the right. Kyle  met us in Alabama with his 350Z.

We went on I-20 from South Carolina through Georgia and Atlanta, into Alabama, past Talladega, and on to Barber Motorsports Park just east of Birmingham.

Brian, Kyle, and Adam check in at Barber for the weekend. 

Friday afternoon after check in, we walked over to the largest motorcycle museum and collection in the world. Well worth the visit! The track is just on the other side of the museum, and you can walk out over part of the track from here too!

After visiting the Barber Museum (see previous blog post,) we drove to the track to set up. Along the way we saw this sculpture Spider/Spyder with a Porsche. Oh, and under that roof is a large number of Porsche 911 cars that are used for driving on track as part of the Porsche Experience. Check it out on line, give them some money, and YOU can drive a 911 on track too!

Once we got the cars off the trailers and set up, we went into town for some necessities. Mainly, dinner at Rusty's BBQ. Did they have a cartoon pig (always a sign of good BBQ 99% of the time) on the building? YES! Did they have multiple types of sauce? YES! Did they have pork, chicken, brisket, and sausage? ALSO YES!

One GREAT thing about the Barber location is that it's right next to a Buc-ee's on I-20. They had the best price on diesel that we saw, and only $2 for large bags of ice.  

How much gas and ice do you need for 4 drivers with 3 cars? Here's a good start! Most of the ice was used in our Cool Shirt systems to keep us cool on track. Didja know that it gets HOT AND HUMID IN ALABAMA?

Oh they also had gas at the track. $3.99 for 93 octane premium was less than I expected, and I'm really glad I do not need $14/gallon race gas. 

Saturday morning with the Nissan 350Z THREE AMIGOS from South Carolina!
In my first session I hit a 1:59 and got used to the track and my run group of fast cars passing on straights and in the corners. For the third session, I gained more speed, and had less traffic to deal with, and felt comfortable hitting some 1:55 laps. Sunday morning I was down to a 1:50 lap, and felt like I knew what I was doing!

Adam, Brian, and Kyle were also working as instructors on track, so here's Brian heading out in his student's Miata. With plenty of Miata track experience, Brian says his student made a lot of progress. During one of my sessions, Brian had some down time and jumped in to coach me a bit too. Thanks!

Start/Finish line. Hey, Bison sculptures in the background! Just part of the fun at Barber. 
When I wasn't driving, it was a treat to watch the track from this air conditioned room on the home straight. On Saturday night there was a FREE DINNER and awards handed out in this AC room, so that was great, and a nice place to cool down and watch more rain pass by. 

I Walked around part of the paddock and spotted two MORE 350Z cars (blue on the left, silver on the right.)

Brian heads for the track for another session. The NMS #86 ran smooth all weekend, and of course we kept an eye on the fluids, pressures, temperature, ice in the cool shirt cooler, etc. 

I was very thankful for the Cool Shirt, with icy cold water being pumped around me in these black tubes. You just put the cooler in the back of the car, fill it with ice and water, plug the hoses into your shirt, and turn on the pump in the cooler with the switch Brian installed in the dash. This was our first run with this system in the car, so Brian did a great job with the install and electrical wiring. OK, I'll admit that for a Saturday afternoon session I didn't put this shirt on, and when I came in 20 minutes later I was COOKED! You can bet I had it on for the rest of the weekend!

We checked the weather, and saw rain and lightning coming our way Sunday afternoon. After one of my sessions we packed up and managed to hit the road just as the rain hit. 

The lightning delayed action on track anyway, because the workers can't be out there with visible lightning. 

SPOILER ALERT!!!!!
Heading home we needed gas, and there were several other race cars getting gas (the big wing/spoiler on the right) at Buc-ee's too! Other than a construction zone slow down and detour off of I-20 in Georgia, the rest of the trip home went smoothly. Maybe we'll return to Barber when it's not so hot and humid next time!

NMS Visits The Largest Motorcycle Collection IN THE WORLD!

NMS driver Brian Nixon with a 2002 Ghezzi and Brian Super Twin 1100!
Ghezzi and Brian are two Italian motorcycle fans that build custom bikes that use Moto Guzzi engines. 

We were at Barber Motorsports Park outside of Birmingham Alabama to drive on their track for a weekend, and also had time to visit the Barber Vintage Motorsport Museum on site. A few quick facts: 

-This is the largest motorcycle collection in the WORLD. It's not "big," it's BIG!!!!!

-While it's a gigantic facility and display area, they only display about 1,000 at a time from the collection of nearly 2,000. Trust me, there's WAY more stuff on display than I can post!

-Also includes awesome cars to see! Look for Part 2 for some cool cars. 

So, Barber has motorcycles: a LOT of motorcycles. We looked at motorcycles and some cool cars for HOUR. Days later, and I am still on Motorcycle-Overload! Let's just say that it's the largest motorcycle museum in the world, and that gives you some idea of how many bikes they have. Here's just a few motorcycle highlights that caught my eye. Hey, they also offer a military discount, so thanks!

1976 BMW R 90S. No two of these were painted the same!

1982 Hesketh V 1000. Lord Hesketh was the man behind the Hesketh F1 team in the 1970s that brought future world champion James Hunt into F1 too. As a motorcycle fan, Lord Hesketh wanted to also build a great superbike. They produced 170 bikes, but they received terrible reviews and the motorcycle company folded. 

1966 BMW R60/Steib. Touring BMW bike with the Steib sidecar.

1997 Ducati Senna. This is a special version of the Ducati 916 that was sold to raise funds for the Ayrton Senna charity, started by the Formula 1 driver in Brazil. 

1924 Moto Guzzi Normale. This is the first model designed and built by Carlo Guzzi.
My math isn't the greatest, so I'm guessing that this cool looking motorcycle is over 100 years old! 

2011 EBR 1190RS. This is serial number 00001, the first sport bike from EBR, the new company from Eric Buell. The carbon fiber ducts caught my attention. Built in the USA. 

2014 Motus MSTR. Production #001, built in Birmingham.

Nice display on real dirt with real tire tracks!

More motorcycles!

1970's Chevy Drag Bike. Built for exhibition, no radiator so they just added coolant for each run. 

One cool thing about this museum, and all of the entire track, grounds, and 800+ acres is that if you look around you'll see art, sculptures, and some oddball things everywhere. Like here, up above the elevator shaft in the museum is the body of a Porsche racing car. Not visible, but on top of the elevator car is an F4 race car. 

1943 BMW R75 3x2. This BMW with Steib sidecar and machine gun is painted with the Afrika Korps palm tree logo. 16,500 of these were built. 

1912 Wall Wallcycar (Wall Cycle Car.) Oh you think the new 3 wheelers are modern and cool? Here's one is 113 years old! Also of interest, the Mr. Wall that started the company was financed by his brother-in-law, a certain Mr. Arthur Conan Doyle who wrote the Sherlock Holmes stories. 

1955 Vincent Amanda Water Scooter. Why is it in a motorcycle museum? 
Glad you asked!
The famous Vincent motorcycle folks expanded their business into lawn mower engines and other applications, so they came up with this water scooter so long ago that it's before I was born! It wasn't enough to keep the company open, and the early versions of fiber glass didn't turn out so well either, but these guys were WAY ahead of their time!