With Nissan/Datsun as the featured marque for the 41st HSR Classic Motorsports Mitty vintage races scheduled for April 26-29 at Road Atlanta, organizers have accepted a significant is perhaps late entry: Comedian and car collector Adam Carolla will enter his ex-Bob Sharp Racing 1973 Datsun 610.
Also added to the entry list is the Datsun 240Z that Brad Frisselle drove to the 1976 IMSA Camel GTU championship; the car is entered by new owner/driver David Martin. Frisselle drove the same car to three victories and most improved driver honors the previous season. The car was the first 240Z imported to the U.S. in 1970.
Carolla’s 610 was the back-up car to the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America member Elliott Forbes-Robinson when he drove to the 1976 SCCA B Sedan championship.
Grand Marshal for the racing weekend will be John Morton, who drove Datsuns to multiple Trans-Am and SCCA C Production championships. In 1976, Morton co-drove the Frisselle 240Z in the Road Atlanta 500.
At the Mitty, Morton will drive the No. 46 1970 BRE Datsun 240Z.
Also scheduled during the race weekend is a showing of the movie, Against All Odds, a period documentary about the Datsun effort to overcome the Alfa-Romeo domination of the Trans-Am series’ U2 category. Morton and Corolla will offer their commentary and do a question-answer session in conjunction with the showing.
Vintage motorcycles featured in Italy
The Automotoclub Storico Italiano will stage its 17th ASI Motor Show May 11-13 at the Varano de’ Melegari racing circuit in Parma, Italy. The event is open to pre-1995 motorcycles.
“Besides the parades on the track, it will be possible to meet in flesh and bones the champions of once upon a time, take part in cultural events and visit the paddock, which will become, in this special occasion, an open-air museum,” according to a news release by the Federation Internationale Vehicules Anciens, which is supporting the event.
Legends of Le Mans celebrates Ford GT40 anniversary
The 50th anniversary of the victory at Le Mans by a Ford GT40 driven by Pedro Rodriquez and Lucien Bianci will be celebrated May 17 at the annual Legeds of Le Mans dinner at the Royal Automobile Club’s Woodcote Park estate in England.
Also featured that evening will be David Piper, who drove in Steve McQueen’s Le Mans and was a long-time privateer competitor in Ferraris and Porsches, and Tony Brooks, once described by Stirling Moss as the “greatest unknown racing driver.”
The Legends gathering benefits Hope for Tomorrow, a national cancer charity that provides mobile cancer care units to provide treatment so patients don’t have to travel to hospitals.
Not sure why it wasn’t mentioned. but the "Rodriguez/Bianchi" GT40 is the same car that won the next year driven by Ickx/Oliver, making it the only known car to win at LeMans in two consecutive years.