Watkins Glen

During the first weekend of September, my father-in-law and I went down to Watkins Glen International in Upstate New York. Years ago he used to do a bit of racing and to say it stayed in his blood is an understatement. Now he writes occasionally for car magazines, usually interviewing both former and current racers. We both had media passes so we more or less had free reign on where we could go for the weekend, including right up to the track. It was Vintage Weekend while we were there so most of the cars we saw were older, but maintained to racing condition. Long story short: they can still move.

Friday had a bit of a parade of a lot of the race cars down the main street in Watkins Glen. When this was over they parked them on the street and there was a car show, where I saw one of the most beautiful Ferraris I’ve ever seen: a black 1967 275 GTB4. The interior can be seen in the third photo of this gallery. I didn’t get a great overall shot of it because it was just in a parking lot with crowds of people around in okay light and I didn’t think a photo would do it much justice. Along side this was a Mercedes Benz 300SL Gullwing (picture 4 is the interior). Both were in mint condition and I think owned by the same person (who had even more on display there as well).

John (my father-in-law) can basically strike up a conversation with just about anyone, so he spent a lot of time talking and I spent a lot of time taking pictures. I spent a bit of time trying some panning which yielded, in my estimation, some pretty good results. I rented a tele extender for my telephoto lens so I could get even closer, and because I had a media pass I was able to rent an apron that gave me special privileges to walk right up to the track during the races. Seriously, an apron.

The rest of the weekend was spent wandering the paddock area, watching the mechanics fix up their cars, and, of course, actually seeing some races. The weather cooperated for the most part although the Friday that we got there was blistering hot (denim was a bad choice). Saturday was cold and bit rainy (I came prepared with rain gear), and Sunday was just right.