Photo Essay: 2016 SVRA Vintage Nationals

The SVRA U.S. Vintage National Championship brought beautiful cars and entertaining racing to Austin last weekend.

byRip Shaub| UPDATED Apr 6, 2017 10:38 AM EDT

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The SVRA's U.S. Vintage National Championship covered 4 days in Austin, November 3-6, 2016. Thursday and Friday were practice sessions and qualifying for the 14 different classes. Saturday brought the feature races for the Texas stop of the series' season. Sunday featured the Gold Helmet races to determine the National Champions for 2016. The Drive was there to capture the beautiful cars and spirited racing for the entire weekend.

Joseph Colasacco had one of the weekend's more striking head turners with his yellow 1963 Alfa Romeo GTZ. He went on to win the Helmet Race for Group 3 on Sunday., Rip Shaub

The mostly grey weekend brought fog and rain to the track over the first two days. Bob Borden's 1971 Porsche 911 cuts through the gloom with a 1970 Porsche 914 on his tail., Rip Shaub

John Ridings qualifies on Thursday in his 1968 Zink C4., Rip Shaub

One of the weekend's broad-shouldered Ford GT40 entries exits turn 20 and COTA and heads down the main straight., Rip Shaub

SVRA ran the event in conjunction with the Trans Am road racing series' season finale. Simon Gregg's Chevrolet Corvette spews fire as it navigates Turn 1 in Saturday's Feature Race., Rip Shaub

Group 2 consists of pre-1973 formula cars. This is Scott Robinson in his 1969 Palliser-Winkelmann Formula Ford., Rip Shaub

Turn 12 at COTA is always an adventure, and Saturday's Feature Races were no exception. Maor Primo in the grey 1967 Alfa Romeo GT Jr. and Sharon Adelman in the blue 1965 Ginetta G4R make contact as they turn in. Tom Benjamin, in the 1969 Alfa Romeo GTV take a risky and unconventional line into the turn. Moments later, Primo would be sandwiched between the two at the turn's apex, mangling the '69 GTV's front right fender., Rip Shaub

Formula Jr. and Formula Vee cars comprise Class 1b. Here John Breidenbach takes a practice session with the group on Thursday, in his 1960 Lotus 18 FJ., Rip Shaub

Ken Sutherland qualifies Friday in his 1968 Ford Mustang. Unfortunately his weekend would end early, only completing one lap of Saturday's feature race., Rip Shaub

Robert Hoemke waits patiently for the recovery crew in a run-off area after mechanical issues in his 1962 Cooper T59 Formula Jr. car., Rip Shaub

Piers Gormley lifts a tire in turn 15 in his 1971 Ford Escort Mk1., Rip Shaub

More of the dangers of Turn 12. Linwood Staub gets both of his front wheels off the track as he hits the bump in the apex with his 1972 Datsun 240z. The resulting spin in Lap 1 cost him 30 seconds. He would go on to finish just 4 seconds behind the eventual winner., Rip Shaub

One of the oldest cars of the weekend, James Yule's 1959 Elva 100 Formula Jr., made for a striking contrast with COTA's colorful track., Rip Shaub

Sutherland's Mustang squeezes every possible inch out of Turn 19 in Friday's qualifying., Rip Shaub

Johnnie Crean's 1960 Eagle Mk5 Formula car came dressed in COTA camouflage., Rip Shaub

Robert Rogers flames out of qualifying on Friday in his 1979 Fiat Abarth 033, as Texas looks on in the background., Rip Shaub

The body roll from vintage suspension designs makes for big excitement on contemporary high-speed tracks. Robert Mocas demonstrates how to make a tripod in his 1969 Alfa Romeo Spyder., Rip Shaub

With a design straight out of the margins of your 5th grade math notebook, Tom Simpson's 1972 McKee Mk18 cuts a striking profile., Rip Shaub

Reminding us that there was a time before downforce mattered is Alan Schutts' 1963 Formcar Mark 1 Formula Vee racer., Rip Shaub

Russ Rosenberg charges toward Turn 13 in his 1966 Chevy Corvair., Rip Shaub

Cal Meeker prepares for a test session in his 1973 Lola T292. He would win the qualifying session, but failed to complete the Feature Race., Rip Shaub

There were some pockets of sun over the weekend and Phil Mulacek soaks them in in his 1966 AC Cobra., Rip Shaub

Another Formula Ford, this time Tom Linton in the 1969 Winkelman's WD F1, heads down the short straight approaching the S-turns at COTA., Rip Shaub

Some prep for Robert Davis' 1990 Mazda 787. He had stiff competition from the rest of the Group 11 IMSA GTP cars., Rip Shaub

The beetle-like Lola T90 carries Henry Payne IV through Turn 17, as seen from COTA's tower., Rip Shaub

Another Cobra, this time a 1964 Shelby 289, leans hard into a turn during Friday's Group 6 Feature Race, Rip Shaub

There are plenty of "What IS that?" moments at the SVRA races. This one is a 1958 Lister Knobbly driven by Adam Lindemann., Rip Shaub

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