VARA BE May 1-Pics by Dennis Harrold

The Vintage Auto Racing Association (VARA) held their annual British Extravaganza race on May 1 & 2. Originally conceived for 1972 and older cars, they recently added GTU cars from the early days of IMSA and now include more recent open wheel and sports racers. The BE, as it's known, includes an all British car show and usually attracts a large field of historic racers. Star of that group was the maroon 1935 Alfa Romeo 8C-35 in the third photo, owned and driven by Peter Giddings.

The number of entries was down along with the economy, but some rare and very interesting cars showed up for the weekend. One in particular is the #3 Fiat Abarth OT-1600 replica in the 4th photo. Based on the 850 sedan of the 60's, only 5 were ever built. This example belongs to Bill Curtis and runs in F Production, and is sure to be faster once it's fully sorted. It's a handful to drive with an 80" wheelbase and 150+ HP hanging out over the rear wheels.

The VARA people are the friendliest group of racers I've run across, always willing to talk about their cars and share the history. And you never know who you'll run into, like the O'Connors from Mojave (bottom photo) who are regulars at BMWCCA events.