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Lime Rock Park is a 1.53 mile road course located in Lime Rock, Connecticut, in the extreme Northwestern corner of the state. There is a Kart Track at the top of the hill which is often used for Kart racing events in conjunction with SCCA Club Racing events. The track is located on CT Route 112, just east of Millerton, New York and south of Lakeville, CT.
Last Updated: 2019-11-09
Lime Rock Park was built in the mid to late 1950s by Jim Vaill, on the site of a cornfield/gravel pit on land owned by his father. Vaill's friend Jack Fisher owned an MG-TC, and they often drove it rapidly in circles in the cornfield at the top of the hill; in real life Vaill operated the gravel pit that was on the site, in the north face of the hill (the gravel pit was located roughly where the A Paddock restrooms and the concession stand are now located.)
A rumor developed that a race track was being built on the site, and a number of SCCA members showed up to investigate one day in 1955. Upon reflection, Vaill decided that a race track sounded like a good idea to him, so he laid out a course on an aerial photograph, selected one of his bulldozers, and went to work. He relocated Salmon Creek to the north side of the main straightaway; to this day, heavy rain storms give the impression that Salmon Creek is trying reestablish itself in A Paddock.
Vaill's original plans were for both the short circuit that we know today, and an extended 3 mile long "Mountain Circuit", which would have used the hill east of the track. The trees were bulldozed for the mountain circuit, but it was never built. The path of the "Mountain Circuit" may be traced today on foot by the intrepid.
Lime Rock Park opened in 1957, and has hosted a remarkable variety of races over the years, including most of the various IMSA series, American LeMans Series, most of the various SCCA series, and the NASCAR Busch North Series. The facility is too small to support Indycar, Formula One, or NASCAR Nextel Cup. In recent years Lime Rock has repaved the entire track, widened the pit lane, significantly improved the restrooms, and paved the roadways through the paddock.
Lime Rock is not beloved by all the residents of the area. Since 1963, Lime Rock has operated under the terms of a consent decree that limits the noise levels and operating hours of the track. As a result, there is never any Sunday racing at the track; unmuffled dates are restricted to a specific number of Fridays, Saturdays, and Holidays; and operation of race engines is limited to a specific range of hours of the day (which varies according to the rather complex terms of the consent decree.)
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The map link leads to the infield entrance on White Hollow Road. The outfield entrance on Lime Rock Road (roughly opposite Dugway Road) is primarily for spectators, and is usually not even open for SCCA events. If you want to get to the outfield entrance, you may wish to enter the official street address of "497 Lime Rock Road" into the search box.
Registration is located at the infield entrance. When entering the grounds for a Club race, turn right and pull forward to the spot where a veritable multitude of tow vehicles, trailers, and race cars are parked. The registration shed is the small grey building to the north of this parking area. For normal SCCA club race dates, driver & crew registration is on the south side of the shack, and race official registration is on the north side of the shack. As always, have your SCCA membership card and photo id ready.
After registration, put your paddock sticker in the windshied of your tow vehicle (left side) and head north through the fence towards the gate. The guards at the main gate will expect to see your wristband. Follow the paved road to the junction where the paddock road leads down the hill; the guard here will expect to see a parking sticker for A Paddock or B Paddock before letting you down the hill. Follow the road down; B Paddock will be visible on your left, and A paddock is around to your right. Concession stands and restrooms are located in A Paddock. Showers are available at the A Paddock men's room, near the Driving Impressions Store.
In 2010, Tech moved to the center of A Paddock, directly opposite Emergency Services next to Pit out.
In accessing tech, please honor the one way direction for the paddock road. This includes leaving the pits for the impound area; go straight to the back of the paddock, then turn left and left again into the impound lot.
At most Lime Rock events, scales will not be available during qualifying impounds, or after the green flag drops on the first race. Northern New Jersey Region has slightly different rules on scale availability, please check the supps for their races for details.
The asphalt pad is pretty far off of level, and corner weights won't bear much relationship to reality. Don't even bother to ask for them.
The False Grid is at the west end of Pit Lane; entry is from B Paddock. Normal grid practice is for groups of cars at the start of a race or session to enter the track by turning left out of the false grid, directly onto the track from Pit In (rather than passing down pit lane.) Once the track is hot, however, individual cars must pass down pit lane and enter the track conventionally via Pit Out.
Leaving the track, a Scrutineer may be stationed at pit out with an Impound sign specifying which cars are to be impounded. Do not expect him or her to know which cars are in the to finishing positions in a class; sometimes they do know, but often (particularly for small bore Production/GT and for complex combinations of SS & IT) they have no idea who won in the slower classes in a race group.
If you are to report to impound, go straight exiting the pits, turn left at the end of the short road, and left again into the impound lot.
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