Speed Weekend

This weekend was a celebration of speed. 

Saturday, I went to the Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix (PVGP) and today I went to Vintage Motorcycle Days at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.  The first event has a bias toward cars, so cover your eyes if you don't like to read about that sort of thing.

I've been going to the PVGP for about 15 years and it's amazing how the event has grown.  When I first started going, the usual contingent of Porsches, MGs and Triumphs would be there.  Mostly, the car show was the aforementioned cars and a healthy sprinkling of muscle cars.  There would be maybe one Ferrari and a handful of Japanese cars.

In the past three years, the PVGP has blown up in size.  The number of cars there on Saturday was staggering.  MG was the featured marque, so there were tons of them and other British makes.  The amount of exotics, though, illustrates the expansion of the event.  There had to be two dozen Ferraris old and new and half-a-dozen Lamborghinis, including a new Aventador.  The sections of Japanese and German cars are enormous now, too. 

And the muscle car scene has dwindled, which I don't mind.  It's not that I don't like muscle cars, it's just that there are car shows all over the area that cater to muscle cars.  I like the PVGP because it's a chance to see something more interesting than Mustangs, Camaros and the other usual suspects. You're not going to see an Alfa-Romeo 8C at your local church's car cruise and I'd rather look at the Alfa.

The PVGP has also started to cater to classic bike owners within the last two years.  Previously, there was a bike run on Sunday but it was mostly Harleys and old bikes weren't really part of the show.  Since it's burgeoning, the bike area was a little thin.  The show was sponsored by a  Moto Guzzi club, so there were a handful of Guzzis, including a military Falcone and a MKIV Le Mans.  I also got to see a V7 Racer in the flesh.  I want to like it so bad but I can't. 

The biggest issue, I think, with having classic bikes at the PVGP is that Vintage Motorcycle Days is the same weekend.  VMD is a much larger classic bike event and will be hard for the PVGP to compete with it.

Today, I headed off to Mid-Ohio to take in the final day of Vintage Motorcycle Days.  I had a goal in mind for the trip: acquiring Ducati parts.  Sunday is the day of the swap meet and there's a guy in it with a lot of parts whom I make richer every year. 

This year didn't disappoint because I bought a frame and a chain guard for my two-wheeled money pit.  The original frame for my Ducati was in very bad shape.  It was pitted in a number of areas from all the years it sat and I wouldn't feel confident riding with a frame that bad.  My new frame is old and has some rust but it's all surface stuff and will clean up well.  I'm very pleased with it.

The show itself did disappoint a bit.  Instead of featuring a marque, the theme this year was Mods and Rockers.  This is a motorcycle site and if I have to explain the history behind Mods and Rockers, get off my site.  Anyway, there were far fewer bikes present than the last few years I've gone.  The only cafe bikes I saw were old Hondas surrounded by dudes in tight pants and tight t-shirts.  I didn't see anyone covered in pins, which I thought was de rigueur for this sort of thing.  I liked the theme when I first read about it but I hope they go back to highlighting a marque next year.  It seems to bring out more bikes.

So that was my weekend.  I have grease under my fingernails from my new frame and I have sunburn all over my face and arms.  Oh, and I got stopped by a Pittsburgh motorcycle cop because, like the idiot I am, I neglected to put my registration sticker on my Triumph's license plate.  He let me go, though, which was cool. 

All in all, this was a good weekend.