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Bridgehampton Raceway in a Healey 1957

dougie

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Here's a cool original film shot at Bridgehampton Race circuit behind the wheel of a 1954 Austin Healey in 1957. There's some really great period shots in this ammeter piece of historic film.

https://youtu.be/UnT4d_Mt6kg
 
Wow! Absolutely fantastic footage, what a film, and our hero even has the beautiful girl to go with it! I've got to disagree with Rick, I don't think that film is speeded up. It looks pretty accurate to me.
 
The word "evocative" is probably overused, but certainly applicable to this movie. What a great find, Dougie. It's a really well done video and captures beautifully the early days of sports car racing in the U.S. And best of all, a Healey took the checkered flag!

I checked racingsportscars.com and found there were two 100S cars at the Bridge that weekend, the site identifies AHS 3506 was driven to 14th place in Class D-Sports (DM) by David Symes while James Jackson finished in 16th. AHS 3506 is shown in the 100S registry as the William Brewster car https://www.racingsportscars.com/photo/1955/Sebring-1955-03-13-045.jpg The chassis# of the Jackson car is not identified, but racingsportscars.com showed he campaigned a 100, 100M, 100S and a "Healey Special" throughtout the northeast in his racing career.

Again, Dougie. Thanks for posting.
 
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Great stuff. I went to Bridgehampton a bunch of times and it was a really cool place to watch sports car racing. Being part of the affluent Hamptons, the locals eventually lobbied to close down the track due to noise plus the wildly escalating land values made the race track a prime target for development. Find out more here...https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bridgehampton_Race_Circuit
 
What a great film of a wonderful track. I went there several times in the early 60's. It was the era of the USRRC Cobras, Lolas, Chaparrals and McLarens. I recall seeing Mark Donahue winning a local SCCA race in a very fast but slow looking MGB.

Those sand dunes made this track wonderful for spectators. Lots of high spots where you could see into the cars and watch the drivers working. They worked very hard over the many turns and hills on this circuit. The sand kept the cars from getting too far from the racing surface but it would catch wheels and flip cars easily. I recall seeing Sam Posey flip a McLaren that way, fortunately he was OK. The pits were also very accessible.

The parking lot was a treat as well. So many Ferraris, Porsches, Healeys, antiques, you name it. Definitely a go-to destination for car nuts, too bad it is history now. Fortunately, a few films like this are still out there. Thanks for posting it.
 
What a great film of a wonderful track. I went there several times in the early 60's. It was the era of the USRRC Cobras, Lolas, Chaparrals and McLarens.

This is one of my favorite Cobra pictures ... the Cobra transporter at Bridgehampton:

image069ie7.jpg
 
A great piece of racing history. This film footage was definitely not sped up. This is what racing really looks like from the cockpit. That's why it is so addictive........no cops to pull you over for speeding, tailgating or passing on the right.....!!!
 
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