An American road trip – photographing the fall colors and more …

Report by David Harbey -  28 November 2023

When I suggest a trip to the US to see ex-pat friends in the Carolinas and to drive the Blue Ridge Parkway to see the “fall colors”, the ever-patient and very wonderful Mrs H enquires what motorsport is taking place in the vicinity at the time. Of course there is an ulterior motive – three to be precise this time - Virginia International Raceway (VIR) to tick off the bucket list, a return to Road Atlanta and perhaps time to also call in to Charlotte, the home of NASCAR.

VIR is one of those American parkland circuits that can be best described as Oulton Park on steroids (oh, and Road Atlanta is the same !). We were at VIR to see TransAm –the V8 engined series based on US muscle cars that we had previously seen at Long Beach supporting IndyCar in 2003. 

These days there are two classes in TransAm, one of which includes a wider range of GT machinery. The core of the entry though is V8 powered – and they look and sound good !

The rest of the meeting was a mixture of SVRA (think HSCC / Masters Historic type cars in the UK), US F4, International GT and Formula Regional Americas. This provided an eclectic mix of racing, with the SVRA making races from broadly similar classes – so we had, for example, an ex-IndyCar Panoz running against an Australian S5000 (F5000 down-under revival) and a wide range of other single seaters.

Early October saw the days largely clear and bright – after dropping cooler overnight. As we drove to the track from our B&B, we remarked on how the landscape was very much like Northern Europe. The setting for VIR is glorious - here’s a postcard of the action

The subsequent drive to Road Atlanta allowed us to catch up with friends, one of whom lives in Charlotte. We had time to drop into the Hendrick Motorsport Museum and take a few phone shots of the cars and trophies on display.

Then a quick drive up to the speedway which had hosted a race for NASCAR on the roval (road course on an oval) the previous weekend.

In 2007 we were sat in the highest seats above turn 1 for the Bank of America 500 – the view was tremendous. These grainy phone photos are all that I have from that visit to Charlotte.

Onward to Road Atlanta, previously visited in 2007 when the Audi R8 won Petit Le Mans, the ten hour, final round of the IMSA championship. I had been following IMSA this year via the excellent free streaming (see the IMSA app) along with the supporting Michelin Pilot Challenge (MPC) races for GT4 and TCR classes. The TCR class included the Alfa Romeo Giulietta; we had met the KMR Motorsport team in 2019 at Sebring.

The forums were suggesting that it was busier than anyone had ever seen it at Road Atlanta – every square inch of infield parking was taken. The new GTP class headed the Petit Le Mans race with four manufacturers fielding entries plus competitive P2, P3 and GT classes: Petit Le Mans was eagerly awaited.

First though there was the undercard – Mazda MX5s provided action as close as they had all year - viewing hint – they are also well worth a watch on YouTube.

The MPC race also brought close racing and action up and down the field. Sadly, the Alfa got hit by a GT4 car leading to its early retirement.

One of the features of many of the US circuits is the ability to walk behind the pits and see the drivers preparing for their next stint behind the wheel and pit crews preparing for the next stop to refuel and change tyres.

These shots are from IMSA qualifying and the race and include Jenson Button, former F1 World Champion in the JDC Miller Porsche and seemingly enjoying himself. Indeed, as I write this report, news comes through that he will be driving for Wayne Taylor Racing at Daytona in January.

Saturday morning dawned greyish but dry and another great feature of IMSA, the grid walk, gave the fans a chance to see all the entries and many of the drivers. Here’s a taste of both the big picture and the detail.

We are planning to create a spectator snappers guide to Road Atlanta over the winter, but for now this is a selection of the main race action.

One feature of Road Atlanta is the relative lack of fencing – here’s a short hand-held video from the inside of Turn 6.

We skipped the podium to get ahead of the crowds but were able to listen on the local FM service that had kept us up to date with the race throughout the day.

All that remained was to spend the next few days enjoying many of the 469 miles of the Blue Ridge Parkway and the “fall colors” as we wound our way back to Washington for the flight home.

Of course, y’all can take the boy away from the racetrack but – well, this is what I took at Mabry’s Mill – those cars and bikes kept getting in the way of the trees.

An alternative view from Madeline Harbey

When Mr H says “Do you fancy a holiday in XXXX”, my first question is ‘And what racetrack are we going to?” (D - see, our stories are the same !).  In this case, when he suggested we went to VIR and Road Atlanta, he also suggested that we drive part of the Blue Ridge Parkway (BRP) and that it would be about the right time for the ‘fall colors”.

The BRP is 469 miles long and starts at Rockfish Gap, Virginia and ends in Cherokee, North Carolina. The scenery is stunning and varies from the Ridge region in the north through to the Plateau, Highlands and Pisgah region in the south.

The drive has very frequent ‘overlooks” so there is always an opportunity to pull in and stop and admire the view and take a few photos!

On our first day we set off from Asheville and headed towards Graveyard Fields and after climbing up and through the low cloud we were rewarded with bright sunshine and views of multi-coloured trees and a hike towards the waterfalls. There were warning signs for bears in the area but fortunately there were no picnics taking place in the woods !

The north end of the BRP has very different views with the trees more enclosed over the road and a must stop at the very photogenic Mabry Mill. There were road closures in parts so in the end we drove just over half the length of the parkway.

This was one of the things to do on my bucket list, so a tick in the box for me, too. We both said we would like to go back and complete it in full. So that means Mr H gets to go to Road Atlanta again ! (D – and VIR, of course !)

All in all, a great road trip with something for everyone.