LAKEVILLE, Conn. Some 220 vintage racing cars, including a 1928 Franziss Frazer-Nash from England, a 1934 Ford Sprint Car from North Kingstown, a 1960 Lotus 18 Formula Junior from Australia and a 1973 Chevron B23 from Oldwick, N.J., turned out for the 26th Annual Rolex Vintage Festival at Lime Rock Park last weekend.

The weather did not bode well for Saturday’s practice laps and races, but the skies soon turned blue to make for perfect racing action through Labor Day.

Lime Rock owner and president Skip Barber said he was delighted with the turnout, with cars coming from as far away as Australia, Britain and Canada, as well as many from the 35th Rolex Monterey Historic Automobile Races at Laguna Seca, Calif., in mid-August. He added that he had heard only positive feedback about the track, which underwent a $6 million makeover earlier this year.

And with the open access to the paddock area where the cars were being prepped, racing fans were treated to a feast of magnificent old racing machines, all still in fighting form. One, a 1955 Lotus Mk9, had actually won the first-ever race at Lime Rock 51 years ago.

One of the most remarkable vintage racers was the 1928 Franziss Frazer-Nash with exposed rocker gear tapping on both sides of the hood. It was driven in the pre-1941 group race by Roger Sweet of Salisbury, England, and he and “spanner man” Mike Herbertson shipped the car over for a season of racing across the United States, including such venues as Watkins Glen, N.Y., Elkhart Lake, Wis., and Hallet Motor Racing Circuit, Jennings, Okla.

“[The engine] is from a 1918 Curtiss Jenny,” Sweet, 64, said, referring to the Curtiss JN-4 biplane, which was the first plane to be used by the U.S. postal service for airmail delivery. He said the valves on the engine’s eight cylinders were exposed because “there is no dust up there, you see.”

“That’s the way it was done in the day,” he said of bringing airplane engines down to earth by mounting them in race cars. He pointed out the small tube in front of the hood that provided the “air speed.”

“You have to be careful about head winds,” he said, because they give false readings.

The race cars were divided into nine groups based on age and engine size. Following timed laps, they competed in 10-lap races on Saturday and 15-lap races on Monday. There is no Sunday racing at Lime Rock.

Group 1 was pre-1941 Sports & Racing Cars; Group 2, 1946-55 Sports Racing and Production Cars under 1500cc; Group 3, 1946-55 Sports Racing and Production Cars over 1500cc; Group 4, 1955-61 Sports Racing Cars; Group 5, 1955-63 Formula Junior Cars; Group 6, 1956-62 GT Cars; Group 7, 1962-66 GT/Production Cars under 2000cc; Group 8, 1962-66 GT/Production Cars over 2000cc; and Group 9, 1964-81 FIA Championship and IMSA GT Cars.

“It’s wonderful now, after the repaving,” said Bob Reed, of North Kingstown, of the track following his Group 1 race on Saturday, adding that his 1934 Ford Sprint Car was “running very well.”

He said his racer was typical of its time, being homemade of a Ford Model B engine and equipment from various cars. “All you needed was readily available at junk yards,” he said. “And you built yourself a racecar.”

He said the vintage racing circuit is like a club in that he knows many of the other racers in his group. But that does not detract from a strong sense of competition. “We smile [at each other] before and after the race,” he joked.

Reed, 72, who spent much of his working life in Europe as an executive with Caterpillar, said he rebuilt his car after buying it five years ago because it was not running well. He said it gets up to 90 mph on the straight at Lime Rock.

“My wife thinks I’m too old to race,” he said. “But it’s fun.”

Stu Forer, of Warwick, was racing his 1951 Jaguar XK120 in the 1946-55 Sports Racing and Production Cars over 1500cc. He bought the car in 1999 and “rebuilt it from the ground up.”

He said he loved racing vintage cars because of their antique authenticity. “They slide around,” he said of driving through the bends and through the gears.

At the same time, he had mixed feelings about the new track, which he said was a big improvement but abrasive on the tires. He also said the former track surface had given old hands like him an advantage.

“We had local knowledge,” he said. “Before, we knew where every bump was.”

Forer, 66, added that the sight of so many great cars “you never see any other time,” as well as the camaraderie of the track were also major reasons why he enjoyed the sport.

The camaraderie was manifest in the number of drivers Forer seemed to know and the fact that he had previously owned a 1959 Stanguellini Formula Junior owned by Lawrence Auriana and raced over the weekend by Joe Colasacco of Stamford, Conn. Forer said he had owned and driven the open-wheel racer from 1981 to 1990 and compared notes with Auriana and Colasacco on how he had set the car up compared with its current configuration.

The Auriana Racing Team wrapped the nose of the Stanguellini in black tape in honor of former Formula One World Drivers’ Champion Phil Hill, who died Aug. 28 at age 81. Indeed, tributes were paid throughout the weekend to the soft-spoken ace, who was the only American to ever win the Drivers’ Championship (1961). (Mario Andretti, who won it in 1978, is a naturalized American.)

Nick Incantalupo, 65, of Oldwick, N.J., said he was very happy with the way his blue 1973 Chevron B23 was running. He bought the car, complete with its Cotes du Rhone Racing Team decals, five years ago.

He said he started racing a number of years ago and was a graduate of the Skip Barber Racing School. In addition to his Chevron, Incantalupo was also racing his 1965 Austin Mini Cooper S in the 1962-66 GT/Production Cars under 2000cc class.

The Rolex Moments in Time exhibit included several historic race cars displayed with detailed graphics explaining their significance. Most prominent was the 1978 John Player Special Lotus Type 79 in which Mario Andretti won the Formula One World Drivers’ Championship. Its design was radical in many respects, but chiefly for its underbody, which provided some 2,000 pounds of downforce, making it able to corner as though it was truly on rails.

Other racers included a 1908 Mercedes Grand Prix, a 1927 Delage and a 1953 Jaguar C-Type.

Along with tracks around the world, Lime Rock was also celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Formula Junior class of open-wheel race cars that were introduced partly as a result of the scores of accidents and deaths on tracks around the world in 1955. The cars were designed to be a rung below Formula I and Formula II cars, which differed in power but not in cost, and thus serve as a safer way for younger drivers to get into the sport.

Australians Roger Ealand, Bill Hemming and Don Thallon shipped their Formula Junior Cars over to compete at several venues around the country, including Laguna Seca just a few weeks before. Following Lime Rock they were headed to Watkins Glen.

Indeed, the campaign by the three retired friends in their 60s started with races in New Zealand at the beginning of the year, moved onto Australia before coming to the United States.Next stop is South Africa.

Ealand said it was the first time the three, who have been racing each other for 20 years, have dedicated so much time, let alone traveling, to race. “We race each other; it’s very civilized,” he said. “But we desperately want to win. It’s pathetic, really. We say we don’t want to win, but I want to beat out the other two slimy rats.”

Ealand was driving his 1960 Lotus 18 Formula Junior, which stalled at the start of Saturday’s race. “It was very undignified,” he said, explaining that he had changed the engine the day before. Hemming was driving his 1962 Elfin Formula Junior and Thallon his 1963 MRC 22 Formula Junior.

“There’s always lots of reasons not to do it,” Ealand said of the three friends’ decision to go racing around the world. “I mean, the expense. But why the [heck] not?”

For more information, including results for all the races, go to:

www.limerock.com.