The third annual Sarasota Café Racers Concours gets a new venue and its very own landing strip: Otto Intergalactic AirPark. Enthusiasts were encouraged to drive in or fly in!
New SLS AMG with '42 Stearman and other planes, top, photo by Marty Schorr. Concours show field , above, photo by Chris Hicklin.
Starting in 2009, the Sarasota Café Racers, (www.SarasotaCafeRacers.com), headquartered in Sarasota, Fl with satellites in Boston, MA, Oldwick, NJ and Tehran, Iran, have hosted the Concours Du Vin Classico at the Florida Winefest. This year the Winefest cancelled its Sunday event, leaving the Car Guys Who Lunch without a venue for its annual show. It is the only scheduled event, including lunches, on the Sarasota Café Racers calendar that is open to members’ spouses and significant others. There was trouble in paradise!
Enter Café Racer Jurgen Otto and his lovely wife, Melody,
right, below, photo by Sharon Schorr.
“No problem, we’ll host the Concours. We have plenty of room at our home, plus there’s a landing strip that our guys can use if they’d like to show a vintage plane. They can drive in, fly in or even come in by chopper. Just no jets,” said Jurgen.
“And, we’ll have a BBQ, the Java Dawg London double decker bus serving coffee creations and smoothies and we’ll even bring in an ice cream truck for deserts. Melody is handling the catering, I’ll get the show field prepared and there’s plenty of room for airplanes. Hey, we got it covered.”
And, so they did. The Otto’s spread, with multiple display areas on a lake as well as around their home and car collection in outer buildings, is on almost eight acres adjacent to an active landing strip. Since there’s plenty of parking for trucks and trailers, racecars were invited.
Photo above with A-H 100, Ford GT, Model A racecar by Sharon Schorr; Porsche racecar, Ferrari 512TR and 348 Italia photo, by Steve Huse
The Concours show fields reflected the diversity of the Café Racer franchise, with Ferraris, Porsches, an Aston Martin, Rolls-Royce and a McLaren SLR sharing space with Cobra replicas, C2, C5 and C6 Corvettes, an E-Type Jag, ’57 Chevy and ’63 Plymouth Fury convertibles, Chevy Step Side pickup powered by an LS Corvette powertrain and others. There was also a pair of BMW Z8s, Viper coupe, a freshly restored Austin-Healy 100M and vintage Mercedes-Benz convertibles. Including Otto’s cars we had 50 show-ready vehicles scattered around the property.
Photos of Don Ondrejcak's Panoz GT-S and Bill Stelcher's Model A Riley Special, by Marty Schorr
Four very different track-ready machines joined the show cars. Don Ondrejcak came directly from racing his ex-Penske Chevy LS-powered ’03 Panoz GT-S, the day before at Sebring. Mike and Jackie Bretsch showed their ’61 Pontiac 421 Super Duty Catalina, built to 1961 NHRA Optional Super/Stock specs. If there were an award for Loudest Car, they would’ve won it! Bob Tone brought his vintage Porsche SCCA racer and friend Bill Stelcher trailered his ’29 Ford Model A Riley Special that he races in Pre-War classes at VSCDA, VSCCA, SVRA and VDCA events. Powered by a 100 horsepower ’32 Ford B-block (Four) fitted with a Riley four-port head and dual Stromberg 81 carburetors, Stelcher has raced this car all over the country, including on the beach at the Ormond Beach Festival of Speed. It has a top speed of 100 mph.
Tom DiNapoli's Ferrari California Spyder and Dick York's 355, photo by Chris Hicklin.
Marcello Serrarto, President of Prestige Auto Specialists, came all the way from Miami to show a Mercedes 6.3 SLS AMG. Marcello is the Café Racers’ “Man in Miami” and Prestige represents auto manufacturers, including every luxury brand sold in the U.S. They supply the media in southern states with road test vehicles and produce and support carmakers’ lifestyle events, including fashion shows, “red carpet” openings, relationship marketing and food and wine parties. They can usually be found at major Concours running test drive programs for luxury-sports clients. A special ShowCar Prep Division prepares event and Concours vehicles in Prestige’s 40,000 sq.ft. facility.
Not all red cars are Ferraris! Ottokar Jacobs' Ford GT, photo by Chris Hicklin.
Marcello has been a Café Racer “friend” for a few years, attends lunches when he can and advertises on our website and The Car Guy Chronicles. He also makes sure that his carmaker clients, as well as media organizations in Miami and Atlanta, are aware of the Sarasota Café Racers.
Hank Hinman's Chevy Step Side with his Dad's Piper Aztec, photo by Marty Schorr. Restored Boeing Stearman, photo by Sharon Schorr.
A number of Café Racers and friends of the Ottos arrived in no less than eight airplanes, ranging from a pair of vintage 1942 military planes (Army Vought Vultee BT-13 and Navy Boeing Stearman) to a 2002 Piper Saratoga and brand new two-seat AirCam. Others included a pair of 1970s Beechcraft V35B Bonanzas, and beautifully-restored ’71 Piper Aztec E Twin and ’56 Cessna 172.
Mike & Jackie Bretsch's '61 Pontiac SD-421 Catalina was the loudest car at the Concours. Photo by Marty Schorr
The Ottos saved the day for the Car Guys Who Show, supplying a wonderful environment for showcasing cars (and airplanes) and an endless BBQ and treats. At the end of the day, Brian “Stay Out Of The Left Lane” Sonnenschein, who showed his Porsche X51 Carrera S and gets around on arguably the quickest wheelchair “West Of Tamiami Trail,” hosted the Java Dawg coffee bus, below, photo by Ottokar Jacobs.
Please visit https://picasaweb.google.com/srq.caferacers/2011ConcoursDuVinClassicoFlyIn# for more event photos by Chris Hicklin and Sharon & Marty Schorr.