BRIDGEHAMPTON - THE DUST AND THE GLORY
It stood at the pinnacle of American car racing during the golden age of the sport in the 50s and 60s. They called it “The Bridge” and mostly they loved and feared the place. Stirling Moss called it the “most challenging course in America ” and routinely it embarrassed world class drivers during the heyday of the Can-Am, Trans-Am and international sports car races. It was a place of wonderfully diabolical natural beauty.
The Bridge is no longer. It’s a private, luxury golf course now. Key portions of the track have been preserved however, and if you listen, you can almost hear the roar of the groundthumpers flying into Millstone corner at 200 mph to the whoop of 80,000 fans.
This is your site. It’s maintained as a tribute by the Bridgehampton Racing Heritage Group, a band of enthusiasts who kept racing alive at Bridgehampton for nearly two decades. If you ever experienced The Bridge, we welcome your photos and comments. Through this site, the excitement of Bridgehampton lives on.
IN THE NEWS July 15, 2021;The Bridgehampton Race Circuit Collection;
We’re preparing for exhibits from our extensive collection of Bridgehampton race history at the newly-expanded Bridgehampton museum. Click here to Read And make sure to stop by the Cars & Coffee on Sept. 19, 2021 from 9 AM to 12 PM at the Bridgehampton Museum to meet our crew, see our collection and enjoy hundreds of cars from 1920’s Bugattis to the latest McLarens.
What's New
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Bridgehampton Race Circuit in active times (click for larger image)
The site layout featured a jaw-dropping 180-degree view of Long Island 's North Fork, Shelter Island, Sag Harbor and the sailboats on Peconic Bay. The circuit had four vertical elevation changes totaling 130 feet and eight distinct corners, including a banked hairpin curve around a hillock at the lowest point of the course. A flat-out straightaway nearly 3/4 of a mile long suddenly disappears into a hair-raising decreasing radius downhill curve, known as Millstone Turn. More than one international star has called this steep decline, which is blind and taken flat out in most race cars, the most difficult turn in racing. Sam Posey, for one, said that sailing off the abyss in a sports racer was like “flying into an air pocket” in a plane.