GRAND ADVENTURES AT THE BRIDGE; Rallying around Long Island, reliving history.(Revs)

Byline: JOHN F. KATZ

Bridgehampton, on the tip of Long Island, New York, would be a great place to be in late September, even without the old cars. The weather is windbreaker-crisp. The deciduous trees are just turning to reveal a blaze of colors brushing playfully amid the stunted sand-dune pines, while gloriously blue water laps gently against brilliant white-sand beaches. And, except for the continuous crawl of traffic along Montauk Highway-the main drag in these parts-the town and even the people seem untouched by time, preserving the charm and pace of a past that, here at "the Bridge,'' is still very much alive.

Motorsports have been a big part of that past, and every year since 1993-not coincidentally, the year racing ended at the Bridgehampton track-the town's Historical Society has hosted an old-car celebration that has grown and evolved into the Classic Car Weekend.

The 2007 event, this past Sept. 28-30, also commemorated the passing in May of longtime Sagaponac resident Bruce Stevenson. A pilot who nearly lost his legs in World War II, Stevenson cofounded the first U.S. branch of the MG Club in 1947 and then, denied entry at Watkins Glen in 1948, drove home to organize the races that roared over Bridgehampton's public roads from 1949 to 1953.

Central to the Classic Car Weekend is Saturday's six-hour rally, covering some 100 miles to the eastern tip of Long Island and back and revisiting some of the same ...