If we were to tell you that there is a racing event where attendees are encouraged to wear 1920s-era garb while cheering on drivers wrestling tiny, quarter-scale copies of early 20th-century open-wheel race cars in a wheel-to-wheel contest of speed, would you believe that it takes place in Scottsdale, Arizona" We couldn’t, either, but consider us intrigued.

The only major automotive event that’s even remotely similar to the Grand Prix of Scottsdale, now entering its second year, is the fanciful Goodwood Revival in the U.K. And that retro-gearhead party requires a plane ticket across the pond and personal grapplings with the inadequacies of your car collection compared to some guy with three prewar Alfa Romeos and a Bugatti. The Scottsdale event, on the other hand, seems automatically more lighthearted based on its car choice alone. Racers drive glorified go-karts?technically, they’re re-creations of early cycle cars?assembled by the Vintage Kart Company of nearby Mesa, Arizona. Perhaps describing them as go-karts is a little pejorative, as the little vehicles (which start at $6975 but can stretch to around $20,000) appear incredibly detailed and can be made to order with luxe accoutrements such as a leather seat, a polished-aluminum body, and more. Each car has a 6.5-hp, 200-cc Honda engine, 17-inch wire wheels, a leaf-sprung solid front axle, a hydraulic rear disc brake, a rear differential, and a removable steering wheel. The cars weigh a litt...