2017 VARAC Vintage Grand Prix

The VARAC Vintage Grand Prix is honoured to have to so many photographers clicking their shutters at VARAC’s annual event.

Below is a growing list of photography links we have assembled from the 2017 VARAC Vintage Grand Prix.  Please be sure to contact the photographers if use of their photos is desired.

If you have photos you’d like to add to the collection, please contact Ted Michalos

Full coverage of the event was captured by Giancarlo Pawelec

[Best_Wordpress_Gallery id=”11″ gal_title=”2017 Vintage Grand Prix”]

Joann Villeneuve Reunited With Gilles Villeneuve’s Ferrari Formula 1 Car

This fantastic article is written by Michael Taylor and posted on Trackworthy on June 25, 2017.  Original link is HERE.

PHOTOGRAPHS and VIDEOS © Copyright 2017 TrackWorthy Group Ltd.

Joann Villeneuve, wife of the late great Formula 1 legend Gilles Villeneuve and mother of Canada’s only Formula 1 Champion, Jacques Villeneuve, recently took a trip down memory lane. She attended the VARAC (Vintage Automobile Racing Association of Canada) Vintage Grand Prix held at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.

Amongst the historic racing series that comprised the weekend’s activities was the FIA Masters Historic Formula One series. The Masters USA provides a venue for classic Formula 1 car owners to compete against each other at world class race circuits in Canada, the United States and Mexico. The series is largely comprised of Formula 1 cars from 1966 through 1985. Not only do these cars sound great, but they are also beautiful to behold, as they must run in their correct period livery.

 

Participating in the Masters USA this year were cars from constructors that includes such famous names as Williams, McLaren and Lotus. Of particular note was a very special 1979 Ferrari: a 312T4 with a 3-litre flat 12 cylinder 500 hp engine, a manual 5-speed gearbox, and its former driver Gilles Villeneuve’s name on the side.

TrackWorthy - Joann Villeneuve waving the green flag (5)

Joann Villeneuve waving the green flag to start the race

Joann Villeneuve and Canadian Motorsport Hall of Fame inductee Eppie Wietzes were the Grand Marshals. Joann’s duties included signing enthusiastic fans’ memorabilia at an autograph session, waving the green flag from atop the starter’s stand to start the race, and presenting the trophies at the victory podium. But the highlights of her day were seeing and hearing her late husband’s car out on the track again, and, for the first time in her life, sitting in one of Gilles Villeneuve’s Formula 1 cars.

 

“The emotion of sitting in Gilles’ car, that was really something special,” said Joann Villeneuve. “Every now and then something happens like that, and you do not expect that rush of emotions. And all of a sudden, there they are. I was not expecting that. I also felt that when I was waving the green flag and I was watching (Gilles’) car go by. Just to see and hear the car go by and you say ‘this was my husband’s car, he sat in this car’. And then when I sat in the car and touched the steering wheel that he touched. You think you have put those emotions aside and away, but they are still there. It was a lot of emotions today. It really was nice.”

TrackWorthy - Joann Villeneuve sitting in her husband’s F1 car for the first time (4)

Joann Villeneuve sitting in her husband’s F1 car for the first time

“To see how much the man I loved touched so many people,” said Joann. “Obviously he touched me, he was the man of my life, the love of my life, but to see that he touched so many people, for some reason, Gilles touched them more than other drivers. That’s pretty special.”

This Gilles Villeneuve F1 car is owned by the Baker family and is part of a collection in Sun Valley, Idaho. The owner’s son, Californian Danny Baker, drives the car. Danny’s father had the opportunity to buy the Ferrari 15 years ago from the Jacobazzi family who had previously acquired it directly from Ferrari.

“I have the racer mentality so I want it to go quick and I want to compete with it and yet I have to respect it as much as possible,” said Danny Baker. “I got into a tussle (on the track) with a guy and he managed to get into me today. He gave me a little bump and I made sure he knew it was not appreciated. It is really fun to run out here and it is great to see everyone go just crazy for the car.” During every lap of the track Danny could see appreciative spectators taking photographs of the car and waving him on.

TrackWorthy - Danny Baker (3)

Danny Baker (R)

Of the 16 Formula 1 cars participating in the races, Danny finished 3rd in class in the first race and 4th in class in the second race. He was very happy to have been able to complete every lap of every session. It is a surprisingly reliable car but it takes a great deal of time, and money, to keep running properly.

Also on hand was Canadian Motorsport Hall of Fame inductee Ron Fellows, one of the owners of Canadian Tire Motorsport Park. Ron is one of Canada’s most successful race car drivers, winning in series from NASCAR to the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the 24 Hours of Daytona. But Ron never raced in Formula 1. “Surreal, magic and exhilarating,” was how Ron described what it was like to sit in Gilles’ car.

“It wasn’t on my bucket list because I would never think to put it on, but when Danny (Baker) confirmed that he was going to bring the car, that’s all I wanted to do, was sit in it,” Ron went on to say. “A big thank you to Danny baker, he was not planning on coming here after the Montreal race, but I kept on him, for five days, twice a day, phone calls, text messages, and he finally agreed to come. It was absolutely magic to have it here.”

TrackWorthy - Ron Fellows

Ron Fellows

When asked if he could imagine racing one of these cars, Ron shared his admiration of the “…incredible skill and bravery they had to drive those cars. The bodywork gives you a false sense of security, the tub of the car is basically at your hips. They are spectacular cars, it’s an era that I grew up watching, as a kid and a young man I idolized Gilles along with millions of others. To have Joann here and then to actually get to park my butt in it was incredibly special. I will treasure that for as long as I live.”

To reunite Joann with Gilles Villeneuve’s Ferrari Formula 1 car was the icing on the cake of what was a very successful VARAC Vintage Grand Prix weekend at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park (or Mosport as it is fondly referred to).

 

30 Years Between Drives in a Glorious Can-Am Car

by Seann Burgess
Photos provided by Seann Burgess

In our “have it now” world, is 30 years between drives too long, or just right?

In my case, it’s just right. The very special “drive” in this case was my homebuilt Can-Am car that I ran in the 3rd gen center seat series in the mid ‘80’s. I did only 6 races and parked the car. Looking back, the slow demise of yet another Can-Am series, coupled with the excitement around the new “Player’s Challenge Series” (I did the first 3 years), meant the race car got pushed to the back of the shop. At the end of ‘88 after racing pretty steady for 10 years, I decided to take a break from driving. I already had the new stronger, wider tub drawn up as the major improvement to the car, as well as finishing the rushed conversion properly. To get the car on those grids back then was a very “hurry up job”. Any racer who has ever had to do something in a rush (that’s all racers), knows what I mean.  I wasn’t going to rush making the car the way I wanted it this time.

I didn’t really do too much on the car for the next few years, I was enjoying the post racing feel with regards to how cheap everything seemed to be in comparison! We bought a used motorhome, went camping (often at race tracks), toured both coasts, built a hotrod, restored a couple of Atlantic cars and a bunch of 70’s bikes, drove “The Ring”, then the car started calling to me. I decided then that I wanted the finished product to be entirely by my own hand, a true homebuilt car. Originally the chassis was my 73-B March hiding under the M1B body. You can see the small 13” wheels in the ‘86 Turn 5 photo. I looked at several options for bodywork back then, not wanting a cycle fender conversion and always loving the curves of the early McLaren. After closing in the cockpit and engine cover  for the center seat configuration, the lines  now “flow” from every view, there’s no bad angle. Into the 2000’s, I went back to working on the car when it called to me, usually between other projects. I fabricated my own front suspension using turbo RX7 brakes and  hubs and found some NOS undrilled Revolution 15” wheels. On the back I made centres for the readily available inner and outers. The car still uses March rear suspension with the FT200. The 15’s fill those wheel wells just right. The engine is from a mid ‘80’s Sebring/Daytona endurance team with all Mazda factory race stuff, very scarce…then and especially now. Dyno shows Weber (285hp) and Lucas injection (314). I’m using carb for simplicity.  The car has a very simple ‘70’s fabricated look to it, the only real experiment was with the always hot rotary exhaust…I ran it forward and back 180 degrees into the right sidepod. A 12v fan exchanges air in the enclosure, getting rid of the unwanted heat around the muffler/pipes. It’s all wrapped and foiled, and although I’ve only done exhibition laps, it seems to work. I’ve seen too many heat related failures with these engines. Then there’s the noise. I broke a muffler in qualifying at Summit Point in ‘86 and was deaf in my right ear for a week. I’ve always had a fascination with the Wankel engines…I have a ‘75 RE5, a ‘69 SnoFury, a ‘75 Sachs Dolmar chain saw (only saw made world wide with rotary engine), and have had several Mazdas, best one being a ‘93 RX7, a very nice car.

Quite a few of the projects I do are basket cases or forgotten/lost interest ones that somehow find me, I don’t look for them. Once people know you do this kind of work, you don’t need to shop. My Can-Am car was never one of those. I promised myself that I would restore it, and I would drive it. I also answered the question “When will it be ready?” about a million times with the same response….when it’s ready. I wanted to enjoy doing it, rushing wasn’t part of the plan. About 10 years ago, I designed & built my new shop, complete with a tool room that is a re-creation of one of the original Mosport pits. It has proved to be a very nice place to work.  Fast forward to 2015, one winter to go before the 50th anniversary of the original Can-Am Series. Timing seemed perfect to have the car done by spring 2016, and go enjoy the fact that IT’S FINISHED!! Just around that time, a neighbour stopped by and asked if I had heard about that Italian racer coming to the Firestone dealer in Owen Sound TOMORROW for a meet and greet?   Sure enough, Mario Andretti was coming to the dealer for one of his promos, and they were encouraging people to come for a car show, barbeque and bring things for him to sign. Well, I’ve got something for him to sign alright! I called the boss up there and asked him if he wanted me to bring the car up to be part of their show. He thought that would be great so the race car took centre stage under the big inflatable tire display.  Mario showed up and after meeting the staff came out to chat with me and check out the car.  We had a great talk, he’s a VERY nice person. 

He signed a bunch of my stuff, Indy flag, some books and my 1986 Molson Indy event poster (his car on it) where he finished 3rd and I was 5th in our respective races. At the end of the day I asked him if he’d sign one more thing for me… the car. “Sure” he said, looking at me with Sharpie in hand, and I said “something complimentary in Italian would be great”.  So, I opened my hand crafted door, exposing my hand built tub side, and he laid it down… ”Bella Macchina”. 

The 2016 roller coaster did not stop there. The folks from Cobble Beach Concours d’Elegance, approached me about bringing the car to their show in September, and I was all for that. We had been to the show that had run for the last 4 years, introducing us to a new level of automobile appreciation. I’d often thought Pebble Beach or a similar type show should be on the bucket list, but thanks to the folks at Cobble Beach, we’ve now got one an hour from our home!

We had enough time to plan a visit to the 50th anniversary at Elkhart (as VIP’s, thanks Dan), to find 50 Can-Am cars! I took a nice enlarged photo from Mosport with me to get a few signatures from the “legends”. I showed David Hobbs and Brian Redman the photo and told them I just drove the car for the first time in 30 years….they both said (and signed)…WOW! Bruce McLaren’s sister & daughter both signed the photo with compliments as well.

Cobble Beach was next, we got the car cleaned up and had a 5 am load-in time onto one of the most beautiful 18th hole fairways you’ll find. They lined me up beside Ayrton Senna’s 1987 Lotus F1 car, not bad company. Being in a Concours is nothing like being at a race track. Everything is spotlessly clean, smells good, tastes good and staff members are everywhere trying to make you happy. It was a great experience. When the judges came to my wife and I with a 2nd place ribbon in hand, we couldn’t believe it. This meant that I had to drive the car across the podium for awards/photos. Of course this had to be done with my right shoe off because a hiking boot doesn’t fit in the footbox if you’re a size 11!

Just when I thought I could stop pinching myself, I’ve just seen that Cobble Beach is using my car to promote next year’s show in some of their ads….the “rewards” as I see them,  haven’t stopped yet.  Having just turned 60, I’ve spent half my life doing “something” with this car. Maybe that’s enough, time will tell whether it should go to the next caretaker. I’ve also spent over half my life with my wife and crew chief, Carole, who has been part of this car story from the beginning.   We even did Can-Am races with just the two of us, running around the country in our converted school bus with the car in the back. We laugh about it now, we had a lot of fun. I can’t tell you how many times she’s asked me over three decades, “What did you get done on the car today?” Always with a smile, she’s the perfect team player. Those readers with supporting spouses will understand, it makes all the difference.

So, were the stars aligned for finishing this car and for all these events to have happened as soon as it was done? It’s hard to argue against it.