2024 VARAC Vintage Grand Prix

June 13 – 16, 2024

Presented by VARAC

The 44th running of the VARAC Vintage Grand Prix being held June 13th – 16th, 2024 on the Mosport Grand Prix track at the Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.

The 2024 VARAC Vintage Grand Prix is a world-class celebration of vintage car racing that traces its history to VARAC’s first event, in 1979, at Shannonville Motorsport Park. Forty-five years later, the VARAC Vintage Grand Prix has grown to the largest event of its kind in Canada. With the support of our event partner, Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, VARAC has successfully operated the Vintage Grand Prix on the facility’s historic Mosport Grand Prix Circuit. For Canadian racers and fans, this is truly hallowed ground. Founded in 1976, VARAC was created to provide a friendly, competitive environment to people who love racing vintage cars. The club currently boasts well over 200 members and is one of the founding clubs of the Vintage Motor Council, a collection of vintage racing organizations from across North America.

Our feature marque will be Porsche! As such we sent out a special invitation to all those that run Porsches or Porsche powered cars, Vintage, Historic, Classic, Modern Classic; closed and open wheel specials-all are welcome! If you race a Porsche or a Porsche “special”, you won’t want to miss this. As the feature marque, there will be a special “All Porsche” race (closed wheel cars). We also welcome Volvo racers from across NA. If we get enough entrants here, we will run a special “all Volvo’ race.

Thursday, June 13 is a Track Orientaton/Test Day, open to competitors looking to learn the circuit; or, if you’re just coming back to racing use these sessions “to shake off the cobwebs”; or, to test. Please note that drivers that have not run on the Mosport Grand Prix track previously must attend the Test Day, or receive a waiver from the Race Director ([email protected]). Videos and notes on driving CTMP/Mosport will be posted – first timers are encouraged to study these. Street Lapping sessions will be offered Thursday as part of Test Day.

June 14 – 16th, 2024 On-Track Practice, Qualifying and Race. Off-Track Events offered Wednesday-Saturday evening as well as Field of Dreams Car Show and Parade on Sunday.

To present period-correct grids, VARAC’s racing vehicles are divided into the following classes.

PRE-WAR CARS
This class includes classic pre-war, single-seat, sports cars, and post-war T-series MG race cars.

VINTAGE PRODUCTION
This is the most popular vintage class and is widely considered the most affordable to get on track. This class consists of cars like the Austin Healey Sprite and 3000, Lotus Seven, Triumph TR3/4, MGA, Porsche 356, and other mass-produced street cars. Cut cut-off date for this car is Dec. 31, 1961.

HISTORIC PRODUCTION
Later than Vintage Production and featuring Sprite/Midget, MGB, Lotus Elan, Shelby GT350, as well as various sports cars and Trans-Am cars. Mini Cooper S race cars are plentiful and fast in this class. Volvos, Cortinas and Escorts are popular, too. The class cut-off date is December 31, 1979.

CLASSIC & MODERN CLASSIC

The Classic grid, previously known as Group 70+ and Group 90, includes production-based and purpose-built race cars that were designed to race in IMSA, Trans-Am, SCCA and CASC GT. An exciting mix of style and speed, these grids feature Corvettes, Mustangs, Camaros, Ferraris, BMWs, Porsches and similar. Classic vehicles are from the years 1973 through 1997. This grid now includes Modern Classic, an extension of the Classic division for cars from 2000 – nominally 2005.

FORMULA CLASSIC
Formula Classic is VARAC’s open-wheel or Formula Car grid and can include a wide range and mix of special-built, open-wheel cars, including Formula Juniors, Formula Fords, Formula Vee’s and 1200s, and Indy cars. As well, the class features F5000 cars and other examples of Formula cars from the iconic series’ that ran from the ‘60s through the ‘90s. This grid showcases great examples of the evolution of race car technology over the last 60 years.

OTHER CLASSES
Also participating in this year’s VARAC Vintage Grand Prix are the following classes:

FORMULA FORD CHALLENGE SERIES
This series, now in it’s 9th year, supports and runs historic Formula Ford (FF) cars. FF, created almost 50 years ago, is an open wheel “formula or rule set” equipped with the same engine as the Ford Cortina-thus the name. Many of the well known race car makers built cars including Lotus, March, Lola, Merlyn, Crosslé and even some Canadian cars from Chinook. In the day, this created low cost, highly competitive racing and the series became a springboard for many renowned drivers such as Senna, Villeneuve, Hunt, Fittipaldi, Scheckter, Hill-to name a few.

The Series provides a sustainable, safety-oriented, fun, and friendly environment for Formula Ford racers and their families. The 2024 schedule provides Formula Ford racers the opportunity to race on the most storied race circuits in the Eastern United States and Canada. Subclasses are:

Historic Formula Ford – first-generation cars 1967-72, generally fitted with front radiator, outboard suspension, and brakes.
72 Club Formula Ford – second-generation cars 1973 – 1981 with outboard suspension on at least one chassis end.
Post-Club Ford (PCF) – a specific list of eligible cars, third generation Fords raced after the1981 season using front and rear inboard suspension and vertical dampers not operated by bell cranks.

F1600 is an entry-level class of single-seat, open-wheel formula race cars. A global class, it has been the gateway to stardom for several prominent Canadian and international racers, including Josef Newgarden, Conor Daly, James Hinchcliffe and Kyle Marcelli. More recently, Canadians Zacharie Robichon and Mac Clark have honed their craft in the Toyo Tires F1600 Championship. This class features aspiring young races starting their careers, as well as veterans who crave competitive, open-wheel racing.

Important Documents