Online registration is now open (for VARAC Members and Lotus Club Members) for the April 22nd, 2012 Test and Tune event at the newly renamed Canadian Tire Motorsport Park (formerly Mosport International Raceway). Click here for information and registration.
VARAC is proud to be hosting our 33rd Annual Vintage Racing Festival on June 15-17, 2012, renamed the 2012 CANADIAN HISTORIC GRAND PRIX. This years event is sponsored by Wilson-Niblett Performance with CORVETTE as the featured marque and includes a variety of exciting activities for car and race enthusiasts alike!
Click the CHGP link on our site for event information and registration forms.
June 9, 2011 – The Vintage Automobile Racing Association of Canada (VARAC) will hold its 33rd Annual Vintage Racing Festival at world-renowned Mosport International Raceway, June 17, 18, 19, 2011. This technically demanding, very fast 2.459 mile track is just one hour northeast of Toronto. This year’s Vintage Festival features the “Cars of Italy” and “Those Amazing Porsches”.
This summer VARAC joins with Mosport to celebrate the tracks 50th year of hosting world-class racing including Formula One, Indy cars, USAC, Can-Am and Trans-Am and more recently the North American Le Mans Series. In June 1961 the track opened the gates for its first major race, the Player’s 200 for sports cars. The race attracted over 40,000 spectators and was won by Stirling Moss in his 2.5 litre Coventry Climax-powered Lotus 19. In the following years a small selection of the famous drivers who competed at Mosport would include; A.J. Foyt, Denny Hulme, Bruce McLaren, John Surtees, Mark Donohue, Jim Clark, Graham Hill, Jack Brabham, Bobby Unser, Roger Penske, Dan Gurney, Jackie Ickx, Jackie Stewart and many, many others, including of course the great Gilles Villeneuve, who made what would turn out to be his last appearance at the track, as he drove a Ferrari in the 1977 Labatt Grand Prix won by Jody Scheckter in the Canadian Wolf. Even the great World Champion Juan Manuel Fangio drove at Mosport, in a bizarre celebrity Mini race.
In addition to the “Cars of Italy” and “Those Amazing Porsches” there will be plenty of other classes and cars to see from the golden era of racing; Jaguars, Fiats, Triumphs, Daimlers, Alfas, Minis, Lotus, Austin-Healeys, Sadlers, Sunbeams and many, many more including formula cars and sports racing cars. The 2011 VARAC Vintage Racing Festival celebrates the glory days of grassroots sports car racing with three full days of spectacular on-track action. Hundreds of cars and drivers from all over Canada and the US will contend with this challenging race track as it rises and falls through the beautiful park setting, competing just for the thrill, the fun and bragging rights, in true amateur fashion.
The VARAC Festival is about more than racing. This year VARAC has added a new event on Friday evening – the “Checkered Flag Charity Cruise”, which is open to anyone for a two dollar donation per car to the VARAC charity. The cruise will be held on the Start/Finish Straight of the famed racing circuit and will give participants and spectators alike a glimpse of the excitement surrounding this race weekend. The public is encouraged to come out for the cruise as well and join the party with admission being only the donation to the charity.
Other features of the weekend include largest Mini gathering, Mini Meet North as well as the “Field of Dreams” car show that welcomes sports cars and hot-rods and car clubs from far and wide with Sunday noon parade laps on-track. Entry to the car show and parade laps is free! That’s a lot of action and a super value!
Enjoy the relaxed atmosphere of the VARAC Vintage Racing Festival where you are encouraged to take it all in. Walk through the paddock and get up close to the cars and drivers who will be happy to greet you. Youngsters will enjoy meeting the drivers and being photographed with the race cars. Enjoy free camping. Explore the booths of vendors of all types. Within the park you’ll also find good food and beverage and modern comfort facilities.
Vintage racer, motorsport enthusiast or sports car owner, you won’t want to miss this event! Be sure to put it on your calendar today, June 17, 18, 19, 2011. For more information see our Festival section.
Attached, please find a vintage racing photo.
For more info, contact Bob DeShane, Promotions Director, VARAC 705-878-5422 days or 705-878-3940 evenings – email: [email protected]
MOSPORT 50th ANNIVERSARY
By Jeremy Sale.
The 32nd VARAC Festival is celebrating the 50th anniversary of the
opening of Mosport by featuring “The Cars of Italy” and “Porsches”.
Some great Vintage, Historic and Group 70+ cars will be on track and
believe it or not, some of the drivers who raced here in 1961 are
racing with us at the Festival!
The drivers who competed here “in the day” are perhaps a little more
vintage than the cars they are driving but their great enthusiasm for
racing is still present. So today some are racing, some working, some
spectating, but all are celebrating this 50th anniversary. So please
come along to welcome back Walt MacKay, Frank Mount, Jack
Boxstrom, John Greenwood, Oliver Clubine, Al Pease, Gord Green, Phil
Lamont, Tony Simms and all of those who were here in 1961.
We salute all the drivers in vintage racing, but as they say “The cars are the stars!”
So at the Festival, you’ll be able to take a walk around the paddock for
a close-up look at all the cars and chat to the drivers. They are always
more than pleased to tell you the stories behind these great vintage
racecars or have the kids get their picture taken behind the wheel.
We hope you’ll enjoy your visit – if you do, why not join us?
VARAC membership is open to anyone who shares our desire to preserve,
restore, race… or just watch historically important cars. Ask any
VARAC member or check us out on the membership tab.
Jeremy Sale and Walter Davies have just finished putting the final touches to the latest “Pit Signals” – chock full of pics. From the BEMC weekend and with a great story from Joe of his trip to Infineon Raceway.
You can download your copy HERE
Hello VARAC racers
With just under 2 weeks to go until Test and Tune Day, I wanted to confirm who has registered to date. As this is one of the first times we’ve used the new Online Registration System, some members seem to have had problems with it as there are a number of “abandoned” entries.
So just to make sure, I thought I’d list who is currently registered – if you are NOT on this list, you are NOT registered.
If you are not on the list, you can still register online HERE . If you prefer to wait and register at Mosport, you’ll pay an additional $75 over the online rate of $175, so we really hope everybody will register online.
So here is the list of CONFIRMED REGISTRATIONS:
Name # of Cars
| Gary | Allen | 1 |
| Gord | Ballantine | 1 |
| Del | Bruce | 1 |
| Jeff | Clark | 1 |
| Steve | Clark | 1 |
| Neal | Cockshutt | 1 |
| Christopher | Creighton | 1 |
| Diane | Dale | 1 |
| Jeff | Devine | 1 |
| Michael | Deweerd | 1 |
| Ted | Dobbie | 1 |
| Bob | Eagleson | 1 |
| Patrick | Ferrier | 1 |
| Colin | Gibson | 1 |
| Glenn | Grainger | 1 |
| Steve | Hamann | 1 |
| Tom | Harwood | 1 |
| David | Heino | 1 |
| Gavin | Ivory | 1 |
| Andy | Januszewski | 1 |
| Geoffrey | Layne | 1 |
| Walt | MacKay | 1 |
| Geoff | McCord | 1 |
| Cam | McRae | 1 |
| Matt | Molson | 2 |
| Robert | Murray | 1 |
| Richard | Navin | 1 |
| Andrew | Nelson | 1 |
| Steve | O’Connell | 1 |
| Mike | Palladino | 1 |
| Richard | Paterson | 1 |
| Bob | Polak | 1 |
| Craig | Rodwell | 1 |
| Fred | Samson | 1 |
| Tim | Sanderson | 1 |
| Peter | Schlag | 1 |
| Robert | Searle | 1 |
| John | Stammers | 1 |
| Mike | Steplock | 1 |
| Michael | Strelbisky | 1 |
| James | Sutherland | 1 |
| Douglas | Switzer | 1 |
| Brian | Thomas | 2 |
| Harry | Vegter | 1 |
| Stefan | Wiesen | 2 |
| Kevin | Young | 1 |
Please check carefully – you may think you’ve registered but you may accidentally be one of the “abandoned” if your name is not on the list. If you have trouble registering, please Email me and I’ll talk you through the Registration process
Walter
VARAC is proud to host the 2011 32nd Vintage Racing Festival
In addition to the races for all Classes there will be the following activities:
Please visit our Festival section to download the Entry Package