This video pretty much speaks for itself.
Archives for July 2010
Glimpses of the past of The Garage
Friend of The Garage, Mike Adams, recently became the recipient of a collection of vintage racing photos that had been taken by Clint Laurie. Among the shots was this pic of my Dad, Bud Tucker’s MKII Sprite. This is the car in which Bud raced in 1967, when he won the Alitalia trophy for sports cars in Ontario. At the right of the picture is Bud, his greasy jeans showing the reality that most racers did it all themselves back in those days. Bent down polishing something or other is my Mom, Gloria. I’m guessing this shot was taken in the paddock at Harewood Acres.
As a side note, there were two Alitalia Trophies that year, one for sports cars and the other for sedans. The sedan winner was non other than Bill Brack.
Mike Adams races the recently restored supercharged MGB that Al Pease raced back in those days, a car that is a star in its own right.
Editor’s note: thanks to Tom Johnston who informed me that the track is the Macdonald Airport which was Winnipeg Sports Car Club’s racing circuit in the 1960s.
Baja: Tropic of Cancer 1 – Prelude
Neil Johnston and Kevin Miklossy, our motorcycle contributors from OneWheelDrive.Net, got ahold of two Honda Varaderos this spring. Now, in Canada the Varadero is being marketed as an adventure bike, and that requires a suitable destination? How about Mexico’s Baja, because that should be adventurous enough. Big bikes, sand, Mexico; what could possible go wrong?
Tales from The Border
The following tale was sent to me by a long time racer who resides here in Ontario. Only the names have been changed to protect those involved.
I make 15-20 trips into the US during the summer months. I’ve never had a problem on the US side. Sure we get some cranky Inspectors from time to time, just answer their questions as simply as possible and away we go.
About 10 years ago on our return to Canada, we got a pink slip, this was the only time to date that I had to go to the secondary inspection. We were asked to step outside the motorhome while they inspected it. A very young rookie came out of the motorhome and asked me “Do you have anything hidden in there” I said NO, he then said “Have you ever seen the inside of a motorhome pulled apart” I said, “Actually yes, I was service manager at a Winnebago dealer for several years”, he then said “I’m paid by the hour, so I can spend as much time as I want taking the interior apart, do you have anything hidden,” again I said “no, I don’t have anything hidden” without hesitation, he said, OK you are free to go. I thanked him and took off mumbling to my wife,”I guess it’s his bottle and change his diaper time”
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The order of the day
Team orders were banned in F1 after 2002. The reason was fan outrage at Ferrari’s blatant and obvious orders to then driver Ruebens Barrichelo to allow Michael Schumacher to pass him and then their botched attempt at the US GP to stage manage the finish. Michael did have it in his contract that he was the #1 driver and his teamate had to defer to him. Up to that point team orders had been the norm. Back in the 30’s and mid 50’s if you disobeyed Herr Neubauer, the Mercedes Team Manager, on Sunday, you were unemployed on Monday.
After the rule was implemented for 2003 and beyond teams did on occasion manage to ‘arrange’ finishes. It usually occured late in the season when one driver had a good chance of winning the Championship and the other did not. However, the teams managed to do it in ways that were not too obvious, although on occasion suspisions were aroused. It could be done by the timing of pit stops, which was easier when there were more stops with refueling, which is now banned. Or a pit stop would be slightly botched allowing the team’s other driver to gain the spot. Sometimes there were subtle instuctions given such as be very careful of your brakes, we have a problem, or conserve fuel, we are close. Almost always those instructions came from the Team Manager or even as Eddie Jordan said from the team principal. He said when he owned a team and orders were given regarding a position he did it himself.
Well yesterday in the German GP Ferrari wanted Alonso to win but Massa was leading after a brilliant start from 3rd and passing both Alonso and Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel in the first turn. For Massa it was a real boost as it was a year to the day he had almost been killed by a spring coming off of Barrichelo’s Brawn.
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Fat guys CAN drive formula cars!
As part of the lead up to the Honda Indy Toronto, Bridgestone organized a series of events for the media to experience their products in action. One of these events was a day at the Bridgestone Racing Academy on Mosport’s Driver Development Track. As formula cars aren’t designed to house Clydesdale’s we figured that it would be good to send Miss Shelby rather than yours truly. Unfortunately, the cut off age for the event was 18 years of age, so that nixed that idea. I had a look through the BRA website and found that the fitment guide says that drivers over 6’4″ and 275 lb might actually fit in the school cars. My heart skipped a beat and I headed up to the track for a test fitting. Sure enough, while it was a tight squeeze, I was able to shoehorn myself into the hot looking red and white rocket.
Yahoo…I’m gonna drive an open wheeler!
Rather than a full on racing school type of day, this was a corporate event day that the Academy has developed for corporations to use for team building. For some of the guests in our group, it was their first opportunity to drive a high performance vehicle while for others it was essentially a lapping day.
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Castrol Canadian Touring Car excitement at Toronto Indy
People watch racing for the excitement. Showroom stock type racing is often a fan favorite, because the racing is competitive and door to door. Of course door to door means lots of crashes and fans love to see those. The Castrol Canadian Touring Car Championship this past weekend at the Honda Indy Toronto provided more than its share of on track excitement.
I’ve had pretty good luck on Fridays at the Indy, catching the big Audi incident last year and then the tight squeeze above during the Friday afternoon session. As Anthony Rapone in the Honda Civic worked his way through the street course’s 90 sharp right hand turn 8, it looked as though he had overcooked it and the car began to understeer into the tires. As the car bounces back out into the track, the real fun begins.
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An overview of the 2010 Honda Indy Toronto
People are funny in that they always want to point out the negative side of anything anyone else has done. Nowhere is that attitude more prevalent than in the coverage of motorsports events. This past weekend’s Honda Indy Toronto was by no means an exception to this. Sometimes I think that some people want to see the event fail. From what I saw, the event is well on pace to have a revival of its glory days.
Part of what made the old Molson Indy such a huge part of the Toronto summer scene was the fact that there were all kinds of events that drew the public in and got them wrapped up in the hype. This year, organizer Charlie Johnstone’s team planned a full schedule of fun functions around the city in the weeks leading up to race weekend. These activities were capped off with free admission on Friday to re-introduce Toronto to the Indy.
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Review: Hyundai Tucson
The Tuscon is Hyundai’s smallest crossover/SUV, and has undergone a complete redesign for 2010. While the last generation Tucson could best be described as average, the new car advances to the head of the pack in this tightly contested market, competing head-on with the likes of the Honda CR-V and Toyota RAV4. The rapid ascension in the quality and driveability of contemporary Hyundais has been impressive, and The Garage was eager to see how the cute ‘ute acquits itself in the real world.
The last generation Tucson was utterly forgettable in appearance, but the new car more than makes up for past mistakes. Hyundai has finally embraced a cohesive design language, and the Tucson is a shining example of how a little risk and excitement pays dividends. It is unfortunate that our Cotton White test car fails to show off the fluid lines that make it such a handsome piece. For that, darker colors are the way to go if you want to flaunt those curves. Still, the Tucson is possibly one of the smartest, and modern looking small crossovers available today.
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Fast surplus from the Canadian Government
We’ve all heard of the elusive government surplus sales. You know the kind: Joe went to this auction and bought a Humvee for $100 and sold it for 20 grand which is why he never showed it to anyone. This morning I received a tip about a real auction here in Ontario, that happens to have a rather interesting item up for bid. A Porsche 911 race car!
The opening bid on this 1975 911 is just $14,000 Canadian. Like many 911 race cars of the era, this one has been converted to look like an RSR and has all the right goodies to be a great club racer or lapping day car.
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