It’s been forty years since the first Canadian Grand Prix at Mosport. To celebrate, the 2007 VARAC festival will be featuring vintage Formula 1 cars, giving fans the opportunity to see some incredible machinery up close and on the track. Joining the F1 cars will be Historic Sports Racers, along with a paddock full of vintage sedans, sports cars and a variety of open wheeled classes.
Cars in attendance include 3 Canadian built Wolf F1 cars, who will be joined by Walter Wolf. In total, the entry list shows 14 Formula 1 cars, ranging from a 67 McLaren to a 82 Williams. The 67 McLaren is the very same car that Bruce McLaren drove in the inaugural race. Back in those days, drivers often raced F1 an sports cars. At the festival will be the Lotus 19 that was raced in the 67 Canadian Grand Prix for sports cars by Pete Ryan and the Lola MKIIIB that was driven by Parnelli Jones and Mario Andretti.
The complete entry list is expected to contain more than 250 historic race cars. Porsche, MG, Austin Healy, Cooper, Ferrari, Fiat, Alfa Romeo and many more. If it has been raced, chances are that it will be at this year’s festival.
I was 2 months old when my parents dragged me to that first Canadian Grand Prix and I’ve been to a lot of VARAC festivals over the years. I can honestly say that I’m looking forward to this year’s event more that any other. If there is any way that readers can make it to Southern Ontario next weekend, Mosport is definitely the place to be. If you are attending, drop me a line at thegarageguy at rogers.com and I’ll be sure to hook up with you at the track. For ticket info, visit the VARAC page. If you can’t make it, you can be sure that we’ll have tons of photos here in The Garage!
I race with the Vintage Racing Club of BC, and have attended many Historic’s in many locations over the years, but the VARAC event I attended in ’04, Celebrating Canadian built race cars, and lapping Mosport, was my most memorable! I’ll be at the F1 reunion this year! Thanks for this site
What are you racing Mike? I’ll be sure to come say hi.