There are few names in the history of Canadian motorsports that go back as far as Castrol, the oil company that has been involved with Canadian racing since the beginning. When the first Targa Newfoundland was run in 2003, Castrol was one of the main sponsors of the event. That year, Judd Buchannan finished 3rd overall in his super fast, super unique 1967 Acadian Canso. The following years have seen Targa finishes ranging from 4th to 2nd overall, but the top spot has escaped Buchannan.

For 2007, Buchannan has been joined by Castrol and is planning an all out assault on The Rock’s twisty tarmac roads. It sounds like this is going to be a win at almost all cost attempt.

Press release after the break
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Often, the most excitement of a pro race weekend is provided by the support series. That was definitely the case at the Steelback Grand Prix, where the Castrol Canadian Touring cars were every bit as exciting as the World Challenge cars and maybe more so than the Champ cars.

Lots of photos after the break
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If you’ve never been to a professional level race, you owe it to yourself to visit one. There really is nothing like the sights, sounds and smells of car racing. Maybe the best event of all time is the annual Champ Car World Series visit to the Toronto waterfront. While the event is easily the favorite race of most teams, it might be one of the best for fans as well.
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Everybody loved Castrol Katie, so why not brighten up a sunny Saturday morning with a few more shots!
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Often, one expects a lot from a big event and less so from a smaller program. Sometimes though, the little guy blows the big guy out of the water! When I visited the launch of one of Toronto’s biggest racing events last month, I felt let down. No cars, no flash, no excitement. There has been so much going on lately that I almost backed out of last night’s launch party for the new Castrol Canadian Touring Car Championship. What a mistake that would have been!
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Well, it’s been a busy day so this will be a quick tease. I took the new camera to Remy’s in Toronto’s ritzy Yorkville area for the launch of the Castrol Canadian Touring Car Championship. I took a ton of photos, which I’ll try to get posted tomorrow. For now, have a peak after the break to see friend of The Garage Perry Ianuzzi with Katie the Castrol girl.
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Over the years, I’ve become a big suck. My kids find this funny as hell, as I’ll start to well up with tears at the stupidest thing. Nothing though sets me off like the death of a driver. As someone who has driven competitively and has lost friends to racing accidents, it always hits me pretty close to home. Perhaps even more so now that I’ve got kids who race karts.

Tonight is the season premier of the second season of Driving Force. The irony of this first episode may well kill Pappa Force. John decides that he’s going to shock some reality into the family by taking them to a funeral home. How the hell could they have known that the scene would be shown within days of the death of their very popular team member Eric Medlen.

Sadly, life goes on and eventually the pain subsides. That said, one can only imagine the regret that the team, families and producers are feeling about the timing of this episode’s topic.

Our thoughts go out to the Medlen family, and all the team members and friends.
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The car freak in North America has more choice than ever before in shows aimed directly at them. In fact, it’s gotten to the point that any media putz with an interest in cars can put together a TV show. If they’ve got the bucks to produce it well, chances are that some network or another will pick it up. Unfortunately, if it looks good, the North American public (ok…the American public. Us Canadians are just along for the ride) will watch it. If it’s half assed drivel, oh well, the masses saw their ad spots. It’s gotten to the point where it really pisses me off when I see some tools creating bad automotive tv.

This brings me to this evening’s rant. As a blogger who works in the car industry, you would think that I might overload on car stuff. Well, you would only be half right. If I’m the only one in the house, I’ll likely have Speed tv on in the background, even if I’m not actually watching. Earlier tonight, I walked by the TV just in time to see the so called pro on Chop Cut Rebuild give his obligatory maintenance tip, sponsored by one of the major oil companies.
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It’s been a while since we’ve delved into the archives here in The Garage, so for this pre Christmas weekend I thought it might be cool to spin back to 1967 with the Castrol Book of Acheivments. This nice little magazine covers all sorts of motorsports. Rallycross, Formula 1, Grand Prix motorcycles, jet airplanes and even trials testing of boats. Perhaps most notable however are some of the differences in motorsports media from the Sixties to today.

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