varac festival

Ridin’ with Rousseau

July 12, 2010 by Gary Grant 2 Comments

One of the coolest thing about publishing The Garage over the years is that we’ve had the opportunity to make some great friends from all over the world. Fortunately, some of those friends are closer than others. We first met Andre Rousseau through The Garage, while he was publishing a build blog that followed the restoration of his rather stunning Triumph GT6. A trip to the vintage festival at Watkins Glen, driving the Triumph, sealed his fate: he had become hooked on racing. The GT6 was far to pretty to be turned into a race car, so the hunt for a race car began.
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2010 VARAC Festival race report

June 29, 2010 by Gary Grant 5 Comments

Festival poster by Don Hooten

Guest post by Jeremy Sale, Editor of The Vintage Racer

The Vintage Automobile Racing Club of Canada (VARAC) held its 31st Annual Vintage Racing Festival at Mosport International Raceway, Ontario, Canada, enjoying great weather and exciting racing while hosting the annual Ã¢â‚¬Å“MG Vintage Racer’s – Focus EventÃ¢â‚¬Â. Since 1995 the MG Vintage Racers have annually teamed up with one vintage racing organization for their designated Ã¢â‚¬Å“Focus EventÃ¢â‚¬Â and this year a large turnout of MGs of all types and years came to enjoy magnificent Mosport. This yearÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s festival also celebrated the 50th season of racing at this iconic race track.

It was a fun and full weekend, including the opportunity to be entertained by well known motorsport author and novelist, Burt “The Ride Mooch” Levy at the Saturday evening banquet. VARAC also played host to Canada’s largest Mini gathering, Mini Meet North, as well as the “Field of Dreams” car show that welcomed sports cars, and car clubs from far and wide with the opportunity to take part in Sunday noon parade laps on-track. Large fields were the order of the day in Vintage and Small Bore where 62 cars took to the field while 49 cars contested the Historic class.
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Historic Production Sports Cars at VARAC Festival

June 22, 2010 by Gary Grant Leave a Comment

One of the highlights of the 2010 VARAC Festival for me at least, was the Historic Production Sports Car race on Saturday afternoon. There were a whopping 62 cars on the track at one time! The entries ranged from Jack Boxtrom’s Chaparral 1 to an assortment of Fiats & Volvos and a whole heck of a lot of MGB’s. Anthony Polito went hard in his Shelby GT350, stretching out a lead over the 2 Kiki’s and Boxtrom. That Shelby sounds absolutely wicked as it charged up the hill behind me, while I shot from the trees at the bottom of turn 4.

After the break, we’ve got a huge gallery of the action. If you are one of the drivers, stay tuned, as we have tons of individual shots waiting to be edited. We likely have photos of your car that are suitable for making large prints.
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VARAC Festival Saturday racing action part 1

June 21, 2010 by Gary Grant 6 Comments

The weather reporters had forecast a sloppy wet day for Saturday, which usually means a miserable day at the track. Fortunately, they were wrong and we had a few sprinkles for about 5 minutes.

Our photo guru here in The Garage, Allan De La Plante, had told me to go to “the place nobody bothers to go anymore”. As he was known for his killer shots from the bottom of the hill at Mosport’s turn 4, I assumed that’s the spot he was referring to and I took a walk. For those who have never been to Mosport, the bottom of 4 is possibly the most dangerous spot at the track for photographers, which is why most never go there. In fact, I found out later that I caused a bit of a ruckus on the radios when the rescue team noticed me standing down there. The marshals were well aware of my presence, so all was good. There is a huge tree trunk with a bit of space to run away, of course it is right at the exact place where most errant cars end up!
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VARAC vintage racing festival is under way this weekend at Mosport

June 18, 2010 by Gary Grant Leave a Comment

For many Ontario race fans, the annual Vintage Festival at Mosport is the highlight of the summer. I have to say, that even with all of the pro events we cover, the VARAC festival is certainly one of my favorite events.

In its 31st year, the 2010 edition kicked off with a test day yesterday. Structured practice began today, while there is qualifying and racing tomorrow and Sunday. This year, MG is the featured marque and there are literally dozens of the British cars from every era on hand. The racing ranges from open wheeled cars to more recent showroom stock racers and everything in between. VARAC also hosts the annual Mini Meet North, a giant paddock full of every variation of Mini imaginable.
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A soggy day at Mosport for the VARAC Festival

June 20, 2009 by Gary Grant Leave a Comment

I managed to grab 442 photos today during my rain soaked visit to the 2009 VARAC Festival at Mosport. It will take a while to edit all of those, but for now this shot pretty much sums up the day.

Get ready for some great racing at the 2008 VARAC Festival with Can-Am

February 23, 2008 by Gary Grant Leave a Comment

While we’ve lost the Toronto Grand Prix for 2008, it doesn’t mean that there isn’t some great racing to be had in Ontario this year. Just up the road from downtown Toronto, at Canada’s home of motorsport, is the annual VARAC Vintage Racing Festival. The focus for 2008 is on the thundering Can Am cars and what better place to experience these beasts than at Mosport.

Owners of these incredible cars are well aware that some of the most historic Can Am battles took place at Mosport and are always happy to bring their monsters back to the track. We’re still 4 months away and the entry list is already impressive.
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