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The passing of Dino Crescentini has brought a flood of new visitors to The Garage. Wonderful, friendly people who already feel like part of the family. There has also been a healthy does of creativity, with many talented photographers and writers expressing their wishes. Close friend of the Crescentini family, Dominic Torres took many of your photos and comments and created a huge 8′x 4′ board that was displayed at the memorial. All of your good wishes were delivered to Dino’s family in a most memorable fashion.

Thank you Dominic, and thank you readers for sharing.

Click below to see larger version:

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At least that’s what some guy convinced his buddy a few year’s back when he saw Al DeBonis’ ‘62 Corvette parked amongst a bunch of snakes at a race weekend. Watching this unfold, the Shelby guys waited until Al and his wife went for lunch and out came the vinyl lettering. The legend of the Shelby Corvette was born. When DeBonis sold that car and began work on a later model Vette, it just seemed natural that it should be christened “Shelby Corvette 002″.

More pictures after the break
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When I returned home from Mosport on Sunday afternoon, I sat down in front of the computer to write. I had never met Dino Crescentini, though I had admired his Wolf Dallara and even his Can-Am motorcycle. The events from earlier in the day had upset me as a person, as a driver and as a motorsports enthusiast. I had to respectfully inform my fellow enthusiasts of the tragedy of the day. Little did I know that The Garage would become the hub where so many would convey their messages of sympathy and memories to Dino’s family. I am honored that I have been able to help connect all of you.

As I sat down to write, it occurred to me to have a look at the post I had published to promote the VARAC Festival early the day before. It was a detail shot of Dino’s car taken at last year’s VARAC Festival.

We have heard stories of Dino’s love of his friends and family, and we’ve heard how he loved to share his love of motorsports. Some of that love has obviously rubbed off, as so many people have sent in photos to share. After the break, you’ll find a quantity of memories. As there are children in many of these photos, I think it is best to let the images do the talking and leave out the credits. Thanks to everyone who has shared their photos.

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With all the emotion following Sunday’s tragedy at Mosport, an important awakening that happened the same day has been somewhat neglected. Our 9 year old discovered how cool it can be when you combine cars and cameras.

Armed with my crappy old digicam, Duncan worked his way through the paddock on a mission. When the internal memory was full, he was more than happy to take over my FZ-8. As you can see, The Dude has an eye for details and gets the basics of framing a shot. All last night and then again this evening he kept asking when I was going to get him a real camera so he can take more car pictures.

The sport we all love has kindled another flame, while another was extinguished.

Duncan’s photos

Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR.

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Part way though the Group 6 race for Wings & Slicks this morning, the hills around Mosport went silent. It was the kind of eerie silence where you know that something very bad has happened.

At the top of the hill, in the slight bend the Ex Gilles Villeneuve Wolf Dallara Can Am car of Dino Crescentini got sideways at very high speed. The wind got under the car, which barrel rolled several times before impacting the wall and then rolling again. The successful endurance and sprint racer died at the scene. Organizers canceled the rest of the day’s races out of respect.

Our thoughts go out to Crescentini’s family and crew. The vintage racing community is a small, tight knit one and this afternoon was pretty sombre, with much reflection and friends supporting each other. Even though vintage racing is a fun pastime that doesn’t often cause injury or death, all must remember that some classes are high strung racing machines capable of close to 200 mph. It doesn’t take more than the tiniest of errors to bring on catastrophe.

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Finally it’s time for the 2008 VARAC Festival. The focus this year is on the Can Am series. If you’ve never seen the ground pounders in action, this is your chance to see some of the most exciting machines ever built. This year’s gathering is also a stop for the Lola 50th anniversary tour. Of course there will also be the usual collection of sedans, sports cars and open wheelers. The Festival is at Mosport today and tomorrow. You can be sure we’ll have tons of photos over the next few days.

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Racing is under way in Ontario for the 2008 season. Yippee!

We only had a couple of hours at the track early yesterday morning and a bunch of that was spent in the showers cleaning poo off the 7 year old. Thankfully for him the Panoz team actually installed water heaters a couple of years ago!

While we didn’t have time to hear many stories, at least I was able to grab a couple of hundred photos around the paddock. With all the Mother’s Day festivities going on (ok…she’s doing kid stuff and I’m going to a wedding) there won’t be much time today to edit and post photos. No worries though, we’ll have a huge gallery soon!

The Escort RS you see above is reflected on the curvaceous posterior of a vintage, front engine open wheeler of some sort that was just stunning. The owner wasn’t around and there were no visible markings so I’m not sure what it was. I would guess that it is an early Formula Junior. I’ll do some digging to see if I can find the answer.

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Falling squarely in the “I gotta get me one of these” category is the just announced 50th Anniversary poster from Lola. In fact, I may just have to get 2. You see, this somewhat unique poster has images on both sides.

The poster has drawings of 50 Lola race cars, one for each year of the company’s existence, beginning with the 1958 Lola Mk1 to the 2008 B08/80. It will be available for free at selected events that are involved in the 50th Anniversary Celebration. The first two events will be at Brands Hatch World Sportscar Masters race in May and the Oulton Park Gold Cup in August. Let’s hope that they free up a few for the VARAC Festival at Mosport in June.

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