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Vintage Lotus fun at Mosport

Gary Grant — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 19:35:05 +0000

What you see above is the 1962 Lotus Super Seven belonging to Jeremy Sale, just about at the apex of Mosport’s corner 10. This 1,500cc Ford powered Seven is an original car that has been racing for years. It lived with the Baker family for some time and was apparently bent up pretty well. It moved into the hands of Jeremy Hinchcliffe (father of Indy Lights driver James) who lovingly restored it. Due to their light weight, Sevens have always been pretty quick and this one is no slouch. Jeremy’s fastest lap at Mosport has been a 1:39.139 (quick for a 1,500cc anything) and it was a couple of seconds quicker with the young Hinch behind the wheel.

Check out a few laps of Mosport after the break. I’d be interested in knowing where the 911 driver was headed at times. Man, some really weird lines!

A couple of cars that regular readers may recognize in this video are the reproduction of Bill Brack’s Hot Wheels Mini and Leon Lok’s Volvo 142.

Vinegaroon

Gary Grant — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 15:29:51 +0000

After watching the video I posted yesterday, Gary Faules commented on the 1965 Huffaker Genie MK10 race car, nicknamed “Vinegaroon.” This car was owned by Dan Blocker, otherwise known as Hoss from the TV show Bonanza. It was driven by Bob Harris and Canadian John Cannon. Built by Huffaker Engineering in California, this Genie MK10 was sponsored by Nickey Chevrolet in Chicago and was raced in the ‘65 & ‘66 USRRC and the ‘66 Can Am. It came 2nd at the 1965 Nassau Trophy Race and won the 1966 USRRC race at Las Vegas. Today it is owned by Tom Stephani and is raced in vintage events all over. Tom has started a site about Nickey Chev, though it appears to have stalled in development.

After the break, there are some photos of the Vinegaroon at the 2008 VARAC Festival at Mosport. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to get any shots of the car on track.

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Hooters girls invade the G70+ paddock

Gary Grant — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 17:11:33 +0000

What happens when there is a monsoon at the Honda Indy Toronto? Easy: Everyone goes indoors, including the giant herd of Hooters girls. Always on the lookout for stuff our readers will enjoy, I managed to convince a couple of fun loving young ladies to join me on a tour of the G70+ paddock. Some of the jokes these girls were telling along the way were far too much fun for me to reprint here. Suffice it to say that these girls love a good time!

Huge ~~Hooters~~ gallery after the break

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Gallery: VARAC Historics in a soggy pit lane

Gary Grant — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 13:17:54 +0000

What is worse than sitting on pit lane in a soggy suit waiting for a session to start? Sitting in a open top car while the rain is still pissing down. After the break we’ve got a rather large gallery of rather uncomfortable looking cars and their pilots prior to a wet practice session at the 2009 VARAC Festival at Mosport. As you will notice from the water on the lens, it was still raining at this point and the session wasn’t so much fun for a lot of guys.

Still, better than a day in the office!

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Gallery: VARAC Historics on track

Gary Grant — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 13:56:03 +0000

While Saturday was a rainy, nasty mess at Mosport for the 2009 VARAC Festival, Sunday was bright and beautiful. A perfect day to for vintage racing. Over the past few years, my racing galleries have been mostly pit lane and paddock stuff as I just couldn’t seem to get the knack for using the manual focus on my point & shoot camera. It seems like the practice has paid off, as I can now take passable on track shots. This set was taken at the top of the hill on the Mario Andretti Straight, where the big cars like the Mustangs would be traveling somewhere north of 160 mph.

The classes here are what VARAC terms Historic Production Sedans & Sports Cars and Vintage Sports Racers.

Huge gallery after the break

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Gallery: wandering the paddock at VARAC Festival

Gary Grant — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 01:59:30 +0000

Perhaps the best part of a vintage festival, both for competitors and spectators is the incredible collection of wonderful cars and the people who own them. Just like any local cruise, car owners and drivers are always happy to talk about their cars. Not only do many tell stories, but often they learn more about the history of their car from someone who saw it race (or even raced it) back in the day. There is a great feeling of community, where everyone just feels comfortable and appreciative of the day.

After the break, we’ve got a huge gallery of images from the paddock at the 2009 VARAC Festival at Mosport

Group 70+ slips and slides at Mosport

Gary Grant — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 22:12:18 +0000

VARAC’s Group 70+ class is basically a run what ya brung home for race cars from 1970 onwards that don’t meet the traditional classes that VARAC layed out oh so many years ago. It has also become home to some of the older traditional cars that don’t quite fit the profile of the other classes. Take Ian Lok’s Volvo 122S in the picture above: you are looking at an under 2.0 liter Trans Am car. As such, Group 70+ seems to be the perfect home for it.

Ian has owned and raced this car for a long time now and has been know to pull off some pretty incredible feats of driving. Things that just aren’t done. Today, in the pouring rain, Ian made a pass for the lead at the bottom of Mosport’s infamous Corner 2. Only 2 laps from the end, he made the pass stick and won the race.

Now, follow the break and check out the huge gallery of machines that little old, 4 cylinder, normally aspirated Volvo dominated. Mr Lok should be very proud, while perhaps some of the big budget guys should hang their heads in shame.

Note: I have since discovered that Ian actually came in second when the red Porsche re-passed him on the back straight. Still, it was an epic battle!

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Cone down

Gary Grant — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 21:20:12 +0000

I had nothing to do with the death of this poor little guy, but I just couldn’t help but take his photo to make all of you happy.

A soggy day at Mosport for the VARAC Festival

Gary Grant — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 20:15:21 +0000

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.

VARAC Festival under way at Mosport

Gary Grant — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 12:58:20 +0000

The 2009 VARAC Festival got under way at Mosport yesterday under sunny skies. Today promises to be rainy all day, but for tomorrow should be bright and sunny again. What better way to celebrate Father’s Day that to check out some beautiful scenery and wicked old race cars!

Warwick Patterson was at the track yesterday and has already posted a bunch of photos including the one above. I’ll be joining him at the track shortly for day 2. Also at the track today is Andre Rousseau from 124racer.com, you can find him at the top of the Andretti Straight by looking for his blue Triumph GT6.

See you at the track!

The Garage » varac

Vintage Lotus fun at Mosport

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Vinegaroon

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Hooters girls invade the G70+ paddock

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Gallery: VARAC Historics in a soggy pit lane

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Gallery: VARAC Historics on track

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Gallery: wandering the paddock at VARAC Festival

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Group 70+ slips and slides at Mosport

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Cone down

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A soggy day at Mosport for the VARAC Festival

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VARAC Festival under way at Mosport

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