varac — Page 2

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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Random thoughts from the north

June 28, 2010 by Leighton Irwin 1 Comment

That was probably the best VARAC Vintage Festival ever. It certainly was the best I have attended. More MGs on track than I have ever seen and many of them racing hard. Nick Pratt in a Midget beat all the ‘B’s and twin cam A’s to take the overall win. A real upset. But he can really drive. A TD finished 7th I think. Well over 50 cars started. Other races had over 60 cars and that sure makes for one busy track!

One fault with many Vintage events is that many drivers more cruise than race. Given the value of some of the cars that may be forgiven a bit. At this year’s event there were more really racing than usual and many others at least driving hard. There still were a few that really should just go to lapping days and not clutter up the track.

VARAC does not seem to attract many high end cars with Jack Boxstom’s Aston and Mk1 Chapparal being exceptions. The Mk 1 was not actually designed or built by Jim Hall but by Troutman and Barnes. The oldest cars were 1946 MG TC’s so there were no pre war cars racing.
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VARAC Saturday enduro

June 26, 2010 by Gary Grant Leave a Comment

On Saturday afternoon at the VARAC festival last week, the final event of the day was a 1 hour enduro. The term enduro caused a bit of chuckling among the old guard, as a 1 hour race is far from being an enduro but at least it allows more track time than most guys get in vintage cars. The race was also sort of a run what ya brung type of deal, meaning the grid was shared by everything from MG T series to much more modern sports racers.
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G70+ at 2010 VARAC Festival

June 25, 2010 by Gary Grant Leave a Comment

The Group 70+ gang always put on a great show for the spectators, whether they are racing at Mosport or the Toronto Indy. Maybe that is because many of these cars are more recent than the ones in the historic classes, and the teams tend to actually race.

The Saturday afternoon race at the 2010 VARAC Festival was no exception, as the field was large and eager. It was cool to watch the BMW 3.0 CSL mixing it up with some Eighties era Trans Am style cars. Further back in the field, there was a great battle between the Datsuns and Porsches that kept the fans cheering.

Gallery of shots from the race after the break. There are still tons more individual car shots to come. They’ll be in a gallery for sale soon.
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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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Happy Father’s Day!

June 20, 2010 by Gary Grant 2 Comments

What better way to spend Father’s Day than to hang out at the track, shooting vintage cars with your kid? Apparently, going tubing beats out racing so I spent my day at the track with all the old guys!

That isn’t as bad as it might sound! I spent my day hanging out with Leighton Irwin and Gary Magwood, listening to stories of Formula Atlantic in the Seventies. The only problem was the annoying noisy things going by every minute and a half! I shot over 3000 photos on Friday and Saturday, so it was nice to just hang out in the shade and bench race. We had the opportunity to catch up with some old friends and got to meet a few readers. All in all, it was a great day.

Tomorrow, I’ll be doing some editing and get some of those photos up. I’m not even sure where to start. For now, here are a few shots from around the paddock and turn 1 today.

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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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Vintage Lotus fun at Mosport

November 5, 2009 by Gary Grant 3 Comments

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!
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Vinegaroon

September 6, 2009 by Gary Grant 2 Comments

After watching the video I posted yesterday, Gary Faules commented on the 1965 Huffaker Genie MK10 race car, nicknamed Ã¢â‚¬Å“Vinegaroon.Ã¢â‚¬Â 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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