For me, the car above has some special significance. Way back in 1984, at the ripe old age of 17 I went to the World Sports Car 24 hour race at Mosport. For some reason, of all the incredible cars there that weekend this black BMW M1 stuck with me more than any other. Maybe it was the fact that it was a locally owned car, or maybe it was the high pitched wail the car made at speed. Either way, I never forgot it. Marcus Glarner never forgot it either.
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At last year’s VARAC festival, I saw Ron Kieley’s Ferrari Dino race car for the first time. In fact, it was the first time I’d ever seen any Dino race car. This year, I had the opportunity to meet Ron and learn bit more about his baby.
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It’s going to be a big day here in The Garage, as we head down the the Champ Car race so I thought it would be appropriate to post a video from Mosport. Youtube user FetishHose (nice handle) has posted the following video of qualifying taken from the front straight. While the video quality isn’t great, the sound is great. Turn up the speakers and fill your office with the sounds of a dozen Cosworth DFV powered F1 cars.
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Great reality based TV, like great blogging, demands a certain amount of transparency, or honesty to become really great. In other words, shows that let their hosts real personality shine through are always more fun to watch than a fake, made up TV persona. Perhaps that’s why the Canadian show Dream Car Garage became such a hit on a big American TV network. Hosts Peter Klutt and Tom Hnatiw really are the fun guys you see on the show. Unlike so many other hosts of car shows, these guys really are car guys.
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Just a test of the cool FlickrSLiDR tool. Now our readers can check our our Flickr gallery from the VARAC Festival.

Created with Paul’s flickrSLiDR.

As a former Fiat owner, I’ve always had a soft spot for the Italian Marque. Perhaps the coolest of the little Fiats was the Fiat Abarth 850 TC. This stunning example is owned by French language auto writer Alain Raymond who writes a weekly column for LaPresse from Quebec and can also be found online at Mon Volant.
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Welcome to the Canada Day edition of the Carnival of Wheels! It’s been a busy couple of weeks in The Garage. We are in the middle of three weeks of track action and we’ve picked up a new to us SUV, so our work here in The Garage has been pretty self centered. Don’t worry though, our selfish posting will continue, as there are still tons of photos yet to be edited from the VARAC festival and next weekend is a double header. First we’ll have 2 days in the pits at the Steelback Grand Prix for Champ Cars and then on Sunday, Miss Shelby has her first race of the season. Elsewhere online, autobloggers have been busy churning out all manner of hot content, so sit down, strap in and get ready for a smoking hot lap of the blogosphere while you watch the French Grand Prix.

First up we’ve got another visit from Hello Kitty Hell, with a truly frightening tuner mod. This poor guy’s wife has actually installed this happy feline exhaust tip on their car! Be afraid, be very, very afraid.
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Vintage race meets have a habit of bringing out the legends and the 2007 VARAC Festival did not disappoint. Canadian racing legend and the last Can Am series Champion Horst Kroll was in attendance with an old friend in tow.
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March 711-6 as raced by Ronnie Peterson

846 photos and a sunburn. I don’t have a clue where to begin. Do I write or do I edit photos. It’s going to take days, maybe even weeks to tell all the stories and edit all the images. For now, it’s time for bed and one quick story.

I watched a Formula 1 race at Mosport today. Now if that in itself wasn’t cool enough, the company I watched it with made it almost surreal. I finished my day by watching a Formula 1 race with 2005 Canadian rally champion Peter Thomson, 1981 Canadian rally champion Randy Black and none other than legendary Canadian F1 team owner and constructor Walter Wolf!

Quote of the day goes to Mr. Wolf. “The last time I watched my cars race, they won”

The 2007 VARAC Festival at at Mosport, celebrating the 40th anniversary of the Canadian Grand Prix got under way yesterday, under sunny skies. Today has dawned sunny as well, so I’m about to slap on some sunscreen and hit the road. If you are in Southern Ontario, you should do the same, as there is going to be some great racing!

We spoke with artist Paul Chenard last night and he had a busy day peddling his wonderful creations, so we are pretty excited for him.

The photo above is from the 2006 festival. This year, we are armed with our new camera and a couple of empty SD cards, so plan to see a ton of photos over the next few days.