VARAC Vintage Racing

VARAC YIR

A LOOK BACK AT THE 2022 SEASON

Story by J. Wally Nesbitt

One of the strongest rebounds from the COVID restrictions has been seen in the vintage motorsports sector. In 2022, well over 125 VARAC-registered drivers, split between the Vintage Historic, Classic and Formula Classic divisions, scored points in this season’s Driver’s Challenge while the VARAC Vintage Grand Prix attracted close to 200 entrants, some coming from as far away as Alberta, Saskatchewan, Connecticut, New Hampshire, New York, North Carolina and Pennsylvania.

With the very odd exception, the racing was clean and safe with minimal damage done to the vehicles, the gentlemanly aspect of vintage auto racing living up to its reputation.

At the conclusion of the nine-date 2022 VARAC calendar, 13 competitors were recognized as best-in-class, with three of those drivers honoured as overall division champions.

VINTAGE / HISTORIC

Catering to the well-ingrained mindset of what a sports car should look like, the Vintage/ Historic class is the VARAC home for such notable marques as MG, Triumph, Lola and Lotus. Small nimble, and capable of close, exciting competition, the small-bore machinery attracts a large amount of interest, both from the budget-conscious racer and their educated fan base.

A long-time GT regional racer in Quebec with an affinity for Mazda models, Phil Cooper switched brands and disciplines in 2008 upon his retirement from the teaching profession.

Taking possession of a pair of Morris Garages MGB street cars, Cooper took it upon himself to fabricate one race-ready car out of the two chassis, eventually guiding his creation to the VH-4 title “a couple of years ago”.

“I was actually looking for a Triumph TR4, but they’re not easy to find and quite expensive to get,” said Cooper. “Then I started considering an MG because of the popularity of the car and the handy availability of parts. A teacher friend of mine had an MGB that she wasn’t using and I found another one in Ottawa that the owner had lost interest in, so I bought both, made one track ready and went racing in VARAC.”

Boasting the standard 1800 cc (bored out to 40 thou over), four-cylinder engine, the No. 62 Roadster has a cast iron engine block and crankshaft, but has a modified head, racing cams and an aluminum flywheel. With the powerplant connected to a four-speed, close ratio, straight-cut gearbox, the car showed about 140 bhp when on the dyno.

“This car is relatively easy to drive, it handles nicely and it has good brakes. But it really needed more power,” continued Cooper.

As a way to improve the power-to-weight ration of his car, Cooper purchased another, completely stripped 1963 MGB body shell to drop onto his proven 1974 chassis. Dropping almost 170 pounds of weight has improved the acceleration of his mount and has allowed Cooper to better engage his fellow MG rivals, Joe Lightfoot and Nick Pratt, and the Porsche 911 RS of Anselmo Beretta in proper wheelto-wheel VH-3 competition.

“We had some really great battles this year, the car held together and we were able to win our fair share of the races. I did seven events this year, including two trips to Mont Tremblant, and as luck would have it, I earned enough points to win my VH-3 class and the Vintage/ Historic class Overall championship. That will definitely make the off-season a happier time.”

CLASSIC

The Classic designation in VARAC refers to production-based vehicles constructed between the years of 1973-1989 (G70+) and 1990-1997 (G90). The largest, loudest and fastest machinery is found in Classic with the mainstays of Porsche, BMW, Camaro, Corvette, and Mustang fronting the charge for class supremacy.

One of the more populated divisions, in the 2022 Vintage Grand Prix, 42 cars took the green flag in a 15 lap race that had only four DNFs.

A relative newcomer to the VARAC racing fraternity, in three short seasons Caledon, ON’s Stephen Di Cesare had made a quick rise through the CL-3 ranks and was proclaimed as the 2022 VARAC class champion while also being recorded as the top scoring driver in the Classic division.

“My dad has been racing since the late 1960s, so racing has kind of always been in my blood,” admitted Di Cesare. “We both attended the Jim Russell school at Tremblant in the mid 90s, and that had me hooked. I became my father’s test day driver in his Ginetta but then I picked up a 1990 Mazda in 2014 that I developed for lapping days.”

“Three years ago, I was trying to decided whether I wanted another street car, a track day car or a full race car but then I found a Mazda Miata in West Virginia. I towed it home, repaired it and prepped it and was ready to go racing in 2020 when Covid hit. I did a day of Time Attack just to familiarize myself with the car and when VARAC opened up again in July 2020, I saw my first real racing action.”

The 2021 season was a development year for Di Cesare and his No. 35 Miata with the car now fully prepared for a run at the championship in 2022.

“We worked on the alignment of the car and the overall set up and I became much more comfortable in the car in both wet and dry conditions.”

Enjoying early season success this year, Di Cesare found himself leading the CL-3 points following a “great weekend of racing with Perry Mason and Tammy Moore” at the Vintage Grand Prix. Continuing to build on his success, by the end of the 2022 campaign, Di Cesare had notched seven wins and 11 podium finishes in 14 starts, sufficient to secure the VARAC CL-3 title as well as the overall Classic championship.

“I had waited a long time before I began to actually race, but the feeling of success has made the wait so worthwhile. I’m motivated and passionate about this vintage racing thing, I’ll be back to try to do even better next season.”

FORMULA CLASSIC

There are a wide variety of open wheel cars competing on the VARAC tour and although their numbers may not match the car counts from the GT ranks, they do enjoy their own designated class with separate races.

Virtually any era of open-wheel car is eligible to compete, from the earliest examples such as Doug Elcomb’s 1961 Canada Class Formula Junior Dreossi to Bill Mitchell’s 1999 BRD F1200.

Recently, the car attracting the most attention as a potential race winner has been the No. 77 1998 Star Mazda. Again in 2022, car owner, mechanic and driver Paul Subject rose to the top of the Formula Classic scoring to be announced as a repeat winner of the FC overall championship.

Although he had been racing in go-karts and TQ Midgets since 1978, to celebrate his 50th birthday, Subject attended a three-day driving school at Laguna Seca Raceway.

“That was a strategic mistake,” admitted Subject. “I swore that I’d never get out of a race car again! I spent four years (2006-2010) competing in the Skip Barber championship but in 2010, I bought this Star Mazda and started racing it all over North America. As the years went by, it gradually became a vintage-era car.”

Racing under the VARAC FC-90 classification, Subject can usually be found leading his open wheeled rivals as he pushes the diminutive 1.3L powerplant to the extreme.

“This is a very forgiving race car, easy to drive because of the downforce and very driver friendly. You still need to stay on top of

(Opposite page, top to bottom) Ted Michalos won the 2022 VARAC Vintage / Historic 2 title in his 1962 Lotus 23b and Andrew Atkins was Classic CL-1 champion in his 1987 Ford Mustang. (Top) Formula Classic 90 champion Paul Subject in his 1998 Star Mazda. (Above) Doug Elcomb won

the Formula Junior class in his iconic 1961 Dreossi. Photos by Richard Coburn

it because of the speeds it can reach, but that’s what makes it so much fun.”

With his natural talent and years of experience in both competition and coaching, only when he comes up against other Formula Mazda cars does he become ever-so-slightly worried.

“There’s a lot of them out there. I know that Nigel Mortimer has six or seven of them, and he brought a bunch to the VGP. Lew (MacKenzie) gave me a strong run in his Mazda Sports Racer, it’s the same car as mine, but with bodywork. And his daughter Kimm and another Ottawa driver, Steve McCamus, showed very well, too in those cars.”

VARAC CLASS CHAMPIONS

VINTAGE / HISTORIC: V/H-2: Ted Michalos No. 23 1962 Lotus 23b // V/H-3: Phil Cooper No. 62 1974 MGB* // V/H-4: Del Bruce No. 32 1972 Porsche 914 // V/H-5: Chris Rupnik No. 515 1972 Fiat 124 Spider // V/H-6: Lino Baggio No. 49 1956 MGA. CLASSIC: CL-A: Del Bruce No. 99 1971 Chevrolet Corvette // CL-1: Andrew Atkins No. 71 1987 Ford Mustang // CL-2: Emily Atkins No. 17 1994 BMW M3 // CL-3: Stephen Di Cesare No. 35 1990 Mazda Miata*. FORMULA CLASSIC: FC-90: Paul Subject No. 77 1998 Star Mazda* // FC-1200: Phil Wang No. 173 1996 Caracal C // FORMULA JUNIOR: Doug Elcomb No. 948 1961 Dreossi // HISTORIC FORMULA FORD: Kevin Young No. 60 1971 Crossle 20F *Overall FC champions. IT