VARAC VINTAGE GRAND PRIX

Ctmp Hosts 43rd Annual Vintage Extravaganza

Stories by Bryce Turner

The43rd annual VARAC Vintage Grand Prix (VGP) presented by eBay Motors saw a large assortment of vintage racing vehicles in action at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park (CTMP). As one of the five major events on the CTMP calendar, the VGP weekend also featured a busy schedule of off-track activities.

“Everything went off very smoothly…the racing was great and there were a lot of people who came up to me and complimented VARAC on the job we did,” said VGP director Peter Lambrinos. “No other events they go to have the interactions that VARAC put on for their members.”

On the track, VARAC racing is split into three divisions – Vintage Historic (VH), Classic/Modern Classic (CL) and Formula Classic (FC), which each have multiple classes. VH features cars from pre-1972, CL has models from 1973 to 2006 and FC features open-wheel cars from 1966 to 2000.

For the Vintage GP, the VH and CL divisions are split into groups, which each have three to four races. Group 1 is comprised of VH classes that have lap times under 1:45, while Groups 2 and 3 race together, with VH classes that take more than 1:45 to lap the track.

Group 4 has CL classes with lap times over 1:40, while Group 5 has CL classes with times below that mark, plus VH vehicles weighing over 2,500 pounds. All FC vehicles race in Group 6, while a pair of touring series complete the schedule, with the Toyo Tires F1600 Championship and the VS2 NA Vintage Sports 2000 series. Mazda was the featured marque for this year’s VGP and had a strong weekend, including a pair of wins by Russ Bond in Group 4. Further coverage of the group races, plus the two special races for the featured marque, can be found in the coming pages.

Meanwhile, there were another two special races that took place. The MG-Triumph Challenge was up first, held on the Friday afternoon. It was a Triumph party at the front of the field, where Henry Frye took the win in a 1968 Triumph TR250, ahead of Mark Wheatley and Stefan Wiesen. The leading MG was Nick Pratt, who held second early before finishing fourth in a 1946 MG TC.

The Ludwig Heimrath Open Wheel Challenge was held on the Sunday afternoon and went uncontested, as the 1970 Hawke DL2A, with driver Paul Hollister, was the only car to take the grid. Hollister ran a ceremonial lap around CTMP to mark the event. Lambrinos says that VARAC officials are already looking at a change to avoid a similar situation.

“(Special races) are basically free events that we give the racers to give them more track time,” said Lambrinos. “We used to charge our racers for these events but, six or seven years ago, we chose to make them free to everybody. We’re looking at doing a schedule change so that (Sunday’s outcome) doesn’t happen again and we have better participation.”

For off-track activities, the weekend started with a BBQ and live music on the Thursday evening, followed by the John Greenwood Awards Banquet and live music on the Friday night. There was also the CPS Paddock Crawl, featuring live music and food stations, with BBQ ribs, wings and submarine sandwiches, on Saturday evening.

Earlier in the day, the Mini Meet North gave car clubs, with Austin Minis, Mini Cooper and Cooper S models, an opportunity to run parade laps during the lunch break. And the weekend’s off-track action concluded on the Sunday, with the Field of Dreams car show, featuring a variety of performance vehicles at turn eight.

The car show offered a spectacle for fans during the lunch break, where a seemingly never-ending line of participating vehicles paced the CTMP circuit. From Mazda convertibles and VW buses to a flatbed truck and a door-less Jeep, the vehicles included a variety of makes, models and eras, resembling everything from restorations to daily drivers.

The car show’s organizer says that this year’s event saw the best turnout ever, with 192 cars in attendance and 100 taking part in the parade laps.

ON-TRACK RECAP

The VARAC Vintage GP (VGP) was filled with competition all weekend long, with about 15 hours of racing on the schedule. Five divisions/series were split into eight groups, with most groups getting four races.

In Group 1 (Vintage Historic A/1/2/3), it was a dominant performance by Steve Gidman, in a 1963 Ginetta G4R. The Scarborough, ON driver swept the three group races, while recording the fastest lap in each event. He also added a victory in the Groups 1, 2 and 3 combined feature.

“Races were great, we had a lovely weekend, the weather’s been fantastic,” said Gidman. “Big crowd out. A lot of American (drivers) came for the first time in a while, so it really upped the field; it put a little bit of challenge on us all.”

Group 2 (VH 4) and Group 3 (VH 5/6) ran together for three races, before the feature show. John Hawkes (1966 Lotus Cortina) swept the Saturday events, while John Styduhar (1962 Triumph TR3B), who recorded the fastest lap in the first race, won the Sunday event. Hawkes also competes in Group 1 and did not start Race 3.

That third event also had a ‘hold your breath’ moment, as Ted Michalos (1961 Austin Healey Bugeye) brought out a red flag when his car flipped upside down in turn nine. Luckily, the Guelph, ON driver walked away unhurt.

It was a challenging weekend overall for last year’s VH2 class champion, who was running three different cars, including a Mazda, the featured marque for this year’s VGP.

“In the Porsche, I broke a camshaft, so the engine’s kaput; the Mazda’s having ignition problems, so it never quite ran properly, so I parked it; then, of course, this one flipped over,” said Michalos. “The right-rear half shaft, which drives the wheels, snapped; (it) caused the car to spin and, when it hit the edge of the track, it flipped over on its top.”

Group 4 (Classic/Modern Classic 2/3/4/5) saw Desmond Tam win the first race, in a 1987 Porsche 951, but it was Russ Bond, in a 1975 Mazda RX3 Fahren, who would become the story of the group. Bond pitted from the lead in race one, thinking he was being black flagged, before being told on pit road that he was not the driver in question.

He worked his way up from 37th to 17th at the finish, while recording the fastest lap. The next race then started with a caution before Bond put on a spirited drive that saw him move from 17th to the lead in just two laps. He recorded the fastest lap once again and pulled away to the win.

The third race didn’t get going, with a red flag for oil cleanup after lap one, while Bond went on to win the feature race under caution. The Uxbridge, ON driver was impressed with a makeshift repair that his team made to the Mazda.

“We have some new guys on the crew and they really worked hard, because we broke a splitter (Saturday) and we don’t have another one, so they made one out of the kitchen table, literally,” said Bond. “They cut the table up and they made me a new splitter. With- out a splitter, that car won’t turn and we wouldn’t have won today, so really thankful to all those guys helping us out.”

Group 5 (CL/MC B/A/1 and VH over 2500) saw Blaise Csida sweep all four races, in a 2002 Pontiac Grand Prix, while Group 6 (Formula Classic) saw a four-race sweep by Stephen Sutherland, in a 1995 Van Diemen RF95. For Sutherland, it was only his second race weekend in his first year of racing; he credited his team and the car’s setup as keys to success.

The Toyo Tires F1600 Championship had a trio of races on VGP weekend. Most of the early season contenders made the trek to Canadian Tire Motorsport Park (CTMP), while F1600 Canada provided a tempting alternative, as a support series at the Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal.

Callum Baxter, who entered runner-up in Class A points, made the trip to Formula 1 weekend, while Class A points leader Logan Pacza headlined the drivers at CTMP. Pacza led nearly flag-to-flag en route to a race one win, ahead of Sam Baker, before a back-and-forth affair between the two drivers on the Sunday.

Pacza started on pole for race two and traded the top spot with Baker throughout, with eight lead changes culminating in Pacza completing the winning pass with two laps to go. Race three was slowed by an early caution, but still had four lead changes, including a last-lap pass that saw Pacza edge Baker by a mere 0.115 seconds.

“When you’re doing these long races, sometimes, if you’re out in front, they feel like they take forever,” said Pacza. “But when you’ve got someone to fight with the whole time, it goes by (fast)…kind of distracts you from getting tired. Sam raced me hard and clean, everything I would want, so it was a great race.”

Pacza, who made the jump from karting this season, also credited his crew for giving him a car that was “on rails the whole weekend.” He said the decision to run CTMP over Montreal was mainly financial, but that the additional track time at CTMP, compared to Montreal, is also important for development purposes.

The final group in action at the VGP was the visiting VS2 NA Vintage Sports 2000 series. Ben Sinnott won the first three races, before Brent Gernert took the victory in the feature race. The Phoenixville, PA driver was competing at CTMP for the first time.

“It’s a great track, fastest track I’ve ever been on,” said Gernert. “It’s an amazing roller coaster, I had a lot of fun out there and this has just been a fantastic weekend.”

Trophies were handed out to class winners from each feature race. Full results can be found at www.varac.ca.

Mazda Enjoys Featured Marque Status

The VARAC Vintage GP (VGP) celebrates a featured marque each year, choosing from the wide range of vehicles that take part in VARAC events. It’s not unusual to see makes such as MG or Triumph being honoured, but this year, it’s Japanese automaker Mazda in the spotlight. Driver Russ Bond approached VGP director Peter Lambrinos with the idea of Mazda being the featured marque and the organization agreed.

“VARAC welcomed that idea,” said Lambrinos. “VARAC wants to try to be a little bit on the cutting edge when it comes to looking at the vehicles. Everybody does the same thing every year, we wanted to try and look outside of the box.”

There are a pair of special races for the featured marque at the VGP. The first is a battle within the manufacturer, where the All-Mazda Race was a competitive affair.

Bond (1975 Mazda RX3 Fahren) and “Steve Gidman” (1990 Mazda Miata) traded the lead six times, with Bond ultimately finishing ahead of Gidman and Stephen Di Cesare. After the race, it was revealed to all that it was Steve’s son Matthew taking a turn in the car.

“I thought something was going on because his dad and I have a little hand gesture we share amongst each other,” said Bond. “When I gave Matt the hand gesture, thinking it was Steve, I didn’t get one back, so I thought ‘that was kind of weird,’ now we know why.”

Bond saw a green flag when entering the straightaway on the last lap, after passing a car in turn five. When he realized that he had passed under local caution, he forfeited his position, making Gidman the winner. The Scarborough, ON driver was impressed with the field of cars.

“At the starting grid, it was the best picture of a bunch of Miata’s, the old RX’s, rotaries, four cylinders, turbo cars, naturally aspirated, just the variety of vehicles and drivers is amazing,” said Gidman. “To see all these Mazdas out here this weekend is awesome.”

Eleven cars took the green flag for the race, while eight Mazda’s took part in the Rudy Bartling Nation’s Cup. The event created a ‘Mazda versus the World’ battle, as the featured marque lined up on one side of the grid, with competing manufacturers on the other. The overall honours going to the group with the most cars in the top-10.

Bond raced from a 15th-place starting spot to take the lead on lap six and drove away to the win. Derek Young finished second, in a 1971 Datsun 240Z, after leading the opening laps. With seven Mazda’s in the top-10, the featured marque was victorious.

The event is named in honour of the late road racer Rudy Bartling, whose widow, son and granddaughter awarded trophies to the podium finishers. With a reputation of being an affordable but reliable car, and something different in the vintage racing world, Mazda enjoyed the rewards of a stellar weekend as the featured marque. IT