The Enhanced Performance, Good Cars Only, Gabo Solutions #77 Formula Mazda Team had an excellent weekend at the VARAC 45th Vintage Grand Prix, held at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park (CTMP). We were placed in the Formula Classic Race group. There was a total of 43 cars in our race group including, Formula Fords, F1200’s and several Formula Mazda’s as well as many other historic open wheel cars.  The weather was beautiful with sunny days and temperatures ranging from 17°C to 22°C. 

Over the course of Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, we were on track a total of 11 times; 4 on-track practices during the Thursday test day, followed by one practice and on qualifying session on Friday, Race 1 & 2 on Saturday, as well as the Ludwig Heimrath Open Wheel Challenge and Races 3 & 4 on Sunday. Our race group included some beautiful open wheel race cars.

On the Thursday test day, the weather very nice.  Our best lap for the test day was a 1:24.881 – a pretty respectable lap time, however off from our typical lap times in the 1:22’s. 

Friday morning, the weather was quite nice – we set a time of 1:30.399 (way off our normal lap times because of the number of cars in our race group). This lap time was the best time for the session of all the other cars. During our qualifying session, we ended up with a qualifying time of 1:28.493 - once again way off our normal lap times due to the large number of race cars on track couple d with our inability to put together a clan lap. Luckily, everyone else in our race group had the same problem- as a result we qualified P1 in our race group and class.

The weather on Saturday was sunny with a high in the low 20’s.  During Race 1, we pulled away comfortably from the field on the first lap, we finished P1 in our race group and P1 in our class with best lap time of 1:26.899. During Race 2, once again we pulled away from the field on the first lap and finished P1 in our race group and P1 in our class with a best lap time of 1.24.953. 
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Late Saturday afternoon, we participated in the Ludwig Heimrath Open Wheel Challenge. There were 16 cars in total in our race group and we cruised to a P1 victory with a best lap time of 1:25.637. This is the second consecutive year that we have won the Ludwig Heimrath Open Wheel Challenge – it is an amazing honour for us to win this prestigious event.

The weather on Sunday was just beautiful with sunny skies and a high of 23°.  During Race 3, we set a best lap time of 1:26.235 finishing P1 in out race group and P1 in our class.  During Race 4, we held steady in first place in a red flag filled (two red flags, in fact) race, setting a fast lap time of 1:26.254, finishing in P1 in our race group and in our class. All in all, a superb race weekend!

Here is a link to our video race report for the weekend.

A special thank you to Diane and Masha, our very talented crew for the VARAC VGP race weekend.

​And a big thank you to Bill Vallis & Shirley Vallis of Vallis Motor Sport for their trackside support during the VARAC VGP and to Canadian Tire Motorsports Park for hosting such a fantastic, safe event!!  And last, but certainly not least, we want to thank our long-suffering family which allows us to continue to race……….

Here is a selection of photos from the BEMC weekend taken by Jeff Fenwick & Peter Viccary

The Enhanced Performance, Good Cars Only, Gabo Solutions #77 Formula Mazda Team had a great race weekend at the BEMC Spring Trophy Races held at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park. We were entered in the Formula Classic/Formula Libre race group. There were a total of 22 cars in our race group including, eight F1200’s, five F1600’s, three Formula Mazda’s, one Formula 4, one Swift S2 , one Van Diemen F1000, and Rich Kenworthy’s beautifully restored 2000 Radical ProSport. The May weather was cool but quite sunny with temperatures ranging from 10 to 20° C.

Over the course of Friday, Saturday and Sunday, we were on track a total of 8 times; 4 on-track practices during the Friday test day, followed by practice/qualifying and Race 1 on Saturday, Race 2 and Race 3 on Sunday.
Our best lap for the test day was a 1: 24.858 on old Hoosier tires from the previous year, pretty impressive for old race tires.

Saturday morning, the weather was perfect – about 12°C and a clear sky. We switched to new set of Hoosiers. We set a reasonable P3 qualifying time of 1:25.898 (P1 in our class). During Race 1, we diced back and forth with the front four, we ended up P3 in our race group and P1 in our class. Our best lap time in Race 1 was 1.25.254.
The weather on Sunday morning was cool but sunny. During Race 2, we chased Rich Kenworthy for the lead setting a best lap time of 1:23.776. W just caught Rich on the last lap but did not have enough laps left to pass him. We ended up P2 in our race group and P1 in our class.
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We had a great start at the beginning of Race 3 right beside Rich gapping the rest of the pack by the end of lap 1. Rich gapped us when we caught up to lapped traffic, we were never able to catch up him.  We finished the race in P2 (P1 in our class) with a best lap time of 1:24.265. All in all a great first race weekend of the year!!

​And a big thank you to Bill and Shirley Vallis of Vallis Motor Sport for their trackside support during the BEMC Spring Trophy Races and to Canadian Tire Motorsports Park for hosting such a fantastic event!!  And last, but certainly not least, we want to thank our long-suffering family who allows us to continue to race……….