The STANMECH Technologies, Good Cars Only, Gabo Solutions #77 Formula Mazda Team had an awesome race weekend at the 2021 CASC-OR/CTMP Celebration Of Motorsport Races held at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park. We were entered in the Formula Libre race group. There were a total of 20 cars in our race group including, a Formula Atlantic, one Formula Renault, one Reynard F2000, three Formula 4’s, six historical Formula Fords and seven F1200’s, . The weather was sunny and beautiful on the 1st and 2nd of October and absolutely dismal on the 3rd with mist fog and light rain.  Temperatures ranged from 15 to 25° C during the event.
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Over the course of Friday, Saturday and Sunday, we were on track a total of 9 times; 5 on-track practices during the Friday test day, followed by combined practice/qualifying and Race 1 on Saturday, Race 2 & 3 on Sunday. Our race class had some beautiful open wheel race cars including Marcel Lafontaine’s stunning 2002 Swift 014 Formula Atlantic.

Our best lap for the test day was a 1:23.5 flat on tires that were left over from the BEMC Late Summer Trophy Race weekend at CTMP two weeks before.

Saturday morning, the weather was perfect – about 23°C and a clear sky. We scuffed in our race tires during our last session of the Friday test day.  We set a reasonable P2 qualifying time of 1:24.421, however we had to take a two grid position penalty because we passed a car in a yellow flag zone – a dumb mistake – so we started in P4. During Race 1, we quickly cleared Jeff Watson, but Jim Morton managed to scoot away at the start and we could not catch him with all of the traffic from the 20 car grid.  As a result, we finished in P3 behind Marcel and Jim with a fairly reasonable lap time of 1:24:525.
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The weather on Sunday was misty, cool and wet – the track was slick for the majority of the day. 

​A number of cars did not race due to the challenging track conditions. Additionally, a Radical was placed on our grid to obtain some additional track time. We started Race 2 in P1 and tip toed around the slick race track searching for grip.  We finished in P2 behind the Radical with an incredibly slow lap time of 1:30.055. 

​During the day on Sunday, the track improved somewhat – it varied between dry and intermittent.  We started Race 3 in P2 and passed the Radical on the second lap when he came into the pits for a mechanical issue. We led the remaining 12 laps in P1 with a best lap time of 1:27.502 with a one lap lead over second place Murray Burkett.

​And a big thank you to Bill and Shirley Vallis of Vallis Motor Sport for their trackside support during the 2021 CASC-OR/CTMP Celebration of Motorsport 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 race weekend at the CASC-OR/CTMP Celebration of Motorsport at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park

Here is two videos from the CASC-OR/CTMP Celebration of Motorsport at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park 

Here are two in-car race videos from the BEMC Late Summer Trophy Races at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park!!

Here are selected photos from the BEMC Late Summer Trophy Races at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park - enjoy!!

The STANMECH Technologies, Good Cars Only, Gabo Solutions #77 Formula Mazda Team had an awesome race weekend at the BEMC Late Summer Trophy Races held at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park. We were entered in the Formula Libre race group. There were a total of 7 cars in our race group including, four Formula 4’s, one Formula Renault and one Reynard F2000. The weather was absolutely stunning with temperatures ranging from 20 to 25° C with the humidex.
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Over the course of Friday, Saturday and Sunday, we were on track a total of 9 times; 4 on-track practices during the Friday test day, followed by practice, qualifying and Race 1 on Saturday, Race 2 & 3  on Sunday. Our race class had some beautiful open wheel race cars including Jim Morton’s unbelievably fast Gamma Tercero F4.

Our best lap for the test day was a 1:24 flat on Pirelli radial tires that were left over from the CASC-OR Summer Classic Race weekend at Calabogie Motorsports Park. We had lots of fun learning to drive the Pirelli’s on the high speed Grand Prix track at CTMP.

Saturday morning, the weather was perfect – about 20°C and a clear sky. We scuffed in our race tires during practice. We set a reasonable P1 qualifying time of 1:24.128. During Race 1, the track became oiled down due to an engine failure with Mike MacNeil’s car, necessitating black flag all ending the race at lap 6.  We finished in P1 with a lap time of 1:24:054.
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The weather on Sunday was sunny, beautiful and perfect for racing at about 21°C.  We had a terrible start at the beginning of Race 2 due to improper gear selection dropping us to 3rd place. Fortunately, we were able to regain the lead by lap 5 and finish the race in P1 with a best lap time of 1:24.109. Clearly, we were working our tires hard, so we flipped them on the rims. 

We started Race 3 in P1 and diced with Jim Morton for the first 3 laps. We cleared Jim on lap 4 and led the remaining 15 laps in P1 with a best lap time of 1:24.092 with a 40.5 second lead over Bob Long.

​A special thank you to guest Crew Chief, Jack Brokenshire, who learned what is was like to work on a real race car

​And a big thank you to Bill and Shirley Vallis of Vallis Motor Sport for their trackside support during the BEMC Late Summer Trophy Races 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……….

The STANMECH Technologies, Good Cars Only, Gabo Solutions #77 Formula Mazda Team had a great race weekend at the CASC – OR Summer Classic, held at Calabogie Motorsports Park. We were entered in the Formula Libre race group. There were a total of 16 cars in our race group including, a Formula Atlantic, a Radical three Formula 4’s, two Formula Renaults, several Formula Mazda’s and assorted other open wheel Formula Libre race cars. The weather was unbelievably hot and humid with temperatures ranging from 35 to 42° C with the humidex.

Over the course of Friday, Saturday and Sunday, we were on track a total of 9 times; 5 on-track practices during the Friday test day, followed by qualifying and Race 1 on Saturday, Race 2 & 3  on Sunday. Our race class had some beautiful open wheel race cars including Marcel Lafontaine’s unbelievably fast Formula Atlantic.
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Our best lap for the test day was a 2:06 – on fresh, scuffed in tires. When compared to previous trips to Calabogie, we noted that the track had become much more abrasive than what we had previously recalled, and we expected that were going to have tire wear issues during the course of the race weekend.  

​Saturday morning, the weather was very warm, with a substantial amount of humidity. We deliberately did not participate in practice as we didn’t want to cause any unnecessary tire wear. We set a reasonable P4 qualifying time of 2:09.141. During Race 1, we managed to gain one spot finishing in P3 with a lap time of 2:07.884. Bill Vallis and I spent quite a bit of time working on chassis set up to improve the tire wear, however we were already struggling to minimize the impact that the track was having on our tires. And unfortunately, this one set of tires was going to have to work for us during the entire race weekend.
The weather on Sunday started out very warm and humid. During Race 2, we experience rapid degradation of the tires resulting in a P5 finish with a best lap time of 2:11.105. Sadly, our tires were a mess after the session and we found some kind of tire defect in our front left tire. 

This problem created a huge issue for us as we did not have another set of tires that we could change to. As a result, we had to buy a fresh set of Pirelli radial race tires for the #77 Formula Mazda. This tire change resulted in a complete suspension setup change to accommodate the radial race tires.

It is important to note here that we have never driven the #77 Formula Mazda with radial tires, so this was going to be quite an experience. We started Race 3 in 4th position and quickly made our way to P1 by lap number four. Mike MacNeil challenged us for the lead in corner 5 on lap eight by trying to pass on the outside but was unable to complete the pass as he ran out of racetrack. Huw Leahy, in his Radical, managed to pass us on the last lap in the braking zone of 12a, however we were able to regain the position in the last corner before the checkered flag (corner 20) finishing in P1. An outstanding race with a best lap time of 2:09.050!

The experience running on Pirelli racing radials was very interesting. Normally, we run on Goodyear bias ply tires. The #77 Formula Mazda reacts very well with Goodyear tires, responding instantaneously to changes in steering inputs. The Pirelli radials, on the other hand, experienced an infinitesimal lag in response during changes in steering inputs. As a result, we had to modify our turning points for most corners to accommodate for that small lag in response. It was a very interesting experience in terms of the change in handling of our #77 Formula Mazda and we are looking forward to future opportunities of trying these Pirelli radials at other racetracks.
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A special thank you to Bill Vallis and Bill Davis of Vallis Motor Sport for their trackside support during the CASC-OR Calabogie Summer Classic and to Calabogie 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……….