The Enhanced Performance, Good Cars Only, Gabo Solutions #77 Formula Mazda Team had an excellent weekend at the VARAC 44th Vintage Grand Prix, held at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park (CTMP). We were placed in the Formula Classic Race group. There was a total of 31 cars in our race group including, Formula Fords, F2000’s, F1200’s, a Super Vee and several Formula Mazda’s as well as a few other historic open wheel cars.  The weather ranged from raining to beautiful sunny days with temperatures ranging from 20°C to 27°C. 
​
Over the course of Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, we were on track a total of 10 times; 3 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 was mixed with some sun in the morning and a torrential rain storm Thursday evening.  

Our best lap for the test day was a 1:24 – 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 1:28.994, which was the 2nd best time for the session of all the other cars. During our qualifying session, we ended up with a fair qualifying time of 1:26.083 – 4 one hundredths of a second off the leader, placing us in P2 in our race group and class.

The weather on Saturday was sunny and warm with a high in the low 20’s.  During Race 1, and together with the leader, we pulled away comfortably from the field on the first lap, we finished P2 in our race group and P2 in our class with best lap time of 1:24.474. During Race 2, once again we pulled away from the field on the first lap with the leader and finished P2 in our race group and P2 in our class with a best lap time of 1.25.705. 
​
Late Saturday afternoon, we participated in the Ludwig Heimrath Open Wheel Challenge. There were 9 cars in total in our race group and we cruised to a P1 victory with a best lap time of 1:25.965.

​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 1:24.739 finishing P2 in out race group and P2 in our class.  During Race 4, we held steady in second place in a caution filled , shortened race, setting a fast lap time of 1:24.897, finishing in P2 in our race group and in our class. All in all, a superb race weekend!

​A special thank you to our guest crew chief for the weekend, Christina Murdoch.  And 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……….

Please join us at a track near you to watch us during our 2023 racing season.

We have a full season of racing!!!!!  Coming to a race track near you!!!!

We are hoping for an uninterrupted schedule this season - there will be no racing in the US for us in 2021....

Although a shortened season due to COVID 19 - we were very successful!!

The STANMECH Technologies, Good Cars Only, Gabo Solutions #77 Formula Mazda Team had an outstanding  weekend at our first race weekend of the delayed 2020 racing season.  The event was the SMP Cup, held at Shannonville Motorsport Park. We were placed in the Formula Libre/Formula 4/VARAC Formula Classic Race group. We had registered our #77 Formula Mazda in the VARAC Formula Classic A class. There were a total of 7 cars in our race group including, Formula Ford’s and three Formula 4’s.  Formula 4 (Canada) race cars are motorcycle powered, open-wheel, open-cockpit formula cars with wings and slicks. The cars are light and very quick because of their inherent power to weight ratio.  The weather was perfect for the entire race weekend, with a mix of both rain and sunny days, ranging from the upper 20's to the low 30’s Celsius. 

Over the course of Friday, Saturday and Sunday, we were on track a total of 10 times; 4 on-track practices during the Friday test day, followed by one practice session, one qualifying session, Race 1, Race 2 and Race 3. Our race class included some very nice vintage open wheel race cars.
With our Mazda 13B rotary engine rated at 200 horsepower and weighing in at 1350 pounds, we were very much underpowered compared to the Formula 4’s with 140 hp and weighing in at 850 pounds. Fortunately, the weather and the technical layout of the Shannonville Motorsports Park racetrack played to our advantage.
​
As this was our 1st race of the 2020 season, we spent quite a bit of time on the test day ensuring that the #77 Formula Mazda set up for this particular track. The race car performed beautifully during the test day as a result of careful preparation and the ideal chassis setup. We were using test day tires from the previous 2019 racing season and we were bedding new brake pads, so we weren’t really trying to set a race pace. Our best lap for the test day was a 1: 47 flat – pretty respectable lap time on old tires.
Saturday morning the forecast for the day was expected to be warm and sunny so we put on the new race tires that we would be using for the balance of the race weekend. The racing during Saturday would be carried out on the long track at SMP (this track is 4.03 km long with a total of 14 turns). During practice, we scuffed in the new tires (not really being concerned with setting a race pace lap speed) setting a best lap time of 1: 52.732. During qualifying, we set the P1 lap time of 1: 45.977, 1.33 seconds ahead of the car in P2. In Race 1, we battled with 2 of the Formula 4 race cars, having a protracted battle with Jim Morton, whose car is blazingly fast. In the end, we prevailed over Jim and finished in P1 and 1st in class with a best lap time of 1: 45.279, 0.617 seconds ahead of Jim’s car.

​Sunday morning brought the threat of rain at some point before noon. Additionally, racing would be carried out on the pro track at SMP (this track is 2.47 km long with a total of 9 turns). As it happened, we ended up with a 1 hour rain delay during the late morning. By the time we were supposed to be on track for Race 2, the track was fully wet without a lot of standing water. We elected to stay with slicks as the aggressive nature of our rain tires required lots of standing water on the racetrack. During Race 2, we were outclassed on the track by Doug Beatty in an F1600 Formula Ford with treaded tires – we finished in P2, 2nd in class with the best lap time of 1:29.142.

For Race 3, the weather improved substantially with mild temperatures and a sunny day. Jim Morton managed to develop a sizable lead during the course of the race. We finished P2, 1st in class with the best lap time of 1: 08.846 – in the end, our tire choice coupled with the challenging racing surface at SMP was our biggest challenge. Overall, an awesome race weekend and a terrific showing for the STANMECH Technologies, Good Cars Only, Gabo Solutions #77 Formula Mazda Team for our 1st race of the shortened 2020 race season.

Our race car performed beautifully during the entire event - a very big thank you to our sponsors; STANMECH Technologies, Good Cars Only, Gabo Solutions , to Bill & Shirley Vallis of Vallis Motor Sport and to our biggest fan Teddy Subject Murdoch. 
​
Click here for more photos from this race weekend.

A very big thank you to Shannonville Motorsport Park for hosting such a great event!!  And last, but certainly not least, we want to thank our long suffering family which allows us to continue to race……….

​Our 2020 racing schedule has been radically altered by the COVID 19 pandemic, as the majority of our races in the first part of the season were either cancelled or postponed.  We have planned some new events in September and October, both at our home track at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park.  Stay tuned for more scheduling news!!!

​Our 2019 racing schedule features a six race vintage themed program which will take place at some of the most exciting and picturesque race tracks in North America.  We start off our first race of the season in March at the SVRA Road Atlanta Grand Prix at Road Atlanta Raceway. In June, the #77 STANMECH Technologies, Good Cars Only, Gabo Solutions Formula Mazda is at our home track of Canadian Tire Motorsports Park for the VARAC Vintage Grand Prix.  In July, the Subject Motorsports Team visits Le Circuit at Mont Tremblant for the Le Sommet des Legends hosted by HMR and HMSA.  In August, we will be competing at the Brickyard Vintage Racing Invitational at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Lastly, in September, we finish our season at Watkins Glen International at the SVRA U.S. Vintage Grand Prix. 

The STANMECH Technologies, Good Cars Only, Gabo Solutions #77 Formula Mazda Team had an amazing weekend at the SVRA U.S. Vintage Grand Prix at Watkins Glen International.  We ran in Group 9 – Monoposto Wings and Slicks.  The weather was perfect for the entire race weekend, with a mix of both sunny & cloudy cool days, ranging from the 10's to the mid-20’s Celsius. Over the course of Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, we were on track a total of 9 times; 4 on track practices during the split Wednesday/Thursday test day, followed by one practice, two qualifying sessions, Race 1, and Race 2.  During both qualifying sessions, our race group was combined with Group 5a and Group 7 – there were a total of 29 race cars on the track fighting for a good qualifying time – it was very hectic!!  There was a large speed differential within the qualifying group!!  We definitely had our work cut out for us, as most everyone in our group had much more horsepower than we did. As an example, here is a list of the cars in our second qualifying session:

In the first qualifying session, we qualified 16th of 29 race cars, 1st in our 9F2 class. In the second qualification session, we qualified 18th of 29 race cars, 3rd in our class. For Race 1, our race Group 9 included 16 amazing high powered open wheel race cars, including 4 Lolas, 2 Ralts, 2 Swifts and more – the competition was stiff for the diminutive Formula Mazda.  We finished in 14th position, 3rd in class with a career best lap time of 1:57.289; we were faster than the 2nd place race car by 64 hundredths of a second, but we were unable to unable to make up the distance as our race was shortened to 6 laps. In Race 2, we started in 12th and managed to finish in 8th position, once again 3rd in class. We set our fastest lap time of the weekend, a 1:56.859!! Our race group featured some unbelievable vintage formula cars - it was a pleasure to be on track with them.  Our car performed flawlessly during the entire event - a very big thank you to our sponsors; STANMECH Technologies, Good Cars Only, Gabo Solutions , to Bill and Shirley Vallis of Vallis Motor Sport for their excellent track side support.

Click here for more photos from this race weekend.  A very big thank you to the SVRA for hosting such a great event!!  And last, but certainly not least, we want to thank our long suffering and tormented family which follows us from race track to race track allows us to continue to do the racing thing……….