Well the season has started – and all proves well that G70+ is alive and kicking. The Dunville test day was a raving success for all those that attended – a great opportunity to break in the engine and get ready for the BEMC regional weekend. And while we didn’t have an overwhelming turnout for the G70+ BEMC Grid – there were enough of us at the Friday test day and throughout the weekend that our presence was known. (Never mind that a G70+ car took the top podium in the overall GT Sprints race – congratulations Markus in his BMW M1!!!)

June 24th – 26th VARAC’s Vintage Racing Festival (Optional Test Day on June 23rd)

The push is on… only 4 weeks until our biggest event of the year. If everybody shows up that said they would – we’re going to have the biggest G70+ grid ever – a pre-estimate of over 30 cars!!! Get your entry forms in NOW… This year’s ‘entries to date’ are already growing – if you were at the festival last year you will even see a picture of your car posted next to the entry! www.varac.ca/Festival/Entries2005.htm

Volunteers are needed for the festival. If you’re not able to get your car out, we’d still love to get you involved.

All info can be found at www.varac.ca/Festival/fest_welcome.html – please let us know if you have any questions or how we

May 14/15 – BEMC Race Report

While we didn’t end up with as many G70+ cars as we would have liked at the BEMC weekend – it was still a fantastic weekend of racing! Overall the weekend had lower than usual attendance – but it looks like the Festival will be everybody’s grand entrance! VARAC brought out 20 members (6 G70+) to the BEMC regional weekend and we lucked out on the weather front! Friday and Saturday night’s showers cleared by the morning providing good traction and some great personal bests.

• G70+ newcomer Jamie Sutherland in his Porsche 911 had a great time learning the racing ropes (and did a mighty fine job I might add!)
• Father/son team of Rob and Geoff McCord introduced the new Datsun 240z to Mosport
• Russ Gorochowski was challenging drivers in the top 10 of GT Sprints until tire failure unfortunately knocked him out of the last race
• Jon Brett travelled an incredibly long way to sadly only make a few laps before mechanical failure forced an end to his day
• Markus Glarner scrambled to get his M1 ready for the Sunday race, and as mentioned cleaned up the whole lot with some spectacular driving!
• Mike Harper with his Porsche 911 and John Griffith with the infamous Datsun 510 made it out to the glorious practice day on Friday – looks like they’re ready to go for the Festival
• Three other G70+ newcomers were out getting tech’d for the festival – a huge welcome and we’ll be seeing them soon!
• Even I managed to finish 11th overall on the GT Sprints grid… aha – not so bad for the first weekend out!

2005 VARAC Driver’s Challenge

The race has begun!!! Check out the latest standings of the VARAC Driver’s Challenge at www.varac.ca/events.html (“Driver’s Championship Standings” about 1/2 way down the page). Details of the challenge are in the latest version of VARAC’s Vintage Racer magazine. There are still lots of races left to accumulate points!

VARAC Dates to Remember

• June 4, 5 (Historic/Vintage cars ONLY – not G70+) at Shannonville
• June 24 to 26 (optional test day June 23) – VARAC Vintage Festival at Mosport
• July 9, 10 (Historic/Vintage cars ONLY – not G70+) at BeaveRun Motorsports Complex
• August 13, 14 – BARC Canadian Touring Trophy at Mosport (optional test day August 12)
• August 27, 28 – CRDA/VARAC Regional at Mosport (optional test day August 26)
• September 23 to 25 – Fall Classic at Mt. Tremblant
• October 1,2 – Panoz/CASC Celebration at Mosport (optional test day September 30)
• November 26 – VARAC Annual General Meeting and Banquet

And last but not least…

• Check out the June Issue of Victory Lane – a great article about Mosport Memories by VARAC member Jeremy Sale and a G70+ Driver Profile of Peter Bulkowski!
• Info passed on from Ron Wanless - Fuel available at Mosport this year will be TurboBlue 110 Leaded - $3.29/litre, TurboBlue 104 Unleaded - $3.14/litre, Sunoco 94 Unleaded - $1.39/litre (price may be reduced)
• I am pleased to announce the return of the Saab Owner’s Club of Canada Inc – Driving School for Women on Friday June 17th, 2005 at Shannonville Motorsport Park (Full Track). This is an excellent day to learn car preparation, car control with skid-pad and on-track exercises and lapping time. I’ve volunteered at this school for a number of years and the positive feedback and excitement from the participants is overwhelming! www.computer-ease.com/socci for more information and registration.

Group 70+ is a VARAC promoted racing class that currently celebrates the history of racing from 1973 to 1987. VARAC is the association of vintage racecars in Canada that celebrates the passion of preserving, restoring and racing vintage racecars.

You're on this email list because somewhere along the line you expressed an interest in VARAC's Group 70+, perhaps in the capacity of driver, organizer, spectator or just plain keener trying to keep on top of things in the racing world. Let me know if you don't want to be on the list anymore, or feel free to pass it on to others who might be interested.

Diane Dale - lddale@hotmail.com (administration and promotion)

Jonathon Brett - kim.zachjess@sympatico.ca (technical eligibility)

Nick Pratt – varacmembership@rogers.com (VARAC memberships)