What an incredible season finale!!! CASC-OR’s Celebration Weekend on October 1st & 2nd was the final round of VARAC races for the 2005 season. The weather was beautiful and the turnout spectacular. G70+ had its largest grid ever for a regional weekend – 21 registered cars!

It was a really great way to say so long to our friends for the winter season – BUT WAIT! The season’s not over yet. Next month is our very important Annual General Meeting – and the much acclaimed VARAC Banquet. We’ve got some very urgent matters to bring to your attention – so please read on!

Group 70+ Classes – Suggestions by Monday, October 24th please!

Currently the sub-classes within G70+ are broken up simply by displacement (2.5L and under, Over 2.5 to 3.5L, and Over 3.5L). This was done as an excellent starting point, and a way to quickly split cars up into separate classes for the festival without getting too complicated. Without enough cars to fill a grid (never mind multiple classes), that was pretty sufficient. NOW however, our grid has grown to the point that we may want to think about re-classifying cars. A couple of members have suggested changes – however – to do this, we must propose new classes in writing and vote on this at the AGM (November 26th). As a first step – we need to know your suggestions. Please email me your suggestions for a new class structure by Monday, October 24th at the LATEST. Jon and I will be in contact after that with any new proposals.

VARAC – Board of Directors

As with any club – VARAC is only as good as the strength of its volunteers. The VARAC Board has a couple of very important positions that are coming open and any member in good standing may run for these positions. Treasurer, Festival Director, Membership Director and Director-at-Large (as well as the eligibility committee reps) will be open for election by members – so get involved! For anyone that is interested in these positions please contact John Greenwood at 905-723-9334 or haggisbasher@sympatico.ca

VARAC – Annual General Meeting – Saturday, November 26th

Equally important is getting out and voting for the things you care about. (And if you can’t make it – assigning a proxy to vote on your behalf at the AGM). Again – very important issues must be voted on – without quorum and without fair representation for your interests, you never know what could happen! It’s only once a year – so sacrifice the day to sit through some speeches, cast some votes and drink some beer with your racing buddies.

VARAC – Year End Banquet – Saturday, November 26th

And the celebration begins – so let’s get everyone out to socialize! The VARAC Annual Dinner and Dance will be held at The Boulevard Club on Saturday, November 26th. This has been a very successful year for the Club, thanks to the great support from the members so tickets have been subsidized by the club and are available at only $95/couple. (This is the same event and menu (delicious by the way!) that last year cost $150/couple!) Contact Walter Davies at elva7racer@rogers.com for more information and tickets.

Race Report – Mt. Tremblant Fall Classic – September 23/24/25

While we ended up not having any G70+ participants interested in going to Mt. Tremblant, Russ Gorochowski and I still made it down to participate in the VARAC fun. The Fall Classic is the eastern equivalent of Mosport’s Celebration – where all series run their final race in an exhibition style weekend. I never realized how many series there were! Hankook series (think CASC Grand Touring – but with a different set of tires), Echo Challenge (do you believe there are a huge pack of race cars more quiet than a single Honda Michelin racer?), the GTU/GTO/GT1 series, the Touring series, Open Wheel, Honda Michelin AND two VARAC grids (slow/fast cars). VARAC had a strong turnout, joined by many of VRG’s beautiful collection. Nestled in the gorgeous region of St. Jovite; the weekend was a stunning example of why people should go on vacation. The paddock was crammed with spectators visiting the resorts for the weekend, and the evenings were filled with lots of friendly gatherings and long bouts of bench racing.

Race Report – CASC-OR Celebration – October 1/1 at Mosport

The highlights were too many to list. A very full paddock and some of the best racing we’ve had all year. The G70+ grid had enough cars to warrant some very fun ‘packs’ of racing. So many smiles – I’m sorry that we’re not back together on track again until next spring!

• Ron Brown re-appeared with his beautiful scarlet red Datsun 240z. Have you seen that car up close? I swear we could eat breakfast off the interior – congrats Ron on getting the car out this year!
• Jonathon Brett’s newly renovated GT1 Datsun smoked up the competition – hot on the trail of Michael Vong and his modern Porsche cup car (marque grid). Jon’s first weekend out with this car proved very successful – we know it’s running well and he’ll have lots of time to tune before the next race.
• David Ryan, Josip Dukovak and Diane Dale had some spectacular fun keeping each other sharp. Josip continues to engage in some spectacular work on his Rothman’s Cup Porsche – look at those lap times come down – and the grin is getting bigger! I believe David has successfully lost his rookie triangle – with doing double time on the GT sprints grid he certainly had his fill this weekend.
• Welcome to Doug Forster and his wife Bea with whom I had the pleasure of meeting on the grid. (Hmm… turns out we have some Datsun passions in common!) Doug is the proud new owner of the ex-John Hawkes/Dave Margolese Porsche 914/6. Great to see the car back on the grid with a proud new owner.
• Michael Vong joined us with his Porsche Cup car for the Marque grid – but his Porsche 914/6 raced on our grid with driver Paul Roberts (from previous Orange 911 fame). Paul managed a third place finish on the grid overall – congratulations!
• What would the G70+ grid be without the front running gorgeous BMW M1s? Congratulations to our first & second place winners on the grid – Aram Tourikian and Markus Glarner. We were all thrilled to see the cars out, as there was some worry that a few mechanicals might have prevented them from making it. Their hopes are to head down to Sebring and Daytona for some fall racing. Best adventures – we’ll be thinking of you!
• Rob McCord broke below the 1.40’s in his Datsun 240z – fantastic adventures await for next year – way to go!
• Mike Harper and Peter Schlag had some great dicing for the majority of the weekend. And yes I’m still amazed by Mike’s patented move (you’ll know if you’ve behind him on the mock grid) – he enters his car through the passenger door? (And it’s not a right hand drive!) Peter’s been sacrificing a few family commitments to fuel the new racing obsession – but I think they’ll be certified crew soon! (With respect and thanks to the family – we’re really glad you could make it!)
• Some great battles off the starting grid AND throughout the weekend were seen with John Noble, Bob Kraus and Tim Sanderson. I’m never quite sure who’s going to get who – but it’s fun seeing the pack stick together. Glad to see that Tim has some company and a little encouragement on the track.
• The duelling red Porsche 944’s of Raymond Lum (hey Ray – great to see you!) and newcomer Mike Strelbisky. Some unfortunate mechanical woes for Ray – but a new break-in period for Mike – welcome!
• Another new face was Brock Gilboe and the red BMW (sorry – I didn’t get the stats!). Brock and Jordon Marrison shared the car, splitting between our grid and the GT Sprints grid. Steve Gailits was also back for the end of the season with his BMW; an unfortunate disc brake problem kept him from finishing the weekend. Hopefully we’ll see them all back in 2006!
• Paul Kidman made it out in his long-time coming BMW M car for the Marque grid; unfortunately not a complete weekend – but at least an appearance before the end of the year.
• Some of the regulars weren’t able to make the grid – Al, Russ, Del, Bruce etc. We missed having you out there – but it’s not long before the next race J

And last but not least…

• Some fantastic pictures of Mt Tremblant are available at http://www.photospatrick.com/Mont%20Tremblant%202005/Vintage/index.htm
• Note for next year’s regional weekends – when you see a sign that says “All Cars & Drivers to the Impound” – that means YOU! G70+ almost missed their podium presentation of trophies in the impound right after the final race of the weekend! How exciting to see our winners take to the risers holding their plaques. (And here I thought we were getting scrutineered – next time I’m bringing my camera!)
• Ice Racing Anyone? Regulations posted and dates announced – all we need now is snow! See http://www.casc.on.ca/iceRacing.php for more info.

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)