Listers;
Being old enough to have enjoyed the heyday (1960's) of the LBC I remember
what it was like to attend and participate in sports car racing. In the years
since then I have seen the increases in racing technology and safety to the
point that the low bucks racer is almost extinct in the US of A. Today I was
transported back to the days of club racing and thoroughly enjoyed myself. I
traveled to the Gimli Motrosport Track north of Winnipeg Manitoba to attend
the Winnipeg Sports Car Club's race weekend. The turn out was mostly racers
and a few spectators. The track is an old airport circuit and it brought back
memories of my mis-spent youth. The participants included a Mini, an FP and
HP Sprites and a variety of vintage sedans and sports racers. And to make it
a perfect day my new found friend and fellow lister Dave Terrick was there
with his GT6+! What a day of racing and wrench turning!
It isn't often that you get to relive a moment from the past but that's what
it felt like today. The sounds and the smells were the same as I remember
them from the Spatz Field airport circuit in Reading, Pennsylvania. Liability
and the litigious nature of the US turned that course into a distant memory.
My hat is off to our friends north of the border for being able to preserve
racing heritage. But, the best part is that for $5 Canadian you can go out
and indulge your Walter Mitty fantasies by taking your racer or street car
for four quick laps!!!! Dave was a more than gracious host and offered me his
GT6+ . I had raced and hillclimbed an MGB but by the time I got my GT6+ I had
a family and had given up the idea of racing it. So, at the age of 49 I got
to run a GT6+ (which just happens to be Jasmine Yellow- same color as my
first GT6+) on a road course and I had a BALL!!!
My thanks to Dave and the Winnipeg Sports Car Club for a fine day and a trip
back in time.
Greg Wolf
1970 GT6+ "Ian"
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Winnipeg MB Canada
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