Following up from yesterday's report on the TR-MG challenge race, the
rest of the weekend was just as much fun. Two things really pop out at
you, VARAC has got the "festival event" concept nailed down. The drivers
and crew had dinner provided Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights, with
free beer every night, lots of socializing and live music. The local
brewery did 4 special labeled beers, 3 of which I sampled and can say
they were all quite good. Tons of spectators camping all around the
track, walking through the paddock, lots of interaction with both
racers/crews and spectators. Plus, the hospitality shown by VARAC to
everybody continues to be the top notch. Second, how does 222 miles of
timed track time at one of the premiere road courses in North America
for an entry fee of US$508.52 sound? That is not a typo, I was scored
for 89 timed laps and the entry fee was Canadian$675, my credit card was
charged US$508.52. My entry fee worked out to $2.29 per mile of track
time, that is really hard to beat at any track, let alone a bucket list
track that hosted F1 back in the day!
A word about how the event runs for our cars, VARAC runs two run groups
of Vintage Historic leading up to the Sunday afternoon feature race, at
which time the two run groups get combined so we run all Vintage
Historic cars together. The two groups are divided by classes that are
set by lap times, you get to chose what class you run! It's all about
car and driver potential, not displacement.
VH1 runs under 1.35
VH2 runs between 1.35 to 1.40
VH3 runs between 1.40 to 1.45
VH4 runs between 1.45 to 1.50
VH5 runs between 1.50 to 1.55
VH6 runs over 1.55
You say that sounds like bracket racing? It is bracket racing! If you go
faster than your bogey time during the feature race you are disqualified
from the podium. Also, VARAC rules state your starting position for the
next race is determined by your finishing position of the last race, so
if you have an issue you start from where you end up on the results
sheet and have to work your way back up through the field. The Canadian
racers are quite competitive, and the vast majority are good, clean
drivers. Many of them have lots of laps at Mosport, and track knowledge
is critical here. To run well here, you need to be a quick study as the
track has very fast blind corners, and realize that middle pedal doesn't
get a whole lot of use!
As heard from around the paddock, "Those American Triumphs are taking
all our trophies." Well, we did take home quite the pile of the big
First Place trophies! In addition to taking the TR-MG Challenge top
award...
VH3 - Henry Frye, 1st place
VH4 - John Styduhar, 1st place
VH6 - Tim Slater, 1st place
I would be remiss to not do a shout-out to John Styduhar. John qualified
on the pole for his run group, VH4, 5 and 6. It looked like his main
competition was going to be a very fast Canadian Midget, the two of them
trading fast laps during qualifying. As the races progressed over the
weekend, the Midget had an issue and started the next race from the
back, so John had at least one race without that guy to worry about, but
a Cortina and a Lotus 7 were all over him until the Midget caught back
up to the front. In that final race before VH4, 5 and 6 got combined
with the faster group, John fell back to as far as 5th place early on,
then worked his way back to the front to take the overall win! For those
of you keeping track, John's first race wins came last time out at
Summit Point, so he continues to show what a well prepared and driven
Triumph is capable of. Well done, John!
Until next time...
Henry Frye
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