1999 was marked as the 50th anniversary of Canada's first sports car race. In 1949 an event was conducted at a WW2 airport facility in Abbotsford Field, British Columbia. The event inspired sports car enthusiasts in the other provinces to use abandoned wartime airbases for racing. In time permanent, road courses were built such as Westwood and Mosport.

To celebrate this milestone, the Vintage Automobile Racing Association of Canada (VARAC) held the Vintage Festival 50 on the weekend of July 3 – 4 at Mosport International Raceway.

VARAC recognizes cars in eight Vintage and Historic Classes at its race events.

  • Pre-War - This class includes pre-war single-seat and sports cars, plus it is also open to post-war T-Series MGs.
  • Vintage Open-Wheel - This group is for cars built to many different formulas, including the Formula Junior specification. This category is for cars manufactured by Cooper, Lotus, Elva, Gemini, and Lola. The cut-off for Vintage Open Wheel is December 31, 1963.
  • Vintage Production Sports Cars – The Austin Healey Sprite, Lotus Seven, Triumph TR3, MGA and Porsche 356 commonly raced in this class. This popular division has a cut-off date of December 31, 1961.
  • Vintage Sports Racers - With a cut-off of December 31, 1961, this group is vehicles such as the Lotus IX, Lola MK1 and Porsche RS60. These are closed wheel purpose-built cars that may also include one-off specials.
  • Classic Sedan - The most popular vehicle in this group is the Mini Cooper S. However, other cars competing in the category include the Lotus Cortina and various Volvo models. The cut-off date is December 31, 1965.
  • Historic Open Wheel – This class is for cars built to Formula Ford, Formula B, Formula 3 and Formula Vee specifications, with the cut-off date being December 31, 1972.
  • Historic Production Sports Cars - This group includes a wide of production-based vehicles built before December 31, 1972. Everything from an MG Midget to a Chevrolet Camaro prepared the SCCA Trans-Am rules compete in this division.
  • Historic Sports Racers - These are purpose-built racing cars. Like the Historic Production Sports Car category, the range of vehicles and their performance can vary greatly. Included in this division is everything from homebuilt vehicles to Can-Am cars. The cut-off date for Historic Sports Racers is December 31, 1972.


Copyright Notice:
All content (photographs and text) appearing on this website are the exclusive property of © www.zoompics.com and are protected under International copyright laws. The subject matter on this website may not be reproduced, copied, stored or manipulated.

© Copyright 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019

Return to home page.