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MOTOR RACING EVENTS - 2011

CANADIAN MOTORSPORTS EXPO 2011 (JANUARY 21-23, 2011) INTERNATIONAL CENTRE, TORONTO

61ST ANNUAL SPRING TROPHY RACES (MAY 7-8 2011) MOSPORT INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY

2011 NCATS - VORTEX BRAKE PADS 200 (JUNE 24-26 2011) MOSPORT INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY

2011 ALMS - GRAND PRIX OF MOSPORT (JULY 21-24 2011) MOSPORT INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY

It's mid winter and time to think racing again.

There's no better way to get back into the spirit than go to the Canadian Motorsports Expo. This is the 5th. year for the show and it seems to get better with age. The involvement of Inside Track Motorsport News for the 2nd year, makes Glenn Butt's Motorsports Expo a show to see and be seen at.

We chose Saturday to take in the show.

Steve Arpin, ARCA driver of the #55 Mike's Hard Lemonade Toyota, NCATS and NASCAR Nationwide driver JR Fitzpatrick, ALMS Driver Kyle Marcelli F3 driver Gianmarco Raimondo will be on stage in the AM.

IndyCar Champion and Indy 500 winner is up next and spent a long time making sure every fan had a chance for a meety and autograph.

Also up today is a show favourite Ron Fellows. His career achievements include 19 SCCA Trans-Am victories, 27 ALMS GT1 wins (in just 73 starts), 3 ALMS GT-1 championships, class victories in the 24 hour races in Daytona and Le Mans, plus five wins in NASCAR's Truck and Nationwide Series.

While checking out the exhibits we spot Max Papis also taking in the show. The versatile Italian-born racer, who now resides in North Carolina, thrilled Canadian fans last summer at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve when he narrowly lost the NASCAR Nationwide Series race to his good friend, Boris Said, after a great battle. Earlier in the season, he raced in his first Daytona 500, just weeks after being part of the overall runnerup team in the Rolex 24. His impressive racing resume also includes stints in Formula 1, NASCAR, Grand-Am, CART, IndyCar, IMSA, IROC and more.

Eventhough we did see the great NCATS exhibits throughout the Exhibit Hall, the one regret we have was not being able to stay long enough to see the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series drivers (DJ Kennington, Don Thomson Jr., Mark Dilley, Jason Hathaway, Jason White, Robin Buck, Dexter Stacey and Caitlin Johnston) on stage.

Next......see everyone on the track.

CLICK HERE FOR THE 2011 CANADIAN MOTORSPORTS EXPO COMPLETE PICTURE GALLERY

Spring is in the air, let the race season begin

The official opening of the Ontario road race season for the 61st time are the Annual Spring Trophy Races.

This is the first round of regional racing. All the race classes and series are out for the start of their regional racing championship.

The Groups represented are the Ontario formula Ford Championship (OFFC), the GT Challenge, the GT Sprints, the Formula 1200 Championship Series, and Formula Libre with Formula 4. The Vintage Automobile Racing Association of Canada (VARAC) is here to run the G70+ and the Vintage/Historic races

Saturday morning the cars are on the 2.5 mile road track at 8:30AM for a full round of practices for all competitors, followed by qualifying.

After lunch the first races begin. This year the OFFC gets the honour of the first race of the season.

A great afternoon with 7 inividual races capped off by the 1 hour GT Challenge race.

Congratulations the Ian Patterson for the win in his new Corvette.

The other great factor this weekend is the perfect weather. Hopefully this will follow us for the entire season.

CLICK HERE FOR THE 2011 61ST ANNUAL SPRING TROPHY RACES COMPLETE PICTURE GALLERY

We've been looking forward to this weekend for a long time. Our first race camping of the summer. Of course this being Ontario in June, a bit of wet weather was expected.

As seasoned campers we stayed dry for the most part and enjoyed the practices, qualifying and races in on and off drizzle on Friday and saturday.

Aside from the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series we also have the first Mosport appearance of the Porsche 944 Cup.

Two other Mosport favourites, the Castrol Canadian Touring Car Championship and the Ontario Formula Ford Championship featuring the 6th annual CanAm Cup.

Race day Sunday the weather finally cleared up and we couldn'd have had a more perfect day.

Great racing, and to top of the weekend, a final campfire.

Thanks Mosport for another great outing.

VORTEX BRAKE PADS 200 WEEKEND (NCATS) COMPLETE PICTURE GALLERY

A 'Great Day For A Motorcar Race".

Mid July, the hottest days of the summer are with us. What a good time to get baked on the Toronto ashphalt. Non the less we head down to see the over rated spectacle by the lake.

We start off with the Ferrari Challenge which is a spec 'race' by mostly hobbiest trying not to scratch their Machines. Kind of boring.

The IndyCar series itself is a spec race with outdated equipment, some of it rented out to 'B' teams to appease the locals.

The race is run with questionable strategies such as some teams not lining up properly for restarts after yellows, to get starts waived off and stretch their fuel milage to avoid an extra pit stop. The IRL seems to want to give penalties to teams for unavoidable racing incidents, but will not penalize them for stratigic holdups of the race.

Hopefully with new machines next year, we will see a race that that is less strategy and equipment conservation and more track action.

Now to the good of the weekend.

The real racing that most Toronto fans skip for the hype of the IRL, the Castrol Canadian Touring Cars and the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series.

These races featured some of the best door to door and bumper to bumper action ever seen in the city. Thanks to the CCTCC and NCATS for making the weekend worthwhile.

TO HONDA INDY TORONTO - COMPLETE PICTURE GALLERY

We thought it was hot two weeks past for the Honda Indy....welcome to the heatwave of 2011. This weekend won't only be remembered for the best racing in Canada of the year but also for the hottest days on record in most of Ontario.

The Thursday morning entrance was again well organized by the Mosport staff. Nothing but good things to say about the security and gate workers that greeted us. Thanks for making the race weekend great.

Thursday during camp setup we were entertained by the Star Mazda, the F2000 Championship, the Porsche GT3 Cup Canada and USA, as well as the IMSA Prototypes Lites for the Mosport Test Day.

At night we did our track walk and found the Raceway already filling up nicely with campers.

Friday saw the CCTCC and the ALMS join the other series for practices.

Between the track action, the camping, and paddock visits we were kept busy all day long.

Saturday we had mostly qualifying and racing on the road course.

Our entrance ticket was also good for the 1/2 mile oval track (Mosport Speedway), so we headed up there Saturday night to watch the Pure Stocks, the Ontario Legends, and the OSCAAR series races, as well as the King of the Hill spectator races.

The climax of the weekend was Sunday with 5 support races and the American LeMans race. It doesn't get much better than this.

Can't wait till next year to return. Thanks for another great weekend to all the staff, and volunteer workers at Mosport to facilitate some of the best race series in North America.

TO 2011 ALMS GRAND PRIX OF MOSPORT - COMPLETE PICTURE GALLERY