2023 VARAC Vintage Grand Prix

June 17 & 18, 2023

Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, Bowmanville, Ontario

On Father’s Day weekend my dad and I headed over to Canadian Tire Motorsport Park outside Bowmanville, Ontario for the annual VARAC Vintage Grand Prix presented by eBay Motors. The race weekend is organised each year by the Vintage Automobile Racing Association of Canada and has been on my wishlist for some time! This year I finally got everything sorted out and dad and I spent two solid days trackside for some fantastic vintage racing.

Saturday

Dad and I were a bit late getting to the track on Saturday and missed the first race, but over the course of the first day of racing we saw every other race from just about every corner you can access at CTMP! We wandered into the pit area before heading over to the straightaway out of Turn 1 in time to see a swarm of British sportscars buzz past.

From there on out dad and I walked the track to size up which corners were best for getting good photo angles and picked out our favourite Groups as they ran before and after lunch heats.

Sunday

On Sunday dad and I made it to the track early and, after walking close to 20,000 steps the day before, we drove out to Clayton Corner for the first few heats of the morning. Speaking of heat, the second day was a lot hotter, a lot smokier, and far less breezy than Saturday had been which made for a challenging day.

We caught the morning races at Clayton and Moss Corners, our two favourite spots from the day before, before heading over to the lunch car show before heading towards home. After a day of panning and action shots the static cars were a bit of a treat to spend some time photographing!

All told my first VARAC Vintage Grand Prix was a fantastic weekend of well-loved and hard-driven classic cars. The track itself was phenomenal and photogenic and, despite catching a solid sunburn on my first day, the weather held up for a great Father’s Day weekend watching racing with my dad.