79 replies to this topic

[Michael Ferner]

Now you two have got me thinking about her and I didn't even get to see her! Arrgghh....

Me too, me too...

[R.W. Mackenzie]

Me too, me too...

Oh dear. Perhaps we should never have mentioned bikinis.

 

To help take your mind off of it, here are two slot cars from my collection that are reproductions of cars that won races that weekend.

 

 

The Slot.it Gurney M8D needs no introduction. The other is a Scalextric 1969 Camaro that won the production car supporting race driven by owner Maurice Carter. (I believe it was an ex-Penske Trans-Am car.)

 

There were quite a few supporting races that weekend. Brian Stewart won the Formula Vee race in an Altona. (I probably raced against that car later in the 70's but not with Brian at the wheel.) Gary Magwood won the Formula Ford race in his Hawke DL2. There was also a motorcycle sidecar race and a Superkart race. The karts were particularly spectacular. They were like motorized luge sleds. When they crested the hill on the back straight and flew into corner 8 they looked faster than the Can-Am cars.

[D28]

 

 

 

The Slot.it Gurney M8D needs no introduction. The other is a Scalextric 1969 Camaro that won the production car supporting race driven by owner Maurice Carter. (I believe it was an ex-Penske Trans-Am car.)

 

There were quite a few supporting races that weekend. Brian Stewart won the Formula Vee race in an Altona. (I probably raced against that car later in the 70's but not with Brian at the wheel.) Gary Magwood won the Formula Ford race in his Hawke DL2. There was also a motorcycle sidecar race and a Superkart race. The karts were particularly spectacular. They were like motorized luge sleds. When they crested the hill on the back straight and flew into corner 8 they looked faster than the Can-Am cars.

 

 

 

 

My memory from that week-end 50 years back is proving to be utterly unreliable. Still I do remember seeing Superkarts on track at some race, and that may be the one. I vaguely remember the announce mentioning singer Gordon Lightfoot with a connection, maybe owner or driver, not sure. I do know he entered cars later under Gordon Lightfoot Racing, but I can find no connection to Karts. Do you have any recollection of this?

[R.W. Mackenzie]

My memory from that week-end 50 years back is proving to be utterly unreliable. Still I do remember seeing Superkarts on track at some race, and that may be the one. I vaguely remember the announce mentioning singer Gordon Lightfoot with a connection, maybe owner or driver, not sure. I do know he entered cars later under Gordon Lightfoot Racing, but I can find no connection to Karts. Do you have any recollection of this?

I have the vaguest recollection of him being mentioned by the track announcer. Not sure if that is correct and I don't recall if he was a participant. (I don't think so.) I have a fairly solid recollection of him being interviewed during the TV coverage of the 1968 Telegram Trophy race (USAC) at Mosport. Pretty sure he was a competitor that weekend. I don't think they were Superkarts. I recall them being somewhat more mundane.

[E1pix]

Nearly everything’s mundane compared to Superkarts!

As I mentioned above, we may get a Formula Vee if things turn around. The funny thing is my last kart was about TEN seconds quicker than a FV on the one SCCA track we ran at. But I’ve gotten plenty of practice working on VWs of late. :-)

[dbltop]

I met Gary Magwood in a restaurant/pub in my hometown last year. He was surprised that I recognized him and acquaintances of mine that were sitting with him were surprised to learn of his racing history. I think I embarrassed him when I told them he was one of Canada's top racers/driving instructors.

[R.W. Mackenzie]

I met Gary Magwood in a restaurant/pub in my hometown last year. He was surprised that I recognized him and acquaintances of mine that were sitting with him were surprised to learn of his racing history. I think I embarrassed him when I told them he was one of Canada's top racers/driving instructors.

This brings back another long lost memory. I had forgotten that my original intention was to go to the Magwood school at Mosport in 1975. I don't recall why I didn't but I ended up going to the Jim Russell school at Le Circuit instead.

[R.W. Mackenzie]

Nearly everything’s mundane compared to Superkarts!

As I mentioned above, we may get a Formula Vee if things turn around. The funny thing is my last kart was about TEN seconds quicker than a FV on the one SCCA track we ran at. But I’ve gotten plenty of practice working on VWs of late. :-)

A couple of my FV buddies quit because of the cost and took up karting (a long time ago). They found to their dismay that karting was even more expensive. Formula Vee was the most fun I had racing. I switched up to Formula Ford but really didn't have much more money.The cars were faster and better handling (as well as roomier which was important for my 6'2" frame) but it was a lot more serious and I was racing against people with a lot of money. So in my ex-Jim Russell Van Diemen I was less competitive than I had been in FV. At 64 I'm not likely to ever race again but if I did it would be in a Vee.

[E1pix]

Yep, I’ve been saying for decades “The older I get, the more likely I’d race a Vee.”

As JacnGille will understand, much of that has been motivated by Harvey Templeton, a Vee national champ here at I think 73 years old. Amazing achievement, and in a funky car he built in his Tennessee garage. I think he held the oldest winner record in SCCA for some time, then ageless Dan Carmichael wins a championship at 77 — in Formula Atlantic!

Travel aside, yes, karting can definitely cost more than a Vee. Our last binge found us as the North American development team of the Biland SA250, a twin Swiss four-stroke that sounded like a Mugen-Honda when close to its 13,000 rpm limiter. Our job was to put in as many laps as possible over the year and I’m sure we did over 3,000 miles — and at least 30 sets of tires at $180/per. Good thing we weren’t paying.

The real challenge was pain — and a ton of it on every turn-in all year. I like lots of caster to rotate in and weight-transfer to the outside rear, but on bumpy turns it hurts even when all’s well. I either cracked a rib or bruised some cartilage early on and added three more painful areas over the year. I spent the year wearing a carbon wand rib vest under the suit, then a padded rib vest, then a couple rounds of large bubble wrap. It was ridiculous but worth it because we were to finish the year at the Monaco Karting Cup — I had a “Monaco or Bust” decal on the kart but didn’t think the “bust” meant ribs — but CIK-FIA didn’t homologate the motor until the following year and we had to get back to paying work.

I, too would dig running FF, but in vintage — especially if I could find any car previously run by friends. But as you say, current FF is a money pit and not too conducive to an older guy lacking endless dough.

So if you’re not fully over racing, 63 is still young enough (Edit: Oops, I gave you an extra year). But maybe not in a current sprint kart. :-)

Edited by E1pix, 18 June 2020 - 17:18.

[Dave Ware]

Regarding the original post, I appreciate the "sentimentality" for lack of a better word, of your anniversary.  I feel the same about Aug. 6th, which every year marks my first visit to a road race.  In my case it was the '72 Mid-Ohio Can Am. 

 

Your instamatic photos are fantastic.  Those kind of photos make it look like I was there also.

 

They are also better than anything I ever took with my dinky camera.  For the most part I took very few pictures.  I felt that my memory would do a better job of preserving the experience.  Boy, do I now wish I had taken rolls and rolls of photos...it's amazing how much I've forgotten.

 

Also makes me realize that in all my years of going to Mosport (starting with Aug. 13, 1972, The Ron and Eve White Memorial Sedan Race for Trans Am type Cars) I never sat in the grandstands across from the pits.  Usually it was on the hill by the straight between turns two and three (inside the circuit) and Moss Corner.  In your photo that Ti22 looks pretty darn fast. 

 

So, R. W. I wonder if you attended that Memorial Sedan Race, and if you took any pics.  If you did you might be inclined to post them here.  If you had some spare time, of course.  I might not be the only person who would love to see them...

[SKL]

I know what you're saying about pictures.   I didn't take too many back in the day-  was lucky to see my favourite driver at the time,  Jo Siffert, when he was in the STP 917 at Elkhart Lake but didn't have any pictures I took, and then we lost him.   Was lucky to find some slides someone took from that weekend.  Will try and post if I can figure out a way to transfer a slide!  I have a lot of slides my BIL took of the IROC race at Daytona with Donohue, Revson, Foyt, Pearson, et al  so I REALLY have to transfer those!!   I have a great shot of Sir Jackie interviewing my all time favourite Mark after he won...

[R.W. Mackenzie]

Regarding the original post, I appreciate the "sentimentality" for lack of a better word, of your anniversary.  I feel the same about Aug. 6th, which every year marks my first visit to a road race.  In my case it was the '72 Mid-Ohio Can Am. 

 

Your instamatic photos are fantastic.  Those kind of photos make it look like I was there also.

 

They are also better than anything I ever took with my dinky camera.  For the most part I took very few pictures.  I felt that my memory would do a better job of preserving the experience.  Boy, do I now wish I had taken rolls and rolls of photos...it's amazing how much I've forgotten.

 

Also makes me realize that in all my years of going to Mosport (starting with Aug. 13, 1972, The Ron and Eve White Memorial Sedan Race for Trans Am type Cars) I never sat in the grandstands across from the pits.  Usually it was on the hill by the straight between turns two and three (inside the circuit) and Moss Corner.  In your photo that Ti22 looks pretty darn fast. 

 

So, R. W. I wonder if you attended that Memorial Sedan Race, and if you took any pics.  If you did you might be inclined to post them here.  If you had some spare time, of course.  I might not be the only person who would love to see them...

I've never been much of a photographer. Like you, I prefer to focus on what is going on rather than worry about capturing it on film. I used up four twelve-shot cassettes that weekend. At the next race, the 1971 Canadian GP, I took fewer and at the next race, the 1972 Mosport Can-Am, fewer still. After that none until I started racing myself. And then it was only to capture interesting details of the cars competing in FV and FF.

My father was the real photographer. He had been something of an official part-time photographer while serving in the Canadian navy during the war. He had clearance to photograph ships and aircraft and his collection is fascinating. He was also a staff photographer fo the campus newspaper while studying medicine at the University of Toronto. He had excellent equipment and captured most of the the races we attended both on 35 mm colour slides and 8 mm movies.

I didn't attend the Ron and Eve White memorial race so don't have any pics. But that brings back another memory. Every Sunday evening there was a wrap-up of the weekend's racing on one of the Toronto radio stations. I think it was on 1050 CHUM. It was on one of those brodcasts that I heard the Whites had been lost in a plane crash.

[R.W. Mackenzie]

I know what you're saying about pictures.   I didn't take too many back in the day-  was lucky to see my favourite driver at the time,  Jo Siffert, when he was in the STP 917 at Elkhart Lake but didn't have any pictures I took, and then we lost him.   Was lucky to find some slides someone took from that weekend.  Will try and post if I can figure out a way to transfer a slide!  I have a lot of slides my BIL took of the IROC race at Daytona with Donohue, Revson, Foyt, Pearson, et al  so I REALLY have to transfer those!!   I have a great shot of Sir Jackie interviewing my all time favourite Mark after he won...

 

I have a nifty little gadget that allows you to scan slides and 35 mm negatives. Haven't used it in a while but it does quite a good job.

 

 

https://the-gadgetee...scanner-review/

It accepts my Instamatic negatives because they are the same overall size as 35 mm. But it cuts off part of the image because the actual image size of the Instamatic negative is larger than the 35 mm. So for those I've had to scan actual prints.

My problem, as of late, is how to upload the images to the forum. Unless I am mistaken, the file has to come from a web address. Way back when I used to use ImageShack but that has long since changed from a free service, if it even still exists. I have been using my Facebook page for the pics I posted here. But that is awkward as any photos you upload seem to trigger a Facebook post that I don't intend.

I have more pictures, mainly of races in the 70's, that I would love to post if there was a manageable way to do it. I even have 8 mm movies of most of the races we attended. Starting my own web site is something I have considered but that's a bit beyond me right now. If anyone has any helpful suggestions they would be welcomed.

[D28]

I have a nifty little gadget that allows you to scan slides and 35 mm negatives. Haven't used it in a while but it does quite a good job.

 

 

https://the-gadgetee...scanner-review/

It accepts my Instamatic negatives because they are the same overall size as 35 mm. But it cuts off part of the image because the actual image size of the Instamatic negative is larger than the 35 mm. So for those I've had to scan actual prints.

My problem, as of late, is how to upload the images to the forum. Unless I am mistaken, the file has to come from a web address. Way back when I used to use ImageShack but that has long since changed from a free service, if it even still exists. I have been using my Facebook page for the pics I posted here. But that is awkward as any photos you upload seem to trigger a Facebook post that I don't intend.

I have more pictures, mainly of races in the 70's, that I would love to post if there was a manageable way to do it. I even have 8 mm movies of most of the races we attended. Starting my own web site is something I have considered but that's a bit beyond me right now. If anyone has any helpful suggestions they would be welcomed.

If you have your image on your PC as a file, the steps in the very top line on this page    How to Post your pictures..

with postimage.org should work. It is free and very efficient but like all things computer the exact steps must be followed. When you get your pics uploaded onto postimage.org, look for a   Share  button to bring up the direct link address mentioned and copy the url address.

Try 1 image for a start and once you succeed, it will easy to repeat.

Worth a try.

[R.W. Mackenzie]

Thanks D28! I knew I must have missed something very basic. I have to pay more attention to the posts at the top of the forum. I'll give it a try.

[R.W. Mackenzie]

OK, Here we go!

 

This is the first racing picture I ever took. We tried to get in through the tunnel between turns 1 and 2 but our trailer was too big. So we had to go back to the gate outside Turn 10 and wait for a pause in the action in order to cross the track and go through the paddock to the infield camping. Before we headed over to the Turn 10 gate we scrambled up the hill to the side of the track and got our first close-up look of racing at Mosport. This is Don McKnight in his Volvo sedan. He later became quite a respectable Formula Ford competitor.

 

 

Since this appears to be working I'll add a few more. This is George Follmer in the original AVS Shadow on the back straight during Saturday practice.

 

 

Maurice Carter taking a lead he never relinquished in the sedan/production car race. I'm afraid I don't have the names of the other competitors in the picture although the other Camaro driver may have been named Mason.

 

 

George Eaton stopped in the pits during the race.

 

 

This is great! So easy! Thanks again D28. I'll have to see what other trouble I can get into.

[D28]

Good stuff! That Mo Carter Camaro is the one you have the slot model of?  I confess to forgetting about the sedan race that day,  though I often saw Carter on track. Your post sort of brought memory into focus and it was needed. The great video E1pix posted of Gurney describing the race, corrected totally wrong recollections I had. 50 years does that!

[E1pix]

Sedan results... Yes on Mason!:
https://www.racingsp...970-06-14a.html

[R.W. Mackenzie]

Yes that is the Camaro that Scalextric modeled. I couldn't believe that they would make a model of a car that I had considered to be kind of a local Ontario machine. I guess Mo must have run it in Trans-Am races but all I recall from the newspaper clippings I used to keep are his exploits at Mosport and Harewood Acres. What was equally surprising was that I found it in a toy store in London when we were over in England watching our daughter row in the women's Henley a decade or so ago. I don't remember the name of the store but it was quite impressive and had a large selection of Scalextric cars on the second floor. I also scooped up a Chaparral 2F and a Ferrari 250 GTO. I don't know if it helps in identifying the store but it was right across the street from a Ferrari store so it must have been in a rather posh part of town.

 

The video E1pix posted was great and filled in a blank in my recollection. I knew a McLaren led from the start but I couldn't recall which one. And the details about the disparity in engine sizes between the top three cars was something I never appreciated.

[R.W. Mackenzie]

Sedan results... Yes on Mason!:
https://www.racingsp...970-06-14a.html

Excellent find! So now we know all five of the drivers in the picture. Mo Carter and Al Mason in the Camaros, Harry Bytzek and Rudy Bartling in the Porsches and Frank Leone ind the Corvette. I would have guessed that one of the Porsches was Fritz Hochreuter (sp?) but I'm glad I didn't.

[raceannouncer2003]

Yes that is the Camaro that Scalextric modeled. I couldn't believe that they would make a model of a car that I had considered to be kind of a local Ontario machine. I guess Mo must have run it in Trans-Am races but all I recall from the newspaper clippings I used to keep are his exploits at Mosport and Harewood Acres. What was equally surprising was that I found it in a toy store in London when we were over in England watching our daughter row in the women's Henley a decade or so ago. I don't remember the name of the store but it was quite impressive and had a large selection of Scalextric cars on the second floor. I also scooped up a Chaparral 2F and a Ferrari 250 GTO. I don't know if it helps in identifying the store but it was right across the street from a Ferrari store so it must have been in a rather posh part of town.

 

 

Here is a photo of former Trans Am racer Robert Barg with the ex-Mo Carter Camaro at the Tribute to the Trans Am, which took place at the Petersen Museum in Los Angeles in 2009.  I think Scalextric has done models of many Trans Am cars as they appear in current historic races.  I have some Trans Am slot cars, including the John Hall Boss 302.  That car is currently in England.  John Hall bought three of the slot cars, one for him and two for his grandkids.  Gary Gove has the slot car of his Alan Green Camaro.  I showed the Scalextric slot car of the ex-Dave Tatom Cougar to Ike Keeler, who owns and races that actual car.  He didn't know that Scalextric had done the car.

 

 

Edit: Just found some photos of the car at the 2007 Seattle Historics.  More info here:

 

 

Vince H.

Edited by raceannouncer2003, 21 June 2020 - 05:12.

[Sterzo]

I don't remember the name of the store but it was quite impressive and had a large selection of Scalextric cars on the second floor. I also scooped up a Chaparral 2F and a Ferrari 250 GTO. I don't know if it helps in identifying the store but it was right across the street from a Ferrari store so it must have been in a rather posh part of town.

 

You were in Hamleys in Regent Street, famed as the London toy shop. It was founded in 1760 but has only been in its present location since 1881.
 

[R.W. Mackenzie]

You were in Hamleys in Regent Street, famed as the London toy shop. It was founded in 1760 but has only been in its present location since 1881.
 

That's the place! It's only been in its present location since 1881?!! Sounds like a real "fly-by-night" operation.

 

Looking at the street view in Google Maps it would appear that the Ferrari store is gone. Not surprised by that. I recall it being a rather high-end business without a lot to offer the masses.

[SKL]

This is from one of the early visits to Road America.  Still miss the pagoda...  a good friend and I did the 6 hour trip from Cedar Rapids, IA in his early Austin Healy 3000.   Miss those days!

[E1pix]

That’s just dyno!

We were there, too. And Brainerd shortly after. RA Can-Am in ‘72 is in top 5 of most-memorable ever for this kid (was 12).

I haven’t looked at my programs for nearly a decade but could probably still recite most of the field from car numbers.
Proof: Your pic is of Hulme. ;-)


(who’d have known poor Peter only had about 19 or so months left...?)

[Dave Ware]

This brings back another long lost memory. I had forgotten that my original intention was to go to the Magwood school at Mosport in 1975. I don't recall why I didn't but I ended up going to the Jim Russell school at Le Circuit instead.

 

I did the Mosport school in '77.  John Powell was chief instructor by then.  I asked him why Gary Magwood had left (which I knew before signing up) and Powell said it was because he broke his contract by going racing while he was still teaching.  I asked him why that was in the contract and he said "Because when you're racing you don't care about anything else."  Heh heh.

 

I suppose the Canadian Jim Russell school was at Watkins Glen at that time - about the same driving distance from home - but I don't recall giving it any thought.  If I had had any brains I would have done them both.  In any case, I really loved Mosport, so there I went. 

 

Did the three-day school and some lapping sessions in '77 and '78.  In '77 the cars were older Formula Fords.  I mainly used a Titan Mk6 which I got comfortable with and loved.  The last half of the last day Powell put me in a Lotus 61 to see how I would do with something different.  Errr...not very well.  Didn't like that car.  Wanted my Titan back.  Seating position was too high and the car was too stiff and I spun it at Moss Corner.  Stalled sideways, blocking most of the track, on that little bit of straight between turns 5a and 5b, which for anyone not familiar with Mosport is blind for anyone coming up thru 5a.  Threw off the belts and climbed out as my fellow students came out of 5a and dodged me.  One guy said later, which much excitement, "I don't know how I got by you!"

 

In '78 the school had new Lola T342s with racing slicks.  Powell said these cars would feel like Cadillacs compared to the old cars.  Did they ever...

 

Powell put together a school racing series for '78.  $5000 for eight races.  No prize at the end, just racing and seat time.  I had the money and was going to do it.  A completely unrelated medical issue was the chief cause in preventing that.  If I had done the series nothing would have happened afterwards.  I would have realized that I would be able to do the same thing again the following year and not much else.  Perhaps if I had done those eight races I'd have been more at peace with the end of my racing "career."  Or, perhaps the taste of it would have focused me on doing more, trying different things, and perhaps focused me on activities that might have resulted in a robust amateur career.  Or something like that.

 

And IIRC, one of the school races was a support race for the Canadian Grand Prix, and driving in that would have been beyond awesome.

 

Certainly some of the finest days I've ever had.

[E1pix]

Even hints of regret tales again make me ponder if retirement is meant for retirement.

[oldtransamdriver]

The Maurice Carter 69 camaro was built in the Carter racing shop - not a Penske camaro.

 

Robert

[Manfred Cubenoggin]

And June 2nd is upon us yet again.  RIP, Bruce.

Edited by Manfred Cubenoggin, 02 June 2021 - 18:25.

[Dave Ware]

Damn that bodywork.  All it had to do was stay attached.