15 replies to this topic

[Udo K.]

I just came across an odd result from 1967: A round of the "Canadian Sports Car Championship"
held a Mt. Tremblant on July 30th. Winner was de St.Croix (McLaren-Chevrolet) from Eppie Wietzes (Ford GT40) and Nat Adams (Chinook). That's all I have on this championship.
Can anybody help with more information? What races, what years, what results?
Thanks all.

[Martin Krejci]

Itis known that there were some major sportscar races in Canada by that time, but I have never heard they (or some smaller ones) formed any official championship.

I can only add myself to Udo's wish that it would be very interesting to learn something more about it. The only Canadian Sportscars Championship I knew about is current GT Callenge. I have all results except 1997. Any help with them I would also very appreciated.

[David McKinney]

Can’t help much, I’m afraid
An official Canadian Championship was apparently inaugurated in 1961. Winners from then were:
1961: Ludwig Heimrath, Porsche (2nd: Francis Bradley, Lola)
1962: Francis Bradley, Lotus 19 (2nd: Heimrath, Porsche)
1963: A N Other (2nd: Heimrath, car not known)
1964: Ludwig Heimrath, Comstock Racing Cooper-Ford
1965: Bob McLean, Lotus 23B (2nd: Heimrath, McLaren)
1966: George Chapman, Lotus 23B
1967: Ross de StCroix, McLaren
1968: Horst Kroll, Kelly-Porsche
Possibly then replaced by Formula A

[Udo K.]

Martin, I looked up the report in Autosport, August 18th 1967 again. The article ist titled: "Andretti and St. Croix win in Canada". That refers to Andretti's win in the USAC event. The report on the sportscar race begins like this: " Montrealer Ross de St. Croix won the seventh of the 10 race national Canadian Championship series....."
St. Croix drove the ex-Amon 1966 McLaren-Chevrolet.

According to "Autosport" the series was divided in over and under 2 litre classes. St. Croix, Wietzes and Heimrath raced in the bigger class, whereas Horst Kroll, Dave Greenblatt (Ferrari Dino) and Tom Ashwell (Elva-BMW) were in the smaller class.

Unfortunately I did not find anything more in the "Autosports" of that year. I suppose the series was also held before and after 1967, but I'm not sure....

[island]

Autoweek has reports on another round at St.Jovite on June 11, 1967 (1.Heimrath Mclaren-Chev.,
2.de St.Croix Mclaren-Chev., 3.Wietzes Ford GT40) and a race at Harewood Acres on
August 12, 1967 (1. Cordts Mclaren-Chev., 2. Wietzes Ford GT40. 3. de St.Croix Mclaren-Chev.).

The Harewood story also tells us that de St.Croix raced the ex-Chris Amon Mclaren Mk2.

[FEV]

The Canadian Sports Car Championship was, as David said, created in 1961 with the support of Player's Ltd. The Canadian GP at Mosport (with Peter Ryan's famous win over Pedro Rodriguez and Stirling Moss) was the main event of the year. The series name was changed at some point during the 60s to Canadian Driving Championship. Can't add much to David's list, just that Eustache Soucy was Ross de Sainte-Croix's team owner in 1967.
In 1971 the series was renamed Canadian Driving Championship - Player's Challenge Series and was for F.Atlantic cars. Jacques Couture won it in 1971, and Bill Brack in 1973-74-75.
Slightly OT, but there also used to be a Canadian Driving Championship in the 20s/30s (on dirt tracks), the 1929 edition being won by Ralph de Palma himself.
I also have some bits of results re sportscar races in Canada of the mid/late 50s, if anyone's interested...

[Marcor]

Ludwig Heimrath took part in the 1962 Pau GP driving the Porsche 718/2-04. Francis Bradley also came in England (the year after his National title). The best Canadian - at that time - was Peter Ryan but he was killed at Reims in 1962 during the supporting FJ race of the F1 GP.

Olivier Gendebien also raced in the 1961 Mosport GP.

About 1967 I can't help now...

[Marcor]

Not sure It could really help but here's the adress of a Mosport website http://www.mosport.c...oricresults.htm

[Jim Thurman]

Originally posted by David McKinney
Can’t help much, I’m afraid
An official Canadian Championship was apparently inaugurated in 1961. Winners from then were:
1961: Ludwig Heimrath, Porsche (2nd: Francis Bradley, Lola)
1962: Francis Bradley, Lotus 19 (2nd: Heimrath, Porsche)
1963: A N Other (2nd: Heimrath, car not known)
1964: Ludwig Heimrath, Comstock Racing Cooper-Ford
1965: Bob McLean, Lotus 23B (2nd: Heimrath, McLaren)
1966: George Chapman, Lotus 23B
1967: Ross de StCroix, McLaren
1968: Horst Kroll, Kelly-Porsche
Possibly then replaced by Formula A

Exactly, Formula A for 1969 and 1970 and then Formula Atlantic.

Bill Brack won one, if not both Canadian National Championship run in F/A.

I have at least some of the 1967-70 results...but I don't know when I'll be able to dig them out and post them as I'm pretty busy at the moment.


Jim Thurman

[island]

More on the 1967 Championship...
Harewood (August 12) was round 8.
Here are the results of rounds 9 and 10, according to Autoweek:

Westwood, October 1
1. de St.Croix Mclaren Mk2-Chev.
2. Wietzes Ford GT40
3. Florence Genie Mk10

Mosport, October 9
1. Cordts Mclaren Mk3-Chev.
2. Eaton Mclaren Mk3-Ford
3. Wietzes Ford GT40

I will look for Autoweek`s reports on the early 1967 races.

[Udo K.]

Thanks everybody for the help so far. Maybe there is more to come, which would be appreciated, of course.
FEV, yes, could you kindly post your 50ies results as well?

[island]

And the top three of the early 1967 races:

Round One: Davidson, Saketchewan, May 21
1. Wietzes Ford GT40
2. de St.Croix Mclaren Mk2-Chev.
3. Heimrath Mclaren Mk3-Chev.

Round Two: Mosport, June 3
1. de St.Croix Mclaren Mk2-Chev.
2. Wietzes Ford GT40
3. Greenblatt Ferrari Dino

Round Three: St. Jovite, June 11
1. Heimrath Mclaren Mk3-Chev.
2. de St.Croix Mclaren Mk2-Chev.
3. Wietzes Ford GT40

Round Four: Westwood, June 25
1. Amick Mclaren-Chev.
2. de St.Croix Mclaren Mk2-Chev.
3. Bruihl Lotus 23-Climax

Standings after 4 rounds (first-20 points, second-15 points, third -10 points)
1. de St.Croix 65
2. Wietzes 45

Autoweek does not mention rounds five and six. Probably de St.Croix and Wietzes each scored
a first and a second. de St.Croix and Wietzes had 100 points and 80 points respectively
going in round seven.

[Allen Brown]

As David and Jim have said earlier, the CRRC changed to Formula A for 1969 and 1970. Island helped me sort out these races last year:

1969 Canadian Road Racing Championship

18 May 1969 - Mosport Park, Ontario: Brack - Eaton - Pease (5 FA starters)
25 May 1969 - St Jovite, Quebec: Eaton - Kroll - Weitzes (5 FA entries, 4 starters)
22 Jun 1979 - Edmonton, Alberta: Weitzes - Kroll - Brack (at least 3 FAs)
29 Jun 1969 - Westwood, BC: Weitzes - Kroll - Ogilvy(FB) (4 FA starters)
13 Jul 1969 - MacDonald Airport, Manitoba: Wietzes - Kroll - Hill(FB) (at least 3 FAs)
17 Aug 1969 - Harewood Acres, Ontario: Brack - Igilvy(FB) - Kroll (at least seven FAs)
14 Sep 1969 - Trois Rivieres, Quebec: Ramsey - Merriman(FB) - Hill(FB) (at least six FAs)
27 Sep 1969 - Harewood Acres, Ontario: Wietzes - Brack - Merriman(FB) (at least five FAs)
14 Oct 1969 - Mosport Park, Ontario: Wietzes - Kroll - Brack (at least 7 FAs)

1970 Canadian Road Racing Championship

10 May 1970 - Harewood Acres: Wietzes - Kroll - Hill(FB)
31 May 1970 - Westwood: Wietzes - Kroll - Brack
14 Jun 1970 - Edmonton: Wietzes - Brack - Cazaly(FB)
1 Jul 1970 - Rockcliffe Airfield, Ottawa: Wietzes - Hill(FB) - Heimrath
6 Sep 1970 - Trois Rivieres: Wietzes - Brack - Kroll
11 Oct 1970 - Mosport: Brack - Kroll - Hill(FB)

Then it changed again to FB, as has been discussed recently in another thread.

Allen

[FEV]

FEV, yes, could you kindly post your 50ies results as well?

Sorry for the delay Udo ! I thought I had more on this than that, so I might come up with other things. Anyway here are the little bits :


BEMC Grand Prix, Edenvale, Ontario, 24th May 1952
Results unknown.

Edenvale Sports Car Races, 17th Jun 1955
Results unknown.

Indian Summer Trophy Race, Harewood Acres, 27th September 1956.
105 miles race. 34 starters.

1st : Rolly Keith (USA, Austin-Healey 100S) – 1h28’
2nd : A.N. Other (Chevrolet Corvette) – same lap
Other finishers : Bill Klinck (Mercedes-Benz), W.F. Huggler (Jaguar D), an Aston-Martin DB3, another Austin-Healey 100S, a Triumph TR3 - all were lapped by Keith.


CRDA 500K, Harewood Acres, Ontario May 1959 (CRDC event).

1st : Ray Carter (CAN, Jaguar XKSS)
This was the first professional sportscar race held in Canada.


Carling 300, Harewood Acres, 28th May 1960 (CRDA event)

Known starters : Olivier Gendebien, Ray Carter (XKSS) and Boris Yanda (Lola).


O’Keefe Sundown 6 Hour Grand Prix, Harewood Acres, 1960 (NTMC event).
1.9 mile track. 40 starters, 23 finishers.

1st : Peter Ryan - Roger Penske (Porsche RS60), 254 laps
2nd : Francis Bradley – Ludwig Heimrath (Porsche RS60), 1 minute behind
3rd : Jack Ensley (Porsche) RSK, 239 laps


Indian Summer Trophy Races, Harewood Acres, 9th September 1960 (BEMC event)
Results unknown. Several races held during this week-long event.


BEMC : British Empire Motor Club
CRDA : Canadian Racing Drivers Association
CRDC : Canadian Racing Drivers Club
NTMC : North Toronto Motorsports Club

Sources : Ed Moody, Steve Pike, others I can’t remember – sorry !

Cheers
Frank

[Martin Krejci]

Thank you all for all pieces of information posted here. I found more results from Carling 300, Harewood Acres race (however my date is different, anybody can confirm the true one?). Also note that it was a formula libre race:

Ontario [Formula Libre]
Carling 300 Harewood Acres, Ontario Date: 10.6.1960

Attendance: 14000

1. - Roger Penske (USA) Porsche 1600 RSK 90 2:02:58,000
2. - Peter Ryan (CDN) Porsche RS60 90 2:03:29,000
3. - Olivier Gendebien (B) Porsche RS60 90 2:06:08,000
4. - Bob Holbert (USA) Porsche RSK (F2) 90 F2
5. - Francis Bradley (CDN) Porsche RS60 89
6. - Harry Entwistle (USA) Lotus XV 88
7. - Carter Jaguar XK 87
8. - Greatonix Porsche RS 85

Ran as 3-heats event for 3x30 laps. Results unknown.

[bpratt]

An additional race from the 1967 series: July 9, 1967, Calgary, Alberta, Shepard Raceway, a 1.9 mile "airport style" circuit. 53 laps. Won by Ross De St. Croix in front of 7500 spectators. Eppie Wietzes second, Ludwig Heimrath third, Horst Kroll fourth, Dave Greenblatt fifth. This info comes from the Calgary Herald newspaper. The item says the next event would be July 30th at St. Jovite.

It was mentioned that "A N Other" won the 1963 title. Dennis Coad, actually, in a Lotus 19 followed by Ludwig Heimrath and John Cannon (Dailu-Chevrolet).

Some info on the championship series can be found in the Volume 4, Number 5 issue of Inside Track Motorsport News (Canadian publication). Bob Brockington, archivist for the CASC, had a short-lived column. He also did some feature articles on Peter Ryan, Westwood, St. Jovite and the 1961 Canada 200.
Brian Pratt