Greetings all: This article was in Today's Toronto Star
Prestige Wheels hosting "Celebration of the Automobile"
Heres an event you wont want to miss: a gleaming fleet of classic cars
on display at a celebrated road course as vintage autos battle it out on
track. The fun fires up Canada Day weekend at Mosport International
Raceway, northeast of Bowmanville.
The Sunoco UItra94 Celebration of the Automobile is presented by The
Toronto Stars Prestige Wheels section. It will remind people of the
annual Wheels car cruises, probably the biggest events of their kind in
Canada, which ran successfully for 10 years. The event unfolds Saturday,
June 30, and Sunday, July 1Canada Day.
It will combine Mosports annual Vintage Car Racing Festival with a huge
gathering of Ontario car club members and spectators.
The 2001 race season marks the 40th anniversary of Mosport. (Dont miss
this Saturdays Wheels for full coverage of the anniversary.)
The shows slogan: Everything for the car lover in one place.
Many classic-car owners bound for the event will cruise along Highway
401 to the track, which has undergone major renovations under new
ownership. Among the attractions will be a concours delegance, show n
shine and a wealth of special entertainment.
Car club members are showing overwhelming enthusiasm for the
gathering, says Andrew Foxman, Mosports director of sales. We
originally estimated 100 to 200 entrants for the show n shine. We now
have approximately 600 reserved.
The appeal of a real race track, with vintage races and camping, has
led to this huge response. This event is shaping up to be awesome.
How to seminars presented by experts in the automotive and motor-sport
fields will also be featured, and specialty vendors will be on hand with
their wares. A midway, live bands, childrens activities and controlled
lapping sessions will add to the fun.
Sponsor Sunoco (www.Sunoco.ca) is boosting the big bash at stations
around Ontario. The promotion, which includes coupons good for $5 off
admission, runs to June 30.
Members of the Vintage Automobile Racing Association of Canada (VARAC)
and U.S-based club competitors will compete in eight classes. Dicing on
the winding, wooded circuit will be everything from pre-war MGs and
Morgans to Coopers, Porsches, and 70s Can-Am and Trans-Am cars.
Celebration of the Automobile could not be possible without Sunoco and
Prestige Wheels, Myles Brandt, Mosports executive raceway director,
said. Our thanks to them for their desire to create an annual event
that will surely grow to revered heights.
To reach Mosport from Toronto, take the 401 east to Exit 431 Waverley
Rd. at Bowmanville; go north on Durham Region Rd. 57; turn right on
Durham Region Rd. 20 and follow signs.
The origins of the annual Wheels Cruise go back to 1987, when a Cruise
to the Square was staged Wednesday nights at Markington Square mall in
Scarborough. The next year, the venture moved to Malvern Town Centre
mall, also in Scarborough, where it found a home for seven successful
years. Area car clubs enthusiastically swung behind the gathering, whose
objective was to raise funds to help send needy kids to summer camp.
The showheld on an August Sundaymoved to Woodbine Racetrack in Rexdale
in 1995 after outgrowing its location at Malvern. In 1998, it was staged
at the Canadian National Exhibition. No cruise was held in 1999 or last
year.
Admission to Celebration of the Automobile is $15 (dont forget the $5
discount, courtesy of Sunoco). Get your tickets in advance or at the
gate. For more information, call 1-800-866-1072 or visit
www.inosport.com
Watch Wheels for further updates.
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