Vintage Racing Club of BC

The Spirit of Westwood Lives On!

December 8, 2011

Screen Shot from Mazda Canada's online 'Zoom Zoom" magazine

Everyone who was at the Mission Raceway Park Road Course during the 2011 season remembers the very impressive Mazda Pace and Chase cars, which Mazda provided to the Sports Car Club of British Columbia. The current edition of Mazda Canada’s online ‘Zoom Zoom’ magazine has a pictorial on these cars. To view the magazine, just click here and then look under the ‘Cars’ menu for ‘Pace and Chase’.

One of the photos (see the screen shot above) shows Pace Car driver (and VRCBC member) Fred Semple leading a Vintage field down the front straight. That’s Gunter Pichler (XKE) and Dennis Repel (Camaro) in the front row. Also visible are Phil Roney (orange TVR Vixen behind Dennis) and Terry Hollinger (Mustang GT-350). We suspect Fred would have liked to take the green flag and just go racin’ with the MazdaSpeed3, … but he didn’t.

Thanks again to Mazda Canada.

November 23, 2011

George Keck's Main Event winning Ferrari 250 Testa Rosa at Westwood on Opening Day, July 26, 1959

Sergio Scaglietti, the man who designed and built the bodies of the iconic Ferrari 250 Testa Rosa and 250 GT – among many others – passed away on Sunday, November 20 at the age of 91. There is a strong linkage between the Testa Rosa and one of Canada’s own motorsports icons, the gone but not forgotten Westwood Racing Circuit. George Keck won the main event on Westwood’s opening day with his Testa Rosa.

Opening Day Main Event Grid Front Row: Tom Luce (Corvette), eventual winner George Keck (Ferrari Testa Rosa) and Jim Rattenbury (Jaguar D-Type)

Click here to read George Keck’s own story about this Testa Rosa and in particular (on the second page) about holding off Pete Lovely’s Lotus 15 in that first race at Westwood – “Caution was thrown to the wind in the heat of battle…”

One of the original Testa Rosas has apparently become the most expensive car ever sold at auction. A 1957 Testa Rosa prototype sold for US$16.39 million at Pebble Beach this year. (See story here.) It’s doubtful anybody at Westwood on July 26, 1959 would have predicted that! There are many interesting stories available on the internet about Sergio Scaglietti, his cars and his long relationship with Ferrari. Thanks to Club members Keith Robinson, Dale Warren and Tom Johnston for contributing information.

November 22, 2011

Mark ‘Humble’ Brown, REVS Overall Champion for 2011 – C. Wood photo

The VRCBC held its 2011 season-ending Annual Gala & Banquet on Saturday, November 19th at the Delta Town & Country Inn. There were a few serious moments — but not very many! Thank you to our photographers: Janet Backe, Catharine Wood and Linda Zumm. Check out their photos of the award winners and some of the other goings-on below.

(more…)

November 21, 2011

2011 REVS Champion Mark Brown - Paul Bonner photo

By accumulating the most points during the past season, Mark Brown has repeated as the REVS (Rivers Edge Vintage Series) Champion. He joins Ivan Lessner as the only multiple winners of the VRCBC’s annual top award. REVS points are primarily earned by participation. Mark demonstrated this perfectly by entering all six events, being on the track in every session, competing hard in every race – winning three outright – and never having a DNF. An unbeatable record for sure. Congratulations Mark – well done!

The full REVS results are available here.

 

 

November 21, 2011

VINTAGE DRIFT cover courtesy SOVREN and Martin Rudow – Paul Bonner photos

Three long time VRCBC racers are featured on the cover of the November issue of VINTAGE DRIFT, SOVREN’s quarterly magazine. Paul Bonner took the above six photos at the Columbia River Classic at Portland International Raceway over the Labour Day weekend. The three VRCBC members are: Gunter Pichler (1964 Jaguar XKE), Evan Williams (1963 TVR Grantura) and Tim Pickstone (1963 Porsche 356C). The other three drivers on the cover are: Tom Lee (1969 Brabham BT30), David Phillips (1957 Austin Healey 100-6) and Clayton Sturge (1970 Crossle 20F).

Thank you to Editor / Publisher Martin Rudow for permission to post this image. For subscription and other information, check out the VINTAGE DRIFT web site here.