Will You Kiss the Bricks?

Indy this year has two special formula Ford races and two unique groups of Classic Monoposto cars for the practice, qualifying and racing, so you will have multiple opportunities to "kiss the bricks." SVRA has captioned this year's Indy event as a Formula Ford "featured marque reunion and race." The event also offers races for F70 and Indy Lights cars, so all Monoposto Championship contenders will be able to accrue points.

Ever since the Indy road course was created for the 2000 Formula 1 Grand Prix it has been fun to race on. In 2014 the IndyCar Grand Prix was added on the circuit as an event preceding the Indy 500 each year.

2014 was also the first year of SVRA racing at Indy with over 700 entries. The race is an "Invitational" allowing SVRA to manage the entry list down from the first year of entries but it is still a big event. With this year featuring formula Ford there are nearly 60 formula Fords on the early entry list and although at the moment it's not clear how the field will be divided across the two feature races I do know that everyone (including formula B cars and other non-formula Fords) will get two races on Sunday.

The road course at Indy has changed a little over the years, notably the section near pit in. As it has been configured for the last several years, that section rewards drivers able to balance their cars through several slow speed twisty turns and then get on the power for the run to start/finish and down to turn one. Also notable is the chicane on the back straight which may be driven flat out in virtually all cars but can still be challenging, particularly in traffic.

Because of the event size and the nature of the schedule we will not have a Monoposto party but by all means if you have the time walk the paddock, check out the cars and make an effort to speak with your fellow competitors.

Travis Engen

President,

Monoposto Racing

Back-to-Back Weekends

Mt. Tremblant

Next weekend is the first of a double header for Monoposto. Mont Tremblant will be followed a week later by Road America. These are two great tracks about two days transport apart.

Mont Tremblant is without a doubt the most family friendly track on our schedule. The track is located less than ten minutes from a great ski resort with many hotels, condos and rooming choices, dozens of restaurants and a world class music festival on the same weekend. There is so much to do beside racing you may not see your family at the track! But the racing is awesome. Turn 2 is a flat out righthander that you enter going downhill, then rise sharply to the apex at the peak of a hill and trackout still going downhill, always turning right. The rest of the track is just as challenging with high speed sweepers, a carousel, a bridge turn (like turn 6 at Road America) and Namerow, the final (and slowest) corner, that will test your uphill braking abilities and the turning radius of your car. If you can't guess, I love the track. The Monoposto party will be hosted by Bill and Donna Demarest in their paddock on Saturday, immediately after the track is cool.

Road America

Road America is the longest track on our schedule. The WeatherTech International Challenge is a huge event with enough classes and run groups to interest everyone. It's one of the largest events of the racing calendar and has so many open wheel cars that there are five feature race run groups for them: from formula 1 to formula 5000, formula Atlantics and Super Vees to formula B and formula Ford. The track itself is fun to drive and has several signature features from the Carousel to the Kink to Canada Corner. It's really high speed and challenging. We are joining forces with the Formula 5000 Registry to host the Monoposto party. Come join us in the F5000 tent in the West Paddock at 6pm on Saturday night.

Following these two weekends of racing we will be nearly halfway through the 2019 Monoposto schedule. There will be six remaining events: two in August, three in September and one in October. Checkout www.monoposto.com for the details and come on out and have some fun!

Travis Engen

President,

Monoposto Racing

The 2019 VARAC Vintage GP is Next Week!

If you’ve planned your life properly, next Wednesday you should be heading for Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, one of five tracks we race at this year that have hosted formula 1 races.  (Mont Tremblant, Indy, Watkins Glen and CoTA are the others, but the track formerly known as Mosport began hosting the non-championship Canadian Grand Prix in 1961.  Watkins Glen was the first of these five tracks to host a Formula 1 World Championship race but Mosport followed with its first championship race in 1967.)  The track offers blind corners, wonderful, fast sweeping turns and challenging elevation changes, sometimes all together, over a 2.46 mile natural terrain circuit. 

The event schedule gives you plenty of track time to learn the circuit if you haven’t been there before and, if you have, plenty of time to truly enjoy yourself.  After practice and qualifying sessions the schedule becomes a series of races with each finishing position order setting the grid for the next race, so don’t skip a session!

If you haven’t planned properly, go to the VARAC website and follow the links to www.motorsportreg.com to register.  All Classic Monoposto and F70 cars are welcome.  There is still time.

While the schedule is filled with racing, there are many off-track activities as well.  In fact there are so many spread through the weekend (among them the Steam Whistle Paddock Tour on Friday and the VGP Reception/Dinner on Saturday) there will be no Monoposto Party.  Trophies for 2018 Champions will be on hand so if you’re one and are there we will find you.

As a final note, if you miss this great event remember that the le Sommet des Légends

at Mont Tremblant is in a month so get your entry in ASAP.

Travis Engen

President,

Monoposto Racing