We racers laugh and joke from time to time about EVs (electric vehicles) entering the sport. Three seasons ago, the bad-*ss World Rally Championship made the decision to add hybrid power to their cars. The result was, to quote Tim, the Toolman, Allen, ‘more power, argh, argh, argh’!!
Horsepower ratings of slightly more than 500 were the result and the drivers loved their new power. But the hybrid honeymoon appears to be over as safety seems to be a concern along with the added cost of maintaining the power units.
The hybrids will be dropped at the end of 2026 or earlier if excess power numbers get generated by any of the manufacturers.
The popular Snowball Derby is coming up December 7 & 8, in Florida, and five Canadians, so far, are on the entry lists. We have attended that race several times in the past and it is a race you, too, might want to consider attending.
If you go down there, try to slip down I-10 to Mobile, Alabama. They have some really cool restaurants and there is a neat tunnel on the interstate under the Mobile River.
In my opinion, the Canadian Motorsport Hall of Fame has DROPPED the ball. Windsor legend, the late, great ‘Speedy’ Jack Monaghan, has once again been passed over for induction.
This is a man with multiple track championships, many, many feature wins over his long career, was co-owner of Checker Flag Raceway and who has left a legacy with third generation driver Ray Morneau, two-time Delaware Speedway Track Champion, continuing his memory using the same number, the same colours and the same sponsors.
The FIA has announced, as stated last week, that in 2026 that the Monaco Grand Prix will switch from the U.S. Memorial Day weekend to the first weekend in June as they attempt to ‘regionalize’ the schedule.
This deal secures a race there until 2031 which is good news for the venerable track. This means moving the Canadian Grand Prix to the third week of May. Can you say the May 24 weekend? How Canadian is that?! Hmmm.
Former F1 car owner Eddie Jordan has, for a change, uttered the truth it seems. He complains about ‘the road down which the rules have taken the sport, leading to ugly, heavy, unwieldily monsters’ as well as ‘the sound of the heavy, “environmentally friendly” breed of power units.’
In 1950, an F1 car weighed 450 kg. Today, they weigh 798 kg… or nearly double. Why? The size of today’s car is one of the reasons for the lack of passing at Monaco. Is it time to ‘downsize’? I would suggest that it truly is time.
As for the sound of the cars, ‘hands up’ anybody who remembers the wail of the high revving V12s back in the day. I still remember hearing that sound singing up through the tree-lined backstraight at Mosport about 60 years ago. It hadn’t yet been named the Andretti Straightaway. VERY memorable.
Drivers’ Association director George Russell expressed the frustration of his group with the ‘firing’ of Race Director Niels Wittich with just three races to go in the season.
This adds to their concerns after the FIA went after some drivers for using ‘bad’ language, their wearing of jewelry, and the use of ‘non-regulated underwear.’ Trouble in Paradise? I doubt that the Association will nominate Mohammed ben Sulayem for Man of the Year!!
FIA Race Director Rui Marques received favourable comments from some of the drivers in Vegas. In their drivers’ briefing, they questioned Track Limits in 4 and a tough pit entry. Both problems were rectified. Good start.
The rumour mill was correct, and General Motors has been added as the 11th team on the F1 grid, starting in 2026. They will ‘go it alone’ as GM / Cadillac. Apparently, there was a personality clash between Michael Andretti and retiring Liberty CEO Greg Maffei that stopped Andretti Global from gaining the acceptance needed to join the big club.
They’re baaaaaaaaaack! The World of Outlaws will be returning to Ohsweken Speedway and Cornwall Motor Speedway next year.
The recently announced ‘2025 New York / Ontario 410 Speedweek’ will see the series run at Ohsweken with the WOO Wednesday and Thursday, May 14 & 15, Friday May 16 at Ransomville Speedway with High Limit Racing, Saturday, May 17 at Utica-Rome Speedway with High Limit Racing and Sunday, May 18 at Cornwall Motor Speedway with the WOO.
I have a great memory about Cornwall from about 30 years ago. Tom Curley had put on an ACT race on a Wednesday night at Thunder Road and my wife and did a little sightseeing around Vermont the next day before heading home.
As we passed Cornwall, I noticed the pit area full of cars. I stopped just past the overpass and backed up, yup, backed up to get off. We met Brian Milligan near the gate, the greatest bilingual announcer on the planet, and he invited us to come in.
A little while later the cars started coming out for warm-ups. Linda thought the seats down close to Corner One would be great to watch from. I told her I was staying at the top. After about the third car Linda came running back up to me demanding to know why I didn’t tell her about the clumps of mud that were all over her sweater!! I pleaded ‘the fifth.’
About five minutes later a rather large woman starting screaming down in the stands. The board had broken under her and her leg went through trapping her leg like an animal trap. With the help of a bunch of people, we freed her leg and she got out. Her leg did not look good. But the races were fun.
South Carolina 400: At Florence Motor Speedway on Saturday, Canadian superstar Treyten Lapcevich took the win over Doug Barnes and Sam Yarbrough. Dale Earnhardt, Jr. was running 2nd to Lapcevich with 20 laps to go but had problems and finished 28th of the 41 starters. The track is close to Timmonsville, the hometown of legendary NASCAR driver the late Cale Yarborough. It is also just south of Darlington Raceway.
Snowball Derby: The 2024 version of this long running and very popular race will have the largest purse ever. The winner’s prize for the 300-lap race on December 8 will be $50,000. As a result, there are (so far) 49 entries including several NASCAR regulars and at least four Canadian hot shoes – Kyle Steckly, Cole Butcher and the brothers Lapcevich, Treyten and Cayden.
There is also a Snowball 100 on Saturday with 42 entries (so far) including third-generation Windsor, ON driver Chase Pinsoneault.
CRC Tall Pines Rally: The 2024 Tall Pines Rally took place this past weekend in Bancroft, Ontario. Several rally tours were part of the event, including the Canadian Rally Championship (CRC), the North American Rally Cup and the Eastern Canadian Rally Championship (ECRC).
The Overall CRC victory went to Jean-Sébastien Besner and Yvan Joyal in a Ford Fiesta R5.
The event was the end of the 2024 ECRC season and was dominated by Ontarian Jonathan Drake and his co-driver Ian Lantz, in a Subaru WRX STI. In two-wheel drive, Quebecker Nicolas Laverdière and his co-driver, Frenchman Nicolas Fouteret, earned Laverdière’s third consecutive victory, clinching the 2WD championship title in a Ford Fiesta.
Vincent Lalande, the 16-year-old prodigy who was absent from competition at the Tall Pines finale, was crowned champion in the season’s overall standings.
Formula One: The series returned to the neon (now LED?) capitol of the world, Las Vegas, Nevada and ALL the wannabe A-listers showed up to show how very interested they are in F1.
And no F1 race would be complete without the bumbling Martin Brundle rambling on at trackside. Having said all that, I really love this race. The awesome casino and hotel signs make for a race unlike any other in the world. I must admit I was apprehensive about the success of the race when it was first announced but, thankfully, I was dead wrong.
Free Practice One saw Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) top the charts with a speed of 146.015 mph (235 kph – the race is in the US, one of only three countries in the world to not embrace the metric system). Get your head around that – almost 150 MPH on a street circuit including the Vegas Strip. Outstanding.
Teammate George Russell was 2nd and Lando Norris (McLaren) was 3rd, all on a reportedly ‘slippery’ track!! The Red Bulls were 5th (Max) and 11th (Checo).
Free Practice Two saw a slight change – Hamilton, Norris, Russell. The Red Bulls were 17th (Max) and 19th (Checo). Oops!! Reports were that they brought rear wings that weren’t suited for the Vegas layout.
Free Practice Three was again led by Mercedes, Russell this time, followed by Oscar Piastri (McLaren) and Carlos Sainz.
Qualifying continued the trend with Russell on the pole ahead of Sainz and Pierre Gasly (Alpine). The wheels appear to have fallen off the Aston Martin program as Alonso would start 17th with Canadian Lance Stroll 19th. Stroll was forced to replace a power unit after FP3.
Williams driver Franco Colapinto had ‘a moment’ in Q2 as he brushed one wall sending him across track into the other wall hitting it very hard. He reportedly experienced a 50G impact. They actually covered the car with a tarp pushing it down pit road. Russell slightly scrubbed the wall in Q3 resulting in a front wing replacement.
Russell got a great initial start, but Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) went from 4th to 2nd in the first corner, getting past both teammate Sainz and Gasly. On lap 7 it appeared that Russell, once again, got very close to the wall on corner exit and he had what looked like toilet paper stuck to his left side pod. Pierre Gasly was an early retiree, and his onboard camera showed his engine’s demise smoke and all. The sound of it dying was really cool to listen to.
To all the naysayers about this venue, by lap 13 there had been more passes on track than in the previous three full races. Yuki Tsunoda ran over the speed sign at pit out on lap 13. Embarrassing!
At the halfway mark, Russell still had the lead but Max Verstappen had worked his way up from 5th to 2nd, and Sainz was 3rd. Lewis Hamilton had moved from 10th to 5th. And by lap 40 Hamilton had moved up to 2nd.
Only in Las Vegas would you see Sylvester ‘Rocky’ Stallone wave the checkered flag!! At the flag it was Russell, Hamilton and Sainz. Stroll finished 15th after his issues. And how about NO safety cars and no yellows. Stout!
Uh, about that ‘podium’? What other track do they need to take an Uber to the winner’s celebrations? LOL
In the Drivers’ Championship Max Verstappen has wrapped up his 4th championship in a row with a 53-point lead on Lando Norris and 74 on Leclerc. And how neat was it to see Max on the huge Sphere at the end of the race?!
The Constructors’ Championship tightened up a bit with McLaren 25 points in front of Ferrari, and Red Bull a very disappointing 52 back. That deficit will definitely spell the end of Sergio Perez in the second seat. Sad but true.
Their next race is Qatar, Sunday at 10.55 A.M. on TSN 3 & 5.
Any comments can be sent to Dave Mathers via email at motionman@rogers.com or by Facebook Messenger.
