Volver. If you speak Spanish, or perhaps Latin, you might recognize this as the verb meaning “to roll.” The Swedes at the early 20th century ball bearing company SKF took that Latin word and used it in creating the subsidiary for their new car marque Volvo.
With a bit of support from Volvo Canada, members of the Vintage Volvo Racing Association will be rolling into Canadian Motorsports Park with 20 Volvo race cars to be the featured marque for the 2019 VARAC Vintage Grand Prix.
The Volvo field will be extensive and varied, including the ’39 Ford-like 444s and 544s that made their mark in the 1958 Midnight Sun Rally won by the Flying Singh brothers (that 444 is now in Gothenburg’s Volvo factory museum) to the 120 “Amazon” series sedans that introduced the first factory-installed three point seat belts, to the iconic 1800 ‘Poor man’s Ferrari” made famous in the British TV series The Saint, to the tank-like 140s that have given the moniker “bricks.”
Entrants stretch from 1959 to ’72. And not to be left behind, there will be a couple Volvo-powered special interest racers such as the beautiful Davy Special and Marcos.
Wisconsinite and 1800 racer Jim Perry cooked up the idea of reviving the vintage Volvo racing that took place in the late ’90s to mid-2000s. The “Volvo Nationals” has become an annual event, moving from track to track since the 2016 event at Elkhart Lake’s Road America. VARAC’s own brick-driving Peter Lambrinos served as the local organizer for the 2019 event.
Some have a problem thinking of Volvo in the same class with Porsche, Alfa Romeo, Jaguar, and Triumph, but spectators, not to mention other competitors, are likely to be surprised to see Volvo race cars that will be sure to bring to mind the thought, “Those sure are not grandpa’s Volvos!
For more information about the Vintage Volvo Racing Association contact Jim Perry (Tel: 902.594.1337) or Peter Lambrinos or visit P & B Motorsports.
Important VVGP Details below:
Registration is open on Motorsportreg (credit cards won’t be charged until June 1, 2019).
For more detailed information on how the weekend will unfold we have posted on the VARAC website the following documents:
• ON-TRACK SCHEDULE (updated)
Click the links to download your own copy. And don’t forget to check back – these are all provisional and there could be changes.
If you have attended our event in the past, or if this is your first time considering it, we hope you’ll join us for 2019 and help us celebrate the 40th running of the VARAC Vintage Grand Prix! Lots of action on and off track – a great value and some great vintage racing!
Click here to sign up now!
Want to see what the 2018 VVGP looked like? Thanks to Hugh Hawley who has shared EIGHT galleries of photos from last year’s event with us, you can! Click here to check out the thousands of amazing memories!
Ted Michalos
President/Race Director/VGP Chair
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