Vintage Racing Club of BC

The Spirit of Westwood Lives On!

June 19, 2019

A Vintage ‘Teutonic Titanic Tussle’! Paul Haym in his 1969 BMW 2002 leads Peter Valkenburg in his 1969 Porsche 911 into Turn 5 at the Mission Road Course. – Brent Martin photo

Posted: June 19, 2019

The second VRCBC REVS races of the 2019 season took place at Mission Raceway Park on the Sunday, June 16th of the SCCBC’s ‘Dash for Dad’s‘ weekend. The full results for the weekend are posted on the SCCBC web site Results page (here).

Brent Martin has again provided us with some great photos (see below) of our Vintage drivers and their cars in action. Thanks Brent! You can find all of Brent’s photos on his web site (here).

The next Vintage on-track action at Mission will be our very own British Columbia Historic Motor Races over the August 10th-11th weekend. Before that however, make sure to come out for the SCCBC’s big Mission 25th Anniversary Grand Prix over the July 27th-28th weekend. Check the SCCBC web site (here) for more information.

See you at the track!

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June 3, 2019

VRCBC stalwart Bruce Jamieson obeys the No Parking sign and heads up Knox Mountain in his Datsun 240Z. – Jim Moody photo

Posted: June 3, 2019

The May 18-19 long weekend saw the 62nd (!) annual Knox Mountain Hill Climb in Kelowna, in BC’s beautiful Okanagan Valley. Our long time ‘travelling motorsport correspondent’, Jim Moody was there and sent us this report, complete with photos. Thanks Jim!

 

“Several members of the VRCBC participated in the running of this year’s Knox Mt. Hillclimb, Kelowna BC. In all 62 drivers faced the challenge of the 2.2 mile road course. Larry Sandham was making his 40th (!!) appearance at Knox achieved a best time with his Mini Vauxhall of 2:01.730. Mike Ball and Bruce Jamieson shared driving duties with a Datsun 240Z  Mike’s fasted run up the hill was 2:11.861 while Bruce clocked a best time of 2:26.211.

 

Steve and Nick Gunner competed with their Porsche 944. At the end of the event, only 0.824 seconds separated the two, with Steve winning the bragging rights with a time of 2:14.299 just beating Nick’s time of 2:15.123.

 

Other non-VRCBC drivers included a newcomer to Knox Mountain, Alberta’s Robert Caven, with a beautifully prepared Morris Mini. Robert’s best time was a 2:42.319. Cam Thorkelson posted a 2:01.489 with his Caterham Super 7.Chuck Roberts drew attention at Turn 1 with the late braking of his Mazda RX-8. A 2:15.171 was Chuck’s best time for the weekend.

 

King of the Hill honors went to Aran Cook driving his FL Arco X10 with recording a fast 1:46.738 for FTD. Queen of the Hill this year went to Jennifer Ocker. She achieved a time of 2:04.715 with her Subaru WRX.

May 8, 2019

A Vintage Traffic Jam! From left to right, Peter Valkenburg (Porsche 911), Ian Thomas (BMW 2002) and Gunter Pichler (Jaguar E-Type) lead Paul Haym (BMW 2002), an almost hidden Steve Gunner (Porsche 944), Phil Linzey (Datsun 240Z) and Ivan Lessner (Austin Healey 100-6) into the Mission Raceway Road Course’s Turn One. – Brent Martin photo

Posted: May 8, 2019

The first VRCBC REVS races of the 2019 season at Mission Raceway Park on the Sunday May 5th of the SCCBC’s ‘May Daze‘ weekend. The full results for the weekend are posted on the SCCBC web site Results page (here).

As usual, Brent Martin has provided us with some great photos (see below) of our Vintage cars (and the drivers too of course!) in action. Thanks Brent! You can find all of Brent’s photos on his web site (here).

The next Vintage on-track action at Mission will be during the SCCBC’s ‘Dash for Dads‘ event over the June 15-16 weekend. See you at the track!

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April 8, 2019

Trevor Sandham’s #76 gold Mini and Karlo Flores’ #84 red Mini were highlights of the display on the Jack Poole Plaza at the 2019 Vancouver International Auto Show in March. – Patrick Stewart photo

Posted: April 8, 2019

It was a Mini invasion on the last day of the Vancouver International Auto Show (VIAS) when 23 classic Minis and 3 BMW Mini Coopers filled the Jack Poole Olympic Plaza to celebrate the 60th (!) anniversary of this most iconic and celebrated of British cars.

The Mini 60 Drive-Up event began at Vanier Park and then proceeded in convoy down Burrard street to the Plaza creating quite a sight for many by-passers. Our friends at Steveston Motor Company – the classic Mini specialists in Richmond – have posted a video of their involvement in this procession. Check it out on their web site media page (here).

The plaza display drew large crowds all day with many enthusiasts sharing stories from their own racing and personal Mini experiences ‘back in the day’. Two of the ‘biggest’ (ahem) stars were the very quick Mini Vintage racers of VRCBC members, Trevor Sandham and Karlo Flores.

This one-day event was sponsored by the VIAS, Mini Club BC and WesternDriver.com.  To see more than 500 British Classic Cars be sure to visit the All British Field Meet (aka ‘The Greatest Show on British Wheels’) on Saturday, May 18th at Vancouver’s VanDusen Botanical Garden; both the Mini and Bentley marques will be featured this year. (Check the web site (here) for more information and tickets.) The VRCBC will again be there with our usual display; make sure to stop by and say hello!

April 8, 2019

 

Fastest Team! Event Co-organizer Ian Wood (L) presents the Overall Winners trophy to the members of Team Silverstone; Jeremy Stewart, Will Jones and Danny Getheran. – Patrick Stewart photo

Posted: April 8, 2019

As has now become the tradition, the VRCBC kicked off their new race season on March 19th with a Kart Fest Enduro at TBC Indoor Kart Racing in Richmond. The Enduro was promoted as a fund-raiser in support of our BC Historics Motor Races in August but in reality, it is primarily just an excuse for members of the VRCBC, SCCBC, META and their family and friends to have fun on the track!

Each team was assigned a race track name and had three randomly selected members:

  • Westwood: Mike Bailey, Russell Jansen, Kaylan van der Marel
  • Mission: Scott Dougans, Daryll Jansen, Rowan van der Marel
  • Abbotsford: Rob Dunlop, Nolan Rempel, Doug Walter
  • Mosport: John Elliott, Keith Robinson, Ian Wood
  • Laguna Seca: Angus Glass, Patrick Stewart, Bruce Yeo
  • Silverstone: Danny Geheran, Jeremy Stewart, Will Jones
  • Goodwood: Paul Haym, Peter Valkenburg, Lachlan ‘Rocky’ MacKay
  • Gimli: Ryan Jansen, Roger van der Marel, Marcus Lee

The awards were all original Westwood trophies from the 1970’s, which had been refurbished for this event. Good, clean racing was enjoyed by all who attended and the VRCBC thanks everyone for their support!

These photos of the action were taken by co-organizers Patrick Stewart and Ian Wood.