GEARHEADS GIVING BACK: Troy Turns Laps in the F1200

Doing good for the community feels good, but driving an open-wheel race car feels even better.

During the 2024 racing season, Demaras Racing partnered with Can-Jam Motorsports to organize a charity fundraiser for SickKids Hospital. At each CSCS Racing event, raffle tickets were sold for a chance to win a ‘thrill ride’ in Daniel Demaras’ championship winning No. 12 Formula 1200 race car.

At CSCS round 1 at the Mosport DDT, Troy was selected as the first winner. He was actually at the event as a vendor promoting his SnapFab fabrication business, and was stationed right next to Demaras Racing’s booth. Troy wanted to help support the charity initiative, so he pitched in a couple bucks. He was thrilled to have the chance to drive the race car.

Putting a rookie in the race car is always nerve wracking, but Troy is no newbie. He spent decades racing on the dragstrip and is proficient with an H-pattern manual gearbox. But the F1200 would be a completely new experience for him.

Troy got his chance to drive the F1200 on Sunday October 20 2024 at Toronto Motorsports Park, who graciously donated track time. Starting just after the track opened at 10AM, Troy got three sessions in during the day, each lasting about 20 minutes. While lap-times were not being counted, Troy’s smooth driving and mechanical sympathy with the car surely resulted in some of the hottest laps at TMP Cayuga.

The best part about the experience was that it was all for a good cause. Thousands of dollars in donations were collected for SickKids Hospital and just as much attention was drawn to the need to support this world class facility.