In 1961, the second purpose-built racetrack in Canada was opened, called Mosport Park and has gone through several ownership changes. In June 2011, Dr. Don Panoz sold the track to Ron Fellows and Carlo Fidani who changed the name from Mosport International Raceway to Canadian Tire Motorsport Park (CTMP) .
In December 2025, the track was sold to former rally-racing driver Peter Thomson, a member of Canada’s richest family. His partners include Chris Pfaff of Pfaff Automotive Partners, and Alek Krstajic the founder of Public Mobile. The Thompson family has a net-worth of $100 billion and own the Globe & Mail newspaper and the Montreal Canadiens hockey team. Now that they own Canada’s greatest race track, what’s the next step for them? Here’s our Top-5 fixes.
1. Call it Mosport Again
After the sale of the track in 2011, the new owners struck a deal with Canadian Tire to rename the circuit Canadian Tire Motorsport Park. For an entire generation of young racing fans, they have never been to “Mosport Park”, instead only knowing the track by its generic corporate name.
With new ownership from such a wealthy consortium of buyers, surely they can relegate Canadian Tire to a smaller role in the track’s branding? Canadian Tire hardly needs the promotion, and given our other sports venues in Southern Ontario are named things like Rogers Centre, Scotiabank Arena, Coca Cola Coliseum, BMO Field, giving Mosport back its historic name would be a way to stand out.
2. Make Moss Corner Accessible
Mosport is a decidedly old school circuit with only 10 corners, two of which are really just kinks on the Andretti Straight. The hardest braking zone is the hairpin at turn 5, named for Stirling Moss, winner of the first international race held at the circuit. Currently, this corner can only be viewed by walking down, and then up a massive hill, down a small path in the trees and bushes. Even on club racing days, where you can simply drive to the corner of your choosing, the turn is gated off to vehicles, and requires this long walk. With such a scarcity of turns to watch from, surely Moss Corner could be given better accessibility for fans with tired legs at the end of a long summer’s day at the track.
Also, for the record: the name Mosport does not have any relation to Stirling Moss, and as such, is not pronounced “Mossport”, as is incredibly commonly heard at the track. Mosport is a portmanteau of “motor” and “sport”, and is pronounced “Mo-sport”. If the new owners do rename the circuit, I’d appreciate some signs with pronunciation guides at the entrance.
3. Safety Upgrades
The previous owners did good work to modernize the safety features of Mosport. Replacing the archaic Armco barriers, and removing the flip-prone gravel traps in turn 2 have certainly helped mitigate what would otherwise be very dangerous accidents.
However, if the track would like to continue bringing big series, attract bigger ones, and provide a safe environment for regional races, there remains work to be done. Proper catchfencing at turns 3 and 4 would keep spectators and drivers safe, and the high speed turn 8 runoff could use something to slow down cars that run wide, perhaps the abrasive surface used at Circuit Paul Ricard? Although anything of that sort should be used sparingly, to avoid the eye-straining mess of lines that plagued recent French Grand Prix.
4. Bring Back the Big Leagues
In the 1960s and 70s, Mosport was host to Formula One, USAC (now IndyCar), the FIA World Sportscar Championship (now WEC), Can-Am, FIM Road Racing World Championship (now MotoGP). Today, Mosport’s biggest events are the IMSA Sportscar Championship, which no longer brings the top prototype categories, and NASCAR Canada.
Mosport is Ontario’s only purpose-built circuit that can and has held top-level motorsport events, and bringing them back should be a priority for the new owners. Just last year, it was announced that IndyCar’s lone stop in Canada would be moved from Downtown Toronto to Markham, held at a street circuit in the parking lot of a Go Train station. When this inevitably fails to produce a good racing product, Mosport should be knocking down IndyCar’s doors for the opportunity to bring the premier American open wheel series back to this high-speed, historic track. If they can upgrade the barriers, the track will certainly be much safer than the concrete-lined walls of Exhibition Place, and would fit neatly alongside other historic tracks on the IndyCar schedule like Road America and Laguna Seca.
5. Freshen the Place Up
Driving on a historic race track is exhilarating, using historic bathrooms is not. It wouldn’t take too much investment to get the facilities cleaned up and modernized, and it would pay off in spades.
Providing a better experience for fans and drivers alike with grandstands, more refreshment stations, indoor areas to get out of the heat in, paving the gravel in the paddock, all would make a day at the track more enjoyable. In doing so, the track would be even more attractive to big events, and help maintain and grow the local racing community.
BONUS: The Bump in Turn 8
I’m going up the Andretti Straight, lining up an overtake. The car ahead holds the inside line into the fast turn 8, but I know you can carry plenty of speed around the outside, which gives you the inside line into turn 9. I get on the racing line and hang it out wide, when… BANG! The whole car jumps over this massive infernal chunk of asphalt sticking out of the ground.
In the wet it’s even worse, just taking the natural rain line can send you into a spin. Please, pave this headache and oversteer-inducing piece of track, and in return, you’ll get to see a lot more cool outside passes at the end of the straight.
Considering the fact that the richest family in Canada, who have an affinity for historic institutions, sports teams, and classic facilities, there’s a good chance that Mosport under the ownership of the Thompson family could be just what the old place needs.