All around Toronto, signs of support for Toronto Miracle have popped up. From small businesses and churches to condos and schools, the charity initiative has struck a chord with many in the big city.
Michelle is the official artist at Demaras Racing, this time turning the team truck into her canvas.
Only one more sleep to go! Tomorrow is the day so many people in the Toronto Miracle have been waiting for. Over 1,000 volunteers strong…tomorrow thy deploy across the city to pickup hundreds of thousands of pounds of food for the needy. It’s a big deal!
It might not be easy. Toronto Miracle is a scrappy DIY effort. And that’s the whole point. A whole lot of humans coming together to reach for a collective goal and do something truly outstanding, heartfelt and miraculous.
Toronto Miracle is a grassroots food drive initiative, run completely on volunteer power. On December 4th 2021 at 10:00 AM, residents of Toronto are invited to leave a non-perishable food item on their doorstep (clearly marked for Toronto Miracle). Volunteers will collect these donations and redistribute them to people in need in the community. Donors are asked to register their intent to donate on https://www.torontomiracle.org/ so teams can plan pick up routes accordingly.
All donations collected and delivered will be distributed to organizations including the Daily Bread Food Bank, Second Harvest, Harvest Food Bank, Food Security Initiative and The Salvation Army. Combined, these organizations help provide food to over 300 community agencies across the GTA.
Racing to help the initiative will be Michelle & Chris from Demaras Racing. The father-daughter duo will be rapidly gathering donations all across East York in the team truck ‘Black Magic‘.
The Demaras Racing family is no stranger to community involvement. Previously Michelle and Daniel held fundraisers for Racing to End Alzheimer’s and last year helped collect and donate PPE for Michael Garron Hospital in the early days of the pandemic..
Sometimes little things can make a big difference. Mud flaps don’t seem like a very exciting automotive accessory to add to a WRX. But these Rally-Tech units are motorsport grade, FIA specification rally mudflaps for Subaru Impreza WRXGD/GG (2002-2007) models.
Imported from Malta, the mudflaps are 4mm thick polyurethane with waterjet-cut, 1.5mm thick aluminum mounting brackets and grade A2 stainless steel mounting hardware.
Autodynamics was one of pioneering racecar manufacturer from the earliest days of Formula Vee racing.
When the SCCA announced that Formula Vee would be included in the 1964 National Championship Runoffs, that first field of cars was made up of Autodynamics Caldwell D-1s, Formcars and Zink Cars. However, it took until 1972 for Autodynamics to win a National Championship in Formula Vee.
A young racing enthusiast by the name of J. Collow put together this video (below) which is a brief history of Autodynamics. Collow recently purchased a Caldwell D-13 and will be racing it in the upcoming 2022 season.
The Formula 1200 Drivers Association has released their 2022 Championship Series Schedule. A total of 7 events travelling from Canadian Tire Motorsports Park in Bowmanville, to Shannonville Motorsports Park in Belleville, on to Calabogie Motorsports Park near Ottawa, finally returning to CTMP to end off the season.
One of the best things about Formula 1200 (A.K.A. Formula Vee) is that there’s such a rich history. The formula has existed since the 1960s, continues in many countries today, and boasts several F1 drivers as alumni of the category. There has also been a tremendous number of articles written on Formula 1200 over the years, and many can still be found on the internet .
The following article by Alan Franklin was published on the website PETROLICIOUS more than 8 years ago. Some of the costs may have gone up due to inflation, but the story remains accurate today.
Formula Vee Gives F1 Thrills on a Peanut-Butter Budget
Your car is the work of evolution, and the ultimate four-wheeled form of this universal force is undoubtedly the open-wheeled, single-seat racecar.
Single-seaters are amazing things, their slender bodywork just barely large enough to contain a driver, fuel, and drivetrain, bursting with elegant, delicately-formed and precisely tuned suspension components left exposed to the slipstream and locating open wheels at four extreme corners. It’s a design whose low center of gravity and highly concentrated mass allow for the lightest weight, most compact dimensions, greatest agility, and highest cornering forces possible—a Formula 1, Formula 2, Formula 3, Formula 4, Formula Ford, and the focus this article, Formula Vee.
Formula Vee was conceived in the late 1950’s as a low-cost alternative to other open-wheel formulas, in particular Formula Ford, itself originally conceived as less expensive way into single-seat competition. Using existing pre-1963 Volkswagen Beetle drivetrains and front suspension components mounted to a custom tube frame with composite bodywork, Formula Vee cars are designed to be built, maintained, and raced by a single owner on a relatively modest budget—even brakes and wheels are based on stock items.
Stateside, races are primarily sanctioned by the SCCA, while several others maintain a healthy international following, with championships held across South America, Africa, and Europe as well. Like other entry-level forms of Formula racing, Vee is seen as a venue for young drivers to work their way up the open-wheel ladder, with former F1 champs Keke Rosberg, Emerson Fittipaldi, and Niki Lauda all cutting their teeth in the little monoposto bugs.
A race-ready car should cost about $15,000 to build, with a kit not including needed VW parts coming in at about $8,000. Maintenance and consumables are estimated to run about $700 per race—not pocket change, but definitely cheap considering the level of competition, not to mention bucket-loads of fun, on offer.
If you’ve ever dreamt of getting into open-wheel competition, there’s no better place to start.
Demaras Racing 