Although classified as IndyCar rookies this year, No. 48 Jimmy Johnson raced 686 times in NASCAR and No. 51 Romain Grosjean competed 179 times in Formula 1. On Friday before the IndyCar race at Laguna Seca, the two seasoned veterans swapped helmets as a sign of mutual respect, and friendship.
But Sunday on track, a charging Grosjean launched his car into ‘the corkscrew’ and absolutely body-checked Johnson out of his way on route to a podium finish. So much for mutual respect!
~ by Chris #16 Demaras ~
The 2021 Canadian federal election is tonight, with incumbent Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in a tight battle against Conservative candidate Erin O’Toole, while the NDP’s Jagmeet Singh is poised to become the ‘kingmaker’ to help form a minority government, and the Green Party are fielding candidate Annamie Paul.
You know where the candidates stand on foreign relations, and their parties’ economic plans. But Demaras Racing wants to know about their cars. What vehicle a person chooses as personal transportation, both now as a national political figure or years ago when first starting out, tells a lot about an individual.
Here are the candidates.
The article Canada Elects a Car Guy As Prime Minister kind of puts Trudeau in an early lead. The first car Justin drove was an El Camino, later he bought a 1972 Mercedes-Benz 280 SE, drove a Volkswagen Jetta TDI while living in Vancouver, and also drove his late brother Michel’s old Ford Bronco. But the crown jewel in the Trudeau fleet is his father Pierre Elliot Trudeau’s 1957 Mercedes-Benz 300SL which Justin drove on his wedding day. Nice.
The man wears well tailored suits, has an extensive Rolex collection, but he’s always being seen on that silly bicycle! How do people take him seriously! Easy…just wait until he folds up the bike and pops it into the trunk of his red BMW coupe. Excellent choice, sir!
Apparently this guy used to fly helicopters in the Royal Canadian Air Force, but the closest we could find to a picture of him not being chauffeured around in a black car was a vinyl-wrapped campaign vehicle with the fuel filler in his pie-hole. Also, there’s some online attack ads implying O’Toole’s an old pickup truck, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing.
Not going to say anything negative about the Green Party as there is some support for this group within the Demaras Racing team. Expected to find images of Annamie driving a Prius or a Chevy Volt or something like that. However, their leader does not seem to share our love of motor vehicles.
If you thought the picture of Verstappen’s tire on Hamilton’s head was bad…wait until you see the 360 video!
So…maybe the HALO was a good idea after all.
The first day of school. Kids across the GTA were so happy to finally get to see their friends again. Especially after this ‘challenging time’ we’ve all been through. Dressed in their newest, coolest clothes, students chatted while walking to school, just enjoying being together again.
That’s what makes this news story so disturbing.
A 36-year-old Orangeville man was caught doing 129 km/h through a school zone yesterday, the first day of school. The alleged incident occurred in Brampton, north-west of Toronto, where road safety officers were conducting speed enforcement. Police suspended the driver’s license, and took his vehicle as soon as he was pulled over.
The madman motorist is due in court December 6th 2021 where he’ll face criminal charges and multiple charges under the Highway Traffic Act, including ‘stunt driving’ for doing triple the speed limit.
Labour Day marks the traditional end of summer, and drivers everywhere are putting away their white racing suits. As the racing season nears its end, the school year starts. Daniel Demaras begins his post-secondary education this week, and he’s looking forward to learning more about the University of Toronto Formula Racing Team (UTFR) the school’s Formula SAE team.
Formula SAE is a student design competition organized by the Society of Automotive Engineers since 1980. Student competitors from schools around the world produce a prototype race car, evaluated for on-track safety and promoting clever problem solving.
U of T began its involvement in Formula SAE in 1997, and in 2003, 2005, and 2006, the UTFR team took three overall championships at Formula Student UK. Over the course of 20 years, the designs moved from steel spaceframes, to hybrid concepts, to a full monocoque. Aerodynamics packages were created to improve high-speed cornering capability and recent concepts include a drag reduction system and electric shifter.
UTFR will host their 17th annual “Shootout” at Brechin Motorsports Park on Saturay, October 2nd, 2021. Several other Formula SAE teams will be on track, hopefully including the Ryerson University team car that little Michelle Demaras tried on for size way back at the 2019 Honda Indy Toronto.
For more information, check out their website at https://fsaeutoronto.ca/
It had to happen one day.
This is it. This will be my last season in Formula 1. This is a decission I did during last winter. It was not an easy decission but after this season it is time for new things. Even though season is still on, I want to thank my family, all my teams, everyone involved in my racing career and especially all of you great fans that have been rooting for me all this time. Formula 1 might come to an end for me but there is a lot more in life that I want to experience and enjoy. See you around after all of this!
Kimi
~ by Daniel #412 Demaras ~
My Dad and I had a total blast at Toronto Motorsports Park at Cayuga this past weekend.
Since we had a weekend off from TRAK, why not go to the racetrack anyway? Always so much fun driving these incredible cars around the great circuit. Toronto Motorsports Park never fails to put on a good event.
Special thanks to Uli Bieri for giving regular guys the chance to drive supercars. The fact that everyone is allowed to do this is just bonkers!
~ by Chris #16 Demaras ~
I’m just the right age to have a nostalgic fondness for Lamborghinis. When I was a kid I had the Countach / Alpine Hi-Fi poster up in my room…it was the Farah Fawcett poster of my generation. When I got a little older I looked at Lambos are more of a show-off machine than sports car. They don’t have the pure-bred racing heritage of Ferrari. But even though I’m an elitist, I always wanted to drive one.
Thanks to the friendly folks at Toronto Motorsports Park and the Exotic Car Experience, I got to drive Uli Bieri’s droptop Lamborghini Gallardo around the road course. What a blast!
Sure, it wasn’t the 1984 Lamborghini Countach LP500 S from my childhood, that didn’t seem to bother Daniel at all.
Big thanks to Uli, Cindy Dov and all the staff at TMP for another great father son moment that we will never forget!
~ by Chris #16 Demaras ~
There’s something extra special about skipping work on a sunny day to head to the race track, and it’ll be cars instead of karts this time. Daniel and I drove out to Cayuga to visit Toronto Motorsports Park for another go at their Exotic Car Experience.
While passing through Hamilton, we decided to switch drivers. We pulled into NV Auto for an impromptu car-show before continuing on our journey. The air suspension these guys installed on my Subaru SVX got me plenty of street cred, so I was looking forward to seeing what they were working on next. For Daniel, it was his first time at this Subaru Specialists shop, and as he stared at his WRX, I could see gears in his mind turning.
Arriving at the front gates of TMP was like coming home again. I brought Daniel here as a kid to see dragsters in his formative years. Plus, in 2020 we visited TMP twice to drive the F430 and F-2000 cars. This time, we’d be going for joy-rides in the Lamborghini Gallardo, Nissan GT-R and Corvette.
This place is a candy store for car guys. Daniel couldn’t resist turning some laps in the convertible Ferrari. Last year he samples a silver F430 hardtop, but it just isn’t a ride in a Ferrari unless it’s the race team’s official rosso corsa red.
Next up, both of us got to try out the Nissan GT-R, an all wheel drive, twin-turbo V6 beast of a car, looking absolutely sinister in the black on black paint. Daniel described the feeling of turbo boost coming on as almost scary. The acceleration isn’t linear, like it would be with a naturally aspirated car. It accelerates harder the faster you go. The WRX has done nothing to prepare him for this ride.
One of the only manual-transmission cars was a Corvette Stingray. It’s a previous generation car, but it’s a convertible, so that makes it all better. The instructor pointed out that most people don’t select the Corvette to drive. I thought it was because it’s a more traditional front-engine, rear-drive American V8…but it turns out it’s the colour. The dark green on saddle leather simply doesn’t trike people as a dream car.
What a great day at Toronto Motorsports Park. How fortunate to have the opportunity to drive these incredible cars on track.
