Canadian Tire Motorsport Park (formerly Mosport Park and Mosport International Raceway) is a multi-trackmotorsport venue located north of Bowmanville, in Ontario, Canada, approximately 75 kilometers (47 miles) east of Toronto. The facility features a 3.957 km (2.459 mi), 10-turn road course; a 2.9 km (1.8 mi) advance driver and race driver training facility with a 0.402 km (0.250 mi) skid pad (Driver Development Centre) and a 1.5 km (0.93 mi) kart track (Mosport Karting Centre Inc., previously "Mosport Kartways"). The name "Mosport", a portmanteau of Motor Sport, came from the enterprise formed to build the track.[2]
History
Moss Corner – Turn 5a and 5b.Tunnel, Whites Corner – Turn 10 and Event Centre.
The track was designed and built in the late 1950s. The first race to be held on the track was a local event organized by the Oakville Light Car Club in June 1961.[4] Shortly thereafter, on June 25, the venue held its first major race, the Player's 200, a sports car race bringing drivers from the world over to rural Ontario. Stirling Moss won the two-heat event in a Lotus 19. Second was Joakim Bonnier with Olivier Gendebien third.[5] The proposed hairpin was expanded into two discrete corners, to be of greater challenge to the drivers and more interesting for the spectators, at his suggestion, and is named Moss Corner in his honour. This is a source of lingering confusion as many people call the track Mossport. Unlike many historic motorsport venues, Mosport's track layout has remained mostly unchanged from its original form.
For 2001, the entire circuit was repaved to meet FIA specifications, and is now 13 m (42 ft) wide. Drivers were consulted to ensure the character of the "old" track was kept; almost all the "racing lines" have been maintained.
Mosport achieved acclaim through a series of international sports car races under the title "Canadian Grand Prix" normally reserved for Formula 1 races. Many events were wildly popular, breaking Canadian sports attendance records with each successive race. The success of these races led Mosport to be seen as a key component in the founding of the Can Am Series.
The Can-Am first visited the track in its inaugural season in 1966, and Mosport hosted at least one event in every year of the series' history, except 1968. In 1967, Canada's centennial year, Mosport hosted Formula One, USAC, and a 500cc Motorcycle Grand Prix. F1's Grand Prix of Canada remained at the track until 1977, until it was moved to Montreal. Mosport has hosted a wide variety of series throughout its history. The circuit has held Formula One, USAC, World Sportscar Championship, Can-Am, Formula 5000, and many other sports car, open-wheel, and motorcycle series.
Mosport has had several fatalities, both track crew, drivers, and riders, the most recognized being German Formula One driver Manfred Winkelhock who was killed in 1985 when his Porsche 962C crashed into a concrete wall. [1] Another fatality at the track was in 2008 during the 29th annual Vintage Automobile Racing Association of Canada Racing Festival. Driver Dino Crescentini of Rochester Hills, MI – a ten-year veteran of vintage racing – lost control of his 1977 Wolf Dallara Can-Am car, which previously had been driven by Gilles Villeneuve. The most recent fatality was in 2018 when 61 year old former Pro Mazda driver Jeff Green speared off the racetrack at turn 8, and slammed into the barrier. He was attended to quickly but was unable to survive the crash.
Mosport has had a succession of owners since the original public company created to build the track. Two of those prior owners, Norm Namerow (who owned the track through his publishing company, CanTrack, until his death) and Harvey Hudes, have both been inducted into the Canadian Motorsport Hall of Fame for their contribution to the sport in Canada. In 1998, Panoz Motorsports purchased the facility, and in 1999, the newly formed American Le Mans Series visited Mosport for the first time.
Canadian Motorsports Ventures Ltd. (CMV) which includes Orlando Corp. Chairman Carlo Fidani and Canadian road racing driver Ron Fellows, purchased the facility in June 2011.[6]
In February 2012, a partnership between Mosport and Canadian Tire was announced. The partnership includes a renaming of the track to Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.[7]
Driver Development Centre
In the spring of 2000, Mosport opened the Driver Development Centre, a second 1.7-kilometre (1.1 mi), 12 turn training circuit designed for driver development. The new course was designed by the owners and instructors of the Bridgestone Racing Academy and was designed specifically with fewer guard rails, walls and minimum blind corners to meet the needs of their driver and mechanic training program.[8][9]
Due to significant scheduling demands on the original Grand Prix circuit, the original academy course was reconstructed and lengthened to a full racing course in the fall of 2013. The new track features two configuration options; a 2.2 km (1.4 mi) intermediate course, a 2.9 km (1.8 mi) advanced course, as well as a skid pad, a pit lane, and a multi-storey event centre with classrooms and other facilities.[10]
Prior to the Driver Development Centre, Mosport was home to the Bridgestone Racing Academy from 2000 to 2019, which conducted corporate programs, racing schools, and a Mechanics Training Program. The academy itself was originally established at Shannonville Motorsport Park, when owners Charlie and Brett Goodman acquired the cars and equipment of the former Spenard-David Racing School and teamed with then-Bridgestone/Firestone Canada Inc.
Mosport Speedway
Mosport Speedway was a 0.80-kilometre (1⁄2 mi) oval speedway located on the northwest corner of Canadian Tire Motorsport Park. The track featured 240-metre-long (800 ft) straightaways, 6-degree banked corners and two grandstands with seating for 8,500.
Mosport Speedway
The oval was constructed in 1989 as a dirt track originally called Mosport's Ascot North, named after the famous Ascot Park track in Gardena, California. The first event was scheduled in July 1989 and was to feature USAC Midgets and Sprint Cars and the World of Outlaws. The races were cancelled after the initial heat races caused deep ruts in the corners and dislodging stones hidden under the clay.[11]
The track was paved that summer and renamed Mosport International Speedway. The track hosted a weekly Saturday night stock car racing program from May to September for 24 years. The stock car divisions included pure stock, sportsman and late models. The oval also featured regular touring series including the ACT Series, ISMA Supermodifieds, OSCAAR, Lucas Oil Sportsman Cup, CASCAR Super Series and the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series.[12]
The park announced the closing of the oval in July 2013 to accommodate the expansion of the Driver Development Centre.[13]
It was announced in September 2013 that Canadian Tire Motorsports Park was chosen to host an annual round of the IMSA SportsCar Championship beginning in 2014.[14] The new series replaced the American Le Mans Series as the feature race during the tracks annual SportsCar Grand Prix, which is Canada's largest annual sportscar race.[15]
