Jim Perry

Fall is supposed to be the downtime to get ready in a leisurely fashion for the next season. But the shop is full of projects, and I’ve got this new car to complete in anticipation for next October’s La Carrera Panamericana.

Our La Carrera ES was introduced to the public at the 10^th Annual P and B Motorsports Garage Party and Car Show in October. I made sure our two current sponsors. VP Autoparts and VTO Wheels had their space on the car. But progress has been slow.

My P and B Motorsports partner Dave Buettner said that this project was going to challenge me and my skills and he was certainly right. Combine that with wanting to have a life beyond being in the shop every moment, my natural tendency to worry about getting things done, and it makes for a stressful fall with much more to come.

After having a B20 block bored to fit some nice JE race pistons and accumulating all the rotational assembly parts I thought I was ready to do an engine assembly in advance of fashioning a skid plate. A nice, never used race head had been secured from a fellow Volvo racer. New rings and bearings had been delivered from Autoparts, but Murphy’s Law of Racing kicked in immediately. I am using rods and pistons from one of my previous race engines and discovered that the Crower rods were designed for later style bearings, not the 1973 variety I had in hand. No big deal, just order new bearings.

But wait. Better check the piston height before going any further. Uh oh. The decking that the machinists had to do brought the piston out of the hole by 0.066”. We could deal with that if it were not for the high compression ratio that accompanies that little detail. This motor needs to run on pump gas, not the stuff that flows through 1 Red. Race fuel cannot be transported across the border. Even with the octane booster allowed this is just not gonna work out so now we’re at the drawing board discussing new rods or dished pistons. Arg!

Well, there are plenty of other things to be done. The car is more of a hybrid between a street car and ad a road car, and it needs to be street legal. Sorta. Bumpers have been painted to match the body, trim painted to match the Swedish blue striping.

Whether we want/need a rear bumper is under debate, but the ’73 mounting points for them no longer exist. Headlights were sourced from Toyota because they are just really good and were so inexpensive that the dealer had to check the price twice. Front and rear IPD sway bars are installed. Time to start thinking about the dash before the Painless (?) racing wiring harness gets installed.

The roll cage interferes with the lateral mounting points of the instrument panel, requiring a bit of cutting and shaping.

I’m using Autometer gauges for everything. They’re slightly larger than the Smiths stock gauges, so all the holes needed enlarging. The fake wood fascia is being replaced with aluminum.

There are still things to be ordered, but it’s not as though there is a lack of items to be installed.  It’s quite amazing how long each one of these seemingly simple things can take.

This is like the 20-mile march – one step at a time. Keep marching with me!

We had a spectacular early fall day for the 10th Annual P and B Motorsports Garage Party and Car Show! The skies were clear, the temperature hovering in the upper 70s, and the biggest crowd ever was enthusiastic about the diversity of the many cars in attendance.

This annual effort is thanks to several days of work to clean the shop and set it up for the party, thanks to the Primary Team of Dave and Pam Buettner, and Joy Perry. Let’s start with recognitions. In addition to the P and B Motorsports Team, we had real and significant help from Mark Walker, Valerie Stabenow and Bob Ablard, all part of the Fox Cities British Car Club and genuine friends. My fellow Swedish car racer and restorer (Saab) Mark School was here without even  being asked.  Then there are the organizations — the Fox Cities British Car Club http://foxbrits.com/, Fox Valley Region of the Porsche Club of America https://fv.pca.org/ , and Zero to 60 Garage  https://www.facebook.com/people/Zero-to-60-Garage/100063747333972/?v=timeline who offered tangible help financially. To those who donated at the event, those donations go to the St. Joseph’s Food Pantry in Menasha. And to all of those who brought food, thank you!

Attendees were greeted by a vehicle (?) perhaps unexpected, a 1957 Case 300 farm tractor that is used on a regular basis around the 40 acres of P and B Motorsports.

This year the Fox Cities British Car Club planned out and led a 1.75 hour cruise of a portion of the Yellowstone Trail in Winnebago and Waupaca Counties. Really interesting history: https://yellowstonetrail.org/

Driver’s meeting in preparation of the cruise

Led by Steve Owen’s classic 1953 Land Rover that had a top speed of 40 mph we wound through the rural farmland before landing at MJK Classics, the Jaguar restoration shop of  FoxBrits member Mike Kurtzweil. I think there were some nervous spouses at the shop as one could see the wheels turning inside the heads of many of us for the possibilities within our own shops! (Joy Perry stayed behind at our place, so she was spared, for the moment, my “Oh, we need one of those, and one of those, and one of those” moments.)

Arrival at MJK Classics,  the ’53 Land Rover on the far left

It was a delight to behold, and included Mike starting a nice Jag 6 on the test stand.

I want one of these stands!

While we were gone our Security Force guarded a vey valuable piece of racing history provided by Mark School. (No, it’s NOT the car on the rotisserie!)

We returned to P and B Motorsports spot on (that’s a British phrase, right?) at noon to find a field of cars and a lot of food awaiting us.

10-year “1973 ES restoration. We’re close to starting it!

’50s Indy Car reproduction. All hand build. Street legal and driven. Waupaca Old Car Club members are under the shade of the Old Apple Tree, with tsome of their cars at the right.

Dave Buettner’s 1940 Buick. (Has Dave lost his BMW way????)

Nope! Dave’s ’71 CS

L to R, Volvo 144 (Doug Senk), 142 (Jim and Judy Kneisel), 122 (Larry Boyer and Mary Medo).

Valerie Stabenow’s E Type Jag

Wisconsin Model A Club representatives

Dave Mc Allister’s ’65 Volvo 122S

My ’73 BMW 3.0 CS with my ’73 Volvo 1800 ES in the background.

I had my Spec Racer Ford out as well. Note the Zero to 60 banner. Zero to 60 was one sponsors for the party.

We had a first. This beautiful Austin Healey was trailered to the party.

Professional detailer Chris Eick gave a great presentation about how to make one’s car actually glow. Thanks to the Porsche Club to making this happen.

And from right around the corner, a couple oldies from “Over the Hill Model T’s”

We’re building an ES to be run in La Carrera Panamericana in 2026. The car is still a long way off, but Dave Buettner put down a really nice paint job. I did the trim, choosing to sand pieces and paint it Swedish blue, which is very close to Ford Blue. and we have two sponsors so far, VP Autoparts, a Sweden-based Volvo (and Mustang) parts supplier, and Phoenix-based VTO wheels.  Lots of parts have been accumulated and now the real work begins. Painless (?) wiring harness, create an instrument panel, engine assembly and installation, modification for a T5 transmission, skid plate installation?

How you know that you’ve had really old cars at your party. 🙂

We kicked off our 2025 race season on Father’s Day weekend at Blackhawk farms Raceway. What a weekend it was!

This was the first time out for our 1 Red Volvo since our trip to Canadian Tire Motorsports Park almost exactly a year ago. The MoSport event ended up in a rather spectacular fashion with a broken rear universal joint, buggered up pinion flange and bent drive shaft on the last race of the weekend, so that was pretty much the end of the season for our Volvo racing.

Over the course of the offseason I replaced the drive shaft, switched to the more modern version of the pinion flange, balanced the drive shaft and hoped for the best. My sole opportunity to test it was a 1/2-mile trip down North Loop Road, hoping that the authorities were not lurking. The vibration that had plagued the car before the U joint broke was gone, but the real test would be when I got on to the track.

All turned out well as we got up to speed at Blackhawk Farms during the practice session. The car ran exceptionally well throughout the course of the practices, qualifying sessions and the Sprint race.

My, uh, outstanding observational skills failed me at the end of the Sprint race when I saw a waving flag from the starter’s stand that I interpreted as the checkered but was in fact the white flag indicating the last lap of the race. As we came down the front straight I was concentrating on overtaking “Doctor Dreadful’s” (Rick Gurolnick) white 1960 Porsche 356. There was a slower car on his driver’s left, and just as I was at his bumper and moving right he moved right, forcing me to get hard on the brakes as we were approaching the start-finish line. But I thought “Oh well, that’s the end of the race anyway so no big deal.” I was in P2. As I proceeded to let the car slow through turn 1 Doug Bruce in his ’59 Bugeye Sprite and in P3 at the time came charging past me. My reaction was “What??!!” It took perhaps 2 seconds to realize that I was actually on the last lap and put the pedal to the metal, but it was too late by then, so I ended up P3. That put me starting 3^rd for the Heat Race on Saturday.

In that race, all was shaping up well through the first three laps. I had moved up to second. Coming around Turn 6, … well, watch the short video: https://youtu.be/9-FjlODd0LQ …

At the entrance to the crossover, there was a sudden bang, the left front dropped and off I went over the alligator strips, heading for the fence. At that moment I was a passenger with little control. Fortunately (if you can call it that) the left front wheel turned sideways and it slowed the car enough that I ended up short of any contact. But my Heat Race was over.

There is no longer race than the one that you watch from the sidelines in a broken car.

The usual gaggle clustered around the car as the wrecker dropped it off the asphalt behind our trailer in anticipation of learning what had happened. The cattywampus wheel came off to reveal a broken lower ball joint, but quite amazingly, no other damage. No bent tie rods, steering links, A arms – nothing!  I am known as the go-to source for spares but ball joints were not in the mix of my trailer parts department. They will be from here on out.

The offender. How many rumble strip runs does it take to break a Volvo ball joint?

The offender. How many rumble strip runs does it take to break a Volvo ball joint?

Ramiro Malgioglio was the only other Volvo driver at the event. Bless his heart, when he learned that I was ball-jointless, he was on the phone with our Dekalb, IL 1800 owner friend Tim Detwiler asking for assistance. There are friends, and then there are friends who will go above and beyond. Tim did not have a loose ball joint but there was one on his race car. He not only took it off but then drove it to Blackhawk!

Ramiro and Antonio Malgioglio

Speaking of friends, my Spec Racer Ford racing buddy Bob Ablard was paddocked right across road from us, and, along with Ramiro and his dad, provided real assistance in getting the rotor and spindle off, the broken stud out and Tim’s ball joint back in.

Me and Bob Ablard

As the sun was setting we were done and ready to go racing on Sunday! A brief hardship session early indicated all was well again.

Sunday’s Group 2 Feature Race is dedicated to the memory of Ray Freiwald. Ray raced an 1800 for over 40 years. In 2023, one year after Ray’s passing, VSCDA had a beautiful hand blown glass sculpture created that is a traveling trophy for the race. I won it that year. Last year that honor went to Allan Thom.

Allan was on the pole in his Alfa, with Doug Bruce in a Bugeye Sprite right next to him.  Because of my Heat Race DNF, I started 28^th of 32 cars.  This was a 20-minute sprint race, so there was a lot of traffic to wind through, but I finished P5. All in all, a satisfying outcome. Congratulations to Doug Bruce, the 2025 winner of the Group 2 Ray Freiwald Memorial Race.

There is very nice coverage of the race in the most recent issue of Victory Lane: https://www.flipsnack.com/victorylane/victory-lane-vol-40-issue-7-july-2025/full-view.html

Doug Bruce (Winner) at the top, John Salisbury (2nd place), Mason Hoeper (3rd place) with the Freiwald children: (L-R) David, Paul and Carolyn.

Freiwald Group 2 Traveling Trophy – Doug Bruce, 2025-2026 Caretaker

The well outfitted canine race fan. 🙂

“How long are you going to be doing this?”

It seems this question about my racing is becoming more common with the start of each new trip around the sun, especially among the more elderly of my family and friends. I define elderly as much by attitude as chronological age, maybe even more so by the former. As long as one has reasonable health, denial of the latter is useful to my mental well-being.

So why slow down? New adventures await inside and outside racetracks and Volvodom.

Such are my thoughts as I write this in the waning moments of 2023.

Earlier this year, my buddy and partner in VSA authorship Duane Matejka made me aware of an opportunity for a new adventure, just awaiting a little work and transport from his shop to mine. Seems one of Duane’s rally car clients had decided that an ES Duane had started to prepare for him had to be sidelined and Duane wondered if I wanted it. Maybe wondering is too weak; rather, encouraged me to avail myself to this marvelous opportunity.

It was tempting since the ESes have become quite the staple of my existence. After mulling it over and talking with my left coast friend Cameron Lovre, with whom I had long ago entertained the idea of doing the Ultimate Road Race, Mexico’s La Carrera Panamericana, I decided to pass on it.

The car sat for a bit longer, Duane kept talking with me, and Irv Stein, with whom Duane has had a long-standing racing relationship. Irv decided to buy the car and Duane suggested that he would not be able to finish it. “But Jim can.” Next thing I knew I had struck a deal with my right coast Volvo 1800 racing friend Irv that I would complete the project — do what little (ahem) work remained to be done, to turn it into a La Carrera entrant for a Stein-Perry team for late 2024.

The car was to be delivered to P and B Motorsports forthwith. Well, these things have a way of not working out exactly as planned and the delivery to P and B Motorsports has been delayed from May of 2023 to maybe May 2024. But the basic plan still exists.

The pictures below shows where the car was in December of 2023, before the roll cage being fitted before it came to me. La Carrera is 2000+ miles of demanding driving on Mexico’s highways. It’s not for the faint of heart or a poorly prepared car. Safety requirements of the event are high, as in the past there have been not just a few people who made this a one-way trip. There are places along the route where guard rails don’t exist, and it can be a long way to the bottom.

Almost ready for paint – Car as it sat at Duane’s, without cage completed. Note new jacking point under the door,  just like that of 1 Red.

Duane has done a whole lot of the heavy lifting. The structural and suspension reinforcements that made my 1 Red such a successful race car have been improved upon, using Duane’s ME knowledge and that gained from creating some very successful Peking to Paris Volvos more recently.  While this is an ES, we’re going to fit it with Joe Curto rebuilt HS-6 SU carbs to feed a fully race prepared B20.

Lower A arm reinforcements have strengthened them to deal with increased torsional forces.

Likewise, the upper A arm have been reinforced with plating.

The roads can be rough, with speed bumps that defy the imagination of those who drive around in the U.S. Duane did his magic on the front cross member as well, first adding structural reinforcements, then modifying it to accommodate custom made Bilstein dampers from Sellholm Tuning AB in Sweden.

The rear shock mounts needed reinforcement too. Here’s what the mockup looked like for the passenger side roll cage location. The damper (shock absorber) has been installed.

The drivetrain will include a newly rebuilt BW (Mustang) T5 5-speed transmission, which has specially selected ratios to match those of the original Volvo M41 OD transmission. The shifter is a Hurst unit.

T5 with overdrive

For the fuel system, while this is an ES chassis, we’re going to run twin SU carbs that have been totally redone by the highly respected SU rebuilder Joe Curto. The fuel cell is large to accommodate this particular race — a 32-gallon JAZ unit.

Now it’s up to me and Dave Buettner to finish it off. Dave will paint the car and no doubt help with some of the assembly. I’ll be purchasing the rally instrumentation and lord knows what else with the hope of creating a great car that might serve as the crowning event of my, and Irv Stein’s racing life. Stay tuned for more developments.

“You don’t stop racing when you get old, you get old when you stop racing.” – Author unknown.

In vintage racing – perhaps all racing — sometimes things go well and sometimes they just don’t. Last September at Road America’s Ariens Art on Wheels weekend was one of the latter. Throughout the weekend, I watched the water temperatures rise each track session. Thinking it a head gasket failure, we installed a new Cometic gasket and hoped for the best. No luck. By Saturday the temperature gauge was in the danger zone and copious quantities of water was being pushed. My weekend was done.

When I got home, I pulled the motor and found a cylinder-long crack in No. 2. This block had become nothing more than the proverbial boat anchor.

Motor D – Crack runs length of #2 cylinder

All of our race motors are bored out to some degree. This particular one had gone beyond what could be tolerated. I had made the mistake of not checking to see how thick the cylinder walls were before the machining took place. I vowed that that was not going to occur again. So, with new stock block secured from the P and B Motorsports Parts Department (aka, the barn) I searched for a local source for accurate sonic testing. After one false start with a company that came up with wall thickness measurements that were found to be wildly off by virtue of a caliper, I found some kindred souls who took an interest in what I was doing at Great Lakes Testing in Neenah, WI.

With confidence that the Great Lakes results showed my replacement block could be safely bored, it went to Competition Specialists Race Engines for machining. Fortunately, the internals from the previous block, including crankshaft and rods, were intact and reusable. Unfortunately, the heat had caused the rings on one of the pistons to seize. Deciding to be conservative, I ordered new custom pistons from Ross. Additionally, Duane Matejka (R Sport Engineering) sent a head plate to ensure the very most accurate boring process.

We spend our winters from January until early May in southern Arizona. Periodically throughout the course of that sojourn I checked in with the good guys at Competition Specialists, who told me the motor would be ready upon my return in May, and it was. Much of that month then was devoted to reinstalling what is now designated as Motor E, but it also included an extremely thorough cleaning of all the oil lines, the Accusump, the oil cooler and anything else that September’s failure might have impacted.

Remarkably, two days before the Blackhawk Classic, I was ready to go!

All the effort paid off.

This year’s VSCDA Blackhawk Classic was devoted in part to the memory of our good friend and Volvo racer Ray Freiwald, who passed away suddenly in October 2022. Ray had been my mentor, I dare say a hero, and that of a number of other Volvo drivers over his four-decade racing career. Ray’s friends decided that it would be a fitting to create a plaque for the obelisk in the heart of the paddock at Blackhawk Farms Raceway, where Ray was lead instructor for their track days. Saturday’s noon break was devoted to dedicating the plaque with Ray’s family present.

Obelisk plaque

Obelisk ceremony, with Blackhawk Farms owner Paul Machute (Greg Blue photo)

Alice Freiwald and friends (Greg Blue photo)

The family brought Ray’s track car. (Paint by P and B Motorsports! Greg Blue photo)

In addition, VSCDA decided to name the Group 2 Feature Race in his honor, not only for 2023, but forever.  Any event is special, but this one was more special for me and the others whose were touched by Ray’s life. Perhaps that was an additional incentive for me to make sure that everything was prepared as well as possible.

Other than my shop 20-minute break-in, the first practice session was the initial run for Motor E.  It proved prophetic for what the weekend would bring. The first qualifying session was run under ideal conditions. I was able to turn a lap second only to John Salisbury, off his mark by 0.148 seconds. It put me on the outside of the first row for the Saturday morning Sprint Race. As the green flag dropped, I was able to get just enough distance between the two of us to take the lead and hold it throughout the course of the race. A win!

That win allowed me to select my starting position for the Heat Race. I chose the traditional inside pole.  John’s P2 had him on the outside. Roles were reversed, and this time John beat me to Turn 1, taking the lead. Throughout the first lap I was thinking “Be content to stay with him.” But as we rounded Turn 7 I saw a puff from his tailpipe and I was back in the lead and once again was able to hold off the competitors behind me. A second win!

We’ve won our class many times, but two overall wins in any weekend was the first for me and One Red. And now I was poised to be on the pole for Sunday’s Ray Freiwald Group 2 Memorial Feature.

All of this was not lost on many people, based upon the comments about the possibility of a Volvo winning this Memorial Feature. Now, I am not a religious person, but if I were, I would swear that Ray was looking down on me and our Volvo.

This time Matt Goettzinger in his Porsche 356 was beside me as we came around Turn 7 of the Pace Lap. Matt and I are no strangers to one another; we have raced closely a number of times at a number of tracks. As the pace car pulled off I was in second gear with my eyes riveted to the Starter on the bridge. I had thought about the mythical story of drag racers of old watching for the Starter’s muscles twitching in advance of waving the green. I can’t claim I saw that, but the second I saw the green, the pedal was to the floor. As I shifted to third just before going under the bridge, a quick glance at the mirror revealed I was half a car length ahead of Matt. We went into Turn 1 like that, and I was able to use the advantage to pull up front. But I have been there before. Could I hold it through the entire race? Matt was on my tail and never let the pressure off until we hit traffic in last lap. Coming out of Turn 7 I knew we had pulled it off.

The hat trick. The trifecta. We had won the Ray Freiwald Memorial! And what’s more, Ray’s sons and daughter were on the bridge waving that checkered flag. I’m not a religious person, but I was talking to Ray that last lap.

Here’s a short (5 minute) video of the Feature Race. (Special thanks Tom Ocahl of TwoPics Photography for providing the trackside portion.)

            Ray Freiwald Group 2 Feature Race Podium (Joy Perry photo)

Freiwald Group 2 Traveling Trophy

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We are pleased to announce that a second race car has been added to the P and B Motorsports stable. In late 2020 we acquired a purpose-built Generation 2 Spec Racer Ford, The car is run in Chicago and Milwaukee Region SCCA region events.

We are currently competing in the eight race GEN2 PRO TOUR Series, whose primary sponsor is Elite Autosport or Woodstock, IL.

2021 was our first full year of racing with the car. We finished 7th overall in the pack of 18 drivers. Take a look at some action from the season opener at Blackhawk Farms Raceway in April of 2022.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sM3gLMCP9-Q

Hot. Humid. Heavy weather. Just what you’d expect in July at Road America for the WeatherTech International Challenge with Brian Redman. We went through 60# of ice over the weekend. But 1 Red ran flawlessly, albeit a little warmer than normal –at speed, water temp was 220 and oil 240.  Given the heat we were a bit surprised to see our lap times come within 0.015 seconds of our all-time best and GPS data showing a new top speed.

We were the only Volvo in the 60-car Group 2, so we got all the attention. Porsche 356s – pfft – dime a dozen.

Elizabeth came with her dad from Milwaukee and tried out the driving position. (The number change was a result of my being a bit late to register.) (David Farrington photo)

This event attracts people from all over the nation. It is one huge weekend party with racing sandwiched between. The off-track festivities center around two car shows that fill the streets of Elkhart Lake. We joined the 154 race-car field for the drive downtown Friday night. Here’s a quick 50 second look …

If you wish to see Nate’s video of the entire parade, you can find it at https://youtu.be/8RZj0jjx6k0.

I was astounded to see people lining Highway 67 beginning 2 miles outside of town. The crowd was 4 deep as we wound around downtown. For two sunny, hellaciously hot hours we hosted on-lookers outside Siebkins Resort.

After getting some good laps in on Friday our Qualifying Race was scheduled for 1 p.m. on Saturday. At 12:30 the storms rolled in and we were warned to seek shelter.

At  Friday Driver’s Meeting the Chief Steward told us that Sunday’s Feature Race grid would be based upon our finishing position of the Qualifying Race. We huddled in the trailer as the rain pelted the track. Next thing we knew we heard “Final Call to Grid for Group 2” as the heavy rain continued.  If there was a first call we sure as hell did not hear it! We scurried in a major way to get to the grid. The car went up, Joy and David Farrington threw on the rain tires, David laid in the water to disconnect the rear sway bar trailing arm and I softened the shocks. There was no time to think.

A significant problem with racing in the rain is fogging of the windshield. No defroster in a race car. Years ago we had bought a Harbor Freight defroster that just does close to nothing and have gone in favor of a long-handled squeegee, but given the rush that failed to get into the cockpit. This clip gives you and idea …

It was slightly irritating that Road America decided to abandon the stated Sunday gridding provision in favor of best lap time of the previous qualifying sessions.

Group 2 had a wide range of cars in it, including some V8s and former professional driver Doc Bundy, who started on the pole. We did pretty well – moved up 7 positions to finish second in class to a Devin-Porsche. The race was cut short due to an incident in Canada Corner that you’ll see on the video. Here’s the edited in-car video of the feature race.

Photo gallery at the end of this narrative.

So next up for us will be the Elkhart Lake Vintage Festival, which will prove to be an “interesting” event. There are over 500 cars registered, with more than 200 Formula Fords. One of the criticisms of the WeatherTech International Challenge is that there is not a lot of track time, and to a large extent that criticism is accurate. The sessions are short. It’s also the first time I have ever run a session at 7:30 a.m.

Between now and then I need to decide on which motor to run. I have a brand new (as new as a 1970s B20 can get) motor on the stand but given the way the one in the car in running, maybe it’s best to stick with that one.

Photo Gallery

Ian Wood, a fellow Volvophile from British Columbia, left his Volvo home in favor of his McLaren. But he ran into a few issues. (Like his lift!)

This shift fork sent Ian on a quest for a replacement. Fortunately he and his team were able to come up with a fix.

Does this tell you it was … HOT?

Young people have the capability of finding the best viewing position for the race car parade. (David Farrington photo)

The “$90 sticker.” Some people register their cars just to be part of the parade, and don’t race them.

Race Coordinator Joy Perry showed the colors and spent the evening showing the car and inviting people to get into it.

The Paddock Shop was a popular place because of its AC. (Oh, and the personalities — Brian Redman, David Hobbs and Burt Levy were there too.)

This event attracts a bunch of vendors where one can spend more money.

And the performance car people come out too.

“I’ll take two”

As Ron Soave would say … (David Farrington photo)

Oh Canada!

Wow! The Canadians really know how to throw a party and call it a racing weekend. And Volvo Nationals was privileged to be part of the Vintage Auto Racing Association of Canada’s (VARAC) 40^th Anniversary at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park.

14 vintage Volvos from the newly minted Vintage Volvo Racing Association (VVRA) showed up from near and far. We were slightly disappointed that our friends Kevin Michael (PA), Sam Moore (NC) and Irv Stein (PA) had to bow out at the last moment, but probably not nearly as disappointed as they were.

Stephanie Barnes from Calgary, Alberta took the “Loose Odometer Award.” We were glad she did because she kept us laughing throughout the entire weekend, even including during the downpour that greeted us Thursday night for our VARA picnic under the su … uh … deluge. No matter, our Canadian hosts Peter Lambrinos, Leon Lok, and Bonnie and Dan Reynolds, fed us, beered us (Peter’s wonderful home brew), and got us together for a sun dance that worked wonders for the rest of the weekend.

The Thursday picnic hosted by the Canadians was, ahem, a little soggy. Beer and burgers helped.

This was my first running of Mosport. My friend Steve Bonk cautioned me that this particular track has done the ultimately nasties to quite a few drivers, so I had this on my mind as I took to it Friday morning. It’s a very very fast track, not particularly technical in my mind, with several blind, off camber corners, two of them falling away as you sweep left. Moss Corner is the only tight three-part 2^nd gear hairpin. By the time Saturday had rolled around I was pretty comfortable and told the crew that if one ran only Mosport, we might be able to go 4 or 5 years without changing brake pads.

Speaking of crew, we had two newbies with us who added greatly to the mix. Our Volvo friends David and Joyce Irvine from Shelbyville, MI, came along not as wrenches but as true professional videographers. David and Joyce were our Scandinavia traveling partners last summer and are the leaders of the Great Lakes Chapter of VCOA.

The crew. Joyce Irvine, David Irvine, David Farrington, Suzanne Farrington and Joy Perry

Joyce and David did not get their hands greasy, but they put on miles walking from location to location for some of the great video you will see here. So, while Joy Perry was dealing with her normal race coordinating duties, David Farrington was handling in-car video, data acquisition, and still photography, and Sue Farrington made sure I could see out the windows, the Irvines prowled the track and paddock with a very professional video camera and microphone. You will see their driver interviews periodically in the future.

There’s a real contingent of street Volvo enthusiasts that come to Mosport. We felt appreciated because we could see their enthusiasm both with their paddock visits and presence in Turn 8. Our paddock was home to not only our Volvos, but a significant contingent of horseless carriages that are just flat-out gorgeous.

The cool air was good for 1 Red in the Saturday morning session. With 123ignitionusa Ed Madak’s help, I figured out on Friday that I needed to write an advance curve program to my new fancy-dancy tunable 123 distributor (so that its internal rev limiter was set at 7400 rpm instead of 6000.) Then we were really dialed in. [Note to those thinking about a 123 – this is why you buy your distributor from Ed and not a place that may sell them and then leave you on your own when you have issues.]

All the Volvos were running in VARAC’s Group VH4, along with about 15 other marque cars. VH4 is for cars running lap times over 1:45. On Friday afternoon I qualified at a time that put me on the pole, and then ran Race 1 on Saturday morning. Here’s a short video of Race 1.

When the results sheets came out there was a lot of heavy-duty laughter at my expense among our cluster of Volvo drivers. Turns out VARAC does “bracket racing.” At the driver’s meeting I had heard something about “breaking out.” I said, ‘What’s that?” Answer: when you go too fast. I sort of dismissed the idea of going too fast. Where I come you go fast, and then you try to go faster.

I was penalized four frickin’ laps for running four of the 12 laps faster than 1:45!  My 122S buddy Ian Lok with whom I had a great race did the same. We got the privilege of being relegated to either Quebec or Saskatchewan (anyway,  wayyyy back) for that. Gary Jebsen was listed as the winner with a best lap time of 1:45.088. He got to start on the pole for Race 2 and won. Ian and I got to practice our passing but never caught sight of Gary or Bob Criss. The Volvos put on a show.

Sunday morning, we ran the Volvo Nationals 2019. While we are still trying to figure out the Greek Gridding System that Peter Lambrinos conjured up (Leon Lok said it must have something to do with goat races), Bob Criss started 4^th, I was 5^th and Ian Lok was 6^th.

Here’s a rather long video of the Volvo Nationals. We were able to utilize some of the video that the fans took.

Not sure what happened behind us after we clawed our way around 1, 2, and 3, but we had a great race. Ian’s Mosport experience, his driving expertise and very capable 122 prevailed. Watch his style in the video – no brake lights and it was NOT because they don’t work. At the checkered I caught up to Bob on the last lap and then … well, you have to watch the video. Great fun among friends!

Volvo Nationals 2019 Podium – Bob Criss (2), Ian Lok (1), Jim Perry (3) (Joy Perry, P and B Motorsports photo)

But hey, I had the fastest lap! Does that count?

Screen shot from Race Monitor on iPhone – only one screen of results shows up (Joy Perry, P and B Motorsports photo).

Some parting thoughts on our first Canadian racing experience:

• Ontario’s highways make our interstates feel like corduroy roads.
• The whole approach to vintage racing is the same as we experience in the USA except everything is said with a smile instead of … well, the U.S. stewards seem to have a different way of letting drivers know who is in charge.
• The friendliness of all the Canadians makes one feel like family.

These are the people who made it happen. The publicized, interceded, got sponsorship, provided shirts and awards, and were just all around great.

Bonnie Reynolds

Peter Lambrinos is like a brother to me, one that has his own Canadian flagpole.

Canadian flagpole. Look closely at the base.

Not sure about this bracket racing concept, but I cannot wait to be with my Canadian Volvo fraternity again.

Thanks to Volvo Canada, Castrol, DRD Distributing (that’s Dan and Bonnie Reynolds, BTW), Peter Lambrinos, Leon Lok and VARAC for a great race weekend!

(David Irvine photo)

Vintage Volvo racing Association 2019 Volvo Nationals Drivers (David Irvine photo)

Next up for us is the July Road America Weathertech International Challenge with Brian Redman. But already on the horizon is the 2020 Volvo Nationals – July 2020 at Portland [Oregon] International Raceway.