“Vintage racing is not about who finishes first; it is about revving up history, one lap at a time.” – MJ Martin
The Assignment
Photograph a vintage car racing event with just one lens and one camera body. The photographer becomes the zoom by moving forward and backwards to compose the shot.
The Event
Over the Father’s Day weekend, June 13th, 14th, and 15th, we attended the VARAC vintage car races at the CTMP (Canadian Tire Motorsport Park) [ex-Mosport Race Track] and enjoyed great weather, good times, and some superb racing.
The VARAC (Vintage Automobile Racing Association of Canada) Vintage Grand Prix returned to Canadian Tire Motorsport Park (CTMP) in 2025 with a memorable 45th running of the event, held Thursday June 12 through Sunday June 15 on the iconic Grand Prix circuit. This premier vintage racing celebration featured a diverse field of cars, including Vintage (pre-1962), Historic (pre-1973), Classic (pre-1999), Modern Classic, and Formula Classic machines, recreating decades of motorsport history on track.
Thursday of the weekend served as a dedicated Test & Orientation day, offering newcomers and returning racers essential track time to get acclimated to CTMP’s high-speed corners and flowing layout. Action ramped up Friday and Saturday with practice, qualifying, and feature races across the various classes, all bathed in summer weather and spirited competition. Sunday brought a pair of highlight features: a Formula Classic showdown of open-wheel racers up to 1999, and a Sports 2000 feature race showcasing full-bodied, open-cockpit sports racers; drawing large and enthusiastic grids.
An added special “Tin‑Tops” feature race spotlighted closed-wheel sedans and hatchbacks under 2,500 lb, echoing the glory days of 1960s–80s Trans-Am and IMSA small-bore series. Complementing on-track thrills, CTMP hosted a Father’s Day Field‑of‑Dreams Car Show on Sunday, where vintage enthusiasts and families gathered to admire a stunning display of classic iron in the paddock.
Overall the 2025 event celebrated not only a rich racing heritage but also the community spirit of VARAC. Competitors and fans alike immersed themselves in nostalgia, the mechanical poetry of classic machines, and close racing amid the scenic backdrop of CTMP; capping off a weekend that honoured the past while preparing for the next half-century of vintage racing.
The Equipment and Approach
Over this weekend, it provided the opportunity to experiment with another photographic experimentation adventure. For this weekend, I left a lot of camera equipment at home. Just one Nikon Z9 body was used with just one lens, the Nikkor Plena 135mm f/1.8 S-series prime lens. All of the following images were captured with this configuration with the f-stop fixed at wide open – f/1.8 or f/2.2 for the entire weekend. All images were shot as RAW files and then each image was processed in the exact same manner. The files were corrected for exposure, white balance, sharpness, and then cropped for effect, and down resolution reduced for 1000 pixels on the longest parameter and finally saved as JPEG images for subsequent posting.
A few Results
Here are a few of the results. It was windy over the weekend causing dusk and dirt to settle on the cars which was disappointing since when they were clean they looked utterly spectacular.
All images are taken by the author. All rights reserved. No use of any kind in permitted without prior written authorization.
About the Author:
Michael Martin is the Vice President of Technology with Metercor Inc., a Smart Meter, IoT, and Smart City systems integrator based in Canada. He has more than 40 years of experience in systems design for applications that use broadband networks, optical fibre, wireless, and digital communications technologies. He is a business and technology consultant. He was a senior executive consultant for 15 years with IBM, where he worked in the GBS Global Center of Competency for Energy and Utilities and the GTS Global Center of Excellence for Energy and Utilities. He is a founding partner and President of MICAN Communications and before that was President of Comlink Systems Limited and Ensat Broadcast Services, Inc., both divisions of Cygnal Technologies Corporation (CYN: TSX).
Martin served on the Board of Directors for TeraGo Inc (TGO: TSX) and on the Board of Directors for Avante Logixx Inc. (XX: TSX.V). He has served as a Member, SCC ISO-IEC JTC 1/SC-41 – Internet of Things and related technologies, ISO – International Organization for Standardization, and as a member of the NIST SP 500-325 Fog Computing Conceptual Model, National Institute of Standards and Technology. He served on the Board of Governors of the University of Ontario Institute of Technology (UOIT) [now Ontario Tech University] and on the Board of Advisers of five different Colleges in Ontario – Centennial College, Humber College, George Brown College, Durham College, Ryerson Polytechnic University [now Toronto Metropolitan University]. For 16 years he served on the Board of the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE), Toronto Section.
He holds three master’s degrees, in business (MBA), communication (MA), and education (MEd). As well, he has three undergraduate diplomas and seven certifications in business, computer programming, internetworking, project management, media, photography, and communication technology. He has completed over 50 next generation MOOC (Massive Open Online Courses) continuous education in a wide variety of topics, including: Economics, Python Programming, Internet of Things, Cloud, Artificial Intelligence and Cognitive systems, Blockchain, Agile, Big Data, Design Thinking, Security, Indigenous Canada awareness, and more.