Fiat Chrysler's Toronto-raised chairman opened the 2014 Canadian International Auto Show with some interesting remarks. (Photos-Perry Blocher/RaceCanada.ca)
After a record breaking 2013, the auto industry came to Toronto full of optimism and excitement. For racing fans, that's good news as racing programs, and promotion of racing activities, suffered during the dark days of the financial meltdown of 2008 and 2009.
The 2014 show marks a change in that, with significantly more for the racing fan at this year's show than there has been for a long while.
This year's show opened with Sergio Marchionne, the Toronto-raised chief of Fiat Chrysler, talking a lot of business and not a lot of cars, with a few vague threats that weren't threats regarding government funding of expansion at Chrysler plants in Windsor and Brampton. Marchionne is a straight talker and if we want the automobile industry in Canada to continue, politicians of all parties and levels would do well to listen to him.
Chrysler's opening really set the tone, racing-wise, for the big 3, and that meant there was nothing. From the company's that brought us "win on Sunday, sell on Monday", we only got the Monday part.
Ford and GM booths were pretty much the same, but GM had some representation in the show thanks to Canadian Tire's tribute to Ron Fellows booth, where Ron's 1989 Player's Challenge Camaro and his ALMS Corvette were both on display, more on that shortly.
Infinti once again had the Red Bull F1 car on display in their booth upstairs. If you've never seen an F1 car up close, then this is a must. Even if you have seen F1 cars live, it's still a must, there's no such thing as too many F1 cars.
Porsche, returning to the CIAS for the first time in 5 years, had racing featured front and centre with the debut of the new Ultra 94 Porsche GT3 Cup car that will be featured in 5 race weekends this summer, starting at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park on the Victoria Day weekend. The GT3 unveiling was followed by a discussion of the new Le mans P1 program and the technology being passed down from the P1 program to the street cars. Porsche, perhaps more than anyone (although Honda is pretty close) understands, not only that racing builds the breed, but also that it needs to be a featured part of all aspects of it's business, including marketing.
Honda probably had the best over-all presentation for racers, which started off with an all new, bright yellow Fit driven on stage by James Hinchcliffe, a recent convert to the Honda ranks in the Indy car series. Hinchliffe proved once again he is probably the best athlete this country has when dealing with the media and public and he helped lead the Honda presentation. Along with the Fit, the Mayor's new ride, complete with new sponsor colours that hearken back to the Player's days is also on display at the back of the Honda booth.
Subaru, long known around the world for their rallying endeavours had Pat Richard's Canadian Rally Championship car on display.
Downstairs, in the exotic hall there are a number of interesting race cars, including a Blancpain Lambroghini, the #61 R. Ferri Ferrari that ran in last year's Grand Am Rolex Sports Car series and the #69 AIM Ferrari that also ran in the Rolex series. Unfortunately, at this point, it looks like the CIAS is the only firm date for the #69 as AIM Autosport, one of the top race teams in the country, is still looking to finalize a deal that will see them back on track in 2014. While in the exotic hall and although not a race car, the Mclaren is also a must see.
Also downstairs you'll find my two favourite displays, the Canadian Tire tribute to Ron Fellows and the Tudor Sports Car series Mazda Skyactiv Prototype from the team of ex-pat Sylvain Tremblay.
Canadian Tire is proving once again to be a great friend of Canadian racing, going all the way back to their sponsorship of Jacques Villeneuve's 1983 Can Am team. They took the next step with Jacques in 1984 taking him to Indy Car full time, sponsored the Formula 2000 championship, the Spenard David Racing school, where I worked, as well as the Players GM Challenge team of Richard Spenard and Fellows, with David Empringham replacing Fellows when he went on his own with the Sunoco cars and brother Rob as his team mate. Canadian Tire then took David Empringham to Formula Atlantic. And of course they have been the title sponsor of the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series since NASCAR bought out the CASCAR series from Tony Novotny.
And now, Canadian Tire is playing a major role in helping Mosport, now known as Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, in making all the necessary improvements that the classic circuit needs to continue to host top calibre, professional racing. If you haven't been to the track in a couple of years, then you need to get there, you won't recognize the place.
In the tribute hall you will find a number of Ron's past race cars, including his 1989 Camaro from the Players GM Challenge, one of his ALMS Corvette's and a Ferrari 333SP, similar to the one he drove to victory at Mosport with Rob Morgan in 1997, and a Canadian Tire sponsored Nationwide Series car.
Scion featured more grass roots racing in their booth, including a pair of cars looking like they were going to be loaded up on the hauler and top-tuner FR-S.
Last, and definitely not least, my favourite car at the show, the Mazda Skyactiv Prototype car from the Tudor Sports Car Series. In the middle of the Mazda booth, the diesel-powered #70 on display was driven by Sylvain Tremblay and James Hinchcliffe at the recent Rolex 24 at Daytona. Daytona was the car's debut, and unfortunately it dropped out with overheating problems. With Formula One now more concerned with cost cutting measures and gimmicks to end the season, sport car racing has taken over as the most relevant technology in the racing world, as the diesel-powered Mazda proves. And it's flat-out sexy. Canadians will get an opportunity to see the car live at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park on the July 11-13 weekend.
As good as the majority of the show is for racing fans, there are 2 MAJOR disappointments, Mercedes Benz and BMW. Two marques famous for racing, with 2 very successful young Canadians racing in their DTM program's and nothing about either driver in either booth.
Bruno Spengler started with Mercedes Bens and now races for BMW, having won the DTM championship in 2012 for them, the only Canadian ever to do so. Robert Wickens, in his second season in the series driving for Mercedes Benz, scored his first win, along with two more podiums and 5th place finish in the points, making it two Canadians in the top 5 at the end of the season. This should be worthy of recognition in their home country, but apparently in the eyes of Mercedes Benz Canada and BMW Canada, it isn't, it's just too expensive.
This isn't new, Mercedes has never had anything about Spengler in their booth when he drove for them, and nothing has changed. In 2009 when I asked the president of Mercedes Benz Canada why there was no sign of Spengler, I was told that they love Bruno, but there was no following or media coverage for the series in Canada, so there was no point in featuring him. I asked the same question again today at Mercedes and got more of the same no coverage, no interest no money, but if Germany would pay the way, they'd love to have Robert's car. I never bothered to ask BMW their reason, but I'm sure we can all guess what it is.
On the bright side of things, BMW does have a bobsled on display. It's not Spengler, it's not auto racing and, in fact it's not even a car, but hey, it's got BMW's name on it, and it's cheap.
The only way to fix this is for racing fans to speak up. Let Mercedes and BMW know you're not happy with the exclusion of these 2 great Canadian drivers if you're at the show.
2014 is the best CIAS since we started attending at the height of the financial down-turn in 2009. There is a lot of optimism among auto manufacturers, which means bigger displays, more new car launches, and yes, more race cars. The Red Bull F1 car and the Mazda Skyactiv prototype are worth the price of admission alone, if you haven't seen them.