The circuit was designed and built in the late 1950s and was the second purpose-built road race course in Canada, following Westwood Motorsport Park in Coquitlam, British Columbia. It succeeded several Ontario airport circuits as the province's premier racing venue, including Edenvale in Stayner, Port Albert's Green Acres, and Harewood Acres in Nanticoke — the latter two former British Commonwealth Air Training Plan facilities. The first race held at the track was a local event organised by the Oakville Light Car Club in June 1961. On June 25 of the same year, the venue hosted its first major international race, the Player's 200, a sports car race that attracted drivers from around the world. Stirling Moss won the two-heat event in a Lotus 19, with Joakim Bonnier second and Olivier Gendebien third. Moss suggested that a proposed hairpin be expanded into two discrete corners to increase the challenge for drivers and spectacle for spectators; these turns were subsequently named Moss Corner in his honour — a distinction that has caused lingering confusion, with many people mistakenly calling the track "Mossport." Unlike many historic venues, the track layout has remained mostly unchanged from its original form.
Mosport gained international acclaim through a series of sports car races held under the title "Canadian Grand Prix," which broke Canadian sports attendance records with each successive event. The success of these races contributed to the founding of the Can-Am Series. The Can-Am first visited the track in its inaugural 1966 season and Mosport hosted at least one event in every year of the series' history except 1968. In 1967, Canada's centennial year, the circuit hosted Formula One, USAC, and a 500cc Motorcycle Grand Prix. The Formula One Grand Prix of Canada remained at Mosport until 1977, when it was moved to Montreal. Over its history the circuit hosted Formula One, USAC, the World Sportscar Championship, Can-Am, Formula 5000, and a wide variety of other sports car, open-wheel, and motorcycle series.
Mosport has had a succession of owners since the original public company formed to build the track. Two prior owners, Norm Namerow and Harvey Hudes, were inducted into the Canadian Motorsport Hall of Fame for their contributions to the sport. In 1998, Panoz Motorsports purchased the facility. In 1999, the newly formed American Le Mans Series visited Mosport for the first time. Canadian Motorsports Ventures Ltd. (CMV) — including Orlando Corp. Chairman Carlo Fidani and Canadian road racing driver Ron Fellows — purchased the facility in June 2011. In February 2012 a partnership with Canadian Tire was announced, and the track was renamed Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.
In 2001 the entire circuit was repaved to meet FIA specifications, resulting in a consistent track width of 13 m (42 ft). Drivers were consulted during the process to ensure the original racing lines and character of the track were preserved. In the fall of 2013, the Driver Development Centre — a secondary training circuit first opened in spring 2000 — was reconstructed and lengthened into a full racing course with a 2.2 km intermediate configuration and a 2.9 km advanced configuration, along with a skid pad, pit lane, and multi-storey event centre. This expansion necessitated the closure of Mosport Speedway, an 0.80 km paved oval on the northwest corner of the property that had hosted weekly stock car racing since 1989 and had been known at various points as Mosport's Ascot North and Mosport International Speedway.
Several fatalities have occurred at the circuit. The most recognised was the 1985 death of German Formula One driver Manfred Winkelhock, killed when his Porsche 962C crashed into a concrete wall during a World Sportscar Championship race. In 2008, vintage racer Dino Crescentini of Rochester Hills died after losing control of a 1977 Wolf Dallara Can-Am car that had previously been driven by Gilles Villeneuve during the 29th annual Vintage Automobile Racing Association of Canada Racing Festival. In 2018, former Pro Mazda driver Jeff Green died after his car left the track at Turn 8 and struck the barrier.
The unofficial fastest recorded lap was set by Rinaldo Capello in an Audi R10 TDI during qualifying for the 2008 Grand Prix of Mosport, with a time of 1:04.094. The official lap record for that meeting was set by Capello's Audi Sport North America teammate Marco Werner, who lapped in 1:05.823 during the race.
The circuit currently hosts the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship Chevrolet Grand Prix, the NASCAR Canada Series Victoria Day SpeedFest and Labour Day Sprint, the Canadian Superbike Championship, the Trans-Am Series Mosport Trans-Am, and additional events including the VARAC Vintage Grand Prix, Michelin Pilot Challenge, Formula Regional Americas Championship, Formula 4 United States Championship, Radical Cup Canada, and USF Juniors.
This article is based solely on the supplied corpus. No external sources were consulted; claims that could not be substantiated against the corpus were omitted under the drop-the-claim rule.
Gallery · 4 related images
