26 Apr 2019 ASN Canada FIA Canadian AutoSlalom Championship presented by Overtime Rentals
ASN Canada FIA is pleased to announce that the ASN Canada FIA Canadian AutoSlalom Championship will return to Fort McLeod, AB, July 26-28, 2019, organized by the Southern Alberta SoloSport Club (SASC).
“ASN Canada FIA is pleased that the Canadian AutoSlalom Championships are returning to western Canada,” said Terry Epp, chairman of the National SoloSport Committee. “We are looking forward to, once again, visiting southern Alberta.”
“The event will be held at the Fort McLeod Airport facility, for the third time as the championship was held there in 2011 and 2014. This airport facility has 3000 feet of 75 foot width runway and 500 feet of apron. The organizers always provide two very challenging courses over the two days of competition. A strong entry field including many from British Columbia, the other Prairie Provinces as well as the USA, is anticipated. The highlight of the event will be the podium ceremonies for the top three AutoSlalom finishers and the crowning of the newest Canadian AutoSlalom Champion. The event organizing committee is also planning on several special features for this edition of the Canadian AutoSlalom Championship.”
Richard Bonham, SASC’s Solo Director said, “The club is very pleased to announce that Overtime Rentals, who are specialists in providing oil field equipment, will be the presenting sponsor of the event. The venue surface is high grip and smooth airport-grade asphalt, that can support long and high paced courses. In addition, we will be repeating a special feature from the 2015 CAC with a prize fund of $4,800 split amongst the podium finishers (subject to expected, entry levels being achieved).” He added that it would be a perfect opportunity to plan a holiday in Southern Alberta, which has so many different sights to see and things to do.”
Additional Features of this year’s CAC:
- Mini RASE School on the Friday morning.
- Friday afternoon – short test and tune course for set-up and practice purposes complete with timing.
- Two full days of competition with cash prizes.
- All SCCA and ASN/FIA affiliated club members are welcome with no special licensing requirements.
- Fly and drive is possible with many local competitors and the organizers will encourage locals to offer co-drives for people from out of town and particular from the USA and the eastern half of the continent.
- Calgary has a modern, international airport with many carriers and direct flights available from most major cities across the continent and overseas.
- Within eye-sight of the Canadian Rocky Mountains, obviously there are attractions to visit starting in Fort Macleod with the fort where the Canadian Mounted Police were located to control the area over 100 years ago. Nearby, the Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park is about an hour away to the South. The Frank Slide site, about two hours west in British Columbia, is a large avalanche site that mostly buried the Town of Frank in the Crowsnest Pass. The slide has been studied world-wide in geology schools. Banff National Park (1st National Park in North America) is a three hour drive from Fort Macleod and is about an hour west of Calgary. An hour east of Calgary, Drumheller has the largest (and likely best) dinosaur museum in the world.
- You can easily come out and spend an entire week or more seeing the sights in Southern Alberta!
Canadian AutoSlalom Championship Fast Facts:
From 1972 through 1991, Canadian SoloSport competitors enjoyed a National AutoSlalom Day with identically designed courses run on the same day on different venues across the country from which national class champions were determined.
In 2000, a group of enthusiastic SoloSport competitors from across Canada created a single national championship event, the Canadian National AutoSlalom Championship, which ran through to 2003.
With the formation of the ASN Canada FIA National SoloSport Committee in 2004, the ASN Canada FIA Canadian AutoSlalom Championship concept became part of the mandate of the ASN National SoloSport Committee and the committee elected to hold an annual Canadian AutoSlalom Championship event alternating between eastern and western Canada. This year will mark the 39th time that the AutoSlalom Championship has been held.
In 2004, the National SoloSport Committee (NSC) created a national set of AutoSlalom Regulations and in 2005, created a new feature for Canadian AutoSlalom, a formula for determining an overall national AutoSlalom champion. In 2013, the NSC adopted SCCA class preparation rules and classes in order to unify the AutoSlalom community both north and south of the border so that the sport ran on the same rules in terms of preparation and class. Event organization and safety requirements remain part of the NSC’s mandate.
The first championship event held under the ASN Canada FIA banner was in 2004 at Sanair racetrack in Quebec. In 2005, the event was in Red Deer while Toronto was the location of the 2006 event.
2007 saw the Canadian AutoSlalom Championship in the west when the event was held in Pitt Meadows, British Columbia where the event was hosted by the VCMC club. Excellence was evident in every aspect of the championship and 132 entries vied for top results.
In 2008 and 2014 the championship was in Slemon Park, Prince Edward Island organized by Moncton Motor Sport Club. The organizing committee designed a 4000 foot course that challenged and delighted the 95 entries that attended the three day event.
Since PEI, the championship has also been held in Saskatoon, Saint Eustache and in Barrie. In 2013, the championship returned to Pitt Meadows where more than 120 competitors competed followed by a return to PEI in 2014 and the ‘Slalom at Slemon’ and the ‘down home hospitality’ and keen completion that are found in Atlantic Canada.
In 2015, the Calgary Sports Car Club and the Southern Alberta SoloSport Club held the event at the Fort Macleod Airport. 88 Competitors attended the event and, for the first time, over $7000 in cash was presented to various overall and class winners.
In 2016, the Club Autosport Des Laurentides (CADL) hosted the event at the PMG Technologies testing facilities in Blainville, QC. The event had a record 146 competitors from 5 provinces and several US states and they thoroughly enjoyed the courses created on the biggest, paved surface the championship has used so far.
In 2017, the CAC returned to Pitt Meadows with its 550 000 sq. ft. competition surface under the direction of VCMC for the third time. 100 competitors battled it out over four courses with three runs for each course (totalling1300+ runs) to determine 34 national championships.
The 2018 CAC event saw a new venue in the Picton Airport facility in Picton, Ontario where the St. Lac and Oshawa Motor Sport Clubs (also first time organizers of the CAC). 96 competitors enjoyed the festive atmosphere as well as very close competition before the 2018 CAC champion was crowned.