Where the Road Remembers: Canada's Tracks, Strips and Gathering Places

This article was written by Coilovers.com Owner and Principal, Lou Tortola.

Every coilover kit that reaches a Canadian garage comes through our Plymouth warehouse, a short drive from the Windsor border. From there, it heads to driveways from Victoria to St. John's. Many of those cars spend their happiest weeks at the places in this letter. Old air force runways. Hillside road courses. Main streets that close for a weekend of chrome. This is my thank you to those places, and to the people who keep them going.

Jump to: Ontario | Quebec | Prairies | British Columbia | Atlantic Canada | The North | Year at the Track | Every Province | Gone, Not Forgotten

A Letter Before the Map

I spend a real part of every year in Windsor, Ontario, where most of my family lives. So Canadian car culture is not something I read about. It is something I live beside.

Canadian enthusiasts have a short season and make the most of it. Cars come out of storage when the salt is gone, and every weekend counts until the snow returns. That urgency gives Canadian car culture its warmth. People show up, and they show up for each other.

Winter is part of the story too. Garages across the country spend the cold months full of projects. A new set of springs goes in. A coilover kit gets its ride height set on jack stands. By March, everyone is checking the weather and counting the days.

No list can hold all of it. Every province has local strips, autocross lots and cruise nights that never make the news. What follows is a tour, province by province. At the end you will find a table with every province and territory. Find yours, then tell us what we missed.

Ontario: Where the Season Opens

Canadian Tire Motorsport Park in Bowmanville opened in 1961, when most fans still called it Mosport. Its long, fast corners remain a rite of passage. The Victoria Day SpeedFest usually opens the big race season there in May.

Shannonville Motorsport Park near Belleville opened in 1974 and runs regular drift days on its own drift track. Calabogie Motorsports Park, in the Ottawa Valley, opened in 2006 and is a long, flowing ride through the hills. Toronto Motorsports Park in Cayuga covers both drag racing and road course laps.

Some of my favourite Ontario history sits on an old runway. The Grand Bend Motorplex runs on a strip of the former air force field near Lake Huron. Its Canadian Nationals usually fill the August long weekend. Ontario's IndyCar race now runs on the streets of Markham, usually in mid August. Each February, the Canadian International AutoShow in Toronto keeps the fire lit through winter.

Quebec: Grand Prix Country

Quebec has a racing history few places can match. Circuit Mont-Tremblant opened in 1964 in the Laurentians and hosted the Canadian Grand Prix in 1968 and 1970. It still holds club racing and historic events among the trees.

Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve in Montreal has hosted the Canadian Grand Prix since 1978. It was renamed for Gilles Villeneuve after his death, and the race now usually runs in late May. The Grand Prix de Trois-Rivieres has turned city streets into a circuit since 1967, usually in early August.

For drag nights and lapping, Circuit ICAR in Mirabel keeps a busy weekly schedule. And every January, the Montreal International Auto Show warms up the long winter.

The Prairies: Big Skies, Long Straights

Alberta has Rocky Mountain Motorsports in Carstairs, with the Rockies on the horizon. Near Edmonton, RAD Torque Raceway, which many locals still call Castrol Raceway, hosts the Rocky Mountain Nationals drag event, usually in July.

Distances out west are part of the culture. A track day can mean hours on the highway each way, with a trailer or on your own wheels. Nobody seems to mind. The drive is half the fun, and the company at the other end makes it worth it.

Saskatchewan International Raceway near Saskatoon is billed as the oldest operating drag strip in Western Canada. It started in 1966 as Southwinds Dragway. In Manitoba, Gimli Motorsports Park sits on a former air force station, with road racing, time attack and drift running through the summer. That runway has a famous story. In 1983, the Gimli Glider made its emergency landing there during a sports car race.

British Columbia: Mountains and Valleys

Area 27 near Oliver opened in 2016, with a layout designed by Jacques Villeneuve. It sits in wine country, and the view alone is worth the drive. Mission Raceway Park in the Fraser Valley runs both drag racing and road course action.

The Knox Mountain Hill Climb in Kelowna has deep roots. The event began in the 1950s near Penticton and moved to Knox Mountain in 1966. It usually runs in May, and it is pure Canadian grassroots racing.

Atlantic Canada: Small Provinces, Big Hearts

Atlantic Motorsport Park in Shubenacadie, Nova Scotia, is the region's road course. Riverside International Speedway near Antigonish hosts the IWK 250 weekend, usually in mid-July. In New Brunswick, the Atlantic Nationals fill downtown Moncton with cars, usually in mid July. Petty International Raceway near Moncton, Speedway 660 near Fredericton and Miramichi Dragway keep the province busy all summer.

Prince Edward Island has Oyster Bed Speedway for summer stock car nights. Newfoundland has Eastbound Park in Avondale, with an oval and a drag strip side by side. And Targa Newfoundland has sent cars racing across the island's roads since 2002, usually in September. It may be the most scenic test of a car in the country.

The North: Long Days, Short Seasons

The territories have short summers and long distances, and no permanent track we could confirm. Yellowknife still gathers for Harley's Show and Shine, usually in early July. If you race or show a car in Yukon or Nunavut, please tell us how you do it. We would love to add you.

A Year at the Track

A typical Canadian season, month by month. Check each event's own website for dates.

Your Province at a Glance

Every province and territory in one place, with typical seasons only. Venue names link to their official websites. Where a cell says "Tell us yours", we want your help.

What These Places Teach a Suspension

A track is the most honest test a performance suspension will ever face. On the street, a soft spot hides. At a track, it shows up in the second lap.

Brands like BC Racing, KW, Fortune Auto, Öhlins and TEIN all build kits for this kind of driving. Each one suits a different driver and a different car. Our guide to setups by discipline and our winter care guide are good places to start.

Gone, But Not Forgotten

Every map has ghosts. Some well loved Canadian tracks have gone quiet, been sold or moved on. They still matter. Somebody learned to drive fast there, and somebody's father raced there first. One of mine is on this list. Checker Flag Speedway, just outside Windsor, gave me some of my fondest racing memories. Here are a few we remember.

A Word of Honesty About Maps

Places change, as the list above shows. Events move to new months, or skip a year when the weather turns. We checked every place in this letter in the fall of 2026, but the calendar never stands still.

So treat this as a love letter, not a schedule. Always check a venue's own website for current dates and rules before you load the trailer. And if you see something here that has changed, please tell us. We would rather be corrected than be wrong.

An Open Invitation to the Community

This is where I ask something of you. If you run a club, flag a corner, work a tech line or chase a time every season, I want to hear from you. Tell us about your track. Tell us what we missed.

We keep Coilovers.ca gear set aside for the people who write in, and for the regulars who make these places run. For drivers and crews who represent their home track season after season, we are open to talking about support and sponsorship. No promises on the first email. Just a real conversation.

We have done this before. In 2020 we sponsored Nick Kohrs, a Pennsylvania driver. He started in novice autocross and worked his way up to Gridlife time attack in a Honda Civic Si. Nick went on to podium finishes in the seasons that followed. We are still proud of that partnership, and we would love to build more like it.

Reach us through our contact page, or call 1-800-460-9106 and mention this letter. See you at the track.

Lou Tortola, Owner and Principal, Coilovers.ca

Frequently Asked Questions