Fashion Cares 2008 - Media Launch

For pictures, videos and a review of the 2008 Toronto Fashion Cares presents: Fashion sCares event held November 1, 2008 at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre please go to my blog post here.



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Models greet the media at Brant House.

Toronto, get ready for Fashion Cares 2008: Fashion sCares! The AIDS Committee of Toronto (ACT) brought out some beautiful models with Fashion Cares' Chair Michael King and genius Creative Director Phillip Ing for the media launch of Canada's largest AIDS fundraiser to be held November 1st, 2008 at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre. The warm up event was held at Brant House within the Fashion District of downtown Toronto, Ontario and as an invited blogger I joined mainstream media for an up close look at the spectacular event that will be Fashion Cares.

The roster of musical acts and celebrity hosts was presented which included director David Furnish as host (with many celebrity co-hosts) and recording artists Katy Perry (I kissed a girl) and Kreesha Turner (Don't call me baby). I just want to say MAC Viva Glam!

Phillip Ing (centre) joins models and friends during the media launch.


Some of the many camera crews on hand for the evening.

The City's biggest costume party of the year will move away from their recent detour at the historic distillery district back to the Convention Centre and from a spring show to the 22nd installment just after Halloween. The timing of the show has certainly influenced this year's theme - Fashion Cares Presents Fashion sCares. Fantastic clashes of haute couture and halloween craziness will make it harder to keep your eyes off the models as they compete with the hip see and be seen crowd attending the party. I found the models and their outfits were fascinating.

Here is a Youtube video I made featuring bonus pictures, video clips of the models and music by the group No, Really.









While models worked hard, so did the bartenders and the DJ.





And there was a great crowd of media, sponsors and supporters attending the function and the after party.






















Enza Supermodel (right).




Honorary Chair, Jeanne Beker - host of the very famous Fashion Television.

We say hi to Fashion Designer Andre Gorokov who will be participating in Fashion sCares.

And we say goodnight to the media launch of Fashion sCares and look forward to the upcoming Fashion Event of the Year - get your tickets and see and be seen.

Cayuga NCATS August 30, 2008

I join a Canadian Tire rep for a picture in the winners circle during the NASCAR Canaian Tire Series race held at Cayuga on August 30, 2008.

During the race the lights on the track went out three times and each time the race was halted. During one such lull Joe Hamilton took my picture as we hang in the pits.
The real winner of the race was #9 Mark Dilley.

Argo Cheerleaders

Briana, Andria and Jessica from the Argo Cheerleaders.

2009 race back in Toronto

Indycar will start it's engines on July 12, 2009 as the cars return to the City of Toronto - welcome back!

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — The Indy Racing League’s IndyCar schedule for 2009:

April 5 — Streets of St. Petersburg, St. Petersburg, Fla.
April 19 — Streets of Long Beach, Long Beach, Calif.
April 26 — Kansas Speedway, Kansas City, Kan.
May 24 — Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Indianapolis.
May 31 — The Milwaukee Mile, West Allis, Wis.
June 6 — Texas Motor Speedway, Fort Worth, Texas
June 21 — Iowa Speedway, Newton, Iowa
June 27 — Richmond International Raceway, Richmond, Va.
July 5 — Watkins Glen International, Watkins Glen, N.Y.
July 12 — Streets of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
July 26 — Edmonton City Centre Airport, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Aug. 1 — Kentucky Speedway, Sparta, Ky.
Aug. 9 — Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, Lexington, Ohio
Aug. 23 — Infineon Raceway, Sonoma, Calif.
Aug. 29 — Chicagoland Speedway, Joliet, Ill.
Sept. 6 — The Raceway at Belle Isle Park, Detroit.
Sept. 19 — Twin Ring Motegi, Motegi, Japan
Oct. 11 — Homestead-Miami Speedway, Homestead, Fla.

2008 Fergus Truck Show

The Fergus Truck Show took over a large chunk of land stuffed full of big rigs and free goodies. Nothing better than watching the modified vehicles, with similar firepower to funny wheels racers, pulling the big loads as smoke belches into the air and the scream of the engines as they try to go that extra foot. A couple of the girls were wearing short kilts.

There were also booths and booths of driving firms looking for truckers - I guess it's a good time to get a job driving a rig.

There were a few models wandering around the show including a few Sleeman girls. Sleeman was the sponsor beer for the show and I enjoyed a few of their draft beer - or as they say draught, because you are parched.

Some of the Sleeman models take a break from the suds to say hi.

Taking time for the show and shine, getting the rig ready.

Green racing

I noticed a lot of talk recently demanding that racing go GREEN in the environmentally friendly sort of way. The suggestion is that auto racing is so destructive to the environment that it should be canceled or at the very least race cars should run on batteries or even solar power.

One could hardly argue against the idea that reducing exhaust emissions would be a good thing - however restrictions to auto racing should be weighed against it's relative impact on the environment and of the current social mores regarding entertainment. Should going to the theater to see a movie be banned because people drive to the theater to see the movie - which is much worse to the environment than watching television or walking to a store to rent a DVD? Should airplane flights be canceled because of the enormous carbon footprint required to put these giants into the air so that a small percentage of the population can have fun in the sun. Die hard environmentalists would certainly say yes but should anything entertaining be canceled because it does not contribute to the well being of the planet (i.e. bread, not circuses).

Auto racing is definitely an exciting undertaking, full of adventure and sometimes disaster. Going to a racetrack I think that I notice first the sound of the engines as the deep rumbles of the cars turn into a scream as they race around the track. Second, I smell the pungent aroma of exhaust and rubber. Finally, I appreciate the crowds, the officials and the colours of the vehicles. Watching racing on television reduces the impact of the noise and eliminates the odours associated with event so the question is - could the Grand Prix operate at current speeds and distances with battery power only and would the public be concerned over the lack of noise (or could they put baseball cards in the spokes of the wheels)?

I think to study this issue we need to look at many factors including the following -and I will only look at the Grand Prix race series in Canada.

1. Amount of races, practices and cars involved in a typical year.
2. The type of fuel used in the race.
3. The amount of pollution and what type of pollution is produced by a car (and ratio of pollution between a race car and a typical car).
4. Speed and distances in the races.
5. Current battery technology (what speed and distance could be provided).
6. What are the current racing teams doing to go GREEN.

Join me in future posts as I try to answer these questions. If you have any comments please send me an email at jmhcet@gmail.com.

Hey Toronto - what's up, eh?

We pass by the weekend that the Toronto Grand Prix would have run on the streets of the Big Smoke and we wait for more information regarding the hopeful return of the race. So, in this regard I head over to the Andretti Green Racing webpage to see what's up.

Unfortunately I couldn't find anything regarding Toronto's race on their site, however if you check out the site you could always buy something from their online store. I will try to contact Michael and see if he can let us know anything.

The big takeover

Andretti Green Promotions have taken over the old Grand Prix Association of Toronto. Lets hope that Michael Andretti's new company brings open wheel racing back to Toronto in 2009 - bigger and better than it was before.

Grand Prix of Toronto sale to Andretti?

The Toronto Star today carried an article suggesting that Michael Andretti and partners would like to buy the assets of the Grand Prix of Toronto. Andretti won many of the Toronto races and has now retired from driving would like to continue the Toronto event - hopefully starting in 2009.

CDN Motorsports Expo - March 2008

The second annual Canadian Motorsports Expo was held at the Toronto Congress Centre on Dixon Road and all that was missing was a lot of drivers - and girls, girls, girls!


I took in and loved the Meet the Media - Fan Forum panel discussion and debate. Some great racing media personnel which included Dean McNulty (Sun), Erik Tomas (Raceline Radio), Joel Robinson (JRA Video), Neal Jones (PRN), Greg MacPherson (Inside Track) and Norris McDonald (Star) discussed many of the pressing issues facing the sport of racing in Ontario and Canada.



Hot topic of the day was the "absorption" of the CHAMP car series into the Indy Racing League (IRL) and the cancellation of the Toronto Grand Prix event in 2008 due to an IRL race conflict. Norris talked about the lack of support from the Municipal Government and stated that the race was "never welcomed with open arms by the City". Dean talked about the lack of corporate sponsorship in racing overall and specifically about the Toronto Grand Prix since Molson quit the race and the latest sponsor - Steelback, had dropped out because of financial reasons.

The ribbed tire of an Indy F1 race car - the CHAMP tire was smooth.

It was noted that the Toronto race has been held for 22 years, it is the 5th largest Indy market and that a sponsor maybe available for 2009. I hope that the race can return to Toronto with it's side benefit of generating fan interest in all other types of motorsports. It was also noted with some irony that for the first time in 22 years the race could officially be known as the Toronto Indy!

Canadian race car legend Ron Fellows was on hand for autographs and pictures. Ron currently runs a Corvette in the American Le Mans Series.



NASCAR Canadian Tire Series (NCATS) driver J.R. Fitzpatrick also attended the event.

Some other participants in the show included the monster ride truck the "Bucking Bronco" and Rallysport Ontario with a car that has had a smashing good time.






It was a good show and I recommend you drop by next year.

Fergus Truck Show 2007

During a visit to the 2007 Fergus Truck Show in Ontario I took some video of some of the matches and have been impressed by the amount of views on Youtube (almost 60 000 at the time of this post). The trucks spew large plumes of dark exhaust fumes as they muscle the load down the gravel course. Downwind of the trucks viewers become engulfed in a cloud of dust and oil.

The Fergus Truck Show is a huge event and well worth the visit.

Toronto Grand Prix in the dumps

The long anticipated merger of the CHAMP and IRL racing factions have put up the white flag and will become one - once again. Many think that the open wheel racing is destined to remain second fiddle to NASCAR but the spectacle of racing in the streets of a major city is truly an amazing event that outshines the race around an oval track. With CHAMP out of business fans can now concentrate on a single series.

Our race in Toronto has been shot down for 2008 and now one can only hope that it returns in 2009. I also hope that if and when they return to the big smoke that I will also return with a media pass.

Winter Doldrums

Winter has arrived and the Canadian weather leaves a lot to be desired at this time of the year. If you know of any great events that happen around the GTA that are ripe for great pictures please pass along a message to jmhcet@gmail.com.

And if you have pictures that beat back the winter blahs send me a copy that I can post to my blog.

Many thanks, James.

Welcome back

Summer is going down to it's final stage as we start to slide into fall - which to some is the best time of the year. As a photographer I certainly like the colours which help to stave off the sadness of the upcoming winter. I have been very busy with creating other websites and shooting pictures for a local paper but I still get around to see such great things as the 2007 Toronto Buskerfest.

Here are some Quebec Viking girls that like to play with fire perform on the Saturday of the Buskerfest three day weekend in the St Lawrence Market area of Toronto.

I will return with Joe to Cayuga for a September 1 race.

Photos from the pits - 07 Nascar Canadian Tire Series - Cayuga

I join Joe Hamilton in the pits at the Cayuga Speedway Park in Ontario for the May 26, 2007 Nascar Canadian Tire Series. Joe provided the following picture of me on the track in front of the line of race cars.

This is the view from the entrance of the pits looking into the pits.

Joe is helping to cover the Nascar north race on behalf of Inside Track Motorsport News.

Greg MacPherson, the editor for Inside Track, was also present for the race. Greg was told to go a few places to get his press pass and when we arrived on site we found him being chauffeured around on a golf cart. I had attended a car event at the Toronto Congress Centre and had won tickets to the Cayuga Race by answering a question (what magazine did Greg work for?) and for $10 upgraded the ticket to a pit pass.

Also joining Greg were his photographers Chris and Pierre. I had met Chris while photographing at the 2006 Toronto Grand Prix.

Ramesh, Chris and Joe (left to right).

Michael at the far left and Pierre at the far right.

We also met photographers Ramesh and Michael from another magazine covering the race - PRN. I met Michael at the Grand Prix as well. Also in attendance were about 15 other photographers and TSN (The sports Network). The coverage was high because this was the first race of the new Nascar racing series running in Canada (it used to be called CASCAR until the recent takeover).

Ramesh at the pit exit.

TSN gets some video footage of one of the drivers.

The gathering of the photographers was great and I look forward to meeting them again.

Michael and Joe during a lull in the action.

Nascar Canadian Tire Series at Cayuga Speedway May 26, 2007

The NASCAR Canadian Tire Series began their season at Cayuga Speedway on Saturday May 26, 2007 where Don Thomson Jr (car #4) claimed victory over the 23 car field.


While it was not a large showing of vehicles, neither was the crowd watching. Which was too bad as the first showing of the season brought plenty of crashes and other excitement which quickly led to about half the cars out of the race.



The first surprise for me was seeing Andrew Ranger driving the 27 car (he finished 4th) after he moved from CHAMP car as, unfortunately, he couldn't bring the needed level of sponsorship dollars at this point in his young career.

The crews spent the early part of the day getting the cars ready for racing in the pits across from the main grandstands.




Then it was time for inspections and time trials. After a smaller race was run (Pro Cup Lites) then the NASCAR north cars take to the track.




Then the drivers lined up for introductions and the National Anthems were sung, afterwards the drivers and VIPs cut the ribbon on this important first event.




They also had three parachutists make a landing on the field.

Then the racing began - it was more intense than previous Cascar races as they have removed the mufflers. The race close and they like to nudge each other and one by one the field starts to thin as more and more laps are run under the caution.



Then it was all over and Don Thomson Jr had finished his victory lap and climbed out of his car and waved to the crowd.

Frankie Muniz - to race the Steelback Grand Prix

I was surprised to receive notice that Frankie Muniz, star of movie and television - including Malcolm in the Middle, has been racing and will compete in the 2007 Toronto Steelback Grand Prix.

Frankie will be in Toronto today (May 16, 2007) for an autograph session. To see information regarding the session just follow this link to the Toronto Grand Prix website.

2007 Fashion Cares - PEEP

I caught a bit of the 2007 Fashion Cares PEEP event held at the historic Toronto Distillery District on Saturday May 12 and besides the fabulous models I ran into George Stroumboulopoulos, host of CBC's The Hour.



The gala tickets were sold out and they were mega bucks! One of the headliners was Dita Von Teese, former wife of Marilyn Manson. Ahhhhhhh - Youtube removed the video that I shot because of copywrite violations, sorry.



The event is held to raise money to fight HIV/AIDS.