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.