Can-Am Challenge BMW Club Race - Watkins Glen
Watkins Glen InternationalAbout this event
Please join us September 19th thru 21st for the BMW CCA Club Race weekend at Watkins Glen - this will be a Premier points event.
Come on out and represent your country in the Can-Am Challenge! It will be Team USA vs Team Canada in part 5 of our event series: 1) Watkins Glen in May, 2)NJMP-Thunderbolt in June, 3) Mosport in Aug, 4) NJMP - Lightning in August, and 5) this Watkins Glen race in September, paying homage to the historic Can-Am series that spanned the Canadian and United States border from 1966-1974. A team-based points scheme determines the annual winner, with a special Can-Am trophy to be presented for the country that wins the challenge! This trophy will again be “up for grabs” in the 2025 season and presented at this race.
The Finger Lakes area is beautiful in the fall and Watkins Glen is one of the greatest tracks in North America. BMW CCA Club Racing will once again be running as part of an all-race weekend with the Vintage Racing Group (VRG). VRG is featuring Alfa Romeo to celebrate the 115th year of Alfa Romeo as well as the 45th anniversary of Bruno Giacomelli putting an Alfa Romeo on pole for the F1 race at Watkins Glen by almost a second (!) and leading the first 32/59 laps of the race. 1980 USGP Watkins Glen (youtube.com). (did you know there use to be a chicane going up the esses?)
As an additional perk, we will be running the NASCAR circuit on Sunday, i.e. no "boot". You have to experience this...Turn 10 becomes a whole new adventure!
Registration is $825, and includes three days of racing Friday, Saturday, and Sunday!
A limited number of garages are available for rental at $150 the weekend. First come, first served - please reserve them at $0 at the time of registration and pay VRG directly by check (better, no fees) or Venmo/Paypal before the event - details to be provided. Currently, there is a wait list for the garages.
PLEASE NOTE: 70 Car limit for registration. Register now. Wait list after 70 racers have signed up.
When registering please say "YES" to Receive text messages? We use MotorsportReg text messaging service to communicate with you during the event.
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Similar to last year we are planning on running two race groups. To accomidate morning practice sessions for everyone (including VRG) we will have one combined morning practice session on Fri, Sat, & Sun. There will be a combined 25 minute qualifing session on Friday and then the 1st Sprint Race. Saturday's races will a Sprint Race in the morning with the Feature Race in the afternoon. Sunday will have the 4th Sprint Race.
Similar to the last few years we will be running a BimmerWorld BMW CCA Race School hosted by Trackmasters the Wednesday and Thursday before our race weekend, and once again there are options to dial in both you and your car prior to the Friday morning start to our race weekend.
Those options are:
- Run the two-day open track option with Trackmasters on Wednesday & Thursday
- Run the one-day open track option with Trackmasters on Thursday
- Run one hour of practice on Thursday afternoon from 4:30 to 5:30
Here is the link that Racers can use to sign up for any of these options with Trackmasters: Link to Trackmasters event for BMW Racers
In addition to getting on track for extra practice time, with Trackmasters, you'll also benefit by avoiding the race registration scrum getting into the track on Thursday evening. We will have registration for the race weekend available to you Thursday later afternoon.
Fine print - You must have a valid BMW CCA Club Racing license to participate in the one-hour Thursday practice that will run under HPDE rules.
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Event requirements
You must have a BMW CCA Club Racing license to take part in this event. If your license needs to be renewed at the time you register for this event, you will not be allowed to register and must process your license renewal beforehand.
If you do not have a BMW CCA Club Racing license and are interested in obtaining one, you can follow the information here: https://bmwccaclubracing.com/how-to-race-with-us/
Additionally, your car must have an annual technical inspection done before you can race. A list of approved technical inspectors and the annual tech form itself can be found here: https://bmwccaclubracing.com/tech-information/
