Williams Lake’s Heino Seibert is getting back into the auto racing game.
The local owner of Spectra Power Sports, after retiring from racing in the early 1990s, said he caught the itch to get back in the driver seat after his cousin and fellow well-known, Williams Lake racer Trevor Seibert invited him to visit his recently-completed Area 27 Motorsports Park in Oliver, B.C. last May long weekend. The track was designed by Canadian professional auto racer Jacques Villeneuve, and built by Trevor.
“He tricked me a bit,” Heino joked. “When he opened the track he invited me to go down to experience the track. He had a car ready for me and all that, and after spending a day at the track I was hooked again.”
Heino and Trevor raced together previously at tracks throughout B.C., Alberta and Washington State.
Heino’s wife and SPS co-owner Tracy, meanwhile, also caught the racing bug after she had the chance to test out a car on the track. She’ll be taking the new car for what’s called a ‘hot lap’ — driving around the track without competing for a position — whenever she gets a chance.
“Being the great guy that Trevor is he said: ‘Tracy, here’s a car for you. Want to try?’ That was it. Twenty minutes later she was hooked.”
Heino proceeded to order a 2018 Camaro ZL1 1LE from Trevor and a company he founded, Avion Motorsports — a factory-built race car straight from General Motors. He’ll be racing in the Club Racing division this season for scheduled races June 9-10, one in July and another in September.
“If I had to pick one thing I got the biggest thrill out of, it was auto racing, by far,” Heino said “It’s the most fun, exciting thing I’ve done.”
The Seiberts new race car weighs 2,600 pounds and packs close to 460 horsepower while reaching speeds of 260 kilometres per hour on the race track.
Area 27 is designed as a membership-based, luxury motorsports club and sold out its 300 memberships soon after they were available last year.
“In our class there are 11 members right now that have these cars, and there are two more being built,” Heino said.
“All the cars are identical, so we’re just looking at it like it’s going to be a lot of fun. Trevor and his son, Ryley, along with their cousin, Ingo Seibert, will be racing, too.”
Heino is currently making sure every nut and bolt is fastened in preparation for taking the car out on the track this weekend for its first hot laps.
“The track is very technical,” he said of the 4.8-kilometre-long track. “It’s difficult to drive fast. They’ve made it a real driver’s track. It’s got slow hairpins down to 70, 80 km/h, and some straightaways where you’re going 260 km/h, so it’s challenging. It’s definitely a tough one to memorize.”
Heino said he and Tracy will be in Oliver at Area 27 for the next four weekends taking in several different track events before race day.
“We’re just looking forward to it,” he said. “It should be a whole lot of fun.”
