It's a housing development now, a knot of quiet residential streets with names like Mulberry, Maplewood and Chickadee. Large, detached single-family homes sit cheek-by-jowl, their driveways cluttered with compact sedans and crossovers.
Once though, this was a battlefield.
Maybe you can hear the imaginary echoes as you putter down Paddock Drive, keeping an eye out for kids on bikes. Maybe your eyes are sharp enough to see the faded scar of Turn 3 through the tree line.
All plowed up and bulldozed over, the maw of B.C.'s housing boom is unstoppably rapacious in its appetite for land. The development marches right up the side of Eagle Ridge in Coquitlam, right up to the edge of the forest. The only racing now is done on bicycles, or in these suburban basements on gaming consoles or Hot Wheels tracks. But once upon a time, this was Canada's racetrack: Westwood.
Built in 1959, the Westwood circuit was carved into the mountain's ridge beside the Coquitlam River by the Sports Car Club of B.C.
Tired of shredding tires on the rough and rutted asphalt of local airfields, club members wanted a dedicated facility at which to indulge their need for speed. Circling the hat, they collectively raised enough funds to lease a parcel of land from the Crown and built a swooping, curving, 1.8-mile course amid the pines.
From the air, it looked like a Valentine's Day card drawn by a not-especially-talented four-year-old. The twin humps of the steeply-banked carousel and valley corner curve formed the top of the skinny "heart" and then there were the twin straights, elongating out to a tight turn: Marshall's Hairpin.
Looking at a track-map, you'd think the wriggling S-curves of the road that ran past pit lane would be the more challenging of the two straights. You'd be wrong (though they were no picnic), the arrow-linear Mountain Straight had a considerable hummock right in the middle. Dubbed "Deer's Leap," this bump would occasionally fling unwary drivers off into the weeds at high speed. This is what people did for fun in the days before Facebook.
When it officially opened in July 1959, Westwood could lay claim to being the first dedicated road course in Canada. Over the next three decades it would host Formula Atlantic racing, Trans-Am and even NASCAR.
Gilles Villeneuve would race here, as would Michael Andretti and Keke Rosenburg. Indy champions like Bobby Rahal and Danny Sullivan would also flog their machines around the course in anger, much to the delight of spectators.
In 1976, the Vintage Racing Car Club of B.C. joined the scene, showcasing historic racers on the Canadian tarmac. While you might characterize club members as curators, historians and caretakers, don't think they took the racing lightly.
While there are no official prizes or trophies, a racecar cannot be pussyfooted around a racecourse meekly.
It champs at the bit. It squirms under the bridle and dances sideways impatiently. It gets under your skin.
