The Golden Age of Sports Car Racing in North America!

Canadian-American Challenge Cup, or Can-Am

Can-Am started out as a race series for group 7 sports racers with two races in Canada (Can) and four races in the United States of America (Am). The series was governed by rules called out under the FIA group 7 category with unrestricted engine capacity and few other technical restrictions.

The group 7 category was essentially a Formula Libre for sports cars; the regulations were minimal and permitted unlimited engine sizes (and allowed turbocharging and supercharging), virtually unrestricted aerodynamics, and were as close as any major international racing series ever got to have an "anything goes" policy. As long as the car had two seats, bodywork enclosing the wheels, and met basic safety standards, it was allowed. Group 7 cars were designed more for short-distance sprints than for endurance racing.

There was good prize and appearance money. The series was lucrative for its competitors but resulted, by its end, in truly outrageous cars with well over 1,000 horsepower (750 kW) (the Porsche team claimed 1,500 hp (1,100 kW) for its 917/30 in qualifying trim), wings, active downforce generation, very light weight and unheard of speeds.

Can-Am remains a well-remembered form of racing due to its popularity in the 1960s and early 1970s. The limited number of regulations, allowing extremely fast and innovative cars and the lineup of talented drivers created a series to fondly remember. Can-Am cars remain popular in historic racing today.