The Canadian Car of the Year Fall Testing Program Coming to Canadian Tire Motorsport Park

BOWMANVILLE, ON -- Feb. 25, 2015: The Automobile Journalists Association of Canada (AJAC) has announced that the 28th annual Canadian Car of the Year (CCOTY) "TestFest" event will be held at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park on October 26-30, 2015.

The week-long event sees the most important new model vehicles each year brought together in a single venue to be tested, back-to-back against their competition, by a group of 70-80 journalists.

The sports and performance cars will take to Canadian Tire Motorsport Park's 2.88 km Driver Development Track and the large skid pad as well as five days on the public roads surrounding the venue, while the crossovers, utility vehicles and pickup's will utilize the off-road trails on the 900+ acre property for their testing components.

"We are proud to welcome an automotive testing event of this importance and scale," said Myles Brandt, President and General Manager at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.

"The facility, with multiple race tracks, skid pads as well as the off-road course will provide AJAC with everything they require to run the vehicles through the various tests. Many consumers base their choice of vehicle on these results so we couldn't be happier to play a part in that."

"We are all car people at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, and are thrilled that our facility will play host to the Automobile Journalists Association of Canada and their TestFest event, to determine the 2016 Canadian Car of the Year awards," added Ron Fellows, co-owner at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.

"It's yet another prestigious event to add to our 2015 calendar."

The CCOTY program, which is open to new-this-year models, sees the highest-scoring vehicle in each testing category declared a winner, before all category winners re-compete for the overall title of Canadian Car of the Year, Canadian Utility Vehicle of the Year and new to the program Canadian Green Car of the Year. A field of dozens of vehicles is narrowed down to a handful of top-scoring finalists, and then just two overall winners.

"The Automobile Journalists Association of Canada's (AJAC) Canadian Car of the Year (CCOTY) awards committee is excited to bring their annual TestFest event - where new model vehicles are evaluated each October by the country's top automotive journalists - to Canadian Tire Motorsport Park," said Gary Grant, Co-chair, Canadian Car of the Year Awards.

"The world class facilities at CTMP will usher in a new era for AJAC's respected awards program, ensuring that the Canadian Car of the Year awards remain the most relevant shopping tool for Canadian new car shoppers."

For additional information about the Automobile Journalists Association of Canada and the Canadian Car of the Year awards program, please visit CCOTY.