The story started in 1968 in a small Quebec, Canada, town. Jean-Pierre St-Jacques, an avid race car enthusiast and professional machinist, set out to build a race car in his father’s wood working shed. When the build was complete, Jean-Pierre entered to race the little Formula Vee car in the 1968 and 1969 seasons. Proving his home-built race car was successful, he set his sights on building a faster and stronger car to race in the following year’s Formula Ford championship.

That 1970 season is when the Magnum Cars legacy really started. Early in the season, Jean-Pierre St-Jacques proudly unveiled the Magnum Mk1, the first of a series of Formula Ford cars he would hand build. St-Jacques, along with his two teammates, raced their Magnum formula cars in this inaugural season with much success. With a strong showing in its very first season, Magnum Cars produced the MkII and MkIII cars, continuing to amass many more podium finishes and titles in the 1971 and 1972 championships.

In 1973, a soon to become famous driver from Berthierville, Gilles Villeneuve, was eyeing a jump into auto racing. Already an extremely fast snowmobile racer, Villeneuve approached St-Jacques to help him start his formula car racing career. St-Jacques and Villeneuve quickly became very close friends and Gilles went on to race a Magnum Formula Ford to a championship title that very same year. Magnum formula cars were not only very fast, but they proved to be indestructible when subjected to Villeneuve’s very aggressive driving style, which says a lot about the build-quality of St-Jacques’ race cars.

Magnum Cars built about ten race cars in the 60's, 70’s and 80’s. St-Jacques built and raced his last Magnum, the MkIV, which contained more modern technology, in 1989.

Besides building and racing his own Magnum formula cars, Jean-Pierre
St-Jacques worked on the preparation of many race cars. His meticulous attention to detail was successfully applied to Formula Ford, Formula Renault, Formula Atlantic, and Rolex Grand-Am SRP2 Series cars.

For the past three decades, Jean-Pierre St-Jacques’ expertise as a machinist was also applied to developing and fabricating specialized parts for all kinds of racing machines, ranging from karts to Formula 1 cars, as well as endurance, vintage, drag, and even snowmobile racing. Having an impeccable reputation for precision work, St-Jacques was also highly regarded by numerous Formula 1 teams during the Canadian GP weekends, helping teams like Lotus, AGS, Larousse, Williams, and Renault, to name a few.

During those years travelling to races or working on race cars, Jean-Pierre St-Jacques was able to share his passion for car racing with his son Bruno, who also raced successfully for a number of years. While honing his skills as a driver, Bruno also learned the ropes of working on race cars the
“St-Jacques way”, devoting the greatest attention to detail and striving for the highest-quality workmanship.

Again today, both father and son are keeping the Magnum Cars spirit alive as they continue working on many automotive projects with the same passion and commitment to quality.