Race Reports
2009 CASC-OR Provincial Autoslalom Championship -
Great Beginnings
Well
after a nightmare of a season in 2008 the 2009 season starts with a bang.
With a questionable clutch, last years tires and and engine I strongly
believe is down on power I headed out for the first event of the year at
Mosport DDT. Although these "Solo 1.5" are a ton of fun in the miata,
I've never done especially well at any of them in any car. So I was a
little nervous about my prospects. The course proved surprisingly
technical with several very tight chicanes that were quite miata friendly.
The higher speeds leading into the tight elements also meant that courage in
the braking zones would pay big speed dividends over the long (almost two
minutes) course. As Steve D pointed out the elevation changes added an
unusual element for many competitors as well. All in all I figured it
for a day that would seperate the rookies and those with bad habbits from
the experienced drivers. After the first run I was actually loosing my
class to Greg by 3 tenths. Which was especially surprising because a
course marshalling problem meant I got a re-run and so Greg was in fact
beating my second attempt. So with some motivation I tuned up my brain
and shortened my braking distances for a quick 2nd run. Shaving 3
seconds off I moved to the top of the overall PAX leader board by almost 3
seconds. On the third run I managed to shave another 2 seconds off my
second run, securing a very solid PAX lead. In the end Wes T pulled an
absolute rabbit out of his hat in his last run and moved up to second on
PAX, but with my cracking 3rd run I maintained an over 2 second lead.
Most surprising to me was that I had actually moved to the top of the FTD
list as well, with the noted exception of a driver in the
UOIT FSAE car.
Videos of my second
and third runs are
posted on YouTube.
2007 CASC-OR Provincial Autoslalom Championship -
Home, Bitter Sweet Home
The fourth round of the 2007
Provincial Championships had the "circus comin to town" with WOSCA hosting
in Sarnia. The course was faster than most WOSCA regulars would be
used to and lead to some close battles all day. For some strange
reason I found that I wasn't grabbing third gear, where I had been on last
weeks very similar club event course. For the first time since I put
new tires on the car I found myself trailing overall. With the lead
quite a bit faster than I was going it was time to step it up. I laid
down a killer run assuming the lead by a mear one hundredth of second over
series director Pete M. Unfortunately Wes T, the past director,
answered back with a smoking run beating me by two tenths again.
Unfortunately during the last session I could not answer back and Wes took
the event beating me for the first time in the series and ending my dream
for a first ever series sweep. Fortunately my best run was still good
for 99.5% (5th was still in the 99's) which was good enough to make me
unbeatable in the remaining two events and lock up the championship for a
third time.
After the event I discovered that
my car was suffering from poor valve timing as a result of a worn crank
timing pulley keyway. This is a common problem related to the short
nose crank of the early miatas. Hopefully my mechanic will have it
together for the first PITL Pro-Slalom on July 28th.
Results for the event can be
found at
solo2.casc.on.ca.
A video from the event has been
added to my videos page.
2007 CASC-OR Provincial Autoslalom
Championship - Double Your Fun
The second round of the
provincial championships was the first event of the first double-header
weekend. HADA hosted on Saturday. Some abandoned cars in the
parking lot made for some course design problems and resulted in a fast
short course design, with yours truly grabbing 3rd gear for a couple seconds
and seeing over 90km/h. Not improving on my first run by any
significant margin was causing me some frustration until it was pointed out
that I was leading PAX. At the end of the day I lead from start to
finish with a lead of almost 1.2% over second place and climbed to 8th on
the FTD list.
On Sunday it was COMP's turn to
host. The course was fast again, but longer this time. The
overall speed of the course caught me off guard at it took me a couple of
runs to adapt. However with a few runs under my belt I was able to
take the lead and stretch it out winning by 1.7% and finishing 10th on the
FTD list. This meant that I was the only stock car to make the fastest
10 competitors an all three of the first event. With a substantial
lead in the series all I had to do was claim organizer's points at the WOSCA
event to lock the championship. I decided, however, to compete at the
WOSCA event for two reasons. One, I wanted to keep the series
interesting and give some other competitors a shot going into the WOSCA
event. I also wanted a chance at the thrill of winning the
championship in front of my own club members on 'home ice' so to speak.
Results for both events can be
found at
solo2.casc.on.ca.
A video from each event can be
found on my videos page.
2007 CASC-OR Provincial Autoslalom Championship -
First Time's a Charm
After a one year hiatus from
regionals, or provincials as they're now called, I was able to win the first
event of 2007 in the Miata. There was a smallish turn out for the
first event in Milton and a tight course with lots of long corners which was
actually between gears for the Miata. Being between gears was a new
experience in the Miata but 8 timed runs meant I had lots of time to get
very good at shifting the car. I lead for most of the day, but it was
a tight event with several drivers in the 99's after every run. In the
final I squeaked out the win over follow WOSCA members Cliff S. who scored
99.917%! So I'm on a little bit of a high and looking forward to
facing the "H-Bomb" at the HADA-COMP double header one June 16th and 17th.
A video from this event has been
added to my videos page.
2003 CASC-OR
Solo-2 Championship, year in review
Well it was another good year.
This past summer I managed to make every event on the tour. Combined
with a busy WOSCA club schedule I only had
two or three weekends off all year.
The season started off again with
the St. LAC club at the disused air field in Picton. I must say
this was the most scenic drive of the year. John Norton, Murray Cutler
and myself made the drive down to Prince Edward county. The poring rain
we endured all day Saturday on the 401 did dampen things a little but even it
couldn't hide the beauty of Prince Edward County. If you're looking for
an event to take your significant other this is the one. With dozens of
bed & breakfasts within a short drive of the venue and beautiful towns and
country side to explore it's a must for a full weekend. But with 3 guys
travelling together we were just there to get down to business. On
Sunday our long drive was rewarded with sunshine and a great venue. All
alone on top a "mountain" (hill in any other province), we had the run of the
old WWII air base. The St. LAC guys tend to have power cars and they
know how to cater a course to their needs. The track consisted of long
straights and tight hair pins. Being in a family group with power cars
this event is usually my one loss of the year. But with an empty class I
managed to beat the pax by a tenth and secured a great backup. It's
always nice to start on the right foot.
The second event was hosted by
HADA at the Brampton Sports &
Entertainment Center. I usually enjoy this lot. It's nice and
smooth with some rolls in it to make it a little interesting. It's
medium size also usually produces courses that suit my car, and this was no
exception. Being the first event in the GTA the turn out was excellent
and I had a full class for a change. I managed to not only win the class
but also proposition Joe T. in CSP, which turned out to be a good thing as Joe
was quickly proving an overall contender. I also managed another great
backup of 99.5%.
Round 3 took us up to the famous
Mosport track. This is another of my favourite drives because of the
beautiful scenery in the country side surrounding the famous road course.
Unfortunately it's far from my favourite venue. Running on the skidpad
makes for a frustrating day with lots of pin turns and overly tight gates.
Fortunately OMSC always does a good
job of organizing, and the distance from TO makes for a good balance of high
turn-out and high serious competitors. Completely alone in my class I
manage to get my win, but I struggled with cones all day and only managed a
back up percentage in the 98's. Not bad but not great.
Round 4 was the home event with
WOSCA hosting. I was organizing this
event, so no results, but had I run I would have had another full class.
Incidentally my class was won by a 4th Gen Prelude rookie running on street
tires, who managed to beat WOSCA's president Greg Marsh in his Firebird.
Joe T. also managed a great backup score tightening up the overall race.
Back on the road, the next event
was hosted by COMP (Competition Corvette Club). Although I'm not
fond of the attitude many of this club's members have towards regional
competitors (most one-marque clubs are like this, but corvette owners seem to
be worst), they still manage to hold great events. A big old school bus
is used for covered registration and timing, with a large course map and
timing display built in. Best of all they have a huge smooth lot and
always make the most flowing fun courses (even if they do suffer from a little
"sea of cones" effect). Being a power course I wasn't expecting to do
terribly well this day. When rain fell part way through the day I was
thinking the worst. But I managed to get some great runs in when it was
dry, and surprised my self by not only getting a good backup of 99.4, but
proposition Joe once again. Hey, hey things are really starting to look
good.
See a highlight video for this
first half of the season
here.
Next we returned to Brampton once
again for the double header weekend. With
TAC hosting the Saturday
event. I found the course slightly frustrating with my gearing being out
slightly. But it did have a nice fast section where you transitioned
into the second lap though and was generally a good layout, if not a little
bit too much like several other courses at this lot. I did manage a good
score though and it was generally a good day, as most at this venue are.
One thing of note: Doug Phillips, a rookie. managed to beat Ralph
O'Brien for the first time this year, and even came within a few tenths of
propositioning me. I was going to have to start turning up the wick a
little more to stay on top. On Sunday it was BAC's turn to host.
Barrie Searle was the course designer and I generally like Barrie's courses a
lot, but once again I had a minor gearing issue and didn't enjoy the course as
much as most others did. The day did prove very interesting though.
Ralph got Doug back at the last minute for C1, and closed within 3 tenths of
me. There was less than a full second separating C1 and CSP with class
wins all around. It made for a tough pax day for Keith in C3 and he had
one of his few losses of the season. But nobody was paying any attention
to the C family as Doug Logan and his stock-ish Mazdaspeed Protégé managed to
beat Tom Smith in BSS (the only time he was beaten all season). The
worst part is that Doug's in my class in 2004. Yikes!
With the season winding down the
next event was one of the most anticipated events of the year. Tom Smith
and some boys for Muskoka Auto Extreme hosted an event at the disused
Bracebridge kart track. Murray and I decided to make a weekend out it
and on Saturday night we ran the King of the Hill at Barrie Speedway (read my
report just below this one). We spent the night
at my aunt and uncle cottage on a small lake minutes from the track. It
proved to be an amazing weekend, it I really hope that someone hosts another
event at that track. The event it self was great fun. Running on a
track made for a wonderful twist. My car seemed right at home. The
club also took care of all the marshaling so we just sat back, watched and
took reams of video footage. Unfortunately my score wasn't as great as
the rest of the day. Without a win at the end of my 4th run I had to
pull out all the stops. I ripped off a great time on my last run, coming
within a tenth of proposition Joe for a third time. Unfortunately I
screwed up my backup in the process, but at least I had saved my win record.
With only one regional to go, I had a perfect record for the season, and only
Joe T. stood between me and the championship (and even then it was pretty
certain). But the weekend also proved to be a downer for Ralph in his
stock Prelude as well. Doug Phillips beat him once again, putting him
into a solid lead for "rookie of the year". Doug actually was the
highest scoring competitor for the event with only 0.002 seconds between his
two best runs. Check my videos page for an
in-car and out-car lap of the track.
The last event of the season was
once again a return to Peterborough and
PMSC.
Now here's one thing that puzzles me. I used to hate the PMSC event
because to the goofy tight courses they ran (tightest on the circuit).
But two years ago they had to take a tiny little lot outside of town, and now
their courses are great. If you ever want to see how to make a great
course with no room come to this venue. It is becoming one of my
favourite events. With a chip wagon across the street all the amenities
are covered as well. This event is usually my best score of the year,
due to the tight courses, but that still didn't take any pressure off being so
close to the championship. But just before the driver's meeting The
directors pulled the top 4 overall competitors aside and informed us that an
error in the scoring was being fixed which meant that I had already locked up
the championship. They were also changing the rookie scoring such that
Doug Phillips had won the rookie title as well. This took a great deal
of pressure off and meant that the event was another relaxing day of fun runs.
I still managed the class win, and a great time (although it appears a timing
error may have deserve the real credit for that one).
Check out the second compilation
video of the last half of the regional tour
here.
Looking back it was a great season.
I lead start to finish but never with great ease as Joe, Ralph and Doug
managed to make it an interesting last few events. The only downside is that
under the new rules for 2004 I'm going to really have my hands full, moving
from one of the smallest and least competitive classes to one of the most
competitive classes. Not only that with being two time winner means
there's nowhere to go but down, and everyone's looking to take my place.
Good luck to all my fellow competitors in what's looking like another great
year.
23/08/03 King
of the Hill - Barrie Speedway
Wow, what a venue! If you've
never been there Barrie Speedway is SMALL! The track is only 1/4 mile.
I can do the entire track, hot lapping, in 2nd gear. Well this was going
to be a learning experience for the Demon and I. We were going up to
Bracebridge for the CASC-OR regional slalom the next day. Many
competitors were stopping in Barrie the day before to attend the TLMC slalom.
But Murray and I decided that we'd sleep in and go to the KOH at Barrie
Speedway instead. We made a point of not telling Pat in the Shoe Box.
(Hey I wanted a trophy for once, so sue me!)
Murray and I arrived before gates
opened, since we weren't sure how things were run there. This also gave
us some time to study the track since we knew it was going to be smaller.
And good thing too! We walked around turns 3 and 4 when we arrived.
The track was so small it was hard to believe that 2 cars would even fit
side-by-side in the turns. The first racing we saw was late model heat
races and it was a parade. We were starting to get worried. Next
came pure stocks, or 4 cylinders. This showed promise. There were
many battles, passes and several cars did entire laps door-to-door. As
for the KOH call procedure no big surprises, lots of time to get to our car
etc. The first strange thing was the lack of competitors. There
were only 7 cars, including the two of us! Barrie does KOH every
Saturday and thus there isn't a lot of "do it while you can" attitude.
This combined with the danger of the small track (there is NO room for error!)
makes for much smaller turn outs then Delaware, where less than 20 cars for
KOH is considered paltry. The next weird thing was the running
procedure. All of the cars are taken on to the grass in field in a big
group. A track official then chooses the pairs one at a time.
Losers don't leave! Several drivers lost and got to run other cars.
My first race was a Probe GT (a good choice for someone that has never seen me
before). I started on the outside and took a slight lead into turn 1,
but the track is so small that it would be nearly impossible to get far enough
ahead of someone to cut in. I braked for 1, but not enough. The
track was much more slippery then I expected and I had to use full opposite
lock in turn 2. Fortunately I kept it on line and my opponent wasn't
fast enough to take advantage of the mistake. By turn 3 it was all over.
Next race was a civic, or crx, to be honest I don't remember (sorry buddy, no
offence). That one was pretty one sided, and the only time I was leading
enough to use the entire track in 3 and 4. My next race was the Camaro.
Now this Camaro was the reigning winner and everyone in the pits was saying it
was hopeless to race against the V8, because it was so much faster.
Murray and looked at each other whenever that was said (see my videos section
if you don't know why I thought that was funny). So I drew the outside
once more. This was getting a little old, but I wanted to clean the dirt
off my tires every time I left the infield and was always last to the line.
Well the launch was pretty even (by now I had realized that the announcer was
giving a count down, so I didn't have to wait for the starter to throw a
flag). With the inside line the Camaro went into 1 with a lead, but his
line was very "oval car" and his setup wasn't. He went in way hot
scrubbing off all his speed, then throttled it out of 2 down the back straight.
I of course actually took 1 and 2 as a corner and made up a solid 2 car
lengths and a load of speed coming out of 2. The Camaro made up all of
that ground down the back straight, but with my extra grip I easily out braked
him into 3 and tore away a big lead out of 4. Game over! Well with
that over, it was now a matter of time before they decide I was the fastest.
My next race was the Probe again. Wait a minute, haven't we seen this
before? Well he put up a valiant effort, but no surprises. So the
final is me and the Camaro. I'm told it will be best 2 out of 3. I
respond "Fine, but can I have the inside line just one!". They agree and
the inside is reserved for me. Ironically it was the only time anyone
got far enough in front for the in car camera to see. The Camaro made a
heroic dive into 3 then did his usual 'slide to a stop in a desperate attempt
to make the corner'. I once again rocketed away down the front straight.
The final was a repeat of our earlier race with me on the outside. As I
was crossing the finish line the Camaro was making lots of smoke in a
desperate attempt to get out of turn 4.
For my efforts I got a nice little
trophy (Seen in the photo below, it's now the smallest one on the shelf).
Unfortunately I didn't get a chance to make a speech, so no chance to run my
mouth off. (Hmm I wonder if this means people will cheer for me next
time. That would be an interesting change...)
Video - This is both races of the final
22/08/03 King
of the Hill - Delaware Speedway
Well what was shaping up to be a
great night ended all too quickly. I was eliminated in the first round,
making it my worst KOH results ever! I don't make any excuses, I just
screwed up. As usual the car was a little loose on the first run.
Of course with the new rear sway bar the car was bordering on scary. I
nearly lost control in turn 2 (the Camaro SS I was racing had a great launch,
mine was mediocre at best, so it was even in 2). This through me off
completely. I tucked inside on the exit of 2 and it was looking good,
when I made the most boneheaded mistake I've made in a long time. I
forgot to shift into 3rd! So I entered turn 3 a full two car lengths
back. I might have been able to make it up, but I slightly over cooked 3
and drifted way wide.
But on the up side I got to
actually watch a KOH race for the first time in my life, and what a night it
was. Lots of close battles, including our own Murray "The Demon" Cutler
loosing to John Norton's mustang in his 3rd race. John was later
eliminated, once again, by Jesse in his Mustang. Of course Jesse was on
street rubber, so John will be hearing all about it at the meeting. Pat
and the Shoe Box had an interesting night as well. The Indy 500 Camaro
was back once again, and this time with some improved rubber (it's about
time!). But Pat showed once again that he's finally figured out the
launch with the B18 engine and pulled the lead into turn 2. Of course it
was all over at that time. The Subaru STI was also back again. It
was no surprise that the Shoe Box and STI should face off in the final.
But this time it was a little different. What a difference a little
experience makes! The STI held the lead through 1 and 2, then rocketed
away down the back straight. It was his race to loose, and he did.
Like I said before the race. Turn 3/4 is the only part of Delaware that
requires any skill or experience. The STI over cooked 3 pushing wide.
Pat was waiting to pounce and went right by on the inside for the win.
Pat finally knows what Murray and I go through at every KOH. I think it
was a bit of a wake up call for him.
