Vince's Stuff

Winter... the rainy season?

2012-01-27T14:14:00.001-05:00

I can't believe how much it's raining today! It's hard to believe we're in the middle of winter! At least it makes the BMW easier to drive.

I've been pretty darned busy at work and haven't had much time to write. My girls' basketball team are now 7 and 3. This puts us in 2nd place. Unfortunately, our 3 losses have all been to the 1st place team. This is the team that we will have to somehow beat in the finals this spring. We will be playing in a couple of local tournaments before that, so hopefully we can make progress in a few important areas.

I've missed the past couple of games with my men's team, due to weather and work. I have a game tonight and I'm sure I will be pretty rusty (and winded).

Winter is also the time to think about cars and do research on the Internet... I re-watched all the episodes of the awesome anime series called "Initial D" and it really makes me want another Japanese car. I would really like to pick up an economical and fun car like an early Miata or a (now rare) RWD Corolla GT-S. Alex does not approve. I guess it makes more sense to put the money into an RRSP... The Miata will have to wait a bit.

On the street, I have spotted a couple of new cars. The new Toyota Yaris is pretty similar to the old one, but looks a bit more like a mini-matrix. The new Subaru Impreza is a real disappointment. I don't know how they will find a way to make any version of it look sporty, as the base model looks like a small SUV. I've seen a few more Honda CR-Z's on the road. The more I see them, the more I like them. I would like the styling more if it didn't have that ridiculous SUV front grille. Also, I realized that I like the mini Countryman. It's a neat, small vehicle with 4 doors and 4wd.

Cool cars spotted:
Saab Turbo X
Hummer H1
Porsche 997 Carrera 4S
BMW M3 (E92)
Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution III

Coolest drives of 2011

2012-01-09T20:51:00.002-05:00

Here is a list, in no particular order, of some cool cars I got to drive in 2011. Enjoy!

BMW M6

I can’t say that I was overwhelmed when I drove this car on the track, but, in all fairness, the car was on winter tires and I was not in Sport Mode (and therefore, was using only 400 hp instead of 500). The M6 is not designed to be a track car, but it really is a nice car. The quality of the interior is definitely a notch above the M3, and I am already a big fan of the M3 interior. Over all, I think the M6 is a pretty neat car and would make a fast and comfortable daily driver.

Ford GT

This was a car that was on my “list” of cars I wanted to try. I took it very easy in this car on the track because it had awesome torque and no form of traction control. Despite the cheap interior, the car made a great impression. It had so much presence and I loved seeing it out on the track even when I was riding in other cars. I don’t know if I would ever buy a car like this, but I came away impressed by the over all package.

Nissan GTR

Another car from the “list”. What an awesome machine. I don’t really know what the purpose of such a car is, as it’s expensive and heavy for a track car, with much too much performance for the real world. In my few short laps, I noted that the car had awesome torque and that the excellent chassis and traction allowed you to use it. An impressive car for someone who wants a really fast street car for occasional use on the track. To never hit the track with a car like this would simply be a waste.

Porsche 997 turbo

I had driven the 996 turbo on a couple of occasions and the 997 just felt like a more modern version. What they say about these cars is true: it really is as easy to drive as a Golf. I can see why these cars are so popular. The interior is such a nice place to be and, like the GTR, the all-wheel-drive traction allows the driver to use the ridiculous power of the engine. A great car, but if I were spending my own money, I would be content with the much less expensive non-turbo 911.

Porsche 964

This is, aesthetically speaking, my favourite 911. I finally got a chance to drive one in 2011 and I can’t say I was that impressed. Unlike newer 911’s, the only ones I had ever driven, you could really feel the weight of the engine out back. I love the narrow-bodied look of the car, but I can see why newer generations had a wider track. Newer 911’s feel much more stable in corners. I don’t think I would ever spend my own money for one of these, as they have such ridiculously high resale value. For that kind of money, I would buy an E30 M3 or an Ur-Quattro. Still, a neat car, maybe a future classic.

Hyundai Genesis Coupe

One of the more affordable cars on the list. I enjoyed the drive, as I thought I would. The car felt right and did not do anything wrong. There is no way you will forget you are in a Hyundai and think it’s a BMW, but it is still a fun car with great styling. I guess resale value will determine if this car ever becomes a performance bargain.

2000 Mustang track car

I got in a few laps in this track prepared 4.6 liter Mustang and I was pleasantly surprised with how docile it was. The rear felt very planted (it had independent rear suspension) and the over all experience, apart from the aluminium race seat, was really quite memorable.

Honourable Mention: Rob’s E36 M3

This was not the first time I had driven an E36 M3, but I still thought I should mention it, because I had such a blast the last time I drove my friend Rob’s M3 at St-Eustache. The car was so confidence inspiring that I found I was able to drive it almost like my Civic, despite the rear-wheel-drive. I can see why many of my friends have switched to rear-drive track cars. Also, these cars, even unmodified, are already great fun to drive. Not a bad weekend/track car for 10 000 $.

There you go! I hope to add some fun cars to the list in 2012… Maybe an RX7 twin turbo or an AMG C63? We’ll see!

Happy New Year!

2012-01-03T21:42:00.000-05:00

Alex and I have been enjoying our time off. We managed to get away to Ogunquit, Maine for a couple of days. Although it might seem strange to go to the beach in winter, I can assure you that it is still a very relaxing experience, even if you can't swim in the ocean. Also, there is no snow on the ground there. Here are a few pics:

Alex on the beach at Ogunquit

Me on one of the walking trails at the Wells Reserve at Laudholm

Alex at Laudholm

Alex in the M3 at one of our favourite spots to eat

Other than that, the holidays have been quite relaxing. I got off the couch and went for a run last weekend. I was clearly out of shape, but I'm glad I went out. I wore my trail shoes, as I was running on compacted snow on Mount Royal. I'll try to head out again this week.

The traction control failed today on the M3. I don't know if this is due to the extreme cold, or if it's just a question of the steering angle sensor needing to be reset. I hope it's nothing too complicated to fix. I am still waiting for my new rear top plates so I can change the springs and hopefully get rid of that stupid clunk in the rear suspension!

Cool cars spotted:

Porsche 997 Carrera S

Porsche 924 (early one)

Porsche 911 964

Porsche 996 turbo

Porsche Carrera (80's)

Porsche 911 SC

BMW M5 (E39)

BMW M5 V10

BMW 633 Csi

Alfa Romeo Spyder

Mazda RX7 convertible

Mazda RX7 GSL-SE

AMG CLS

Volvo P1800

Car-related post!

2011-12-22T14:16:00.001-05:00

And now, to car-related items!

There is not much going on in the world of cars and racing for me as the off-season begins. The BMW has been winterized and last night, even when driving on ice-covered roads, the car was sure-footed and confidence-inspiring. There is still the occasional clunk from the left-rear suspension, but I have ordered the parts that I believe will finally rid me of the problem. I hope Marc will have time to install them in the next couple of weeks.

The Civic is still at Marc's house. When he has time, he works on it. We just ordered a bunch of bushings that he will install. I have decided that I would like to enter the car in a 12-hour enduro at New Jersey Motorsports Park at the end of April 2012 and the car will need several modifications (mostly small ones) to be legal for the SCCA's ITS class. The Civic will probably not be a strong ITS car, but it will not be as outclassed as it would in ITE, which is essentially an open class with highly modified cars. One of the bigger jobs would be adding a harness bar to the roll cage and removing some braces create too many contact points on the chassis. Marc can also take care of this.

The planning of such a race is a daunting task, but I have decided to start early and see if I can round up three other drivers and a bunch of crew members. Seb Rochon of Bimmershop has won this event before and it would be nice to have him around next year to give us some pointers on our first enduro over three hours. Speaking of three-hour enduros, I realized the other day that the Civic has now run ten of them, and finished them all. The car may not be that quick, but it's pretty reliable!

In November, I submitted a couple of articles to the AutoJournals web site (http://www.auto-journals.com/) and I found out this week that the journal about the M3 was accepted. Neat! I don't really have much to add to the initial journal entry so far, as the M3 is a street car without too many issues, but I will try to think of something interesting to say about it in the future.

Other thoughts, in no particular order:
- I like the Hyundai Veloster. I think it looks awesome.
- Toyota: your new Camry and Yaris look just like the old ones. What gives? You used to style cool cars, like the Celica and Supra!
- I have seen a few Boxster's on winter tires. I'm glad to see people actually driving their cars in winter!
- Another racing buddy has bought an E36 M3 as a track car. I am jealous!
- Marc has a rear-wheel-drive 1986 Corolla GTS sleeping in his parents' garage. I wish I could buy it! Talk about a practical classic car!
- I saw a new Saab 9-5. I didn't know there would be any new Saab's. I thought they were bankrupt!
- I came across some cars on display in a shopping center near my office. Highlights : an Alfa Romeo Montreal and an Aston Martin Lagonda... wow.

Lagonda

Montreal

Neat JDM truck

Really clean 80's Jag spotted the other day

Cool cars spotted:
AMG C63 Coupe
AMG C63
AMG G55
Mercedes 500E
Hummer H1
Saab Viggen
Audi S8
Audi RS4
Porsche Targa 4S

I finally have some free time...

2011-12-22T13:59:00.000-05:00

So I can write in the blog after almost three weeks since my last post. To keep things simple, I will not mention anything automotive in this post and then I will make a second post about car stuff.

I have been pretty busy at work, since my intern finished her internship a few weeks ago. Luckily, I will have a new intern in January.

I haven't played basketball in a few weeks, due to scheduling and my family Christmas party in Ontario, but I've been to quite a few games with my grade 8-9 girls. The Diamonds are having a pretty good season, as we go into the holiday break with a record of six wins and two losses. We have lost twice to the undefeated first place team (just like last year) and we only have one more chance to beat them in the regular season. We will almost certainly play them in the regional playoffs. Our brilliant assistant coach Darlington says he is treating the whole season as a practice for that one playoff game, which makes sense. The only game against that team that really means anything as far as winning a regional championship is that final.

Even though the girls have several wins, the team's play has been inconsistent. We have managed to raise the intensity level of the team, and we now have to work on correcting mistakes to minimize turnovers. I will be taking the coaching Level II training in January, since the league requires this level to coach grade 10-11, which I may end up coaching next year. I have been watching basketball documentaries (Gunnin' for that Number One Spot, The Heart of the Game) which, combined with the fact that my 21-year-old assistant coach knows ten times more than me about the game, makes me want to improve my knowledge of basketball and my coaching skills. I realize that I never really had a great coach from the age of 12 and that I mostly just showed up and played. I think this is something I can address though, by reading books, watching videos and attending training seminars.

As far as running goes, I have simply not done any. This is a bit sad and I have no real excuse. Any 2012 marathon I might run is so far off I barely even think about it. I will try to get some runs in during the holidays.

Alex has successfully completed her first semester teaching as a professor at Concordia University. She put in many hours and did a good job with her students, while continuing to work on future publications with her collaborators from around the world. She is still busy and will even have to work during the holidays, but she seems more and more comfortable with the work load.

All that is left is to wish any readers a happy holiday season!

Winter is almost here.

2011-12-02T09:39:00.003-05:00

It did snow one day last week, enough that the city was blanketed in white. However (and thankfully), it all melted, so now we're back to late fall weather. The ground is pretty soggy though.

Snow day

Ready for winter driving

I have been pretty busy with work, but I don't have many other activities to worry about: the auto racing season is well and truly over and I am not training for any running event. The hobby that is the most time consuming these days is basketball.

My men's team has continued to do well. After our initial tie-game, we have won four in a row, despite the fact that only five players have shown up in the last two games. My shooting continues to be quite poor, but my defense is still pretty solid. I just wish I had more time to practice. I try to shoot around with the girls at practice, which is better than nothing.

The Diamonds are doing pretty well. After the two initial wins, the girls plated against Regina Assumpta, the top team in our age group. They played a solid game, but ended up losing 46-43, which is not bad. At least we saw that we can compete at that level. Yesterday's game against Jean-Grou did not go as well, despite the fact that we won by 3. I couldn't really complain about our girls' level of intensity, as they were working hard. However, the sheer number of missed layups, turnovers and bad decisions on court almost negated all our defensive efforts. When they double-teamed our best player, she struggle to be productive on offense. Considering we have already beat this team by 25 earlier in the season, it was not our best performance.

The holiday season is approaching but, as usual, I will only be able to relax after the last day of work before Christmas.

Cool cars spotted:

Audi S6 V10
Audi RS6
Audi R8
Audi RS4
Alpina B7
Lexus ISF
G55 AMG
SL63 AMG
Ferrari 458 Italia
Maserati Quattroporte
Bentley Continental GTC
BMW M6
Nissan GTR
Saab Turbo X

Some professional pictures of last weeks track day.

2011-11-21T22:07:00.000-05:00

Here are some of Jeremy's excellent photos taken during my track day at St-Eustache on November 13th.

Passing a Mustang on the back straight

The Esses

Between an Evo 9 and a turbo Jetta

Posing with the Civic

Late fall colours

Artsy pic

Cool blurry pic

Esses again!

Lining up the Jetta for the pass

Illusion of speed

Another cool artsy pic

Kevin, Vince and Rob, enjoying the warm late fall weather

A short break for the Civic

Before more laps

And yet more laps!

Rob's Mustang, ready for action

More laps in the Civic!

And then a few laps driving Rob's Mustang... pretty sweet!

Last driving video of the season

2011-11-16T11:39:00.000-05:00

Here is a short video of a couple of laps at the track last Sunday. My camera stopped before I could record the fastest laps of the day, so the times in this video are not that great:

A perfect day?

2011-11-13T23:38:00.003-05:00

I have been watching a lot of racing these days and browsing many automotive websites. People are talking about their winter plans, but it hasn't even snowed yet. I found this to be pretty depressing from a track driving point of view, so I decided to organize a track day that would take place today. Carl helped me set it up the rental of the track at St-Eustache and all I had to do was find 14 other enthusiasts willing to pay a small fee for one last track day in 2011. With the help of our club's Facebook page and the MontrealRacing web site, I managed to scrape together the required number of drivers and the day was on. Apart from a delay in getting the keys to open the gate of the track this morning, things went really well. I think the people who showed up had a great time. The weather was great and there was a lot of track time on offer. I personally burned a whole tank of gas in the race Civic. The track was dusty in the morning, but improved steadily throughout the day. When Pascal's WRX STi began to smoke due to an oil seal leak, I offered him some seat time in the Civic. I told him that if we wanted to set a better lap time than me, he would need to lap in under 1:02.50. He went out for a few laps and came back with a huge grin on his face. When I asked him what lap time he had achieved, he just pointed to the lap timer and showed me a 1:01.83. I was a bit pissed off, as I thought it would be hard to shave off 0.7 seconds to best his time in the remaining sessions. I went out right away and clicked off a 1:02.1 on my first lap. It took me several tries (many laps in the 1:02.0 range) before I finally managed to match his time of 1:01.83. We were both laughing at the end of my session.

I also got to go out for a few laps in Rob's 2000 Mustang track car. It was surprisingly easy to drive and I had quite a good time. The power was really manageable and the car felt stable and safe. All in all, it was a great day and I am proud that I was able to organize a track day so late in the season. I have to thank Marc, Kevin and Pascal for all their help.

8:00 in the morning, hoping 15 people will show up

The Civic ran like a charm all day

This is how you want your tires to look at the end of the season

A comparison of my speed throughout my best lap in comparison with Pascal's

The perfect day ended with a quiet BBQ dinner with Alex followed by some quality couch time (including watching the Abu Dhabi F1 race!).

As for my basketball teams, things are going really well too. My men's team now has two consecutive wins (after a tie in the first game) and we are still undefeated. My girls' team has now played two games, winning by 25 against a division 2 team (same division as us) and by 30 against a division 3 team. Darlington continues to impress me with his coaching and knowledge. Our next game is against the team that is usually considered as the one to beat in the division. It will not be easy.

Running: I haven't been out running again as I have been busy with work, but I plan to go out at least once this week.

Cool cars spotted:

AMG C63
Lamborghini Murcielago
Porsche Boxster Spyder
Porsche 996 GT2
Porsche 997 tt
Maserati Quattroporte
Ferrari F430
Ferrari 360 Challenge Stradale
Ferrari California
Flat black Bentley Continental GT
Aston Martin V8 Vantage
Aston Martin Vainquish
Mercedes 190e 2.3 16
Mini Cooper S John Cooper Works
Lexus ISF
BMW M6
BMW Z4M
Audi RS4
Toyota MR2 Mk. 1
Toyota Supra tt
Toyota Celica turbo AWD JDM

Finally got my butt off the couch.

2011-11-02T21:04:00.001-04:00

It's been more than five weeks since the marathon and I hadn't gone on a single run until today. The weather was lovely, so I left work a bit early so I could get in a 13 km run on Mount Royal before dark set in (a bit after 6:00 pm), as the Olmsted path is not lit. I went out a bit slow, but quickly got into a decent rhythm. My heart rate did not remain very low, but I was able to maintain the high 150's and low 160's for quite a while. I completed the distance in under 58 minutes for what I believe is the first time ever. Now, a couple of hours later, I feel fine. I needed that, especially since last Friday's basketball game was cancelled and I haven't had much physical activity. I guess this just proves that I should get out for a run more often.

Other than that, Alex and I have both been busy with work. I know the holidays are still a few weeks off, but I look forward to a little break. We have booked a trip to Mexico for spring break and are looking into a trip to Holland (and possibly the Nurburgring?) in April. These dates are still a loooong way off.

I have been watching BTCC races over the past few days. It makes me wish I could afford to do a bit more racing in the Civic. It doesn't look like there will be any other opportunities to drive the car again this year. Bummer. At least I have the BMW, which is extremely pleasant to drive on the softer winter tires. I swapped the pads on the car for some used street pads, as both Alex and I were sick of the constant squealing of the performance pads that came with the car. I have to say that I am extremely impressed with the performance of the pads I just removed (I don't even know what brand they are, but I suspect they are Hawk HP Plus due to the noise). I have driven 20 000 km on them and they still have a ton of thickness left. Also, I can feel a definite difference in the bite of these pads versus the street ones I just put on. Too bad they squeal like a scared piglet! Also, too bad the brake pad wear sensor broke when I removed it (and, of course, I did not have a spare one on hand!).

I have to say that I am still fascinated with my new phone. I hadn't realized that it was going to be like having a little laptop in my pocket at all times. It's crazy having this much information available all the time. Also, it's like I'm always carrying around a decent camera in my pocket in case I spot something worthy of shooting (OK, mostly cars!). In fact, even though we are in November, there are still some pretty cool cars on the road:

I spotted this BMW 1M on German plates, complete with a Nurburgring sticker. It must be a European delivery car:

I saw this nice AMG SLS in virtually the same spot:

And I photographed this BMW 3.0 CS at a red light. OK, I admit the camera cannot deal with every situation!

Cool cars spotted:

Audi R8
Audi 200 Avant Quattro
AMG G55
AMG SLS
Maserati Quattroporte
Maserati GT
Lamborghini Gallardo
Nissan GTR
Nissan Skyline GT-R R32
Opel GT
Toyota Supra TT
Toyota MR2 (mk.1)
Alfa Romeo Spider
E28 BMW M5
BMW 1M
BMW 3.0 CS
Shelby GT500
Ford Mustang Cobra SVT
Bentley Continental GT
Porsche 997 Targa S
Porsche 997 GT3 RS
Porsche 997 Turbo
MGB-GT

Fall is lovely

2011-10-26T17:48:00.000-04:00

Alex and I bought smart phones a couple of weeks ago. Although I knew the differences between a smart phone and a regular dumb phone in theory, I have to say that I am astounded at all the things a smart phone can do. I knew I would be able to check my email and browse the net with the phone, I was not expecting it to be this easy to use and have this many features (I guess I should thank Android for that!).

The technology allows me to use the "speach to text" feature to dictate blog entries while I walk down the street.

I can also take some pretty decent photos with the phone and email them in seconds. I'm pretty impressed. Here is a photo I tool of Mount Royal on my walk to work this morning:

Not bad, eh?

You can see from this photo that fall is here and most of the leaves have fallen. Last weekend, I put the winter tires on the BMW. The ride is much smoother with the winter tires. I was going to switch to the original equipment springs because I was sick of the harsh ride, but now I feel that I don't have to.

Here is another photo from the phone taken in front of Marché Bonsecours in Old Montreal (after a car wash):

My girls' basketball is gearing up for another season. They will play the first game in 2 weeks and, thanks to my excellent assistant coach, I think this will be the best prepared team I've ever had. My men's team has already played its first two games. We tied the first game after I missed two crucial foul shots at the end of regular time. I played better in the second game and we took a 20-0 lead. We held on to win by 20. The third game is coming up Friday.

I haven't been out for a run since the marathon. I am spending a lot of time on the couch and have been eating a lot of pasta. Not good!

Cool cars spotted:

Lotus Evora

Ferrari California

E30 BMW M3

E39 BMW M5

AMG C63

AMG E63

AMG SL55

Porsche 993

Datsun 510

The track season may be over...

2011-10-17T12:11:00.001-04:00

The track season is winding down, with the last Monday night lapping session taking place this evening (I am still debating whether I will try to attend). The weather is clearly fall-like and a good percentage of the leaves have fallen off the trees.

The race car is getting a few repairs and a quieter exhaust in preparation for next season. The BMW is running well and Alex and I enjoyed a lovely 300 km drive through the Laurentians yesterday, in very mixed weather. We found some nice driving roads (the 125 and the 327), but nothing truly spectacular (I guess I am still looking for an awesome drive near Montreal). It will soon be time for winter tires!

There are still some cool cars out on the road though:

Lotus Elise Type 25

Corvette Z06

Corvette ZR1

Porsche Boxster Speedster

Ferrari 360

Ferrari 328 GTS

Ferrari California

Lamborghini Gallardo Spider

Bentley Continental GT

Porsche 993 Turbo

Porsche 997 GT3 RS

Lotus Elise Type 25

Maybach 57S

Here are some more great pictures from JAG Imaging taken at last weekend's ASE Lapping Club "Lap-n-Learn" day at St-Eustache, including one of me driving the Ford GT.

ASE Lapping Club @ Mosport

2011-10-11T18:33:00.000-04:00

Yeterday, I attended a track day organized by the ASE Lapping Club at Mosport. My buddy JS and I planned to share the use of my Civic. The schedule provided for seven 30-minute sessions for each of us... a lot of miles on the car!

We drove down Sunday afternoon and enjoyed a fantastic BBQ at the track, organized by Carl and the gang. We headed to our hotel early enough to enjoy a good night's sleep and reappeared at the track in the morning. Most people had slept at the track.

There were some pretty serious cars at the event, including three Porsche GT3's, Corvettes (both Z06 and ZR1), Evo's and STi's, M3's and S4's, Lotus Seven replicas and a Supercharged Elise. There was also a bevy of Honda products. Here is a summary of my day:

Session 1: I headed out and took it pretty easy. The track was a bit "green" and there was not a ton of traction. Unfortunately, a combination of events led to a major crash. First, a Subaru blew a hose or an engine or something and dumped a bunch of coolant on the back straight. A short while later, a Porsche GT3 lost it near the end of the back straight, probably after driving through the spilled coolant, and probably travelling at over 200 km/h. By the time I approached the site of the crash, there were pieces of the Porsche all over the track, including a wheel. A fellow driver who had stopped before me was pointing to his empty fire extinguisher, so I pulled over and pulled out the extinguisher that is always in the Civic. This is the first time I have had to use in seven years. I emptied it into the GT3's engine bay, where a small fire had started. The car looked terrible, but the cockpit was largely intact and the driver and co-driver walked away. This left a lot of track to clean up: the coolant and the oil that leaked out of the crashed Porsche. Luckily, no one was hurt. We all pitched in to spread absorbant on the track and sweep it up.

Session 2: cancelled due to clean up.

Session 3: I managed to get some open track and hit a best lap time of 1:43.67, about 2.5 seconds slower than my personal best. I hoped I would get down into the 1:41's in one of the afternoon sessions.

Session 4: I notice that the front end (Toyo 888's borrowed from Pascal) was not gripping and that I could no longer drive flat out through turn 4. The grip was steadily worsening so I pulled in (best lap in the 1:46 range). I pulled off the front tires and they were both corded, the right one badly. Good thing I pulled in. That session was a waste! The proof that I am not close to the limit in turn 2: the car was not sliding at all, despite the corded front right tire! I have to remember this for my next visit to Mosport!

I put the rear tires on the front, and another pair of borrowed RA1's in the rear so JS could go out for his session. JS pitted in at the end of the session with an engine problem. The Civic sounded like a lawnmower and we quickly diagnosed a timing problem. After having concluded the timing belt was where it was supposed to be, we decided to check for spark in each cylinder. Someone suggested checking the cap and rotor first, and we did: the rotor had disintegrated in the cap. This was the cause of the problem. As I did not have a spare (no one else did either), my day was over. Still, it was not an expensive failure, so JS and I were not that disappointed. At the end of the day, Kevin gave us his cap and rotor, as his car would be leaving on a trailer.

All in all, it was a fun, super well organized day. I just hope I get in a few more laps before winter!

Fun day at St-Eustache

2011-10-08T23:03:00.000-04:00

I attended an ASE Lapping Club Lap-N-Learn track day today and had quite a fun time. I brought the Civic so I could get some late-season track time. Rob was there with his E36 M3. I was assigned a student and he was driving this beast:

This meant that I got to drive the car for a few laps. I asked the driver if the traction control was of the "on/off" type, or of the variable setting type. He answered that there was no traction control. OK then! Obviously, I took it very easy out on track, but I still got a general idea of how the car performed. It was wide and stable and had good traction for a RWD. I didn't get to the upper end of the power band, but there was plenty of low-end torque, as one would imagine. The interior is of a lower quality than one would expect from a car in this price range (another student had an RX8, which has a nicer interior than the GT). The seats look cool, but i could really feel those plastic circles in the seat back in my t-shirt. The clutch action is a bit heavy and the shifter requires a firm hand, not unlike a Viper's. Over all, I liked the way the car drove. I absolutely loved the way the car looked, from any angle, and especially out on track when viewed from another car.

I went out for several sessions in my Civic. I had borrowed some tires from Pascal and the car felt more stable than last week. My best lap was a 1:02.00. Not bad, but almost 8/10ths off my best lap of the year. I also traded cars with Rob for one session. I had a blast in the E36. The car is so stable and it was no problem to run without traction control. According to Rob's timer, I managed a 1:03.8. I could almost drive it like a Civic, getting on the gas quite early without fear of spinning.

When Rob pulled in, he had broken an axle and lost the alternator belt (again!). It was time to call CAA.

When JP offered me a ride in his Civic, I couldn't say no. I headed out for 10 minutes of awesome fun. He has a stock B16a bottom end, but his big-valve ported head (my old one, in fact) on the block. It makes 171 wheel hp and 101 wheel torque. The result is a fun and responsive package. It was a pleasure to drive.

My car was towed to Marc's place nearby and Rob and I went to Pascal's to pick up a new axle he had been keeping as a spare. Rob's dad got us an alternator belt at Canadian Tire. The car is now at Marc's being fixed so I can head to Mosport tomorrow for Monday's ASE Lapping club track day. Stay tuned!

Time attack at St-Eustache

2011-10-03T15:58:00.000-04:00

There was a low turnout for the final time attack of the season at St-Eustache. Time attack is basically a race against the clock. I participated and I can't say I performed that well. My best lap was a 1:02.287, a full second slower than my best lap of the season. I can't blame the conditions, as other Honda guys set their personal best laps (Maxo, Antoine and Pascal). This placed me last place in the FWD modified class. I also spun the car on two separate occasions (once, strangely, at the exit of the Carousel, and once at the hairpin in the rain with my slick tires) and had an off in the Carousel onto the grass on the outside of the corner. My driving was less than impressive. Luckily, there are a couple more driving events scheduled this weekend and I will not have to go into the winter months having ended my season on a bad note.

It took a few days, but I have recovered.

2011-09-29T09:54:00.000-04:00

It would have been nice (and maybe a good idea) to take a couple of days off after the marathon. Maybe next time! The recovery has not been too bad, although I feel that it was only yesterday that I felt I had caught up on rest and relaxation. My body feels fine, as I have no real aches and pains. I wasn't bleeding from anywhere after the race and I was able to walk the 3 km to work on Monday.

Because I feel fine, I was toying with the idea of doing another marathon in a few weeks to see if I could a) take advantage of the fact that I am still in pretty good shape after 12 weeks of training and b) qualify for the 2013 Boston Marathon with a time under 3:10. The bit of research I did suggested that it is unlikely one will turn in a top performance in two races only a few weeks apart. Also, I did not find any flat races nearby in late October or early November. I guess I am suffering a bit from the post-marathon down. I should be glad to have all this free time during the evenings and weekends! Also, the auto racing season is not quite over yet, with the ASE Lapping club organizing track days on October 1st and 8th at St-Eustache and the 10th at Mosport. My race car is at Marc's getting a new rad and axle. Hopefully, it will be ready before the weekend.

The girls' basketball season is underway and it is to refreshing to have a great assistant coach. Darlington really knows his basketball, despite his young age. He coaches two other teams, so I should't be too surprised. We will soon know when our first game is. My first practice in the men's league will take place Friday. I guess we will then see if I have recovered from the marathon or not!

Cool cars spotted:

Ferrari California

Ferrari F430

Aston Martin Vantage

Porsche 997 Turbo

Maserati Quattroporte

Maserati GT

BMW 635 CSi

BMW E30 M3

Bentley Continental GT

Buick Grand National

AMG SL63

AMG R63

AMG C63

MGB-GT

Corvette C6 Z06

Nissan Skyline GT-R R32

3:14:40, but not easy…

2011-09-26T23:12:00.000-04:00

Anyone who has read my report of the Ottawa Marathon last year might get the impression that I found the race to be quite easy. Well, compared to yesterday’s Adirondack Marathon, it was easy.

The story begins a couple of weeks ago, when I realized that I had been too slow to register for the Montreal Marathon before it sold out. I decided that it would be crazy to waste all that marathon training and found that there was a marathon only 217 km away in Schroon Lake, New York. Instead of an urban course, I would be tackling rolling hills on the roads surrounding Schroon Lake. I figured that this would disrupt my rhythm as it would be more than a matter of maintaining a pace on a flat course (which was all I really had to do in Ottawa). I had not really trained on hills, so in the past few days, I made sure that all my training runs took place on Mount Royal. Was it too little, too late? At least it was something.

Alex and I found a motel a couple of towns over from Schroon Lake. We headed down on Saturday afternoon so I would have time to complete my registration and drive the course before the pasta dinner for which we had tickets. After registering and walking around the lovely town of Schroon Lake, I decided I did not see the point in driving the course. I preferred to just take the roads as they came during the race. We enjoyed a lovely dinner at the Word of Life restaurant and drove around the area a bit on the way to our hotel. The drive to the hotel took me on the road that would make up the last 10 km of the race, albeit in the opposite direction. I noted that there were not many flat areas and that we runners would almost always be climbing or descending. At the motel, Alex did some work on her laptop while I ate Chips Ahoy and corn chips while watching reality cooking shows. I turned in at 11:15 and set my alarm for 7:00 am. The plan was to wake up, eat, and head over to the race site, where the marathon would begin at 9:00 am. As was the case last year, I had a lousy night’s sleep. When I woke, I immediately ate a piece of carrot cake and a honey-dipped donut, and drank a bottle of chocolate milk. The plan was not to eat anything more until the race, to avoid that heavy feeling. I also planned to eat a Powergel 5 minutes before the race and another at every 45-minute interval. I wore my lucky socks, my almost new Brooks Adrenaline GTS11, a running tank top and all-in-one shorts. I also wore my old Bollé sunglasses and a white running cap (lesson learned last year, always wear a hat!).

When we arrived at the site of the race, I was feeling quite fit and motivated, but I can’t say that I was full of energy. The temperature was warmer than expected, maybe 18 degrees, and it was supposed to climb to 25 later in the day when the clouds cleared. Everything went smoothly, except that there were not many bathrooms available and I had to wait in line to use one. Luckily, I had time to spare as we had arrived quite early. I was not that motivated to warm up, but I went out for about 5 minutes at a medium pace. There were about 250 runners lined up at the start, and I saw the pace-setter for those who wanted to run 3:30 near the front of the group. I placed myself in front of that group, and realized that there were not that many people near the front. I was not sure what to expect time-wise, but I figured it was extremely unlikely I would be my Ottawa time of 3:09:45 due to the nature of the course. I really had no idea how many minutes I would give up due to the course. I had looked at the results of previous years and noted that the winner usually came in around 2:40. I didn’t know if that time (not that fast for a race winner) was a reflection on the quality of the field or the difficulty of the course. I figured that if I could come in under 3:15, it would be a strong performance.

The race started right on schedule and immediately, I found myself blocked by slower runners. I had to dash around them before I could find some open area. After a short while, I was able to hit my normal pace of 4:30 as the small field spread out. There were only about 20 people ahead of me. I noticed that in the first couple of kilometres, the pace was on, but I was unable to keep my heart rate under 150, as I had planned to. Also, the elevation began to change very early on and my pace in the first few kilometres was all over the place. I felt that I was probably going a bit too fast for the conditions, but it’s not easy to just tell yourself to slow down, especially when you are in a race. I could still see the leaders in the distance at the 3km mark, which I took as a bad sign, as those guys would be finishing 30 minutes ahead of me. Part of me wanted to see if I could handle a whole marathon at a heart rate of 150 bpm, so I did not slow down too much. Most other runners seemed to settle into a rhythm and only a single runner passed me after the 30-minute point. I noticed he was gaining on me in every single hill and eventually, he passed me after a long hill. The downhill portions were not that helpful, as they were quite steep. This meant that they were over too quickly and that you had no real choice but to take big steps and get pulled down the hill. I would have preferred a long gradual downhill slope. In the first part of the race, my kilometre times varied between 4:09 and 4:57. I occasionally checked my average kilometre time on my watch, and it was in the 4:33 range. I was not feeling strong, but it was hard to know if it was because I was pushing too hard or simply because of all the hills. I had noted on the elevation map that most of the hills seemed to be in the first half of the race, but I knew from my drive to the motel that there were long, gradual slopes on the final 10 km stretch. I was taking my gels on schedule and drinking water or Powerade at every station, slowing to a walk for a couple of steps to make sure I was drinking properly. Often, I would gauge my speed by comparing it with the speed of others. I was almost always in sight of at least one other runner, either gaining on them or watching them pull slowly away. Just before the halfway point, I spotted Alex, who had taken a bus for the half-marathoners (they started at the halfway point one hour after us) and was waiting on the course to cheer me on. As usual, this was quite a boost. At the halfway point, I was feeling OK, partly because I knew the toughest hills were behind me. My half-marathon time was 1:36:46, which was not terrible. However, I knew there was absolutely no chance for a personal best. Still, I felt I was not too far behind the top ten and no one had passed me in a long time. Looking at the results, I can see that at the halfway point, I was in 14^th position. I eventually caught and passed the guy who had passed me on the hills. I was not too happy when the sun popped out from behind the clouds, as this was not supposed to happen until the afternoon. I had not expected the heat to factor into the race, but it looked like it would. I was glad I was wearing a hat and sunglasses. As I ran on, I was beginning to suffer and feel that maybe I had pushed too hard on the hills. A spectator announced to me that I was heading into 5 miles of flat and, luckily, this turned out to be true. I put in 6 kilometres in a row between 4:29 and 4:33, but by kilometre 28, I could no longer keep up the pace. I was really hoping that I could keep a reasonable pace until the end of the race and was looking forward to the 32 km point, when there would be only 10 km remaining. I began to catch the slower participant in the half marathon (there were 499 of them) and, as the runners I caught were faster and faster, it began harder to distinguish if the people I was passing were marathoners or half-marathoners. The number bibs allowed to know with a quick glance, however.

As my kilometre times slipped into the 4:40’s and once to 4:54 (km 32), I was in damage control mode, just trying to survive until the end of the race. I was feeling quite tired, but not to the point where I was hitting the proverbial wall. I was not in any kind of pain. No one was passing me, and every once in a while I would pass another marathoner. One guy was dressed all in black with a shaved head and no hat. I was glad I was not him, as the sun was unrelenting. I found myself looking for patches of shade to run in. Luckily, there were quite a few, as there are many trees along the road around Schroon Lake. . Many half-marathoners had encouraging words for me, and I was so tired I could not really thank them, except with a thumbs-up. In the last few kilometres, the road was constantly sloping gradually up or down. I was managing kilometres between 4:36 and 4:48 and each time I came upon a long gradual uphill slope, I hoped it was the last. Only when I hit km 40 did I realize there would be no more long slopes. There was a long downhill slope into the town and I managed km 41 in 4:23. I was feeling like crap and there was a final shorter uphill slope into the town. I did not have anything left in the tank that would allow me to accelerate into the town, but I wasn’t slowing down too much either. I glanced over my shoulder to see if any marathoners were catching up to me, but I didn’t think any were. I spotted Alex on the side of the road and she began to run alongside me. I was happy to see her, but afraid she would injure herself running with her leather boots (she did not, and later reminded me she was used to running faster than that to catch buses). I managed a 4:39 for kilometre 42 and I saw the 90-degree turn to the finish line up ahead. I cannot remember ever being more glad to see a finish line as I completed the turn. I managed a pace of 4:16 for the last stretch and crossed the line. A girl asked me if I needed help removing the timing chip from my shoe, and I could not imagine a harder task at the time than doing it myself. My time was 3:14:43 on the clock (3:14:40 chip time), which meant my second half-marathon was a 1:37:54, a little over a minute slower than the first half. After my chip was removed, someone handed me a water bottle and I was greeted by my parents, my brother and my sister, who had decided to come down to Schroon Lake to see the race finish. I was exhausted and needed to sit down on the grass near the finish area. I barely drank any water as I just lay on the grass for a while. I recovered after a couple of minutes and was able to sit up and talk. I was not at all hungry, probably because I was full of Powergel, water and Powerade. Alex joined us and filled out the medical form so I could get a free massage. I was feeling better and better, although I was still not hungry. My legs were stiff, but I didn’t have any knee or hip pain, as I had had in Ottawa. I was anxiously awaiting the results to see if I had made it into the top ten.

When the results were posted, I was shown as 7^th over all (this was later corrected to 8^th) and 2^nd in the men aged 35-39. The winner had done a 2:41, with 2^nd through 4^th in the same minute at 2:57. The next runner ahead of me was three minutes ahead and the next behind me, the top woman, almost three minutes back. There were 255 finishers. In lieu of a trophy, I received a bottle of maple syrup for my class podium finish.

I am really quite happy with the result. No one had caught me in the whole second half of the race. I managed not to slow down too much despite not feeling too hot for a good portion of the race. The training paid off (thanks again to Christian for preparing a tough but super useful training plan) and allowed me to achieve what was maybe the best physical accomplishment of my life. I also have to thank Alex for supporting me not only during the training period, but during actual training sessions while accompanying me on her bike. I am not qualified for Boston, but there are still 11 months left to get that done, right?

Here is the table of my kilometre times and info:

Waiting for the start (that's me in red)

Coming up on the halfway point

At the finish with Alex

At the trophy (syrup) presentation

War Bonnet Enduro Race Report

2011-09-21T13:58:00.001-04:00

A couple of weeks ago, Pascal suggested to me that we should share a ride in the War Bonnet 3-hour enduro at Mosport. We decided to use my car as Pascal was more used to it than I was to his Civic. Also, there was no chance that my car would be faster than the GT5 class time limit (1:41.00), whereas his car could surely beat that time and put us near the back end of the GT4 class.

Marc N. got the car ready by changing the pads and I picked up some used Toyo RA1 tires that should be able to last three hours. We decided Pascal should bring his Civic to the track so that we could have some spare parts and, if needed, a whole spare car. I drove to the track in the race car, as usual. I noticed another race car driving to the track, an old GM Player’s series Camaro. Cool. We registered Friday night for the enduro and the three sprint races, two of which would be held on Sunday. This would be my 8^th enduro at Mosport with the Civic. We were used to having a bunch of time between sessions, but the practice, qualifying and sprint race added to our usual Saturday schedule really put a new twist on our race day. We decided Pascal would run the Saturday sprint race. This meant that he would go out first for the sprint practice. Pascal did not take long to get a feel for the car and, in his first session, managed a best lap of 1:42.122, a tenth faster than I had ever been before with this engine. The pressure was on for me to lay down a good time in the enduro practice. However, the car overheated on the starting grid for my session and we had to rush back to the paddocks. The session had been delayed due to an on-track incident, which allowed us to change the radiator (it was leaking) for Pascal’s Civic before the end of the session. By the time we were done, I only managed one lap, with a crappy time of 1:49.079. It was going to be tough to be fast with so little track time.

There was a major incident where a Porsche took out a section of guardrail and the track had to be shut down for two hours. This gave us time to bolt in the passenger seat and drive to Canadian Tire to get some stop-leak for the radiator, which I would be needing on Sunday. We got back just in time for the driver’s meeting. Pascal went out to qualify for the sprint race and managed a 1:41.876. The car was running fine. I went out to qualify us for the enduro, but only managed a 1:43.650, which put me in 26^th place out of 35 cars. I briefly got stuck behind fellow Quebec racer Mark Gawronski, who is usually much quicker than me. It turned out he did not have an early night the night before the race. I was a bit disappointed with my lap time, but I knew that I could improve during the race.

Pascal went out for his sprint race and managed to finish second in GT5 behind a beautiful Mazdaspeed 6 (a GT4 car, in my opinion) and again improved his best lap to 1:41.342. Ouch. That was not going to be easy to match!

There was only one session between Pascal’s race and the enduro and by the time we loaded up the car with stuff we might need in the pit lane, people were already lining up for the race. We had not discussed pit strategy or anything, but our plan was to fill up the car to the max and go for a one-stop strategy. I rushed back down to the paddocks to fill up the car. I poured in one of our four jugs and the car was not full. I picked up a second jug and it was empty. The 3^rd and 4^th jugs were already up in the pits. I drove the car to the staging area and asked if I could add fuel there. The answer was no. Doh! I would be starting the race with a tank that was less than full do to bad planning. I had done one hour and forty minutes on a tank in the past, and I hoped there was enough fuel to get close to the halfway point.

I lined up for the race start and headed out on the pace lap. The car beside me had a problem and I headed out with no other car beside me. The start was uneventful and I held my position without gaining any positions. There were a few cars that had not qualified that caught and passed me and, before long, I was already being passed by the leaders (Nascar trucks, Porsche GT3’s and insanely fast Subaru’s). I briefly pulled ahead of a GT5 Miata, but he managed to re-pass me. I was in 20^th position for many laps and my lap times were steadily improving. The silver Miata that had been steadily pulling away from me spun in corner 5 and I passed him. I was just trying to drive consistently and stay out of trouble. It took me until lap 25 to drop into the 1:41’s. I was finally getting into the groove. I only had one somewhat scary incident: a GT4 Chevy Cobalt SS and I were both catching a slower Nissan 240 SX at corner 3. Our closing speed was pretty big and the Cobalt decided to pass on the inside. I decided to outbrake the Nissan on the outside, but he had not seen me and when the Cobalt passed him, he jerked his car to the left. I had to put my two left wheels on the grass to avoid him, but I got things collected in time to get back on the asphalt and brake. The whole incident only cost me two seconds. On lap 39, I had my best ever lap at Mosport, a 1:41.261. I was driving smoothly, no longer braking for turns 1 and 8, not even lifting in turn 4. It took me a while to get comfortable in turn 2 (tap the brakes, then immediately part throttle, squeezing to full throttle by the halfway point of the cement patch) and the data would later show that Pascal was faster than me in that corner all weekend. On a good lap, my shift light would come on (= 8000 rpm) in 4^th gear before turn 2 and then again before turn 3. By lap 46, I was beginning to get fuel starvation before corner 4 and on the straight. I signaled to Pascal that I was coming in in two laps. The starvation got much worse and I short shifted when possible to make it the two laps. By the time I pitted, I was in 17^th position over all.

My role during the pit stop was to hold the fire extinguisher while Pascal poured the fuel. Someone reminded me to close my visor, which I did. Only after Pascal began pouring the fuel did an official point out that his visor was up and that we would be penalized. I was a bit angry, but I could hardly blame Pascal for forgetting the same thing I had forgot myself. He finished pouring the fuel, I poured in a small quantity of oil while Pascal strapped in, and he was off.

Unfortunately for us, there was a full-course yellow four laps later that lasted several laps and the cars that pitted during that period lost a lot less track position than we had. Still, Pascal was driving well and had us in 19^th over all and 2^nd in class. Then, on lap 79, Pascal pitted unexpectedly. I asked what was wrong and he told me there was coolant all over the windshield as another car had blown its engine right in front of him. This had caused him to go off track because he could no longer see out the windshield, I grabbed a rag and someone’s half-empty water bottle from the pit wall and began to clean the windshield. Pascal headed back out, but we had lost a full lap and dropped from 2^nd to 5^th in class just like that. I was a bit pissed off, because race cars are supposed to run water in their cooling systems, and not glycol-based coolants. I tried to remain calm and enjoy myself. After all, we were there to have fun. Pascal had a mostly uneventful stint after this and was also suffering fuel starvation by the end of the race. The checker dropped and we finished 5^th in class, 16^th over all. No trophy for us. Still, I was happy with my new best lap time at Mosport, I was happy with Pascal’s performance (consistent good laps with a best lap of 1:41.541) and the car was in one piece. The race was won by a Nascar truck, and Serge Tousignant and Seb Rochon finished 2^nd over all in Serge’s E36 M3… pretty impressive. We reinstalled the passenger seat to drive back to the hotel, exhausted.

The following day, after switching the dead front tires for spares, Pascal won GT5 in the first sprint race and I decided to let him run the third race rather than start in last position (due to a driver change). It was the right call as he won the 3^rd race as well, which gave him the GT5 trophy for the weekend (and a new best lap for him: 1:41.293). We changed the radiator back into Pascal’s car and headed home. On the way home, I began to feel a big vibration (probably an axle) and the check engine light came on, but we made it home by 9:00 pm. The weekend was over and, for the 8^th time in a row at one of these Mosport enduros, the Civic had performed like a champ.

Photo by Elizabeth Somers

Busy and tired!

2011-09-19T13:16:00.000-04:00

I have been so busy I haven't had time to post. Here are some updates on various topics:

The Marathon: the training plan continues. However, I stupidly waited for the last minute to register and the event sold out. I decided to find another marathon as close as possible to the same date as Montreal's and I lucked out: the Adirondack Marathon is only 217 km away and is held on the same day as the Montreal event. It is going to be much hillier than the Montreal event, but the scenery should be a lot nicer. It is too late to qualify for Boston 2012, but a time under 3:10 would qualify me for 2013. This is probably not realistic, given that this looks to be a tough course, but I will do what I can. I have started to train a bit on Mount Royal to work in some elevation changes. Yesterday, I ran on country roads near Oshawa, where I was staying because of the Mosport race. I got to try out some almost kilometer long hills to get a feeling for them. There are only a coulel of short runs left in the training plan before Sunday's race.

Basketball: I have been assigned Darlington as my assistant coach and we have pretty much selected our team (grade 8 and 9). After a couple of practices, I em enthusiastic about what we can do with two coaches and the girls we have chosen.

Racing: I haven't written my full report yet, but the Mosport race weekend went quite well. Pascal and I and the car are in one piece, I recorded a best lap of 1:41.261, a second faster than in the spring, and we finished 5th in class in the enduro, due to a bit of bad luck. More details to follow.

Cool cars spotted:

Ferrari California

Ferrari F430

Ferrari 360

Ferrari 308

Lamborghini Gallardo Superleggera

Aston Martin Vantage

Porsche 997 Turbo

Nissan GTR

Nissan Skyline GTR R32

Nissan Pulsar GTi-R

Maserati Quattroporte

Maserati GT

Audi R8

BMW 633

BMW M3 (E30)

Flat black Bentley Continental GT

Bentley Arnage

Audi Uber 8

Audi R8

AMG SLS

AMG CLS63

Triumph TR3

The marathon approaches...

2011-09-07T13:37:00.000-04:00

Last Sunday was the longest training run before the marathon: 29 km. Not only was this a long one, it was raining. Still, the near 2 and a half hour run went off without a hitch. I discovered that you can run from Verdun, across Île-des-Soeurs, across the ice bridge parallel to the Champlain bridge, then along a man-made road in the St-Lawrence until you arrive at Île-Notre-Dame. Doing this loop from home was a 28 km route, to which I added a kilometer at the end to make 29. On these long runs, you can really get around the city, and even off the island. The race is in 18 days, and training is on track.

This afternoon, I will head to Reine Marie for the first tryout session for my high school girls' basketball team. I am happy to see that of the 11 girls who are still at the school from my 2010-2011 team, ten have signed up for tryouts. The other coaches and I will decide who will coach which age group.

My race car has been parked as there have been no events in the past couple of weeks. I got a sweet deal on some used race tires and wheels, but I am still waiting for the parts I ordered to rebuild my 4th gear. I will be participating in the War Bonnet Enduro at Mosport on September 17th with Pascal, but we have yet to decide with which Civic, his or mine.

I have been driving the M3, despite the fact that the very intermittent suspension issue is not resolved. I will be taking the car to a specialist next week to try to find out what the problem is. The car is an absolute pleasure to drive when I can just forget about the small issues. It turns a lot of heads for an eight-year-old car that can be bought for the price of a new economy car. Also, the power delivery is silky smooth and the interior is a really nice place to spend time. Alex refuses to discuss any future cars we might own, as she plans to keep this M3 forever.

Speaking of Alex, her semester started yesterday. She will be teaching two classes this fall, and two more in the winter semester. She is still very much enjoying her new job, although she is also very busy.

Cool cars spotted:

Ferrari California

Ferrari F430

Ferrari 575

Dino 308 GT4

Lamborghini Gallardo

Aston Martin Vainquish S

Aston Martin Vantage

Porsche 997 Turbo

Porsche 993 Turbo

Porsche 944 Turbo

Nissan GTR

Datsun 510

Maserati Quattroporte

Maserati GT

caged Toyota Celica AWD

Audi RS4

Audi R8

BMW Z8

BMW M6

BMW 633

More car-related stuff!

2011-08-21T21:48:00.001-04:00

On Thursday evening, Alex and I headed to Calabogie so we could be at the track early Friday for ASE Lapping Club's track day. I was sharing my Civic with Kevin from Perry Auto Performance, as his borrowed transmission was in my car. We took turns lapping in the car (I was not that fast, best lap of 2:38) and corded several older tires I had brought. Then, at about 3:00 pm, I lost the alternator belt while out on track. I decided to call it a day and my plan was to try to make it back to Montreal on battery power. I stopped only to buy an alternator belt on the way in case the battery died, but it didn't. I also noted the car was losing a lot of coolant and could not figure out why. I decided not to use the car at the Fiat Alfa Romeo Club event where I was instructing on Saturday. The day was less fun for me as I didn't have a car. I got a few laps in a Fiat 500 (like last year), but there was no opportunity to drive any exotics. Now both my cars are at Marc's, waiting to be repaired. GRRRR!

When I got home yesterday, I had to run 16 km. I went downtown to meet Alex and there were many exotic cars around and car-related activities because of the Nascar weekend at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.It was a tiring day. Luckily, I got to sleep in Sunday. As mentioned below, my 21.1 km run at 4:10 pace went well, despite constant rain. This week will be a big one at work, but an easy running week, with no car-related activities.

Cool cars spotted:
Ferrari F430
Ferrari 458
Ferrari 575
Ferrari 599 GTO (!!!)
Lamborghini Gallardo
Maserati GT
Maserati Quattroporte
Bentley Continental Supersport (!)
Dodge Viper
Corvette Z06
Aston Martin Vantage
BMW M5 V10
BMW M6 V10
Audi R8
Audi RS4
AMG SLS
Ford GT
Cadillac XLR
Porsche Boxster Speedster
Porsche 944 turbo
Triumph TR3
Nissan GTR
Nissan Skyline GT-R R32

1:27:47

2011-08-21T21:20:00.000-04:00

Well, it's not a personal best (7 seconds off my personal best from April 25th 2011) half-marathon time for me, but it's pretty close. Also, it was pouring rain the whole time. I am happy that I managed to meet the goal in my marathon training plan of running at a 4:10 per kilometer pace for 21.1 km. Also, I am happy to see that I am not that exhausted (although my legs are pretty sore). Training continues...

Lots to catch up on...

2011-08-16T19:40:00.004-04:00

I have been running around a lot in the past few days! Alex is in San Antonio, Texas, for a work-related conference and will be back tomorrow. I have been running around trying to keep the Civic and M3 in working condition (with limited success) and attending various events. Monday of last week at lapping, I managed to strip the 4th gear in the Civic transmission. I had to buy back the spare transmission I had sold to a friend so that the car could be used Thursday and Friday, as I was scheduled to instruct at the BMW Club of Quebec Mid Summer Heat high performance driver education event at Tremblant. The transmission was replaced by wednesday night, but, unfortunately, the Civic would not start Thursday morning and I had to head to the track without it. Fortunately, Rob let me have a session in his E36 M3 and Marc was able to fix my Civic Thursday. I picked it up Thursday night so I could use it at Tremblant Friday. On Friday, I more than made up for lost time, running the car in seven different sessions. I managed a best lap of 2:02.42, about the same as last year, running on some well-used Nitto NT01 tires.

Here is a video of 4 laps viewed from my Civic:

I saw a bunch of Ferraris from the "Ferrari Experience" at the track and on the street: 458's, California's and a 599. Nice, and loud. On the way home from the track, I picked up the M3 from Marc's so I could head to a family get-together Saturday in rural Ontario, 700 km away. After a (very) scary moment on the highway in the rain on Sunday, I decided to bring the car back to Marc's, so he could find out why the rear alignment seemed to change when the car went over a bump and to change the worn rear tires. I hope he can find out what's wrong so I won't have to take it to a more experienced mechanic.

On Thursday night, I head to Calabogie with the Civic for an ASE Lapping Club track day on Friday. On Saturday, I am scheduled to instruct at the Fiat/Alfa Romeo Club of Quebec track day at St-Eustache. Last year, I got to drive some pretty neat cars on that day.

The marathon training plan takes a lot of hours and is still pretty grueling. I had one of my worst runs the other day on a Sunday morning. It was hot, and I was really overheating. Surprisingly, the runs I had after getting home from Tremblant Friday and from Ontario Sunday (26 km) went well, despite coming at the end of long days. I guess part of it is related to nutrition (I had an interesting talk with my cousin Dave about nutrition. He is a triathlete who works for Nestle, makers of Powerbar, whose gels I use). This Sunday, I will have to run a quick half-marathon. Last year, I managed to complete the distance in under 1:28, and I am hoping I can do it again this year. Stay tuned...

Cool cars spotted:
Aston Martin Vantage
Ferrari 348
Ferrari 355
Ferrari 360
Porsche 997 GT3
Porsche 997 turbo
Porsche 964 Turbo
Porsche 993 Turbo
Jaguar E-Type
Corvette Z06
Maserati GT
Maserati Quattroporte
Bentley Arnage Black Label
Bentley Continental
Rolls Royce Corniche
Audi R8
Audi S6 Avant
Audi RS4
BMW Z8
Lamborghini Gallardo
AMG SLS
AMG C63

Still enjoying summer!

2011-08-02T16:50:00.001-04:00

Yesterday at lapping, I got to drive a student’s 1990 Porsche 911 for a couple of laps at St-Eustache. The car was pleasant to drive and had a decent amount of power and torque. The car did feel a bit unstable in the corners. I really like the narrow-bodied look of these 964-generation 911’s, but the consequence is that the car feels much less stable than a post-2000 911. My student actually managed to spin the car on his first lap when he entered a corner (the dog-leg) too fast. Would I buy one of these 911's? Probably not... they are not cheaper than 996 and 997's, but they are much less comfortable or reliable. I am getting soft in my old age, I guess.

A Carrera 2 like the one I drove yesterday.

I had the pleasure of riding with Rob in his E36 M3 later in the evening, and he also managed to spin with me aboard! He had gone over a wet rumble strip a bit too aggressively when trying to keep up with a vintage 911. In fact, there were a bunch of 911’s at the track yesterday (at least 6), along with some other really cool cars (Corvette Z06, Nissan GT-R and R32 Skyline GTR). Aside from myt student with the 964, I had one student with an S2000 (my knees touch the dash as a passenger), an Audi S6 V10 (lots of torque) and a new 911 convertible (stable and comfortable).

I haven’t actually driven the race car in two weeks, as I have not been able to finish work early enough on a Monday. I hope to remedy this next week. Even if I miss lapping, I will be heading to Tremblant on August 11^th and 12^th to instruct for the BMW club and get some track time in the Civic.

The marathon training continues. Last week was an easy week and I just enjoyed two days off of running in a row, which almost never happens in this training plan.

Cool cars spotted:

Jaguar E-type V12 Coupe

Jaguar E-type convertible

Ferrari F430

Ferrari 348

Ferrari 550

BMW Z8

Acura NSX

Flat black Mercedes SL550

Flat silver AMG C63

CL600

Audi RS4

Audi S6 V10

Audi S8 V10

Audi R8 (loud)

Aston Martin DB9

Aston Martin Vantage

Ford GT

Maserati Quattroporte

Maserati GT convertible

MGTD

Porsche 997 Turbo S

Porsche 993 Carrera 4S

Porsche 996 GT3

Porsche 997 GT3

Porsche 997 Turbo

Porsche 928

Porsche 930 Slantnose

Bentley Mulsanne

Bentley Azure

Rolls Royce Corniche

Nissan Skyline GT-R R32

Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 1

Alfa Romeo Spider (1980)

Lotus Esprit HF Turbo

Dodge Viper SRT10

Some summer M3 pics

2011-07-28T15:20:00.000-04:00

I had the M3 washed, for once. I took a few pics while the car was still clean!

Still hot, still training, still fast on Monday nights!

2011-07-20T16:08:00.000-04:00

The marathon training continues, as does the hot weather. I am running at night whenever possible to avoid the crushing heat and humidity. This has worked out well so far.

On Monday night at St-Eustache, I had another fun evening with the Civic. I managed to yet again best my fastest personal lap, with a time of 1:01.25, this time using Nitto tires instead of Toyo's (apparently, they have the exact same compound). I was pretty happy about that. My camera batteries were dead, so I don't have video.

I tried a student's Nissan 370Z (automatic) and it feels like a well-put-together car. My other students had a modified Camaro, a BMW 135i (still fun to drive) and a Lexus IS-F (I didn't try it). The Lexus left me a bit cold. The interior feels like quality, but it's a bit boring, except for the cool dash display. There is much less road feel than in a BMW M3. I guess this is a good car for those who mainly want a quick and comfortable street car more than a track car.

The M3 has not spit out any more fault codes since I had the steering angle sensor reset at the alignment shop. The only issue for now is that sometimes, when I go over a big bump, there is a clunk from one side of the rear suspension. The clunk then repeats on every bump for a while, then eventually disappears. Weird.

Out on the road, there are many exotic and luxury cars. It seems to me that there are more every year. Are people getting richer, or just going more heavily into debt?

Cool cars spotted:
Ferrari F430
Ferrari 575M
Ferrari 599
Ferrari 348
Jaguar XF-R
Aston-Martin Vantage
Porsche 996 GT2
Porsche 996 GT3
Porsche 997 GT2
Cadillac XLR
Corvette Z06
Lexus IS-F
AMG G55
Audi R8 V10
Viper RT/10
Viper SRT10

I guess the aches and pains aren't so bad...

2011-07-15T11:16:00.002-04:00

The marathon training plan has been keeping me pretty busy. Four runs per week is a lot, not just in terms of exercise, but in time. Given that I still have a full time job, my evenings are pretty booked up. This is making summer fly by even faster than usual! The runs themselves are going well, although I know I am not always hitting my speed markers on the intervals. Tomorrow there is a particularly tough 3km "test" incorporated into a 12 km run. Yay.

Despite the heavy demands on my free time, on Monday, I managed to hit the track with the Civic for the first time in six weeks. Although the evening was cut short by rain, I managed to get in one and a half sessions on track. In my last session, after giving a few passenger laps to one of our more enthusiastic club members, I hooked up with Nick's E36 BMW for a few fun laps. Although I did not feel I was driving especially brilliantly or that the Civic had much grip on the hot tarmac, I managed to record by best lap ever at St-Eustache (a 1:01.32). I was pretty surprised. When I say best lap ever, I include the time when the car still had a 200 hp 1.8 liter engine. Here is a short video including this fast lap:

I've been driving the BMW a lot and was unhappy to note that, despite an alignment, the steering wheel is not centered. Also, because the steering angle was not reset during the alignment, the brake warning, traction control off and tire pressure warning lights all come on in yellow on the dash whenever I head out on the highway. This is supposed to be corrected by the alignment shop this afternoon. Otherwise, the car handles really well and fuel economy has even improved! Also, I am now addicted to air conditioning. I even use it with the sunroof open.

Cool cars spotted:
Lamborghini Murcielago
Lamborghini Gallardo Superleggera

Ferrari 575M

Ferrari California

Aston Marin DBS

Aston Martin Vantage

AMG C63

AMG G55

Porsche 997 Turbo

Audi R8 V10

Audi RS4

Lotus Elan+2

Maserati GT

Aches and pains

2011-07-08T12:15:00.000-04:00

I've officially started my 12-week marathon training plan for the Montreal marathon, to be held on September 25th. My plan was to go running at least twice last week to build up to the plan, which is quite grueling (when compared to sitting on your couch...). I had remembered that the plan started out with three runs per week, which eventually grew to four. It turns out I was confusing the marathon plan with the half-marathon plan. The marathon plan starts out with four runs per week (Tuesday-Thursday-Saturday-Sunday). Also, I only managed to go running once last week. It is now Friday of week one and I am sore. In fact, last night, when I went out to run 14 km, I was still sore from Tuesday's run. Both of these runs included intervals (16.5 km/h for 30-second bursts and 16 km/h for 90-second bursts). I imagine I will still be sore tomorrow when I run 14 km and again Sunday when I run 17 km. In fact, I can't envisage a time when I won't be sore.

This is the same marathon plan as I used, successfully, last year for the Ottawa marathon. Last year, I had been running more regularly before starting the plan and the transition into the plan seemed smoother. However, I seem to remember that I was having more trouble hitting the required speeds for the intervals last year. One thing I like about a fixed plan (as opposed to just trying to run a lot, like my friend Franck), is that it does not require a ton of willpower. Once you commit to the plan, that's it. You just follow it like a robot. The first time I did this last year, it felt good, as I knew I was following a training plan prepared by an experience marathoner (Christian Brouard) that would likely result in me being able to run a sub 3:15 marathon. As I was able to meet my goal last year, I am even more confident than I was last year that following the plan will allow me to again meet my goals. I am not aiming to beat the Ottawa time, as Montreal is a less flat marathon and as I can't be guaranteed pleasant weather in September. I am not worried too much about the result... I just want to make it through the plan. Also, it would be nice to be less sore.

On the automotive front, I watched the first two episodes of Top Gear's summer series this week. They tested (and loved) the BMW 1M. They pitted it against the Porsche Cayman R and the Lotus Evora and they sort of raised the same question as I have raised in the past: why buy a 2-seat sports car when a car with four real seats (not unlike my M3) performs just as well. I believe I brought up this point this spring: when a Golf GTi is as fast around a track as a Boxster or Cayman, why choose the Porsche? Of course, the Porsche is pleasant to drive, but so is a BMW and even a Golf. I guess it has something to do with the flash/prestige factor... I don't know. I used to want a Boxster, but really, for someone who only owns one parking spot, it makes more sense to have one car that meets my daily transportation needs and my performance needs. Of course, I figured out long ago that, for track use, I need a car that is cheap and easy to maintain. Until recently, I was thinking that I would sort of like a nice used Porsche 911, but really, I don't see how it is better than a nice used M3 of the same vintage, which has a real back seat and trunk. As for convertibles, I think my needs would be met with a Miata or an Alfa Romeo, as straight line performance would be secondary. Buying a convertible would be a sort of selfish endeavour anyway, as Alex would always be cold whenever I put the top down.

Cool cars spotted:

TVR 280
Aston Martin Vainquish
Aston Martin Vantage
Ferrari 458
Ferrari F430
Ferrari 328
Ferrari California
Lamborghini Gallardo
Maserati GT
Corvette Z06
Lexus IS-F
Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 1
Nissan Pulsar Gti-R
Nissan Skyline GT-R R32
Bentley Continental
Alfa Romeo Spyder
Lotus Elise
Porsche 997 Turbo
AMG E63
AMG C63
Audi RS4
Audi R8
Audi S6 V10
BMW Z4 M Coupé
BMW 1M

The BMW is back!

2011-07-05T13:22:00.000-04:00

... and I am very, very, very happy to have it! When you have a BMW (or any other European or high end car), you can have it repaired quickly or inexpensively, but not both. As I had chosen to have the M3 fixed by my friend Marc (at a cost of 300$ instead of 1300$ at the BMW dealer), I had no choice but to wait a few weeks before getting the car back. This was not so bad, as I was on vacation in China for three of those weeks and because Marc had lent me his Civic while he had the BMW. Still, I felt that I could not fully enjoy the summer without the M3. I bought the car at the beginning of winter, and after driving a sports car all winter, I felt that any inconvenience was worth it because I would get to enjoy the car in summer. It was painful to be denied this pleasure, but all is well now. Summer is here, and the M3 is back. Yes.

Back to work!

2011-06-30T13:12:00.000-04:00

Coming back after a vacation is not all bad. Of course, one has to get back to work. But coming back to Montreal also means a return to a great city that really knows how to enjoy summer. Also, it's a return to the automotive events I love so much. I was quite disappointed when I got home to find out that the M3 is still not fixed, due to a combination of factors. Both the M3 and the Civic are with Marc, my mechanic and friend, and neither is usable at the moment, which is a little bit frustrating. Hopefully, both cars will be ready in the next few days. In the meantime, I am driving Marc's loaner 93 Civic coupe.

Speaking of cars, I was surprised by the nice cars I spotted in China, and especially in Hong Kong. I suppose I should not be surprised about Hong Kong, as people who are willing to pay over 1 million $ for a condo should want to drive nice cars. Here is a list:

Cool cars spotted in mainland China:

Porsche 997 Turbo

Porsche Cayenne Turbo S

new Volkswagen Scirocco

Volkswagen Passat R36

E90 BMW M3

Rolls Royce Phanto

Rolls Royce Ghost

Ferrari California

Ferrari F430 Spyder

Lamborghini Gallardo

Mercedes S600

Mercedes SL500 (flat black)

AMG C63 (flat black)

E90 335 (flat black)

Cadillac XLR (flat black)

AMG S63

AMG SLS (flat silver)

Maserati Quattroporte

Maserati GT

Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 8

Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 10

90’s Subaru WRX

Bentley Continental

E-Mini

Nissan GTR (loud!)

Jaguar XKR

Aston Martin Vantage

Audi R8

Cool cars spotted in Hong Kong

Volkswagen Scirocco

Audi RS5

Audi RS6

new Audi S6

Audi S3

Audi TTS

Porsche 997 GT3

Porsche 997 turbo

Porsche 996 turbo

Porsche 997 turbo S

Porsche 961 Carrera RS

Porsche Boxster Speedster

BMW M3 E36, E46, E92

Renault Clio V6

Alfa Romeo 147

Rolls Royce Phantom (x4)

Rolls-Royce Ghost

Rolls Royce Silver Spur LWB

Ferrari F430

Ferrari 458

Ferrari 575M

Ferrari 360

Ferrari 612

Lamborghini Gallardo Spyder

Aston Martin DB9 convertible

Aston Martin Vainquish

AMG C63

AMG E63

Mercedes G500 Military

Acura NSX

Nissan Skyline GTR R32

Nissan Skyline R34 Sedan

Nissan GTR

Subaru Legacy Sti Wagon

Maybach 57

Honda RSX Type R

Honda Civic EP3 Type R

Bentley Continental Flying Spur

Bentley Continental Supersport convertible

Bentley Arnage

Brabus Smart forfour

Smart Roadster

Nissan GTR Flat Black

Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 8

Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 5

Maserati GT

new Jaguar XJ

Tesla Roadster

In the days since my return, I also saw many not-too-shabby cars here in town as well:

Cool cars spotted in Montreal:

Maserati GT

Bentley GT

Bentley Arnage Black Label

Ferrari California

AMG SL55

AMG SLS

AMG C63

AMG CL63

Lamborghini Gallardo

Nissan Pulsar GTi-R

Porsche Boxster Speedster

Contrary to what I had planned, I did not go running in China at all. My marathon training plan starts next week and I really have to get in some miles before then. Luckily, we are on the cusp of a long weekend, and I should have some free time.

China Trip!

2011-06-30T12:57:00.010-04:00

On Monday night, I got back from my three-week vacation to China with Alex. I was not able to post in the blog from mainland China (not all websites are accessible...), but we had a laptop with us and I wrote a sort of travel journal. I guess this will be my longest blog entry ever... Enjoy!

Day 1

Our first day in China was an abbreviated one as we arrived at the Beijing airport at around 3:00 pm. The near-13-hour flight was long, but not terribly unpleasant, as we had enough legroom, 3 meals and an abundance of movies to watch. The Beijing airport is almost unbelievably large, but we made it out without any hassles. We had arranged to be picked up by the hotel owner, Angela, and she was waiting for us with a little sign with our names. She drove us to our hotel in her Jetta, after having donned her Victorian lace driving gloves. The highways did not look that different from our own and we made it to our neighbourhood (Dongchen) without hitting any traffic. The area where our hotel is located is a really quaint neighbourhood full of cute shops, cafes and restaurants, and does not fit with the image I had of Beijing as a bustling and impersonal metropolis. We were very happy to see that our hotel was as promised in every way. The room was spotless, the bathroom renovated and there was Wi-Fi. After Alex freshened up, we went for a long walk around Behai lake, which is a sort of lake and park in the middle of the city, surrounded by cafes and bars, and had dinner at a lovely Szechuanese restaurant (total price of a large meal for two, 15$). We got a bit lost on the way home, but within a very limited area near the hotel. The streets here are not laid out in a grid, maybe because the neighbourhood dates back to 1267? We tried to stay up as late as possible to avoid the effects of jetlag, but I only made it until 8:30 pm.

Day 2

This would be our first full day in Beijing and, indeed, in China. We were awake quite early because of jetlag. We enjoyed the hotel’s complimentary breakfast made up of soup, eggs and spiced cucumbers. Our plan was to visit the Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. We walked from our hotel to the square. As was written in our guide book, it was huge and also impersonal. It reminded me a bit of the National Mall in Washington D.C. After making a lap of the square, we headed north to the Forbidden City (just across the street, in fact). As it was still early, the line to get in was short. There were tons of people, mostly Chinese, visiting the site. We were following throngs of tourists from one temple to the next, crowding to try to take pictures. Most temples were either roped off or had been converted to souvenir shops or cafes. By the time we had walked the whole length of the complex, I had had my fill of temples, and I pointed Alex towards the exit sign. She said she wanted to exit on the southern end, the way we had come in, and I reluctantly agreed. This was the best thing we could have done. We ended up taking a completely different route back, through small passageways and arches.

We sometimes found ourselves completely alone. This is where we got most of our pictures, as we had access to any statue or urn without other people getting in the way. We were satisfied with our visit before we headed back out the main entrance. I was the one in charge of choosing our lunch location and I looked in the guide book to see what was nearby. I saw that the Oriental Plaza, one of Beijing’s largest malls (with food court), was not too far away, so we headed in that direction. By then, it was over 30 degrees outside. We ate at the food court (one of many, as it turned out) at a place where they served stir fry in stone bowls. It was great, and I had no choice but to improve my skills with chopsticks if I wanted to actually eat any of the slippery noodles in my broth. After enjoying the air-conditioned mall, we headed out to a main shopping boulevard that was very wide and reminded me of Champs Elysees.

We walked down an alley that sold all kinds of food, including cicadas on a stick, some of them still alive. We eventually entered the large park just north of the Forbidden City. There was a small admission charge (less than 1$), but it was worth it. There is a man-made hill (made from the earth dug out when they built the moat around the Forbidden City) with a temple at its summit which allows for a splendid 360-degree view of the city.

From there, you could see that Beijing does not have that many high-rise buildings, and looks more like Paris that Manhattan. We headed back towards our hotel around 4:00 pm with the intention of taking a power nap. The power nap lasted over three hours. We were supposed to meet the gentleman who had booked our train tickets at our hotel, but Angela told us he was running late, so we headed out to eat. We found chicken and satays (3 large ones for 1,50$) and ate in the street before slowly heading back to our hotel. We had booked a visit to the Great Wall for the following day, and were to be picked up at 6:20 am. Hopefully the jetlag would make it easy to get up so early!

Day 3

We got up early for our trip to the Great Wall. Angela, our hostess, helped us choose a trip that involved no detours to shopping destinations. We had chosen to visit the section of wall at Jinshanling, which was known for its steep climbs and breathtaking views. Although it is only 110 km from Beijing, it took 3 and a half hours to get there in a bus with very little leg room. During the bus ride, I began to feel indigestion or some other stomach ailment. When we arrived, we were given the choice of getting up to the top of the mountain on foot or by chair lift. We chose the chair lift (I believe everyone in the group did) so we could spend more time on the wall and less time climbing through bushes and trees to get there. The view was indeed spectacular when we reached the top. It really looks like in the postcards. Unfortunately, I began to run out of steam after a few steep climbs, and after one really brutal climb (more than 45 degrees!) to get to a guard outpost on the wall, I thought I was going to throw up. I think this was provoked by something I had eaten the day before (satay?). On the way back to the chair lift, I had to take many breaks to catch my breath. Alex was patient and used some of these breaks to take photos.

When we got to the bottom, there was a buffet meal, but my stomach was too upset to partake (I did have a small amount of rice and noodles in the end). We got back on the bus for the 3 and a half hour return trip and arrived back near out hotel around 6:00 pm. We were quite pooped so he had a power nap and then decided to go walk around Behai lake again, as we had done on the evening of our arrival. The difference from the first time was staggering. Whereas on the first occasion it was raining, there were now thousands of people walking, drinking and smoking at the restaurants and bars around the lake. We were looking for a place to eat, but it was not that appetizing. We ended eating pastries with meat, not unlike what you would find in Montreal’s Chinatown, and going to bed at around 10:00 pm.

Day 4

My stomach was feeling fine and my appetite had returned, so I was able to enjoy Angela’s breakfast. We took a taxi to the summer palace shortly after 9:00 am. When we got there, there were throngs of people like we had never seen before. There were people selling all kinds of tacky stuff and thousands of people slowly walking through the park. We focused less on the temples, as they were sort of less grandiose versions of what we had seen in the Forbidden City. We took a boat ride across the lake and ended up in a much quieter part of the park. We slowly walked back on the causeway where there were only a handful of people, which was nice.

We exited the park through the North gate and found a taxi to take us to a new area of town, the embassy area. We were dropped off at a very avant-garde looking mall called the Village, but it was not that interesting a place. It was probably the location with the most non-Chinese people we had yet seen. A white guy helped us ask a security guard where the restrooms were in Mandarin. We ate at a chain restaurant called Macau Taste. It was the first time we faced poor service and also the first time a mandatory service charge (of 30%!) was added to our bill. From this area, we chose to slowly walk back to our hotel so we could relax a bit before taking a taxi to the train station for our night train to the ancient walled village of Pingyao. The taxi ride lasted an hour in traffic, but luckily cost less than 10$. I ate at McDonald’s at the train station because it was convenient. My Big Mac tasted the same as at home for about half the price. Alex had a meat pastry and a mango. The train station was one of the biggest buildings I have seen in my life. We easily found our train and boarded a few minutes before the 7:03 pm departure. We had not managed to book the soft sleepers, but the hard sleepers were really not that bad. Despite the noise of other people, we both got to sleep. I can’t imagine what this 12-hour train ride would have been like in a regular seat!

Day 5

We woke up in the train and got off at the historic town of Pingyao. The city has 450 000 inhabitants, but it is known for its ancient walled city. We found the ancient city without too much trouble after leaving our baggage at the train station. It was shaping up to be another oppressively hot day. The ancient city is really quite something and the streets are charming. Given that the walled city is not that large (maybe a square kilometer or a bit more), we were able to explore quite thoroughly in the day we had to spend there. We chose a lovely courtyard hotel and restaurant to have lunch and we enjoyed crispy chicken (it had red flesh, like duck) and vegetable dumplings.

We sort of ran out of things to do and it was quite hot, so we spent part of the afternoon sipping drinks in a bar. It was strange that we would see large clumps of tourists, then turn a corner and be totally alone. We popped into a supermarket on our way back to the train station. We had to take a first train to Tai Yuan, then switch to a night train to Shanghai. The train to Tai Yuan was filled with locals. We squeezed into a couple of seats and sweated with the others for the 2-hour train ride. Alex managed to strike up a conversation with a guy who spoke decent English. I was happy to arrive in Tai Yuan. I think Tai Yuan is a typical medium-large Chinese city. It has 2.8 million inhabitants. I briefly explored the area around the train station looking for food. It was an almost surreal experience. The station was facing a 10-lane wide avenue. There were 100’s of people crossing the street in clumps, as there was no walk/don’t walk traffic signal. I was the only non-Chinese person out there, and there were people everywhere. I went into a relatively large supermarket to find us some dinner and was surprised to see there was no fresh produce available at all (Alex wanted a mango). I found us some pastries with meat and some drinks. I popped into a nearby KFC with the hopes of getting some chicken nuggets. When I entered, I saw that the menu on the wall was all text except for three photos (none of which depicted nuggets) and that there were no numbered combos, no menus on the counter and not a word in English. I left without ordering. Clearly, Tai Yuan is a city where you need to speak some Mandarin to get by. When we finally got onto the train, we were pleasantly surprised to see how nice the soft sleeper cabins were. Each bunk had its own TV and earphones, and even little slippers. There are only 4 bunks in a cabin, instead of 6 in the hard sleeper cars. We went to sleep, looking forward to waking up in Shanghai (where we would get to take a real shower!).

Day 6

What can be said about Shanghai? After one abbreviated day, I could already confirm that I love this city. We arrived on the train at around 9:00 and took a taxi to our hotel, the Astor House, Shanghai’s oldest hotel (1846). When I saw the hotel lobby, I couldn’t believe we could afford this … but you can save some serious money booking online well in advance. Our room was ready as soon as we arrived, so we enjoyed the luxuries we had been denied over the past couple of days (a nice shower, TV, etc.). By the time we started our day, it was lunch time. We headed out onto the Bund, the waterfront boulevard with its lovely landscaping and huge boardwalk. There is a feeling of positive energy in this city that could be felt right from the start of our long walk. We really walked a lot on this first day in Shanghai. We started out by having an inexpensive yet very satisfying meal in a noodle restaurant (featuring an English menu, of course). We then headed into the old town, which is both bustling and charming. There are so many tastefully restored colonial buildings as well as beautifully designed modern buildings in this city that it boggles the mind. We were criss-crossing between traditional Chinese buildings and modern ones in the Old Town before we decided to make our way towards the French Concession. This neighbourhood was further away than it had seemed in the guide book, but we eventually found it and strolled down the main strip of Haihua. This is one of the busiest and nicest commercial streets I have seen. There were people everywhere, like on 5^th avenue in Manhattan. We ducked off the main road to take a break and people watch in a lovely medium-sized park, the kind of which there are not enough in Montreal. The architecture in this area was a curious mix of European and Chinese, but every street had an abundance of trees and the neighbourhood just oozed charm. On more than one occasion, we found ourselves saying “if we lived in this city, this is probably the area we would choose to live in”. We strolled down Changle road and eventually found Nanjing road, the main strip of the whole city. This mega-boulevard was teeming with people, neon signs and cars, but it was still a pleasant place to be. I don’t know if this is related to how many trees there were or the fact that, for once, it was not oppressively hot out, but we just kept on walking and gawking. By the time we got to People’s Square, we were ready for a break, so we sat down in a park and decided to eat at the huge Pizza Hut across the street. I had been craving pizza all day. Alex had a chicken and rice dish. As we ate, it began to get darker out and when we left the restaurant, the timing was perfect to enjoy the light show that is East Nanjing street. We slowly walked back towards the Bund, enjoying the nice weather and throngs of people out for a Sunday evening stroll. The Bund had taken on a completely new look after dark: it was lovely. There were people everywhere smiling and taking pictures. The high-tech looking skyline is animated like a video game. The overall effect is entrancing. I guess it’s obvious that I thought this city was pretty awesome so far.

Day 7

I tried to stay up to watch the Canadian Grand Prix, which was on at 1:00 am, but there was a 2-hour-long red flag caused by the excessive rain in Montreal and I fell asleep. I slept really well in our lovely hotel room and did not wake up until after 10:00 am. We took our time leaving the luxury of the hotel and one of the front desk employees helped us book our next hotel over the phone. We then stepped out into the foggy weather and followed the walking tour of the Bund from our guide book. Afterwards, we headed for the Yuyuan gardens. On our way, we ate in another Chinese restaurant. I had duck, and was a bit disappointed with the meat-to-bone ratio. Luckily, Alex shared her massive shrimp noodle dish with me .We continued on foot to the gardens, situated in the Old Town. After navigating a maze of lovely old building in a shopping district, we entered the maze that was the garden. It is unbelievable how many lakes, bridges, rocky structures and buildings this garden’s designer crammed into an urban space, and there is no way to know if we actually saw the whole place! Afterwards, I began to guide us toward the 2010 world expo site, but I soon realized that we were basically walking around massive construction sites on huge boulevards when we could be walking somewhere nicer. As a result, we hopped into a cab and headed back to the French Concession. We got off at T….., a maze of little artsy businesses in a lovely neighbourhood. We then found our way back to Changle road, stopping in an English-language book store before ending up on Nanjing road again. We made our way back towards the Bund and I grabbed some Subway (less than 2$ for a 6-inch) and Alex picked up some mangos. We finished off a bottle of Chinese wine we had started last night and chilled in the room. We were too tired to leave the comfort of the hotel, but we managed a visit of the hotel’s other floors, which have not been much modified since the 1800’s. Day 8 would be our last day in Shanghai and we were scheduled to take an overnight train to Huangshan at 5:45 pm.

Day 8

The first thing we had to do on our last day in the area was to buy our train tickets from Huangshan to Guilin and book a Guilin hotel. We headed for the train ticket office nearest our hotel and asked to book the ticket. The rail employee told us there was no way to travel that route by train. We then looked at our map and found that the city of Nansheng was between the two destinations. We asked if we could travel from Huangshan to Nansheng, and the answer was yes. We then asked if we could go from Nansheng to Guilin. Also yes. I don’t understand why this was not proposed to us! Anyway, we booked the tickets and sent out an email to reserve a room. Our plan was to visit a town an hour outside of Shanghai, but, given that it was raining out, we decided instead to visit the famous Shanghai museum. We dropped our luggage at the train station and took the subway to the museum. The subway is affordable, clean and user-friendly. After a quick stop in a noodle restaurant (no English menus, I accidentally ordered a tofu broth), we easily found the museum without getting too wet. The museum is situated in a huge but lovely building. It’s filled with ceramics, jade, paintings, furniture and bronzes. Although this is not my type of thing, this made for a relaxed activity for a rainy day. Also, the admission was free, which is surprising for such a nice place. It was still raining quite hard, to we decided to go into an underground network of shopping complexes (I found a 7-11 and had a Slurpee, and later a Dairy Queen ice cream cone. We took the subway back to the train station and had a quick bite (roll-sandwich and fruit for Alex, KFC and Oreo’s for me) before embarking on our 14-hour train ride (in a soft sleeper). It was time to say goodbye to cloudy Shanghai, but I had a feeling we would be back someday.

Day 9

Our plan on this day was to climb the mountains of Huangshan, stay at our luxury hotel at the peak, then hike down the following day. We arrived at the Huangshan train station in the morning. We had had a cabin to ourselves so we were well rested. I hadn’t really looked in our guidebook to see how one gets to the peak of Huangshan. It turns out it is not that simple. Before we even got off the train, we were encouraged to buy bus tickets, as the mountain was actually 65 km from the train station. This bus took over an hour and even stopped for a bathroom brake (Alex did not partake). When he arrived at the town (Tangkou), we were approached by an enterprising businessman who tried to sell us a spot in his hotel (not needed), a meal (too early) or a place to leave our heavy backpacks (sold). There are three ways to climb Huangshan: take a cable car, climb the Eastern steps (7.5 km) or climb the Western steps (15.5 km). No matter what you choose, there is an element of hiking, so most people (including us) leave our large backpacks at the town and travel up the mountain with small bags containing the bare necessities. We had planned to climb the Eastern steps, but it was pouring rain. We therefore decided to take the cable car. The gentleman who was keeping our baggage, Mr. Hu, drove us to the cable car station (maybe 2 km) and asked us to promise we would eat at his hotel the next day (we promised!). We then took the cable car and arrived at the summit at lunch time. It turns out that the summit where the cable car arrives is only one of multiple summits. As soon as we disembarked from the cable car, we could see why people come from all over to look at the views, even though it was cloudy. The extremely steep-sided mountains looked to come straight from a Chinese painting, complete with trees growing out of the cliff walls. We began the hike to our hotel (it turned out it was one of the ones furthest from the cable car station).

There is really not much civilization at the peak. The only restaurants or stores are in the hotels, and there are only 4 hotels. It was still raining and we were glad to arrive at our hotel. We checked in (this was the most expensive hotel of the trip at 120$ per night) and made our way down to the restaurant for lunch. We shared noodles and dumplings, which were tasty, but twice the price they would have been at ground level. Apparently, everything at the summit has to be carried in by porters as there are no roads up the mountain. At least we had the whole restaurant to ourselves. There was not much to do as it was still raining, so we watched TV, used the pay internet service, and dozed in our tiny hotel room. There was only one English channel (CCTV news), but I watched the East-Asia basketball finals (Korea beat Japan). We had seen that the restaurant was to close at 9:00 pm, so we made our way down at 8:15. It was already closed. This was pretty depressing. We were sent to the little store and one of the employees, who, as it turned out, operated a small café adjacent to the hotel, agreed to make us some noodles. We ended up going to bed early, hoping for a clear morning so we could see the famous views. The walls of the room were paper thin and, when a group of tourists arrived, speaking loudly to each other, it was as if they were in our room with us. Still, we managed to fall asleep.

Day 10

I had awoken a few times after 5:00 am to listen if it was raining. It always was. If we wanted to walk the 15.5 km down the Eastern steps and still make it to our train at 4:20 pm after picking up our bags and taking the 80-minute bus ride to the train station, we would have to get an early start. As it was raining, we slept in a bit. At 8:30, I went outside and saw that it was no longer raining at all. Alex hurried up to get ready so we could begin the hike. I didn’t know how long it would take to get down the mountain, as the crappy little map in our guide book was not very useful. We left the hotel just before 9:00 and at 9:20, we had found the beginning of the Western steps. The walk down the Western steps was not a walk down for the first hour or so… it was a walk down, then up to another peak (breathtaking, photos, etc.) then down and up again, for maybe four peaks. This stretch was between the top of the cable car route and the summit and was filled with hundreds of tourists, all Chinese except one small group. We almost had to push our way through at some points to follow the trail. The trail, unbelievably, was paved the whole way, and every incline had steps. The engineering involved must have been crazy, which partially justifies the 35$ entry fee to the mountain park. After we passed the cable car station (we made only one wrong turn, going to the station when we could have bypassed it), the number of tourists thinned out and we began to cross only porters carrying their loads up or down the mountain, or other tourists (quite few) walking the whole 15.5 km. One guy wanted to have his friends take a picture of him with me. I assume this is because I am white and some of these people never see a white person. After a few brakes, we made it to the bottom and took a bus from the cable car station to near the town, then a car to Mr. Hu’s restaurant. It was 1:00 pm by then, so we ate lunch (sweet and sour pork for me, some kind of meat and vegetable broth for Alex) and Mrs. Hu flagged down a bus for us to take us to the Tunxi train station.

We arrived at the train station a bit after 3:00 pm and I handed Alex her ticket. This is when Alex noticed that our train was not at 16:20, but at 20:56. I had misread the ticket, as it was written the date (16) with a symbol, then the 20 of 20:56. Oops. We now had almost 6 hours to kill in a town that is not even mentioned in our guide book and for which we had no map or even basic information (edit: the book did mention the town, we had been looking in the wrong province!). Despite all the walking we had done, we decided to walk some more. We chose one direction and followed it. We were coming across car and truck repair shops when we decided to turn at a major boulevard. This led us to a river and a lovely pedestrian bridge. We crossed it and walked along the waterfront until we could cross back on a different bridge. We eventually found more commercial areas with more people. This town was different from the big cities we had seen, as there were no luxury shops or even McDonald’s. We walked on and on, losing track of where the train station was. We figured we could always hop into a taxi to get back. At one point, we found a sort of old town within the city that looked a lot like Pingyao. This was the only place we saw other white people in this whole city. Alex loved this area, as can be expected. I don’t usually like souvenirs, but I bought a small wooden pig. There were dozens of them, each unique, and Alex helped me choose one to accompany the other Chinese knick-knacks in my office. I ate at a Chinese chicken place called Dico’s and we asked directions back to the train station. The first people told us it was very far and that we should take a taxi. It turned out we were less than 20 minutes away. We must have walked over 20 km in total this day. We arrived at the train station and it was dark, with only a few people. As the time for our train approached, I decided we should head upstairs, as the doors leading to the rails were locked on our level. This is when we realized the real waiting room was upstairs, where they had a snack bar and the place was fully lit. Pretty funny. Our train arrived and left late, which made me nervous about making our connection the next morning, as we only had a 45-minute window to switch trains.

Day 11

What can be said about Day 11? It was a day spent entirely on trains or in the train station. As I had feared, our train was not going to make it in time for the train to Guilin. I found this out when I showed my ticket to an employee on the first train and she shook her head. Somehow, she arranged it so we could get off the train before our destination to wait for the train to Guilin. I guess that there was an overlap in the two routes. Anyway, the train for Guilin was supposed to leave the unknown station where we got off at 7:20 and we arrived there at 7:40. However, the train only arrived at about 8:15. We boarded and took possession of our soft sleepers, but unfortunately, we did not have the cabin to ourselves this time. We generally hung around our bunks until 11:20 pm. There was not much to do. I read about 300 pages from my book *a translated Chinese novel called “Brothers” purchased at the Shanghai museum) and took a nap while Alex also dozed and read. We both had instant noodles which we had bought at the supermarket (55 cents each) for lunch and again for dinner, with fruit. We arrived on time and checked in to a really nice hotel called the Riverside. The room here was only 23$ and is much nicer than the one in Huangshan, plus it had free wi-fi in the room. The plan for the next day was to head out of town to Yangshuo to enjoy the countryside and maybe rent some bikes.

Day 12

We woke up in our lovely hotel room and I went to get some breakfast from a supermarket (white cake muffins, mini Chips Ahoy, apple-flavoured milk) while Alex hung around the room. I went online and searched how we would get from Guilin to the island of Hainan and found out that one had to take two overnight trains, passing through Guangzhou, or a 16-hour bus. Just for comparison, I searched how much a flight would cost and was surprised to find out it was only about 75$ per person. This seemed too good to be true, and other websites had much higher prices. I had noticed a travel agency near the market and we decided to pop in. Sure enough, we were able to book the tickets at 72$ each. This meant we can spend one more night in the Yangshuo area. We called ahead to book a room at the Outside Inn, a farm converted to a hostel 4 km outside of Yangshuo. We had lunch at a riverside restaurant (We shared spare ribs and noodles). We took a bus from Guilin to Yangshuo (one hour trip, after 45 minutes of driving around the town picking people up) and arrived at the hotel at around 2:00 pm. I was a bit disappointed with the hotel at first, because it was not in an isolated spot in the country side, but rather at the end of a sort of alley in a very small town. However, after walking around the small complex and seeing our little second floor room in a rustic outbuilding, I was totally sold. The hotel had its own restaurant as well. The staff was super helpful and handed us a guide of what to do in the area (bamboo rafting, kayaking, cycling, hiking) as well as a sheet of paper describing three short hikes that could be taken from the hotel with little hand drawn maps. There was even a site to go swimming in the nearby Yulong River. We decided to start out with one of the hikes (called Rural Round Trip) and after trying to follow the directions, I realized the map was not to scale. We eventually found our way, however. This is really what we hoped the countryside would be like: fields of rice or corn, farm animals walking the streets, people tending their gardens and crops, beautiful mountains and quiet, slow-moving rivers. Add to this the songs of birds, the croaking of frogs and the glow of lightning bugs, and you can begin to imagine the scene. The only downside was the presence of mosquitoes, but they had mosquito coils at the hotel and we brought along insect repellent. By the time we reached the swimming hole at the end of the hike, the sun was not beating down on us so hard (it was 5:30 pm) and Alex decided not to swim. I went for a short swim and it was a fantastic experience. The water of the river was a bit cool, but not at all cold, and the current was so slow you couldn’t feel it. The scenery around the swimming hole was beautiful, as it was surrounded by green fields and sharply jutting hills. We walked back to the hotel, Alex snapping pictures left and right. The people of the area didn’t speak Mandarin, but rather another dialect (called Guilin), but they all enthusiastically said hello as they rode by on their tandem bikes or scooters. Back at the hotel, we shared a local stew (Snoozing Dragon) with pork and eggplant, as well as some curry chicken. The eating area for the hotel was outdoors, under a sort of gazebo. The Dragon stew was one of the best dishes we had tasted so far, and I realized it’s often best to choose from the section of the menu called “local dishes”. We loved this spot so far and were really happy we will be staying a second night there.

Day 13

We woke up in our lovely air conditioned farmhouse room. We decided to rent bikes and explore the area. After discussing the idea with the staff, we decided to head to the locally famous dragon bridge. We decided to skip the main activity of the region, which was being pushed down the river on a bamboo raft (kind of like the gondolas of Venice). Alex really wanted us to rent a tandem, but I was not interested. I agreed to try one for a minute to see if I liked it and it was indeed completely unpleasant. The seating position is ridiculous. We then proceeded to choose our bikes. I lucked out and found a cool 6-speed Dutch city bike (Eagle brand), and Alex chose an 18-speed Giant mountain bike. We hit the road with our photocopied map and eventually found our way. Once in a while, we would accidentally veer off the gravel lane we were supposed to be following and end up in a rice paddy or some other type of dead end. We crossed the paths of dozens of tourists, almost all Chinese. It was really weird to be in a touristic area that was not aimed at all at the Western tourist market. I was coming to realize that China had enough tourists from China, and doesn’t even really need Western tourists. The tourists we came across were coming from Guilin and, surely, other Chinese cities. The ride was lovely, although sometimes, a bit too off-road for my city bike. When we got to the several hundred year old dragon bridge, we took a break, had our photo taken by some Chinese tourists, photographed the same tourists with their own cameras, and headed back on the other side of the river. After trying unsuccessfully to follow the trail markers (we ended up at the river’s edge, and noticed that the people waving to us from a bamboo raft were none other than the girls we photographed!), I realized that all we had to do was look into the distance and keep between the two rows of hills, as the river meandered through the valley. This made navigation much simpler. We found our way back to our little town and ate a local restaurant (fried beef in onions and garlic, noodles with egg) and went back to the hotel. We parked the bikes and headed for the swimming hole to cool off. This time, Alex actually entered the water and swam. We met some other tourists there and they strongly suggested taking a kayak trip in the Li River. We headed back to the hotel and booked the kayak tour as well as our taxi for the next day. We decided to head back out on the bikes to see a different bridge and then pop into the town to get some cash. This excursion was mainly on roads and we made good time. We passed countless tourist buses from Guilin. The scenery was sometimes unbelievable, and I shot some video to try to capture it. When we got close to the town, the traffic became crazy and unpredictable, so we found an ATM and got out of there. We headed back to the hotel, arriving around 7:00. For dinner, we wanted to order the beer carp, which had to be ordered in advance. The employee said she would check if there was fish available. At this point, she walked over to a small artificial pond a few steps away from the outdoor eating area, and we could all see that the only carp in the pond was floating… We decided to try the beer duck instead. It was a sort of stew with a light beer taste and we both enjoyed it. After dinner, we grabbed Alex’s flashlight and went for a short walk in the village before heading back to the comfort of our air-conditioned room. We were both really happy we had chosen to spend a second day in this breathtakingly beautiful area.

Day 14

We woke up early to grab breakfast at the hotel before heading out on our little kayak expedition. We were picked up at the hotel and brought to our kayaks on the Li River. We were told a guide in a motor boat would follow us and that the trip would last two to three hours. The kayaking itself was not that hard, as we were going along with the flow of the river. We arrived after two hours and we had not been paddling that (although we both ended up with blisters on our hands!).

As we were being driven back to town, it began to rain really hard. I was glad to be in a car just then. We had lunch at our hotel (pizza and sandwich) and hung around until our airport taxi arrived. The trip to the airport took over an hour and took us along several toll roads… the 45$ charge was a luxury, but well worth it. Our flight to Haikou went seamlessly. I believe we were the only non-Chinese people on the plane. Despite the 60-minute duration of the flight, a meal was served. We didn’t know exactly how we would get to the town of Bo’ao from the airport. It looked quite complicated, as we would have to take a bus into town, then walk or take a taxi to the long distance bus station, then take two more buses. In our guide book, a high-speed train was mentioned, but was not yet operational. When we arrived at the airport, we went to the information booth and asked what the best way to get to Bo’ao was and we were told the train. I tried to ask if it was a fast train, using the word “kuai”, for fast. She did not understand at first. I added the word “huo che” for train, and she said “ahhh! kuai che!” and nodded. We then headed for the rail station, which was accessible by an underground tunnel, and bought 2 high speed train tickets for 6 $ each. We waited for our train for over an hour in a near empty train station. I guess people don’t know about the high speed train yet. The high speed train was efficient, but the train station was nowhere near the area of the hotel. We did not know that so we were surprised when the moto-taxi wanted 8$ to take us there. We negotiated the price to 5$, then rode in the back of a 3-wheeled moto taxi for over half an hour. When we arrived, we realized that they really do not speak any English in this town! Choosing the hotel room and paying required me to pull out my dictionary more than once. The room was clean and simple and we would at some point have to figure out where the beach was in this town!

Day 15

We woke up in Bo’ao with the intention of spending at least part of the day at the beach. Little did we know this would prove to be a bit difficult. We headed out on foot in the general direction of the beach. When we got to the coast, we could see that there were sand bars off the coast and that seemed to be where beachgoers had gathered. We could not see any way to access this sand bar by land, but noticed that there was a boat landing with a ticket stand. I asked how much the tickets were, and was told 53 yuan, or about 8$. This seemed like an excessive amount to pay to travel a few hundred meters by boat, especially when you compare this with the less than 7$ we paid yesterday to travel city-to-city at 250 km/h by train in first class! We decided to see if there was a beach that could be accessed more easily. As I mentioned yesterday, no one, and I mean no one, that we encountered spoke English in this town. I knew the Mandarin word for “beach” and asked a moto-taxi driver, but he seemed to say it was not possible for him to bring us to a beach. We were approached by a taxi driver, and I asked him how much for the beach, using the Mandarin word “shatan”. He replied 40, and we said OK. 40 was much cheaper than two boat tickets. We hopped in his taxi and he drove us away from the boat dock. We drove and drove, and we were clearly no longer in Bo’ao at all. We could see many condo projects on what must have been the coast, but he was not stopping. We then entered an urban area and I began to think he had misunderstood where we wanted to go. He stopped at a bus station in the city (by then, we had figured out we were in Qionghai) and told us we had arrived. I was quite angry and told him “the beach, the beach!” and showed him the Chinese writing for beach in our phrase book. It took him a while to understand, even when I showed him the word written in Chinese, and then he was angry too, as we had driven for half an hour to get where we were. We then realized that this guy probably did not even speak Mandarin, but only the local dialect. He drove us back to where we had started. I paid him the 40 yuan despite the mixup. To his credit, he did not want the money at first, but I would have felt bad if we had cost this guy money due to a misunderstanding. We decided to take the stupid 8$ 5-minute boat ride to get to the stupid sand bar beach. It was noon by then and we had not eaten yet, but we figured we could get lunch at the touristic beach. We got onto the boat with a group that was on some sort of tour. There were no white people, only Chinese. The tourists were dressed in cabana suits or city clothes. Not one of them was wearing a bathing suit. We arrived at the beach and disembarked. We then saw a row of vendors with parasols. They were almost all selling fruit and cold drinks. Not one of them had any other kind of food! We saw that you could also buy flip flops or a sun hat, and that you could rent a jet-ski or a 4-wheel ATV. There was not a single person swimming in the ocean among the hundreds of people!

There was not one person even wearing a bathing suit! All the people did was walk up to the water line, step close enough to get their feet wet, giggle, then snap dozens of photos. I guess that this was a group of people that had never seen the ocean in their lives. They must have been quite well off for Chinese people, to be able to spend 8$ each on a 5-minute boat ride (surely they spent much more to be on their tours!). To top it all off, the sand was coarse and there was a sign stating that swimming was not recommended. I could not believe the absurdity of this beach. Our guide book had mentioned that we would simply be able to walk to the beach in a couple of minutes, but this was clearly not the case. The actual beach, which cost us more than the price of our hotel to get to, was a total joke. I decided that I was absolutely going to go swimming and that I would watch out for the undertow. The beach was quite steep and there was a strong undertow, but it was very manageable if you remained in water less than waist deep. After settling into the ocean, I became less angry and more relaxed. Alex came into the water as well, then settled down on our beach towel (probably the only one on the beach) and proceeded to fend off countless sellers trying to get us to buy photos or rent motorized vehicles At one point, I saw another person jump in the water, then swim right back to the shore. No one else entered the water. There were no white people at all on the beach and we seemed to be quite a novelty. The sellers kept coming by to check us out or try to sell/rent us stuff. At one point, they formed a group around us with their stupid ATV’s and had a smoking break. At this point, I was quite fed up, and we decided to leave. At least I got to swim in the ocean a bit! We headed back on the boat and, once ashore, started to search for a place for lunch. There was really not much on offer, as the seafood places were closed (it was 2:30 pm) and most other places only had pastries. We finally found a place with a photo menu and ordered a fish in some type of red sauce that turned out to be very tasty. It was the best fish I had had in a long time, in fact. I was impressed with the server who thanked us warmly, in English, at the end of our meal. As we walked back towards the hotel, we saw more people staring at us, as if we were a real novelty. I am surprised that our guide book did not mention the fact that nothing is written in English here, on signs or menus or anywhere, and that many people do not even speak Mandarin. It also felt like when you are staying in an all-inclusive resort and then heading out to see how the locals live… there was only luxury, or low-end, with nothing in between. The local businesses seemed not to need western tourists’ business. We were not even able to use computers at an internet café near our hotel, as we had no Chinese ID cards. We went to get out passports and found a different café. We focused on our next beach destination: Sanya. We managed to book a room in what looked like a very nice spot, very close to the beach. Also, we found an amazing deal on a flight directly from Sanya to Hong Kong (100$ tax in per person!) which would save us a ton of time, bus, taxi and train transfers. We were pretty pleased with this and returned to our air-conditioned room to relax before dinner and watch 32 Chinese TV channels. After a while, we headed out for dinner and found a place with photo menus. I decided to order the octopus, and even Alex liked it.

We walked around the town one final time and went back to the hotel to get an early night’s sleep so we could try to get the 10:00 train to Sanya in the morning.

Day 16

As planned, we woke up, checked out and headed to Sanya by high-speed train.

We negotiated a taxi ride to our hotel in Dadonghai Bay, one of the beach areas of Sanya. We noticed cranes and high-rise projects throughout the city and the area of our hotel was no exception. They are building hotels and condos like there is no tomorrow. Sanya is very frequented by Russian tourists and there are many signs in Cyrillic as well as Chinese. We checked into our small, clean hotel room. As promised, it was an easy walk from the beach. We had a quick lunch of noodles and dumplings (I didn’t know how to order the dumplings that were not in a soup, we ended up having both kinds) and headed out to the beach. I was glad to see that we had finally reached a normal beach!

People were swimming, many were wearing bathing suits, there were beach chairs and beach umbrellas, and little bars and restaurants. Alex thought it was a tad too developed for her tastes, but I was just happy to be at a typical beach. The waves were not as strong as at the Bo’ao beach, and we were able to relax in the water, as if we were in Cuba. After a while at the beach, we went for a stroll on the boardwalk and the streets around our hotel, then back to the room to relax with some air-conditioning. We headed out for another walk and to find dinner. We decided to head for a different part of the city and began to walk. We had to cross over a couple of bridges, and we saw the docking area for the traditional fishing boats. There were hundreds of them all packed together like sardines.

We saw some pretty fancy restaurants, but settled on a Taiwanese place called Cominup, where you would choose several small dishes. We had spicy shrimp, chicken, and some kind of green vegetable. It was quite tasty. We strolled back to the hotel, stopping at a supermarket on the way to get some wine and snacks. We headed back to the room to enjoy the one English-language TV channel for a while (as well as a Chinese singing competition show) before calling it a night. The day turned out to be relaxing and low-key and it really felt like a day of vacation.

Day 17

We lazed around our room in the morning as the weather was pretty cloudy. If we had known it would soon start to rain for the rest of the day, maybe we would have got an earlier start! We started the day (at around lunch time) at our local dumpling shop, exactly replicating yesterday’s meal (although it was somehow even less expensive than yesterday, with our total bill being about 2,50$). We then headed in the direction of the city center, as we had done last night. It began to rain harder and harder, so we ducked into the giant duty free store. The prices were the same as at home, with absolutely nothing on special. We lingered because we didn’t want to get soaked. Eventually, Alex decided to wear her plastic poncho while I decided I’d rather get wet from rain than from sweat. We kept going towards the center and I finally decided to buy an umbrella (2,25$). We eventually found a 3-level indoor/outdoor mall selling all kinds of clothes and products. Alex bought a few unmentionables, feeling she had lost face with a failed negotiation of the price. We kept on our way, noting that this was not one of the nicer cities we have seen, although there were still many trees and much greenery. We eventually found our way to the coast line and the huge public beach. We walked on the brick pathway between the beach and Sanyawan boulevard for a long, long time. It was still raining a lot, but there was not much else to do on such a wet day, so we kept walking along the beach for several kilometers. I finally caved in and suggested we hop into a taxi to get back to the hotel. We made it back and relaxed a bit. I was worried I hadn’t received confirmation of our airline booking to Hong Kong, so I went online and chatted with a customer service rep for C-Trip. When I received the email confirmation, I was worried when I saw the price, but the C-Trip rep told me that was the full fare price. I noted that the full fare price for our tickets was more than three times what we paid. Yeah! There were three British girls leaving the hotel and they say Alex’s poncho and asked Chris, the hotel owner, if he had any of those. I had been making fun of Alex’s often used disposable poncho all day, but she was beaming with pride when the girls wanted identical ones! We asked Chris to recommend a seafood place nearby and he actually walked us over to the place and helped us choose our fish from the huge aquariums in front of the restaurant. We let him place the order and when the fish arrived, it was huge! I forget what kind of fish it was, but it was delicious. The meal was expensive, for China (about 23$), but I didn’t want to miss out on the fresh seafood for which the area is reputed. It was still raining, so we grabbed some dessert at a supermarket and went back to the room. The heavy rain was weakening our satellite TV signal so we could no longer watch the one English TV channel. We ended up watching one of those Japanese-style game shows where people have to run and jump on crazy floating obstacles, like in Super Mario Brothers. It was hilarious, and we didn’t need to understand Mandarin to follow it (we had noticed that we could also watch some cartoons and understand the gist of the story).

Day 18

The day began in Sanya and when we saw that it wasn’t raining, we headed to the beach. We were there at 9:00 am. The waves were high, but safely predictable. After about an hour, we headed back to the room to shower, change and pack. We took a taxi to the airport and arrived over 2 hours before our flight. The airport itself was beautiful, in that the whole structure of the building was made of wood. However, there was no air conditioning and our flight was delayed by about 45 minutes. I was really looking forward to getting to Hong Kong! The flight went smoothly and there were no hassles at the Hong Kong airport. We had planned to take a taxi, but the friendly information clerk told us that we should take the bus. This proved to be the right choice, as it was rush hour and the double-decker bus was roomy and allowed us to see the scenery. The first thing we noticed was how much greenery there was around Hong Kong. I also noticed the large amount of luxury cars on the road. There were no more Chinese cars here, probably because they drive on the left. This meant that there were many cool Japanese cars, along with some pretty exotic European cars. As the bus drove us down Nathan road towards the neighbourhood where we would choose our hotel, we saw the throngs of people out for a stroll on a Friday evening. We walked to a large building called Mirador Mansion. We did not have a hotel booked for tonight, so we randomly selected one of the low-cost options in the building from our guidebook. The room we ended up with was tiny, like a jail cell, but it had a/c, an almost double bed, and a bathroom. We were in and out and went looking for dinner at about 6:30 pm. We first walked down to the ferry station to see the famous Hong Kong skyline and it was indeed impressive. There were so many people and stores that it was hard to simply find a place to eat. We ended up walking around a bit before settling for McDonald’s. I was pretty hungry and my burger and fries really hit the spot. We continued walking north on Nathan road and Alex bought a few items of clothing at a giant underground Esprit store. We were in a pedestrian shopping area and the stores were still open even though it was 10:00 pm. We went into a trendy store called Izzue and Alex bought a few more small items. We noticed that in general, people here were dressed more fashionably than in China. The staff at the store was very friendly and helpful. We walked all the way home and arrived at our jail cell at about 11:30 pm, pooped and ready to sleep in our tiny bed.

Day 19

We woke up in our jail cell and packed our bags. I hoped the hotel we reserved in the same building would be nicer. We headed down to the 6^th floor of the massive building which housed both our old and new hotels (called the Mirador Mansion) and found that our new hotel, the Hello Inn, was locked. There was no way to get in, so we left our bags at our old hotel and started our day. The plan was to cross Victoria Harbour and head to the island of Hong Kong. This was achieved by taking the lovely Star Lines ferry, which takes only a few minutes and costs less than 50 cents per person. The Hong Kong skyline is impressive viewed from the harbour, or from anywhere for that matter. We followed a walking tour from our guide book through the confusing streets of Hong Kong. I was a bit underwhelmed after having seen the high tech area near the ferry port. We had lunch at a western style restaurant called Café de Coral, and it was quite a satisfying meal.

We walked some more, then found the long string of escalators that took us virtually to the top of the city. We were so high up the hill that we had to walk downhill to get to the Victoria Peak tram line. On our way, we came across the city zoological and botanical gardens and relaxed there for a while, watching some entertaining monkeys.

We found our way to the tram and bought tickets to the Peak, a spot from which we would be able to see the whole city and harbour. We did not pay the extra fee to access the 360-degree viewing platform. When we got to the peak, many of the views were blocked by huge ads for the viewing platform! There was a mall next door that had its own free viewing platform, with free binoculars, and we enjoyed the view from there and took a bunch of photos before taking the tram back down.

We walked back down to the pier and headed for the ferry. Once back in Kowloon, Alex chose an Indian restaurant for us. I accepted, not knowing it was also a vegetarian restaurant! The restaurant was called Woodlands and we had the sort of variety platter, which was both tasty and filling. During this dinner, I hatched a plan for us to visit Macau the following day, as a day trip. It was possible, using the high-speed ferries, and not terribly expensive (40$ per person return). We had decided to skip Macau when planning the trip, but with all the time we had saved taking planes instead of trains, we could now squeeze it in! We headed out in time to see the surprising light show in the harbour at 8:00 pm. If you head to the Walk of the Stars near the waterfront, you are treated to music playing through speakers that is synchronized with lights and lasers projected on the building across the harbour. It’s a bit tacky, but still mesmerizing. After this show, we walked up Nathan road for a while and eventually headed back to our nice little room where we slept soundly.

Day 20

We woke up early and headed for the Star Ferry, which would take us to Hong Kong Island where we could take another ferry to Macau. The walk between the two ferry ports was short and we bought our tickets. We went to the departure lounge and were shuffled off towards a ramp by an employee. When we got to the boat, we were told it was the wrong one and that our boat was leaving 15 minutes later. When another employee saw our look of confusion and disappointment, he got on his radio and arranged some seats for us on the boat that was about to leave. He assigned us seat numbers and sent us off. When we arrived on the boat, we couldn’t find our seats and had to ask where they were. We were sent upstairs and we then realized we had been bumped to first class. The economy class was already nice, but the first class seats were even nicer, and they even served a small meal on the one hour journey. When we arrived in Macau, we were ready to start our day of exploring. Unfortunately, there was a 45 minute wait at immigration. When we finally made it through, it was 11:30. We hitched a ride to the historic neighbourhood on the shuttle bus for the Grand Lisboa hotel and casino. We walked through the casino on our way up from the parking level. I don’t really get why people are into casinos and I didn’t see the big deal at this one. The actual hotel was a tall and weirdly shaped building and its top looked like a cross between a pineapple and a bouquet of flowers. We began to walk towards the landmarks mentioned in our books. I had not realized that Macau was so small. It is much, much smaller than Hong Kong, only a couple of kilometers across and deep. It is also much shabbier than Hong Kong. It reminded us a lot of the poorer parts of Portugal. I accidentally made us walk to the top of a long steep hill and we were both sweating and panting.

On our way back down, I could see that Alex was tired, hot and hungry. We stopped at one of the first restaurants we saw and the owner recommended a curry chicken that came in a huge bowl made of bread.

We followed this recommendation and shared the big bowl, greatly enjoying it. After dealing with all our problems (thanks to the chairs, dish and a/c), we set off towards some other sites. We then found the really touristy part of town. It was quite nice and we were glad we had made the side trip.

When we had had our fill and seen many sites, we headed back to our casino and grabbed a bus back to the ferry. If it had not been so hot, we could easily have walked back. We got back to Hong Kong, where the wait at immigration was only a few minutes, and headed back to the Star Ferry. Once we were back in Kowloon, we began to walk around, enjoying the last evening of the trip. We were again faced with the decision of deciding where to eat. We stopped at a place mentioned in the guide (it was in a mall, but it had a Michelin Star… that’s Hong Kong, they love their malls!) but we were unwilling to wait 30 or more minutes for Chinese food. We kept walking north and found a Café de Coral. This turned out to be just what we needed: slightly western food at an affordable price with generous portions. We enjoyed our meal and continued our walk. We walked and walked through Tsim Sha Tsui and Yau Ma Tei and, when we could walk no more (and after a quick ice cream break) we got back to the hotel at around 11:30. Alex made me set the alarm early enough so that we could enjoy our final morning of the trip, as our flight was at 3:10 pm, which meant we had to leave the neighbourhood at around noon.

Day 21

We woke up at 8:00 am on last half day and decided to head for the huge swimming complex at Kowloon Park not far from our hotel. This complex is made up of six or seven swimming pools with artificial islands and waterfalls, both indoor and outdoor. We hoped that anybody could pay and enter and, sure enough, for about 2,50$ each, we were in. We swam and relaxed until about 10:30, then headed back to the hotel. We showered and packed and headed for the bus stop (I had been to 7-11 to make sure we would end up with exact change) and caught the bus after less than a minute of waiting. As usual, now that the trip was over, I wished I could just snap my fingers and be home rather than take a 14-hour flight followed by another one hour flight. Alex, as is usual for her, was feeling melancholy, as this was the end of a great trip and a vacation. We ate and lingered in the airport and looked to spend every last Hong Kong dollar (cookies, Vitamin Water and some mints), and by the time this was done, it was the final boarding call for our flight (I hadn’t realized you needed to take 5 escalators and a train to get to our gate!). The flight to Toronto took 14 and a half hours! We dozed and watched movies and finally got home at around 11:00 pm. The vacation was over and I would have to be back in the office the following morning. Still, I felt rested and happy. The trip was simply awesome.

Some great photos by JAG Imaging.

2011-06-02T14:04:00.000-04:00

Here are some awesome photos from the Time Attack last Sunday taken by JAG:

Cool cars spotted:

BMW M5

BMW M6

flat black Porsche 996

Porsche 997 turbo

Porsche 930 Slantnose convertible

Porsche 930

AMG SL63

Lexus IS-F

Lapping video.

2011-06-01T23:59:00.002-04:00

Here is a video I made at Monday night lapping. Enjoy.

Squeezing in some more track time!

2011-05-31T11:47:00.000-04:00

I’ve managed to squeeze in a bunch of track time over the last couple of days, which is good, since I will not be driving on track again for a whole month!

On Sunday, we had the first ASE Time Attack at St-Eustache. I was hoping to dip into the 1:01’s again, but it was not to be. The conditions were ever-changing, which resulted in several tire changes for me, from rain tires to dry ones. My best time was a 1:02.49 on a mostly dry track (there was a dry line). In my class, I was beaten by two drivers in Jam’s Civic, Maxo in his Integra and Donat in his Golf GTi. Over all, the event was won by a cool Lotus Seven replica with a turbo Nissan engine, who was the only driver to dip down into the 57’s. Carl managed a lap in the 58’s. There was an excellent driver in a BMW 1M who managed a lap in the 59’s on the street tires that came with the car… very impressive. The 1M looks neat, like a well modified BMW, but the proportions of the car are still not that pleasing to the eye. Still, I’d hit that!

Yesterday, we had perfect weather for lapping. It was sunny and not too hot, and many people showed up, including 20 (!) instructors to take care of the many new students. I started off the evening with three students in a row, and wondered when I would have time to get out on the track myself! I drove a student’s BMW M6. I kept the DSC on, of course, and the car was on winter tires. Also, I didn’t use the full 500 hp in Sport Mode. It drove nicely, but I would not call the M6 a great track car. It is big and you can feel it. Still, the interior is nicer than in my M3 and it seems it would make a great high performance daily driver.

Eventually, I did get out in the advanced group. In my first session, I had some fun with the other advanced drivers, although I had a little moment when a Corvette ZR1 driver thought he could safely pass me at the “Oval-in” turn. I had to abort my turn and drive around the unused part of the oval. In the second session, I managed a lap under 1:02 (1:01.9 on the in-car, 1:01.684 on the data analysis) despite some sloppy driving in some corners. I am now convinced that with some consistent good driving, I can go under 1:01. I took some cool video and will try to edit it and post it on Youtube. After the second session, there was a serious noise from the wheel when I turned left. I thought it was maybe a rear wheel bearing, as my front bearings were recently changed. It turned out the right axle nut had come loose. We tightened it before the next run, but I think I killed the bearing while driving on the loose axle. Oops… more work for Marc! I know where my Civic will be staying during my vacation…

Speaking of Marc, he still has my M3. He found out that the problem causing the weird and extreme rear tire wear was a lack of proper alignment paired with a blown and loose shock. Ouch! At first I was going to order Bilstein shocks for the rear, but when he told me the front shocks were not looking great either, I decided to buy some Koni’s for all four corners. I hate spending money on maintenance for a street car, but I hate it less when the car is upgraded as a result. The car should ride nicely on new shocks!

In six days, Alex and I will be heading to China on vacation. We both feel we need a real vacation these days, so I really can’t wait to be on the plane! I just have about a million loose ends to tie up before leaving.

Cool cars spotted :

Ferrari California

Ferrari F430 Spyder

Lamborghini Gallardo

Maserati GT

Maserati Quattroporte

Aston Martin Vantage

Jaguar XKR

Jaguar XFR

Corvette Z06

Corvette ZR1

1965 Mustang

Shelby GT500

BMW M3

BMW M5

BMW M6

Porsche 997 Turbo

Porsche Boxster Speedster

Porsche 997 GT2(!)

AMG C63

AMG S63

Nissan Skyline GTR R32

Nissan GT-R

Mosport video

2011-05-26T11:37:00.000-04:00

Here is a little video of my best practice lap from Mosport (1:42.8):

I was surprised to see that I hit 177 km/hr before the braking zone for turn 5A. This was actually faster than my speed at the end of the straight on that lap!

I will be heading to St-Eustache for the time attack on Sunday. I hope I will again be able to hit lap times under 1:02...

Cool cars spotted:

Porsche 997 GT3 RS

Porsche 997 Turbo

Aston Martin DBS

Aston Martin Vantage

Acura NSX

Dodge Viper

Suzuki Cappuccino

AMG C63

AMG SLS

Ferrari California

BMW 635 CSi

BMW Z8

1965 Corvette

Pinzgauer

Bentley Continental

Mosport Sundown GP 2011 Race Report

2011-05-22T23:41:00.003-04:00

This weekend Carl and I again headed to Mosport for one of our favourite events: the Sundown Grand Prix 3-hour endurance race. Although some might argue that a 3-hour race is hardly an endurance event as there are other races lasting between 12 and 25 hours, but we take what we can get in Canada. Anyway, a 3-hour race is quite easy to plan for if you have a reliable car. Even if your car is slow (like mine is, in the world of race cars), you can do well enough by driving consistently and staying out of trouble.

When I arrived at the track Friday, I made sure to get the car ready for the practice session Saturday morning while I still had available daylight (basically, I emptied out the gear and installed the race tires and installing the new Schroth enduro harness). As usual, I had driven the car to the event. I had arrived at the track early enough on Friday to get the car inspected by the race officials. Unfortunately for me, the inspector was unhappy when he noted that my electrical kill switch, although it shut off the engine, did not kill power to the brake lights. I was told to fix it before qualifying the next day. We looked at the fuse box to see if there was a way to rewire the switch, but there was nothing we could do with the supplies we had on hand. I convinced the official to let us fix the kill switch for the next event.

On Saturday, we arrived at the track early for practice, which began at 8:00. The plan was for me to run the practice session and Carl to run the qualifying session at 12:20. The race was scheduled to begin at 5:00 pm and run for three hours. The car completing the most laps in three hours was the winner. Simple. The cars were divided into five classes based on their predicted lap times. We were in the slowest class, called GT5, for cars that are slower than 1:41 per lap. The best time I have ever run with the present engine was 1:43.2, so I knew it would be virtually impossible to break out of the class by going faster than 1:41. The rules stated that if you break out of the class by driving too fast, you are penalized (a 2-lap penalty, I believe) for every lap faster than the breakout time. We were disappointed to see that there were only 17 cars signed up for the race, but we were happy to see that GT5 was the biggest class, with 7 entries. Besides our Civic, there was the civic of our friends Jean-Michel (Jam) and Pierre. Jam and Pierre are recent graduates of our race school and this was to be there first ever race. Their Civic is quick and they knew they might break out of GT5, but they didn’t mind, as all they were hoping for was a fun and clean race. There was also an E30 BMW M3, a Miata, 2 Nissan Sentra’s and a VW Jetta.

Carl and I planned to each drive half the race, with one pit stop to refuel. Last time we ran a 3-hour race at Mosport, we confirmed that we could run for over 90 minutes on one tank of fuel. We would be benefiting from the services of an Ontario racer named Jeff who had volunteered to act as our crew. It’s important to have crew members who do not screw up while refuelling, because even a relatively small spill can result in a penalty. We realized early on that we had chosen the right guy, as Jeff knew his way around a race weekend. He usually campaigns a Nissan NX2000 in regional races.

One problem I usually have at Mosport is getting up to speed and building confidence. As a result, I only generally turn in decent lap times near the end of the event. I was hoping to improve my best time to a 1:42 or even a 1:41 over the course of the day. I wanted to at least hit 1:43’s in the practice session. Weather conditions were perfect and I headed out for my session. For the first time in six enduros at Mosport, I felt quite comfortable in my first session on track. I felt that I had lost the confidence I had built up last fall at our club’s last track day. I was quickly hitting the 1:44’s, then eventually the 1:43’s. For the last couple of laps, I was caught by one of the Sentra’s in the straightaway (Jeff knew the car and told me it had 200 hp) and I managed to follow him until the end of the session. On my last lap, I managed a 1:42.8. Needless to say, I was very happy with the session. I was driving with confidence and attacking almost every corner (corner 2 being the exception). The tires were squealing in agony in the faster corners. With the new final drive, I could no longer use only fourth gear in corner 4. The advantage was that if I short-shifted into fifth before the corner, I could take it flat out with no problem. I remembered that I should try not to brake at all at the end of the straightaway, but simple downshift from 5^th to 4^th gear. It did not feel like this would work, but it did. Lap after lap, the car held on, and I realized that in corners 4 and 8 (the corner after the straight), I was quicker than many of the other cars.

I was in a good mood, and the car did not need any serious work before the qualifying session. I dropped the front tire pressure from 28 psi to 26 (we were using Nitto NT01’s) and that was pretty much it.

Carl hit the track for the qualifying session and started out with 1:46’s and 1:45’s. I wanted us to do well as a team, but I would have felt a little bit disappointed in myself if Carl started dropping 1:42’s in his first session in the car at Mosport in years. Carl’s lap times dropped less than we expected and his best lap was in the 1:44’s. This put us in last position on the grid, except for Jam, who was forced to start last as he broke out of the class in qualifying. We didn’t mind starting last, as qualifying position is not terribly important in an endurance race. Also, Carl is a notoriously strong starter. Carl was not happy with his performance, as he is used to being as fast as me or faster than me, even with my car. I was not too worried.

There were several hours to wait before our race, and this allowed us to watch a Speed World Challenge race and a Canadian Touring Car race. There was a freak rain shower that shook things up in the CTCC race and we wondered if the rain would let up before our race. There seemed to be only one rain cloud in the sky (and on the satellite image), but it was parked over our location. We decided Carl would pick the tire setup for the race. We had brought along some Hoosier rain tires, which are great for rain, but quite useless in the dry. Carl wisely chose to wait until the last minute (in fact, 20 minutes before the race, which is cutting it a bit close), and, since the rain had stopped, he chose to keep the dry setup, even though the track was quite wet.

We moved all our tires and equipment to the pit wall. We set up near Jam and Pierre and our other buddies Nigel and Choo, who would be sharing Choo’s K24-powered GT4 Civic. Those guys would be sharing enduro expert Lee Watterworth for their pit stops. Lee has run several 24-hour Chumpcar races and he can fix pretty much anything in a jiffy.

The cars took to the grid. Despite the small field, there were some serious cars out there: a Panoz, two Subaru Sti’s (one of them barely recognizable!), a couple of E36 M3’s, as well as two Porsche 997 GT3’s. The field headed out for the warmup lap at exactly 5:00 pm and the green flag dropped at 5:03. The track was still mostly wet at this point. We did not see any position changes from our vantage point, but when the cars came back around, Carl was right in the mix, having made up several places in the first lap. It turned out that Carl and Pierre had been carving through the field, taking advantage of the cautious driving of the rest of the field in the wet. Pierre took turn four a but too quickly and spun out right in front of Carl. He managed to rejoin the race without losing too much time, although he did lose his front airdam. The E30 M3 spun in turn 8 and Carl narrowly missed collecting him. He had had to take evasive action twice on the first lap, which is surprising in an endurance race.

After maybe 2 laps, Pierre signalled he was coming into the pits. I told Jam to find out what he needed before doing anything to the car. It turned out he wanted to change from his full tread rear tires to his well-worn dry tires. We found a couple of cordless impact guns and the tires were changed in short order.

As the track dried out, Carl’s early advantage evaporated, as the more powerful cars caught and passed him. Eventually, he settled into a groove, lapping in the 1:45’s, then the 1:44’s. We watched our competitors, wondering if they would make one stop or two. Choo came into the pits for refuelling. They had a small spill and I saw that they were facing a potential penalty. I jumped into lawyer mode and ran to get the fuel-spill-measuring-template to show the official that the spill was of an allowable size and she agreed.

Carl was driving consistently. Some of the GT5 cars came in for fuel well before the halfway point, indicating that they would need two stops to finish the race. This meant that we could possibly recover positions due to our pit strategy. The Miata seemed to be in a strong position for the win, as he was well ahead of us and would probably only stop once.

Carl came in as planned after almost 90 minutes. The pit stop went perfectly, with no mistakes. Carl told me the car felt great. After 10 hours of waiting, I was in the car again and on my way. Carl, as usual, had delivered the car to me in perfect condition. I got into the groove fairly quickly. I eventually met up with the now-class-leading Miata and we duked it out for a few laps. I was faster in the straight and decided to try a pass at the end of the straight. I was willing to go inside our outside, wherever the other driver left space. I saw the Miata choose the inside line, so I headed for the outside. As I began to pull alongside the other car, he suddenly veered to the left and cut me off. I had to brake hard to avoid being taken out. It’s possible that he was swerving because he was being lapped by Nigel, or that he was simply driving dirty. He pulled the same trick again shortly after, so it is hard to give him the benefit of the doubt. I understand the concept of a block, but it is not a block when the passing car has begun to pull alongside you. The general consensus is that you can squeeze someone, but you have to leave him or her one car width of room. There was no car width for me and I had to get on the brakes. Still I was determined to pass this guy. While I was still dicing with the Miata, I saw a meatball flag. I wasn’t sure if it was for me, as I was close to the Miata when I passed the flagging station. After another lap, I was shown the meatball again with my number. I was not happy. I came into the pits and was told that my brake lights were non-functional. I was furious, as I know this resulted from having manipulated the fuse box on Friday. The guys got to work under the hood while I fumed in the car. I yelled at Choo to get me some water (sorry dude!) and squirted some into my mouth. I don’t know how long it took, but Carl and Lee managed to rig something to make the brake lights work and I headed out. I was pissed, but Carl told me to just go out there and have fun. He was right, of course. We were there to have fun, not to win at all costs. I went out, still furious, but ready for action. After a very short time, I received a black flag. I figured it was for pit lane speeding, and that’s what it was. The limit is 60 km/h and apparently, I exceeded it. At this point, I was not angrier. My race result was damaged much more by the electrical issue than by a stop-and-go penalty. I served me penalty and headed back out, where I met up with a GT4 Integra. We diced for a couple of laps until he too disappeared due to a black flag. I was running consistent 1:43’s. The GT5 M3 caught up to me in the straight, and then I stuck to his bumper through turns 8, 9 and 10. He was decent through 1, 2 and 3, and I would catch him again in 4 and 5. Then he would pull away on the straight. By this point, I had dropped my lap times back into the 1:42’s. I had also stopped braking for turn 1 and simply lifted. The end of the race was nearing and the guys were cheering me on from the pit wall as I would cross the start/finish line glued to the M3’s bumper. I passed him once at the bottom of the hill in before turn 4 only to be re-passed in the straight. I passed him a second time and lost the position again. The M3 gradually picked up the pace and I saw that I would probably not be able to pass him again. He had begun to carry more speed in the corners. I didn’t know if he had passed me for position, but I figured if I could force him to break out of GT5 by putting pressure on him, I could take the position that way. With about 10 minutes to go in the race, I began to have fuel starvation in corners 3 and 5b. I backed off the M3 and tried to use less throttle in the corners and short shift to make sure I made it until the end. At 8:00 pm, there was still no checker. At 8:02, we were told we were beginning he last lap. My conservative driving allowed me to reach the finish line and I finally fully relaxed. Despite my two extra pit stops, I was happy with the way I had driven. My best lap was a 1:42.2. I didn’t break into the 1:41’s as I hoped I would, but I still feel I progressed as a driver. I made a pass in turn 2 for the first time, and also in turn 4. I was not holding other up in the corners and, in many cases, I noticed that I was as fast as others or faster in the corners. Late in the race, I had started to feel more comfortable in turn 2 as well, and I learned that if I got my braking done early, then my turn in, then let the car take a set, I could get on the power early and exit with some decent speed.

In the end, we finished 3^rd in GT5 and 9^th over all, with 99 laps completed. The Panoz won the race. The Miata won GT5 and beat us by 3 laps. The less powerful of the 2 Sentra’s finished 2^nd in the class, 43 seconds ahead of us. Jam broke out late in the race with a lap of 1:39.9 and was penalized, ending up 4^th in the class. The M3 finished behind us with a total of 97 laps. Choo and Nigel won their class and finished 6^th over all, with 101 laps completed.

Carl was a bit disappointed that he had not turned faster laps in the race, but as a first driver, part of your job is to preserve the car for the second driver. Carl handed me a perfect car (except that it had no frikking brake lights). When we looked at the data afterwards, we saw that the fact that Carl was not downshifting into 2^nd gear before the straight was costing him a lot of time, as his speed all down the straight was about 6 km/h lower than mine. In most corners, our speeds were very similar.

We were both happy with the way the event went, as were our friends. Pierre and Jam had successfully completed their first ever race. Nigel and Choo seemed to have a great time as well. I have to thank Carl, for being my team-mate yet again, as well as our 1-man crew Jeff and everyone’s crew member, Lee. I don’t know what my next road race will be, but I am glad I kicked off the season with this event.

Our trusty Civic after the race

Gearing up for Mosport

2011-05-17T10:29:00.000-04:00

Our first race weekend of the year is coming up. Carl and I will be heading to Mosport for the 3-hour Sundown Grand Prix on Saturday. We will be campaigning the trusty Civic in the GT5 classe (cars lapping between 1:41 and 1:45). This will be my fifth time running the event in the Civic. I look forward to it, as always. I went lapping with the car last night again (in the rain) and all seems to be in order. We will see how it goes!

Cool cars spotted:
Aston Martin Vantage
BMW Z8
Lamborghini Gallardo
Ferrari California
Alfa Romeo Spider Veloce
AMG C63
Audi RS4

Lots of track time

2011-05-11T14:11:00.000-04:00

The last few days have been car-intensive. Although the BMW is not fixed yet, I have been spending a lot of time behind the wheel of the Civic. On Thursday, I removed most of the vinyl stickers from the car in the hopes of achieving a more “stealth” look while driving on the street. On Friday, Alex joined me for the trip to Calabogie, where I would be instructing with the AISA school. I had initially planned to take the BMW and bask in the luxury of its ride (in comparison to my Civic!) but I didn’t want to risk adding that kind of mileage without fixing the alignment issue. It worked out well for Pascal, because his girlfriend Sophie needed a car for the school to use as a student.

The school went pretty well and the weather was quite nice. I managed to get in a few laps on the short track with the Civic on Sunday (best time of 1:23.9, I believe) but sadly, neither my data acquisition system nor video recorded properly. Suffice it to say that it’s a fun track and that I would need a few more sessions before I could put in some serious lap times. Also, I hadn’t realized that the suspension was set to full soft. Oops.

I find it more and more exhausting jumping into my students’ cars while they drive on the track. This is in part due to the fact that I am getting older. However, I think the main reason is the insane cars that people are bringing to these events. Many cars have 400 hp or more and several also have modified suspension and R-compound tires. This makes for a gut-wrenching ride for the passengers. When I started out in the sport, most of us had Golfs and Civics and we were impressed when someone showed up with an S2000. These days, an S2000 is banal, as we are used to seeing Vipers, Corvette Z06’s and Porsche GT3’s. Things have changed!

Some photos of the school:

On Monday, I headed over to St-Eustache with the trusty Civic. Last week, I had managed a best lap of 1:02.69. This made me think I could break into the 1:01 range at some point this season. Little did I expect to reach this goal so early in the season. As can be seen in this video of me trying to Follow a Lotus Elise, I managed a lap of 1:01.83. The Lotus was even faster. Also, Pascal told me he ran a 1:01.2 in his STi. This seems to support my theory that the track is one second per lap faster than last year due to the new asphalt. I also got to drive a student’s Porsche 997 Turbo convertible for a few laps. The car feels planted and has a lot of usable torque. It must be hard not to drive over the limit on the street with a car like that…

Here are some of JAG’s awesome photos:

And here is the video:

Cool cars spotted

BMW M3

BMW M5

BMW M6

AMG E63

Corvette Z06

Nissan Skyline GT-R R32

Lapping season is well under way now.

2011-05-03T23:37:00.001-04:00

Last night was the first Monday of lapping with ASE Lapping Club. Although the weather wasn't great, many new drivers showed up. I had three different students and they all did well. I got to drive a Hyundai Genesis coupe for the first time. As I thought it would, it drove well. The car felt stable and the torque was impressive. However, in a blindfold test, I don't think the car would be mistaken for a BMW. Over all, though, it is a nicely finished car that is pleasant to drive.

I went out for a couple of sessions in the Civic, and again, the car felt great. In each session, I managed laps times better than at any time last year. I would estimate that the new asphalt at St-Eustache will drop lap times by about a second. My best lap was a 1:02.69, which is in fact my best ever lap with the 1.6 liter engine. As usual, I ended up following Pascal.

Here is a video, with a small tutorial on passing before the Carousel at 2:30.

This week I noticed that the rear tires of the BMW are really worn, much more than they were when I installed them a month ago. This seems to point to a toe problem in the rear. I will have to bring the car to Marc as soon as he is available to see if I need to change some bushings or something. Also, the driver door sensor only sometimes recognizes that the door is open. These are the first reliability issues I have had, and I guess that it was inevitable that some would pop up. I have driven the car 10 000 km, so I guess I was due for some repairs. Let's hope it doesn't hit the wallet too hard.

I was planning to take the M3 to the AISA school at Calabogie this weekend and ride in comfort, but I don't want to put that kind of mileage on the car until the alignment issue is fixed. I guess Alex will have to put up with the race car for a few hundred kilometers!

My basketball team lost again on Friday and we are eliminated from the playoffs. Again, we had only five players. Bummer.

Cool cars spotted:
Lamborghini Gallardo Superleggera
Lamborghini Gallardo Spider
Bentley Continental
AMG C63
Porsche 997 turbo
Porsche 997 GT3
Porsche Boxster Speedster
BMW M5
Audi RS4
Audi RS6
Nissan GTR
Nissan Pulsar GTi-R
Volkswagen Golf R32
Dodge Viper RT/10
Corvette C6 Z06

BMW Club of Quebec Open House

2011-04-24T21:18:00.000-04:00

I was happy to find that there was nothing seriously wrong with the race car. Marc found that the problem was an axle and he promptly changed it. I picked the car up before my basketball game Friday (we lost by 15 points, I missed about a million easy shots) so that I could bring it to Sanair on Saturday where I would be instructing at a BMW Club of Quebec event. It would be my first time instructing with this club and the format for instructors was that you have track access with your own car for several sessions per day when you are not instructing. Sanair is not an especially technical or exciting track, but it is still fun, for variety's sake. I hadn't been there since 2005, so I thought it would be fun. It was.

When I arrived at the track, I noted first that there were not as many BMW's as I was expecting. I noticed second that there were some serious cars on hand, both street cars and track day cars. As you can see from my photos, the variety was impressive.

The weather was cold with occasional rain and I found myself changing tires several times from slicked out R-compound tires to Hoosier wets. I had some pretty competent students, some of whom had never before been on the track. There was one with a Mitsubishi Evo 10, one with a Lancer Ralliart, one with a Jetta VR6, one with a turbocharged Miata, one with a Subaru Legacy GT and one with a Subaru Legacy Outback turbo.

I had a great time during the instructor sessions (5 of them!) and took out some of my students for rides. They seemed to have a good time. I know I was having a good time trying to chase down the other instructors. I turned on the lap timer for fun and noted that I was running in the 1:03 range with a student on board. My goal was to aim for a 1:02 with no student aboard and this was achieved in the next session (1:02.5). I can't believe how much grip these old Toyo tires still had. The lap times matched my 2005 lap times, which were achieved on street tires, but with more horsepower. The new transmission really feels nice and the acceleration is quite decent. Surely the cool weather was helping me make a few more horses.

This is a tough track on engines as there is a long straight (even I managed to hit 170 km/h with my 1.6 liter!). However, the Civic never missed a beat and generally kept up with the other cars on hand. I used more than a full tank of gas on the track. This made for a tiring day, but rewarding. I think everybody there had a good time and I would not hesitate to instruct at another BMW club event in the future.

I didn't get any action photos, but here are some pics from the paddocks:

Sunday = also fun!

2011-04-19T12:46:00.001-04:00

The second day of the AISA race school was another fun day, despite some more crazy weather, which included hail and ice pellets as well as rain. When I arrived at the track, it was cold and raining and I mounted the rain tires on the race car. By the time lunch time was approaching, and the track time made available to instructors, the rain had stopped and the combination of strong winds and many cars driving on the race line had mostly dried the track. As a result, I switched over to my dry tires, some mostly worn out Toro RA1's. I waited for Pascal to be ready in his Subaru STi and allowed him to pass me on the track so I could see if I could keep up. As can be seen in this little video, I managed to keep up, but just barely. That Subaru gets out of the corners pretty quickly!

I managed a best lap of 1:03.60, which is pretty decent considering the cold weather and old tires. The new transmission shifts smoothly and I often found myself hitting the cutoff in third gear, due to the new final drive. I think that the new track surface will generate better lap times this year. Will I see some 1:01's? After a few laps, a severe vibration appeared and I pulled off the track. When the vibration did not clear up after changing to street wheels, I decided to leave the car with my trusty mechanic Marc. Hopefully, there is nothing seriously wrong with the car.

I also got the opportunity to drive one of the cars on my "List of Cars I Would Like to Drive":

The owner was one of my students and asked me to take him out for a couple of laps. The car's acceleration is brutal. It reminded me a lot of a Porsche 911 Turbo, with the same feeling of stability and massive torque. After a couple of laps, the street tires were squealing and I realized that there was no point trying to push the car. As one of the instructors mentioned, there is a certain video game feeling when driving this car and shifting with the paddles. After only a short drive, it was already clear that the car had immense performance. However, I don't know if it would be that fun to own as a track car because it is not that involving. Also, I believe it would make a frustrating daily driver, given that you could never use that extreme performance in the real world. Over all though, it is still a great car.

My advanced students did really well and many race licenses were handed out. The extreme weather conditions allowed the students to experience a wide variety of track conditions and the result was probably one of our best ever schools.

Here are a couple of photos of my Civic taken by professional photographer Jeremy (JAG):

My next track activity will most likely be the BMW Club of Quebec open house this weekend at Sanair.

Cool cars spotted:
Audi R8
Audi RS4
Maserati GT
Aston Martin Vantage
AMG SLS
Porsche 993 Targa
BMW 633 csi

Pretty good weekend so far.

2011-04-16T20:40:00.000-04:00

Despite the fact that Alex has been at a conference in Chicago since Wednesday, I've been having a pretty decent weekend so far. Yesterday, my basketball team was playing for a spot in the semi-finals of our garage league. Despite the fact that there were only five players present on my team, we played a strong game and managed to win by 10 points. For what is probably the first time in my life, I was the high scorer of the game, with 19 points. I managed to get a couple of easy rebounds and some medium range jump shots. Also, I felt the offense was really gelling for the team. Next Friday, we will start the best of three semi-final.

Today was the first day of our two-day AISA road race school at Autodrome St-Eustache. I am in charge of the advanced group, and it is one of our best disciplined groups ever. There are four Civic race cars in the group, as well as a Porsche GT3, a Nissan GTR and a supercharged Mustang. Things went well, despite the crazy weather, which included hail, freezing rain and plain old rain. It was barely above freezing all day.

I managed to get a few laps in the M3 on some clear track at lunch time. Here is a video:

It was my first time driving the M3 on a track. The conditions today were far from ideal, although the track was still dry. I definitely had fun... I think I must be one of the first people to drive this track since it was repaved late last fall. It was pretty neat.

My impressions of the car:
Compared to my Civic, the acceleration is insane. It is sometimes frustrating driving the M3 on the street, since as soon as you get on the gas, you are driving at illegal speeds. As it was my first time on track with the car and Alex would kill me if anything happened to it, I kept the DSC on the whole time. When the weather is nicer and I'm feeling more confident, I will try driving without it. I could feel it kicking in coming out of the two slow corners in 2nd gear and a couple of times at full throttle in 3rd. The ABS came on a couple of times as well when I began my turn in before having finished my breaking. Rev matching during heel and toe downshifts is quite manageable (I was in Sport Mode). The brakes were up to the task, and there was no hint of fade. In fact, the little bit of squeal that remained after my rear pad change (probably due to the new pads not being mated to the discs yet) was gone. The car seems to enjoy the track. I don't know if it's my imagination, but the car felt more alive on the drive home.

The car feels very stable and safe. Driving on street tires is different from R-compounds, as there is a lot of warning (i.e. squealing) before they let go. I would say that the worst aspect of the car in its present state is the seat: you just slide around too much on leather seats with the stock seat belts.

As far as lap times, I was running in the 1:06 range, which is not terrible, but not great. I run around 1:03 with my Civic on R-compound tires. I figure I can probably get the M3 down to a 1:04 with the present set up if I drive less sloppily. My average track fuel economy was 35.4 liters/100 km, almost three times worse than daily driving!

I made the video using my new CruiseCam headrest camera mount. The mount worked well, except for the jiggling/vibration sound it made in the recording. Hopefully, the weather will be warmer and dryer tomorrow.

Provincial basketball championship

2011-04-12T22:58:00.000-04:00

Although my girls' basketball team was eliminated in the regional semi-finals a few weeks ago, my school's grade 11-12 team won their regional final and headed to the provincial final this past weekend. I went to help out as a second assistant coach and I saw what an impressive team my friend Pascal has built over the past four years. The girls won three of four games and took the provincial bronze medal. Their only loss came against the powerhouse Ecole Secondaire St-Laurent team, the easy gold medal winners (55 games per year, 200 practices!). I was proud to be part of our little Reine Marie basketball program.

My own team won our last regular season game and, since we finished in fourth place, we will have to win this Friday if we want to make it to the semi-finals.

This weekend, my club AISA will be holding our first race school of the season at St-Eustache. Although it doesn't seem we will have great weather, we will have an excellent instructor lineup, including Claude Bourbonnais and Kuno Wittmer. Pretty impressive. I hope to get in a few laps with the M3 and, if the car is ready in time, the race Civic as well.

Cool cars spotted:
Maserati GT
Aston Martin Vantage
Porsche 997 turbo
Audi RS4
Audi A4 Avant
Audi S6
Audi R8
BMW M5
BMW M3 E92
BMW M535i (RHD)
Dodge Viper
Lamborghini Gallardo
AMG E63

It's hard to be sure spring is really here...

2011-04-04T22:00:00.001-04:00

It seems to go down to 0 degrees every night. It snowed a bit today. I'm glad I kept the winter wheels on the BMW. The Civic is being tuned by my friend Marc at his place (Marc is the guy who built the Lotus Seven replica which I test drove last year at St-Eustache). When I saw the shopping list of parts that were needed to refresh the car, I was glad that my race car is a Civic and not a BMW or Porsche. As soon as I get the car back, I will be able to park near where I live for the first time ever, as I have rented an indoor parking spot in the neighbourhood. I can't wait!

My first chance to drive the Civic will be the St-Eustache AISA race school in two weeks. I hope the weather is warmer than it has been in the last few days! A week after that, I might instruct at the BMW Club of Quebec open house at Sanair. If I do, I will try to find a friend to help me get both cars there so I can try them both out.

I am watching the NCAA final on TV as I write this. It's 13-8 for UConn after 8 minutes. I have not been able to find a non-championship game for the girls yet, but I hope the activities technician at the school manages to figure something out. If we don't schedule a game soon, I am afraid it will be very difficult to keep the girls motivated. Still, 10 of 12 uninjured players showed up last Friday (and I'm pretty sure one of the other two was in detention!). My men's team will play in the wild card playoff game this Friday evening. If we lose, our season is over. If we win, we will be in the best-of-three semi-finals. Our team has been plagued by injuries and we never really got into a groove, unlike last year. Still, we have some strong players. It would be sad to see the season end so soon.

I went running again last Wednesday. I managed 10 km, but was unable to maintain the 4:30 pace as I had last Sunday. The following days, I had quite a lot of pain in the lower part of my hamstring. I was not sure if it was an injury, or just soreness. I ran half a block on Saturday to see if I could even run at all. I had received an invitation to run with Franck and the gang from the Running Room Sunday morning at 8:30. After the short test, I figured I would be OK to run. By the end of Saturday evening, though, I had drank half a bottle of wine and eaten a lot, including several cheeses and a very dense dessert. I went to bed without setting an alarm, not planning to run in the morning. However, at 7:22 am, I was awakened by my smoke detector, which had gone on the fritz. I knew I would not be able to fall back asleep, so I got ready to go running. I didn't have much breakfast food, so I ate a banana and a Power Gel. Franck was going to run 30 km (ouch!) and my plan was to join him for 10 km. I met the group and we headed down towards the Lachine Canal at a leisurely pace (4:50-5:00 per km). It was cool and sunny, a beautiful day. When I first looked at my distance run, I was already over 5 km. Since it was out and back, that meant i would be exceeding 10 km, but I did not mind. I felt surprisingly good, despite the food, wine and hamstring. It must have been the weather. I turned back after 7.5 km and, after struggling to climb Peel street to its top, ran a total of 15 km. Although I was a little sore today, I am pretty happy with how my mini-comeback to running has gone.

Cool cars spotted:
Aston Martin Vainquish (!)
Aston Martin Vantage
C6 Corvette Z06
AMG C63
AMG E63
AMG G55
Porsche 959 (! same one as last year)
Porsche 997 Turbo
Porsche 993 Targa
BMW M3 E92
BMW M3 E90
BMW M6
Bentley Continental
Maserati Quattroporte
Jaguar XF-R
Lexus IS-F
Audi RS4
Audi S6 Avant
Audi R8 Spyder
Ferrari 360 (pulled over by cops)

Spring Tune-Up!

2011-03-28T16:53:00.000-04:00

The weather has been quite sunny lately and, although it has not been warm, spring is definitely on its way. It's time for spring tune ups!

For myself, it means it's time to start running again. I went out for a 10 km run on Saturday for the first time since December. I wanted to take it easy, but I also wanted to complete the distance in under 45 minutes. It turns out that these two goals were incompatible. I was not feeling great in the last 3 km, so I had to choose between "easy run" and "under 45 minutes". I chose to push it and I finished in 44:58. I'm out of shape, but not that out of shape!

I started up the race Civic for the first time of the year. I brought it over to Marc's place so he could swap in the JDM Integra Type R transmission and do a general tune-up. Pascal was kind enough to rebuild the tranny with a new sleeve set and a new (used) 3rd gear. I can't wait to try it out on the newly repaved St-Eustache circuit. Also, I can't wait to use my new indoor parking spot.

As for the BMW, I just performed an oil change on my own for the first time ever. I followed the instructions I found on the Madrussian web site and, although it took me longer than the time specified on the web site. I had trouble jacking the car up high enough to get under it. I ended up jacking it as high as my jack would allow, then placing the ramps under the wheels, then driving the rest of the way up the ramps. By buying the oil and filter from Perry Auto, I saved over 100$ on the cost of an oil change at the BMW dealer.

Despite the girls' basketball season being officially over, the team has elected to continue practices and I have undertaken to find us friendly games. We'll see how long this post-season enthusiasm lasts!

This weekend, I will participate in a BMW club instructor clinic with the goal of instructing at some of the club's events. It should be interesting to see how a different club operates.

Cool cars spotted:
Audi RS4
Audi S8
Lamborghini Gallardo Spider
Maserati Gran Turismo
Dodge Viper
AMG C63
AMG E63
BMW E92 M3
BMW M5
Nissan Skyline R34 GTR (!)
Bricklin (!)

We lost... bad.

2011-03-17T21:36:00.001-04:00

The Diamonds' season is over. We lost the regional semi-final badly. I will not make any excuses, the game just did not go well...

The tournament did not go that well for us...

2011-03-14T22:31:00.002-04:00

This past weekend, my bantam girls' basketball headed to the Jeanne-Mance Dragons' tournament. I knew our first game would be tough, as we were playing a team from Repentigny with a strong record. Not only did we lose by 17 points, but one of my players sprained her ankle in the warm up before the game. Not a great start.

Our second game, against a team we had beaten twice before this year, went well. We won by 18. For our final game, we were lucky enough to meet up with the team against which we will be playing tomorrow in the regional semi-final. This allowed me to try out various defensive options. Although we learned a couple of things, we lost 51-38. This was not the confidence-booster I was hoping for. We now have a record of one win and two losses against this school. I really hope to find a way to get the girls to play with confidence tomorrow in the semi-final!

Regular season is over

2011-02-28T19:28:00.004-05:00

My team's regular season ended last week on a high note and now, every other team in our league is done as well. We finished 2nd out of 6 teams. Before our last win, I was afraid we might end up third. It turns out the 3rd placed team, College Anjou, lost its last game, ending up with a 7 and 5 record. It looks like we will be playing Anjou in the semi-final in the next few days.

I have been trying to decide what to do with the race car this year. I have pretty much decided to leave it as is and just concentrate on attending as many events as possible. If any of my buddies want to team up with me, we can see about trying to find a little more horsepower.

The M3 is about to hit 110 000 kilometers. I am happy to say that the car remains problem-free. I cannot wait to drive this car on clean roads with some decent performance tires...

Cool cars spotted:

Audi RS4

Audi RS6 Avant

Audi S6 V10

Audi S8

AMG G55

AMG C63

Porsche 997 Carrera 4

Porsche Panamera Turbo

Bentley Continental

BMW E92 M3

Jaguar XKR

Volkswagen Corrado

Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution 1

Subaru Sti Sedan

Lexus ISF

Saab Turbo X

The Big Win

2011-02-19T22:06:00.003-05:00

Today was the last regular season game for my girls' basketball team, the Diamonds . We were playing against the undefeated Regina Assumpta team, who had already beaten us twice in two meetings. On the first occasion, we lost by 10 points. On the second occasion, we were down 14-0 and I got a technical foul, but we still managed to keep it close and lose by only 5 points.

As far as the season was going, there was no way that we were going to catch up to Regina, who had a record of 10-0 with two games remaining. Our record was 8-3 with one game remaining. This would have us end up in second place behind Regina in our pool, and playing against Collège Anjou in the semi-final (the team that dealt us our third defeat). The outcome of this morning's game would make no difference as to where we or Regina ended up in the season standings. Still, I thought it was an important game, because if we make it to the league finals, it will likely be against Regina.

I was again fortunate enough to have Darlington drop by to give me a hand with the coaching. The girls showed up early and no key players were missing. The mood was light, and before the game, I tried to emphasize that if we could get off to a strong start defensively, we could win the game. I also told them that we did not need to win this game in an attempt to reduce the pressure.

The first minutes of the game were great for us. We were making very few mistakes on defense and this generated a few chances on offense. We were up 8-0 after a few minutes. I think that this situation made the girls nervous, as they were unexpectedly leading the first place team. They began to make mistakes, and the other team capitalized on them. Regina's players did not miss the easy shots we gave them. Their fans were cheering them loudly and we called a time out to get things back under control. This didn't really help, as the girls had lost their confidence. In a ridiculously short time, Regina built a huge lead on us. By halftime, we were down 28-10. This means that Regina went on a 28-2 run in the first half.

We tried not to be too hard on the girls at half time and decided to use our full-court trap in the second half. This aggressive defense had worked wonders in our first game at the tournament a couple of weeks ago, but had little effect against Langevin in our second game there. At this point, we really had nothing to lose, and I just hoped that we could claw our way back to a respectable score.

The pressure defense in fact worked wonders right from the get-go. Regina's players made one mistake after the other, either losing the ball to our defenders or throwing it out of bounds. We missed many easy shots, but it's better to make a few mistakes on offense than on defense. Regina's offense virtually shut down, and our top scorer took over our own offense. She even scored two three-pointers in two attempts (not bad for a girl about 5 feet tall!). Her second three-pointer, our team's third in a couple of minutes, put us into the lead. With 40 seconds to go in the game, we were still up by two points when the ref made a very questionable double-dribble call on our point guard after a Regina defender slapped the ball out of her hands. The end of the game was a real nail-biter... we were in the bonus and our top scorer got fouled with 23 seconds left, while we still had the two-point lead. She then missed both foul shots. The second miss was an airball and Regina had the ball on the side. Our girls managed to regain possession, and our top scorer was again fouled with 13 seconds remaining. Again, she missed both foul shots! Regina made it to the basket, but missed their last shot and we held on for an improbable two-point victory. The girls were jumping up and down in excitement. I couldn't believe they pulled it off, and I was beaming with pride. The Regina team looked dejected. I know it's petty of me, but I have to admit I was happy my girls managed to put an end to Regina's perfect season. The way the game unfolded was really like a Hollywood movie. In the second half, the Diamonds outscored the other team 29-9.

It was a fantastic end to our regular season, and no matter what happens from now on, I am proud of the girls, as they showed they could really rise to the occasion and play like stars. In the next few weeks, we will have another tournament (Jeanne-Mance) and our playoffs. If only I can find a way to motivate them to play like they did for most of the game today, they can have a great post-season. Regardless of the outcome, I hope that today's stunning victory will be etched in the memory of these 12 girls for a long time to come.

Winter is still here

2011-02-16T22:25:00.005-05:00

We're getting to that time of year when it feels like winter will never end. There is still not much car stuff going on. However, I did just receive a UPS shipment containing a recent Ebay purchase:

I felt like a kid at Christmas when I opened the boxes! Anyone with a keen eye might notice that these are the exact same wheels as those I now have on the car. Well... now I have a set for summer as well. Yay!

I know I am not very objective, but aren't these some of the coolest looking OEM wheels ever?

Moving to basketball, my men's team won last Friday in a real nail-biter. We were down by one point with 17 seconds to go and the other team had the ball, but a teammate managed to get a steal, then got fouled and scored both free throws. Then when the other team got the ball, they mistakenly called a time out when in fact they had none remaining. This earned them a technical foul and we scored two more points to win by 3. My offensive performance was less than stellar, but I played a strong defensive game. I focused on boxing out, thinking of the girls and how I have been trying to convince them to do it.

Speaking of the girls, we have our last regular-season game this Saturday against the undefeated first place team. I just hope that they can give it their all, so we will have no regrets.

In other news, Alex and I bought our plane tickets for our June vacation to China. I look forward to finally going to China after all these years working in Chinatown with mostly Chinese clients. Although there are no car activities planned (or even any driving!), it should be a great experience.

Cool cars spotted:
E92 BMW M3
Porsche 997
Nissan 370Z
Lexus IS-F
Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 8

Mitsubishi Delica Off Road Express

Bentley Continental convertible
AMG E63
Mini Countryman

Basketball-intensive week!

2011-02-06T20:29:00.002-05:00

I just got home from the "Felins" basketball tournament in Repentigny. It has been a basketball-intensive week. Last Wednesday, we played a regular-season game against Joseph-François-Perreault and, despite a somewhat lackluster performance, managed a win, bringing our record to 8 and 3. Our final regular-season game will take place on February 19th against the undefeated first place team. Even if we don't win, we should finish in a position where we will make the playoffs. I realized that, although we had a bunch of games coming up in the same week, the one I had been nervous about was the JFP game. After that win, I was not too worried about the tournament, as the result did not count in our regular season.

As for the tournament, I was interested to see how we would measure up against AA-level teams from all around the province. There were 16 teams in our age category, so the setup was easy: if you lost the first game, you would be relegated to fighting it out for a position between 9th and 16th. Our first game was Friday night against Collège l'Assomption. I benefited from the help of Darlington, the coach of one of the city teams who has coached several of my girls before. The girls played a strong game. They were down by 4 at half, but thanks to a modified full court press (3 girls up, 2 back), they shut down the opposing team in the second half and pulled off a 7-point win.

Our second game on Saturday did not go as well. We were up against Langevin, a very tall and well-organised team and the pressure defense did not faze them. Alex was on our bench and pointed out that I was yelling at the girls a lot. It's hard to figure out when you are yelling so they can hear you out on the Court and when you are yelling because you're angry. Her comment made me think about what I say and how I say it. We ended up losing by our largest ever deficit, by a score of 47-18. Our defense was not great, but even if we had had a great game, I do not think we would have won. As a result of the loss, we were no longer in the running for the tournament win.

For our third game on Sunday, I told the girls to just go out there and have fun, as the result did not matter. We were playing against Roger-Comtois. We reverted to our old-fashioned man-to-man defense and the other team was unable to score very often and we gradually eked out a lead in a low-scoring game. I tried to keep things light and keep my comments positive. The girls looked like they were having more fun and played a solid game. We ended up winning 31-20 to end the tournament on a high note. Two wins in three games was not too shabby. Also, I just noticed online that Langevin went on to win the whole tournament, so it's not like we lost to a lousy team.

Here is a table showing the tournament results (our team is Reine-Marie):

I am tired, but quite satisfied with the results. I have to thank Alex for joining me for the whole weekend and helping me manage the team. Thanks Alex!

More Diamond news

2011-01-27T18:24:00.002-05:00

Since my last post, the Diamonds have played two more games. The first game was against a team that we had beaten earlier in the season and was a lot closer than I would have liked it to be. We were up by 2 with one minute to play, but the girls kept their cool. The other team had no choice but to foul and this led to 2 more points on foul shots and a 4-point win. Not a great game, but good practice for playing under pressure.

Last Sunday, we had an early morning game against the undefeated first place team. We had lost our first game against them by 10. The beginning of the game was a disaster. We were down 14-0 after the first quarter. The girls played better in the second quarter, but were called for a bunch of fouls. When one of my top players fouled out in the third quarter after having been elbowed continuously by the other team's player, I strongly protested the call. This resulted in a technical foul, my first ever as a coach. I don't think the ref's call was justified, for the player's foul or for mine. This results in the whole team losing a point in the championship, which makes me even angrier at myself. Surprisingly, the girls began to play better and better and began to close the deficit. At the end of the game, the score was 40-35. I was quite impressed with their level of play. It's really, really too bad about that terrible first quarter. I have to find a way to make the girls play well right from the start of the game.

We have a game next Wednesday followed by a tournament in Repentigny over the weekend. This should be pretty exciting as there will be 16 teams in our class.

Basketball Diaries

2011-01-17T12:13:00.002-05:00

Last week was a basketball intensive week. The girls had three games in three days, and I had a game of my own on Friday night.

The Diamonds’ first game went off without any problems. For once, the team led the whole game and they won by 19. My newest player turned out to play as well as I had hoped she would. I found out however that one of my best players would face a one-day suspension at school on the 14^th (day of the third game) and that she would therefore not be allowed to play.

For the second game, I found out that the suspended player’s mother would not be allowing her to play in the near future. I find it sad when parents automatically respond to discipline problems by taking the child out of sports. The girls played very well in the first half and built up a nice lead. Despite some hiccups in the second half, they held on to win by 10 points.

On Friday, I was again without the suspended player and another player was to miss half the game due to detention. I really wish I could have had another go at this one, because the team was unable to hold on to a small lead and lost by a single point. I had not prepared the girls for scenarios like what to do when the other team has a 1-point lead and has the ball with 30 seconds to play. It was too late to call a time out and I had not ever explained to them that they would have to really go after the ball and commit a foul if necessary. Hopefully this loss will not affect the standings for the playoffs. With four games remaining, the Diamonds are now 6 and 2. I really hope I can get my suspended player back soon, as we have two more games in the next week.

My own team played remarkably well on Friday. Despite having only 5 players (no subs), we pretty much dominated the game. We led by as much as 30 and held on to win by 20. I think that coaching has given me a better understanding of the game and that, as a result, I am able to better contribute to the team’s offence.

Alex organized me a super birthday party on Saturday night, complete with BBQ burgers (thanks Carl for the BBQ work) and Singstar, the Playstation karaoke game. I had a great time. Today, it’s back to work, on what one psychologist has called the most depressing day of the year (Blue Monday). It was -22 degrees this morning, but at least the sun is shining!

Oh, and I sold the blue Civic yesterday. I was not too sad to see it go, especially since the buyer plans to make it into a drag racer. I was more glad to pocket a few dollars! Usually, when I get rid of a car, it is pretty much ready for the scrap yard. All in all, the blue Civic served its purpose as a fun to drive and reliable point A to point B car.

Cool cars spotted:

BMW M6
Bentley Continental
Porsche 997
Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 2

New Year... looking back and looking ahead

2011-01-10T16:33:00.003-05:00

I don't know why I haven't posted yet in 2011... I had enough free time during the holidays (although much of that time was used up playing Gran Turismo 5, where I currently sit at level 18). I guess the truth is that there has not been much exciting stuff going on. This doesn't mean that life has not been fun (relaxing is quite fun, IMHO), but simply that there have not been too many exciting events.

Basketball has been on hold, for both my men's team and my girls's team. The girls have three games this week, however, so I will be back in the thick of it. I hadn't realized it when we scheduled the season, but we will have had no practices after the holidays before these three games. I will have to be more careful with the scheduling next year. All three games are against teams we have beaten in 2010, so I am hoping for a decent result.

I have been greatly enjoying the M3 and have racked up over 3 000 km since I bought it. What an awesome car! I honestly don't know where you go after having an M3... a Bentley? a Porsche 911 Turbo? It's hard to imagine a better sports car for daily driving.

Running:

I have not gone running in weeks. For some reason, I am not motivated to go out. I am barely getting any exercise, except the 3 km walk to work. I'm glad basketball is starting up again this week, as at least I will see a little action!

News of Alex:

Alex is back in town, which makes my life more pleasant. She is working full-time on various projects for her current and former professors. Concordia has assigned her a very nice office, even though she will only start teaching in the Fall.

Cool cars spotted:

AMG E63

AMG C63

E90 M3

Subaru WRX STi

Porsche 997 Carrera 4S