Back on track at St-Eustache

Now that the Civic seems reliable, I want to try to get to as many track events as reasonably possible. I headed to St-Eustache for Monday night lapping for the first time of the year. I was hoping to dip under 1:02 for the first time with this car. My best times lap last year was a 1:02.48, but I felt I never had the car running exactly right at St-Eustache last year.

I headed out in the first session and everything seemed OK with the car.  I had mounted my GoPro directly on the roll bar with a little Ebay mount instead of the bulky headrest mount I had been using and the results are as hoped for.

In my first session, I managed a couple of laps in the 1:02's, but could not do better than a 1:02.68. Still, the car felt fine, and I enjoyed the comfort of the 6-point harness. I hoped that the improved ergonomics and the car running properly would offset the extra weight of the roll bar (80 pounds or so?).

I usually improve my times from one session to the next. The car had burned quite a bit of oil in the first session, so I topped up the level (more than full) before heading back out. It only took a couple of laps to get into the low 1:02's as I tried to keep up with the K20-powered Celica (I could not). I was the slowest car on track, but I was motivated (other cars were the Celica, my old race Civic and an EP3 Civic). My 8th lap was my best, a 1:02.11. I had beat last year's best time, but the 1:01's were not to be... before the end of the session, the Vtec was slow to engage at certain corners. Clearly the car was still burning oil... a lot.

That session was the last one of the day, so it was time to head home. I was generally satisfied with my driving: I felt I was pretty smooth and was relaxing my body in the race seat. I was a bit rough with the upshifts and this would make the gearbox grind. I got into one small slide at the dogleg, but caught it early with a good dose of throttle. Did I feel the slide sooner because I was strapped into the race seat? It's hard to know. As for lap times, I think it's only a matter of time before I lap in the 1:01's, but I don't see how I will be able to go under 1:01 with the current setup... I would need to shave off another 1.2 seconds. I can still remove a bit of weight (the broken a/c system is still there), but I don't want to spend any money modifying the car any more. I just want to drive it as much as possible.

This brings me to the question of where I want to drive this season: St-Eustache is more fun, but as far as oil consumption and gearbox stress, ICAR is so much better: I never need 2nd gear and do not rev to redline that often. I can easily complete a session at ICAR without losing Vtec. ICAR is rougher on tires, though. It's hard to know where I should try to focus my energy this year, as this is the last season St-Eustache will even be open.... To be continued!

The Civic before heading onto the track

My old car (current car in the background)

Super cool Vanagon Westfalia Syncro

Tastefully modified Civic coupe on ITR 5-bolt wheels

The M3 still looks good when it's cleanT

First time I've seen a white Huracan... nice

Monster Nissan mixed in with everyday traffic

First proper track session of the year

Although I have been quite busy with the country house, work and the classes I'm teaching, I finally managed to finish getting the Civic ready for the track season (later than planned...). Last week I left the car with Pat so he could figure out how to stop the massive oil leaks that would occur whenever I drove on track. Pat was confident that the leak issue would be resolved by changing a couple of axle seals. He also discovered that the oil pan was not properly tightened. When he finished this work, he power washed the engine and there seemed to be no leaks. I immediately delivered the car to Dave Gosselin so he could weld me up a 4-point roll bar. Dave had this done in one weekend and I had the car back at home before the end of that weekend. 

I'm quite happy with the way the roll bar came out:

New roll bar

The car would have been ready for Monday night lapping at St-Eustache, but I simply had too much work on my plate to take that many hours off on Monday (1 class to teach Monday, 2 on Wednesday).  Also, someone hit my car on Sunday night while it was parked on the street, leaving a nasty dent and scratch. Fortunately, the responsible driver left a note and the car should be repaired by my insurance. I also needed an alignment since Pat had changed a tie rod end, so I took care of this on Monday afternoon with no issues. 

New dent and scratch

My plan therefore was to head to ICAR for Wednesday night lapping, which would allow me to leave home at 6:00 pm and prepare dinner for the family (instead of leaving at 3:45 for St-Eustache). Pat planned to meet me there and maybe go out for a few laps.

On Tuesday night, I installed my old OMP harness (from the 2005 race season), checked the tire pressures and filled up with gas. I checked the oil, and the level was well over the full mark. On Wednesday, I left home at 6:00 and hit a bit of traffic on the drive North. I arrived at the track at about 7:00 pm, which did not leave me much day light, but it was the best I could do. I could see on the session timer that I had 8 minutes to empty the car, buy my lap tickets and get to the grid. Luckily I had checked things over in advance! I didn't have time to set up the camera (now mounted on the roll bar) but I did get the lap timer set up. 

I headed out with a bunch of other cars and tried to get into a rhythm, remembering what I had learned last fall, but after only a few laps I was black flagged... I came in and was told my car was smoking like crazy. I told the official that it was simply burning oil and that there were no leaks, but he would not let me back out on track until I "checked the car". I went through the motions, opening the hood, looking for leaks (there were none). Pat showed up with his dad and looked over the car. He said he had seen me on track and that I was smoking a lot, but from the exhaust. I suspected it was because there was too much oil in the engine. He said "too bad, looks like the engine is working well apart from the smoke". The official said I could go back out, but there were only 4 minutes left in the session, so I decided to wait 24 minutes for the next sesssion. I offered Pat a chance to go out, but he preferred to let me have the last session in daylight. 

I went out in the second session and things started to come together. My lap times began to drop. I was mostly being passed, but I passed a couple of cars. I learned a few more tricks to achieving a better lap time. I enjoyed being strapped in with a harness, but I think I wasn't exploiting this advantage enough, since I was still bracing myself with my foot too much and maybe not feeling the car as I should be. I managed to finish the session with no black flag and my best lap was only 0.6 seconds slower than last October (1:57.43), despite the fact that one of my front tires was completely finished and the fact that I did not use the "cheater" line in the long circular curves. I was happy with this, and even happier when Pat told me the car was barely smoking anymore on track. He figured whatever had been causing the smoke must have finally burned off, while I suspected the high oil level was the culprit. 

Either way, for now, it seems the Civic is reliable, doesn't leak much, and offers a safer setup for the driver. All I need to do is change the front tires and hopefully I can hit the track again next week.

My fovourite Jag of the past 20 years

Someone at Calabogie owned these 2 GT3's

2 more GT3's

There were 5 991 Porsches in the advanced group at our school

This S15 Silvia had an LS swap... it was quick (but not as quick as that AMG GTR!)

This was the cool tow vehicle for the Silvia...

Cool family-oriented Ferrari in the neighbourhood

Spring is here, even though it's still a bit cold

The temperature has been all over the place, but generally on the cold side. At least it's finally stopped snowing and people (including myself) can finally get out our summer cars.

I was able to get the M3 out from under its frozen car cover. Last weekend I finally changed the electric fan motor and control unit. What looked like a 3-hour job took me more like 7, due to seized bolts. I finally got it working, so I should no longer have to worry about overheating with the a/c on, although there is still a leak somewhere in the system...

I got the Civic out as well and did a few laps with it on the track at St-Eustache, but it was smoking like never before and I will have Pat fix all the oil leaks before taking it out again. I didn't get much lap data, best lap was around 1:04, but everything felt fine. I have an appointment to get the roll bar installed in the next few days. The only other car I drove at the school was a 370Z and I quite liked it. One of my students had a Focus RS, and it was not terribly impressive from the passenger seat. The interior of the car does not match the 60 000 $ price tag... The 370Z's was nicer, and it starts at 30 000 $.

As for the Saab, I went to the scrap yard to find a new side skirt. I ended up getting the Subaru version, which is similar, but not the same as the Saab version. It fits perfectly, however. I painted it black and it doesn't look too bad on the car. The car is at Pat's so he can figure out what that clunk is in the rear suspension.

As you can see here, there are more and more interesting cars on the streets these days...

I still like the Urus

Cool car, even though it was dented

This 944 had a race seat and stripped out interior

Nice, but boring wheels

The red Civic covered in red buds

You don't see a lot of these early VR6 GTi's... this one was quite rusted

A great all-weather car

I really like these new Maserati wheels

This old Ford (don't know the model) looked mean and clean

There are still some cool cars being produced for enthusiasts...

Don't love the wrap, but awesome car...

The Civic in its natural environment

The race group at the AISA school... 5 BMW's out of 14 cars

Cool old Saab 900 Turbo at Canadian Tire

C63 AMG 507 Edition

Flat grey E63S

The M3 on its first night out of hibernation

And the Civic, just out of Carl's storage garage

Cool colour for this M6... snow in April

Cool car for a freak snow storm

Another expensive SUV that is not much to look at...

A photo of the Saab's "good" side

Remnants of a TR7 at the junk yard

One of those cars you don't see anymore on the road...

The Saab and its modern cousin

The winglets are a bit much, but I like these small AMG's more than I used to

The rarest car I've seen this spring... E9 3.0 CSL

One of the more high-end AMG's

A rare Karma in front of the office