Vince's Stuff: Civic back on track: reliable, fun, not slow!

The Civic back at ICAR

Things did not go perfectly on my first time on track since late May (almost 3 months!). However, I still had a great night. I picked up the car last Monday evening, but was unable to get a wheel alignment in time for the Tuesday ICAR track evening. The car was aligned last Wednesday and has just been sitting on the street, waiting for an event (I did drive it to Longueuil last Friday to file some documents in Court, and all was well).

I wasnt't too worried about the car's reliability. Mainly, I wanted to make sure I would get in some laps and gather some data before nightfall... the sun sets before 7 p.m. these days. My plan was to load up the car and head to the North Shore in the early afternoon to avoid traffic, then work with my laptop from a library in Mirabel. I loaded up the car with the usual trackday items, and didn't bother even looking at my checklist. This is what I usually bring: a Rubbermaid bin with some fluids, a jack stand, a ratchet set and some shop towels, a tool bag with a torque wrench and a few other items, a backpack that has my devices and chargers, including 2 Gopro cameras and my external GPS device, as well as my Hans device, a sports bag that contains my helmet, balaclava, gloves and socks, my race suit in its bag, and finally, a backpack with my laptop, some drinks and a spare t-shirt. I usually bring a bottle of motor oil, but I forgot to yesterday.

I left the library pretty early, filled the car with gas, bought a liter of oil, and arrived at the track around 4 p.m. I was hoping to get my tickets and bracelet early, but the ICAR employee only opened a few mintes before 5 p.m. I was parked next to a nice guy with a Porsche 944 track car and a big trailer and he graciously offered me the use of any tools I might need. As I went through my "devices" backpack, I realized that I had forgotten the pouch with one of the Gopros, that the Gopro I had had a dead battery, and that I didn't even have a cable to charge a Gopro, or my external GPS device (same cable, mini-USB). I didn't so much mind not being able to film, but I really wanted to know my lap times and gather some data, since the car has undergone a few changes since my last session. The fact that I forgot this little pouch was really the only thing that went wrong with the evening, and it's really not a big deal.

I used my time to set the tire pressures (26 psi front, 28 rear) and generally get ready for the first session. I tried to check the oil, but the oil is so new I can barely see it on the dipstick. Luckily, the car was fully ready by the time I had noticed that the ticket booth was open, since there were already 6 or 8 people in line. At 5 p.m., many of us were still in line, so the evening would not begin on time. In the line, I bumped into Marie-Laurence Paquin and her student Marco (last generation Subaru STi with 400 hp) and we caught up a bit. I actually saw a bunch of people I have raced with in the past, including Dave Gosselin (Champcar Civic), Paul Gravel and Jocelyn Hébert (SPC Civic FK8), Cyndie Picotte (Civic EK K-swap) and even Carl Wener (only there to hang out and deliver parts). There were several cars from the "Track and Time" crowd, as they have a time attack at ICAR this coming weekend.

As the other cars rolled in, it was the usual mix: Porsche GT3 and GT4, R35 GTR, a bunch of Hondas, from CRX's to modern Civics, a few Miatas, some Audi, BMW and Mini products, a few GT86's. There was something for every budget (7000$ Civic or Mini to brand new 250 000 $ or more GT3RS). As I have mentioned before, this is something I like about ICAR's lapping evenings. People are not snobby about what you drive, they care more about how you drive.

As soon as I had my tickets, I hopped into the car. The GPS seemed to be connected to my phone, and I headed out in the first session, a mix of Green and Yellow level drivers. We were in the "new paddock", which sees you enter the track just after the new chicane. I took it easy on my out-lap and on the second lap, making sure the brakes and suspension felt OK... they did. The engine felt like it was making great power so I sped up a bit, and tried to add more speed lap after lap. The lap timer app was having some issues though, and showing clearly incorrect lap times. My previous best lap time had been a 1:16.48 and I was quite sure that even on my first night back in 3 months that I would be able to dip into the 1:15's. There was a red flag part way through the session due to the breakdown of a K-swapped Toyota GT86, and so the session was sort of split into 2 parts. I noticed the vtec disengaging for a couple of seconds before the right hander into the front straight, and figured I probably needed to overfill the oil to prevent this from happening. The new gearing, so far, does not feel ideal for this track. Whereas I could easily hold third gear in certain places, I now needed to grab fourth for a short while or ride the redline in third. All evening, I experimented with this. The session was uneventful and I don't think anyone passed my. I passed a couple of cars, which is normal in a mixed green/yellow session.

The next session was a red group session. Dave told me he heard the following session would be green, so I got in line. A minute before going out, I was told it was a yellow session and that I could go out if I respected the yellow group passing zones. I asked if the following session would be green, and when they said it would, I decided to do 2 sessions back to back. There was no issue running with the yellow group. I never got stuck behind someone in this session, people were courteous and would let me pass. I think no one passed me. I still wasn't getting reliable lap data, but it seemed I was running in the 1:15's when I had open track. In my third session, the one right after, I came in after 1 lap because the lap timer was not working at all. I lost the data from this session, but I don’t know if it was reliable, there were several laps indicates as 1:15’s, so some must have been accurate. I think this is probably when I went the fastest but I have no way of knowing. I was still trying to figure out the best line for the chicane, and the best moment to lift off the gas and brake.

I had managed to get in 3 sessions in daylight and all had gone well. When I headed out for my fourth and last session, it was mostly dark. I went out behind an orange coupe like mine and Hébert's FK8 race car and assumed they would just take off, but in the end, we ran together for most of the session,. Eventually I passed the orange Civic, and the FK8 pulled away in the second half of the session. The only car to pass me was an SPC Hyundai Genesis Coupe, which was much faster than me. I know Dave and Cyndie were faster than me in the 1:14’s or better, but I never crossed their paths. The 944 had caught me by the end of the session. I'm pretty sure the lap timer was finally working properly and I clocked a 1:15.70. I don't think it's possible that was my fastest lap of the day, because I probably slowed down a bit due to my inability to make out all the track's reference points in the dark. The reason I know the car can go faster is that it is now equipped with a limited-slip differential, and I can feel it on track. I can get on the gas earlier with no wheelspin.

How was my driving? I think pretty good. There are two spots where I seem to gain on people: the last corner before the front straight, where I turn in early and take a wide ark, getting on the gas early, and the high speed right-hander after the chicane, where I try to turn in early and aggressively and stay full throttle as long as possible. In the other corners, I am not really losing ground to the others. I know there are several tenths of a second to be gained in the chicane, and I have to figure out both the best line, the right moment to lift from full throttle, and when to brake (basically, it all needs work!).

Over all, it seems like the car is where I want it to be. I'm confident the car can run in the 1:14's if I drive more consistently. I'm still impressed that what is a 12-15 000 $ car can be driven to the track, perform at this level, then drive back home afterwards. I had a fun evening, I got to play around with other cars on track and the car came home in excellent condition. So, to answer the question "Can you have fun without knowing your lap times?", the answer is yes, althought it feels like a little something (data) is missing.