Vince's Stuff: Back at ICAR for lots of laps

Action photo courtesy of Oleg

The weather was perfect last Tuesday for evening lapping at ICAR. I headed to the track early and got myself and the car ready, only for the sessions to start almost half an hour late. However, when things got started, things happened quickly. When I asked one of the crew, I was told the first run group on track would be the novice group. Imagine my surprise when a couple of minutes later, I saw the intermediate/advanced group rolling out! I rushed to my car and strapped in. I hadn't missed any laps as I headed out behing Yannick's SPC-series Mini. I know he and I run similar lap times, so I thought it would be fun to see how we compared out there. He had told me he would just be scrubbing in new tires, but it seemed like he was pushing. I had a fun session following him and passing another couple of Minis too. My best lap time of 1:15.6 was no quicker than last week, but I was having fun and the car felt good. I managed to pass Yannick right before the session was red flagged (I don't know why). When I chatted with Yannick, he told me he was not scrubbing tires, but that he did wait at one point so we could run together. I know I had fun catching him on tires I bought from him! I added a drop of oil after the session because I had the impression I was briefly losing Vtec in the corners before the main straight. This indeed solved the issue for the next sessions, and I must remember to start with the car more than a bit over the full dot on the dipstick at ICAR.

After a break and some water, I went out for a second session. I got black flagged for having unsafely joined the track and apologized profusely... I thought when he waved on Marc's Camaro ahead of me, I was supposed to go as well, but I had been wrong. After re-entering the track, I ended up behind the Mini of Alain Lauzière and I picked up the pace, hitting a 1:14.9. I was pretty close to my record from last year (1:14.7), and I felt that I could still clean up my laps a bit to find some more time. I passed Alain near the end of the session and I was pretty happy with the way the car and I were performing. By this point my lap tickets (from 2 weeks ago) were used up, and I sat sweating in the car as I saw another advanced group heading out. I decided to buy more tickets then and there on my phone so I could re-join the fun while the car was still warm. This was the right call, I maybe missed one lap but then I got to share the track with a quick bunch of well-driven cars. I managed another best lap in the 1:14.9 range. I was sweating like crazy after this second session. It was 21 degrees out, but I was completely dehydrated, despite having a decent amount of water before my session. I bought an overpriced Powerade and it really hit the spot.

I wanted to do one last session just as the sun was setting. My car can only do four sessions on a tank of gas, and I hadn't brought a gas can. For some reason, my lap timer was all over the place and was not measuring properly. I felt like I was going fast, but I couldn't be sure. I figured I could just re-watch the video at home and calculate my lap times, but of course the camera's battery died on the second lap. It's weird for me now to have a session with neither data nor video... I like to measure my performance! I could feel a vibration in the steering wheel and figured I might have flat-spotted a tire in my enthusiasm in one of my earlier sessions. When I finished the session, I was again sweating like crazy and I finished my Powerade and loaded up the car. My dehydration level had brought on a small migraine and I was squiting as I loaded up the car. Still, I had a smile on my face when I bumped into Dave Gosselin and he pointed out that it looked like I was having fun out there... clearly, I was. I started on my way but decided to check the tire that might have a flat spot. In fact, the inner edge of the tire had partially delaminated. I debated whether I was going to borrow a jack and change it for one of my spares, but I decided to just drive home at reduced speed, which worked out fine. It was a beautiful evening to cruise back to Montreal at 90 km/h with the windows down.

When I got home, it was just after 9:00 pm. When I checked the tire again, I noticed that a wire or something has been rubbing on the driver's side wheel, so I have to figure out what that is, and I have to replace at least one tire (and check the others). Luckily, Yannick had brought me four more used tires. The kids were still up, which was a nice bonus. I was still running on adrenaline... it had been an exciting evening. I drove pretty well, the car did well, I passed a bunch of people, not too many people passed me... the atmosphere with the other drivers is really nice. If they could just get a bit better organized at the track, they really have a winning formula going on. Even if they can't, I will be back, as ICAR is the only game in town for nearby weeknight events.

Here is a video: