Vince's Stuff: BMW Club at Tremblant... is the Civic too loud?

Setting up with Choo

It was a strange weekend at Tremblant... I had signed up to instruct at the BMW Club of Quebec "Spring Fever" HPDE at Tremblant on May 18th and 19th. I helped to get my buddy Choo onto the club's instructor list, which made my weekend much more enjoyable, as I had someone to share a room with and generally hang out with, because I don't know that many of the other instructors in this club (at least not any more). I realized that it had been a while since I had been to a BMW Club event (2019?) and two years since I had been to Tremblant (Ferrari Club). When I was last there in 2022, I was able to run reliably for a whole bunch of sessions and click off a satisfying lap time in the 1:58 range, and I was hoping for a similar type of weekend. It turned out quite differently...

When I arrived, Choo and I set up our area. Choo's Civic is still in pieces, but one of his friends/customers was gracious enough to let him borrow a Civic hatch that is very similar to my car (K-swap, roll bar, stripped out, etc.). We had each been assigned one student. Mine was driving a C8 Corvette Z06 with all the carbon add-ons... in other words, a stupidly fast car. Luckily, my student was mature, level-headed, and not trying to push the absolute limit of the car. I bumped into Josée, my rallye co-driver, and her partner Guy, who would be working as marshalls at the event. We chatted and I introduced them to Choo.

It had been raining part of the morning and the track was damp for the first session of the day, which was for the instructors. I was taking it easy, when I was given a black flag. I could not imagine why, but I pitted in, and was told I had exceeded the 92db sound limit (with a 93.9 readng). I was surprised, as I had never exceeded that same limit in 2022. I was told that if I exceeded it again, my day was over, as far as driving was concerned. I noticed that many other cars had add-ons to their exhause systems (Porsche GT3's and American V8's). and I had brought a little 90-degree bend piece "just in case". I attached the bend with to the tip of my muffler with some aluminium tape, hoping to direct the sound away from the testing instruments. How well did this work? The piece fell off after one lap and by my 3rd lap, I had been black flagged again for sound (94.3!). It wasn't even 11am and the Civic's day was over. Choo's strategy to avoid a similar fate was to short shift and hope for the best. It was working... he never got busted. At least it was going well with my student. I was told I could try again on Sunday, so I knew I had to try something to make the car quieter. Choo and I headed to the closest Canadian Tire to see what we could find. We bought a 90-degree bend and an exhaust clamp to attack it properly. The result was very solid, but I was not sure it would be enough. As the afternoon progressed, I looked at some of the other cars to see how their extensions were attached. When I saw a Camaro that had two extra mufflers attached with exhaust clamps only, I figured I could put together something similar. I began to comb the Canadian Tire website to see if there was anything with a 2.5-inch diameter and all I could find was a Thrush glasspack muffler. I tested it in the store and saw that it would fit right over the 90-degree bend. I wanted it to be held not only by the clamp, but also attached to the car in another way, so I bought some hose clamps to somehow attach it to the car. The installation actually took less than 15 minutes, and I attached the hose clamp to a point in the trunk with a thick bolt sticking out. It looked ridiculous, and when I tried it on the street, it seemed solid, but not quiet. Josée came over at the end of the day and consoled me about my bad luck. She told me that if I asked the marshalls nicely, they might let me know my decibel level after my first session with the new setup. This was excellent advice.

The ridiculous external "muffler" solution

On Saturday evening, Choo and I headed to the main street of Tremblant (what used to be St-Jovite) and found a decent pizza place with outdoor seating. The weather had been beautiful in the second half of the day. We had an early night at our very basic (but clean and cheap) motel.

Cool Mopar in downtown Tremblant

On Sunday morning, I figured I would start out by shifting at 6000 rpm and focusing on carrying speed in the corners. This may not sound exciting, but I was finally driving my own car and it was fun. I managed a lap in the 2:04's by the end, and the car felt good in the corners. I was getting passed a lot, but it didn't matter. I was using 5th gear a lot and even 6th gear on the main straight. I managed to get my decibel level: 89.3! So low! This might have been partially down to the fact that there was no low cloud cover, which apparently affected sound readings. The car seemed almost as loud from my perspective, but at least I was back on track with a 65$ "muffler" doing its job.

I looked at the data after the session and could see I was doing well in some corners, but that was still off my personal best corner speeds in most corners. In the next session, I focused on improving those corners, and was down into the 2:03's. This was close to the lap times I used to do with my 2002 Civic, and with this Civic when it had a 1.8 liter engine. I increased the revs a bit in the next session, as well as the cornering speeds, and this is probably the session where the car felt the most "hooked up". I managed a 2:01.58, thinking "surely I can get into the 1:58's if I use all the revs". I decided that after lunch, in the fourth of six potential sessions, I would "send it", using all the revs, and hope that the muffler was doing enough.

Well, I didn't go over the sound limit in the fourth session, but I didn't go much quicker either. The temperature was rising, I was having trouble selecting gears in some areas, after getting used to 5th gear earlier on... the car felt less planted and I only managed a single lap under 2:01... I couldn't see how I would get into the 1:58's, when it all looked like it would be so easy! I did back to back sessions, and took out Alan, one of the chief instuctors (and a fellow Civic driver) for a few laps, which was fun. Choo was having a blast... he didn't have a lap timer and there was no pressure on him... he just had to keep his borrowed Civic in one piece.

In my fifth (technically sixth) session, I tried to always select the same gear for the same corner, and things improved somewhat. I was carrying decent speed in turns 1-2-3, when faster cars passed me, I could hold onto them in the next series of corners... I'm talking about mainly Porsches and caged BMWs, so really the Civic was punching above its weight. I passed Choo as well, a couple of laps in, after starting right behind him. I was down to a 2:00.27 on my last lap and was improving, according to the lap timer, when the checker fell (half way through my best lap). The 1:58 or better was not to be. I had one more session left and was really hoping I could pull an excellent lap out of the hat, but it was not to be. The car felt like it had less grip and the brakes felt less than 100%... I had checked the pads earlier in the day and there was not much thickness left. Anyway, I only managed a 2:02.80 in that last session, and that was OK. What could have been a disastrous weekend in terms of seat time had been salvaged with a bit of ingenuity, and after driving maybe 5 laps on Saturday, I had managed to do 7 sessions on Sunday. My highest decibel reading was 90.9 (atmospheric conditions must have contributed!) even with full revs. The car performed as it should. I was not the slowest car in the instructor group... all in all, it was a lovely weekend. I think the weekends with a bit of hardship make for the best stories anyway!

I removed the stupid-looking chimney/muffler and Choo had to help me remove the 90-degree bend portion with a hammer... it was really on there! I helped him load his friend's Civic onto the trailer and pin it to his Towareg. There were a bunch of Porsches arriving for a Porsche Club event the next day, and all the BMW people seemed to have hit the road by then... it was a bit surreal. We set off for home, both of us quite happy and tired. It was a satisfying weekend.

Here is a video including my best laps: