Vince's Stuff: Spring is here and somehow, none of my track cars is ready, again!

This seems to happen every year! Despite all my planning, when the track driving season begins (this coming weekend, in fact), I will not have a car to use. I thought I would... The yellow Civic should have been ready. When I picked it up from JS two weeks ago, the new suspension (used Koni with Ground Control sleeves) was installed, but it was sitting too high and needed an alignment. I did my best to adjust the ride height (front went OK, rear, not so much) then I brought it to BG for an alignment last week. Even after the alignment, the car feels weird and there are many clunks coming from the front left corner. Maybe it's the top plate, maybe it's something else, but I don't think it would be a good idea to take it on track as is. Also, this car is supposed to be sold as soon as the RSX is track-ready, but no one would buy a car with so many noises coming from that corner. Hopefully it's a simple fix. If it is, at least I can have a working track car in the coming days... even if it will be even slower than last year due to the less aggressive alignment and suspension (no more adjustable camber in front).

What about the 2000 Civic? No news at all, no progress, I haven't heard from Choo in a few weeks, so I'm not going to assume that work is moving forward on that car.

So what about the RSX then? Well, the plan was for me to install the race seat that I had bought from JS for the Civic, then bring it to JS to install the coilovers from the yellow Civic. I had to modify the seat bracket (1 out of 4 holes) to make it fit in the RSX, and I'm pretty happy with the result. The seat is in good condition and it's confortable. After a bit of research, I decided to install some baffles in the oil pan to protect the motor against oil starvation on track. JS mentioned that he would not have time for a job like this, but we arranged with two of his racing buddies toinstall the coilovers and the oil pan baffles and generally check over the car, so I delivered the car to him two weeks ago (swapping cars for the yellow Civic). Unfortunately, the two friends got bogged down with their own Hondas and nothing has been done yet. I don't know if I would have been able to go to ICAR or Ste-Croix this weekend, but the season is beginning. The Tuesday evening sessions at ICAR begin May 12th... hopefully at least the yellow car will be usable by then.

The Subaru seemed to have the same exhaust leak as it did last Fall... I dropped it off at a local garage(same one as last Fall) but they said there is no leak... I guess I'll just live with the occasional check engine light. Otherwise, the Subaru has been excellent all winter. I will try to get to Deschaillons to park it for the summer and take out the BMW. The BMW should be ready to roll as-is, although I hope to have the rod bearings replaced at some point this season. We're leaving on our summer trip on June 23rd, so that's in only 7 weeks. I hope I can attend a few track events before then...