Spring is really here

You know spring has arrived when you start to see sport bikes and Ferraris on the road. The first Trac school at St-Eustache was cancelled, but the second one is on for this upcoming weekend. The warm weather should melt the last of the snow.

The Civic is running reliably since I changed the starter a few days ago. The car is not using any oil, which is good news. It seems the oil I kept adding was compensating for the leak (now repaired) in the catch can and not burnt oil.

I am trying to organize my team for the Mosport Sundown GP enduro on May 17th. I can't wait to do this event! I've even been playing my PC simulator "GT Legends" to get mentally ready (Mosport is a downloadable track for the game). I've confirmed one of two crew members and both my co-drivers so far. I will register for the event once I have confirmed that the race car is OK after doing a test run at the Calabogie race school in 2 weekends. We put the car away in sound mechanical condition. It only needed an alternator, as far as I know, as the old one crapped out on the way to Calabogie in October (as described in this blog).

I saw a new Subaru STi and I really like it. It looks functional and aggressive, and less tacky than the old one with its huge wing and hood scoop (don't get me wrong, I also loved the old car).

Cool cars spotted:
Ferrari 360 Modena
Maserati Coupe
Aston Martin DB9
Porsche 996 turbo
Nissan Skyline GT-R
Toyota Starlet Turbo
Nissan Pulsar GTI-R
BMW M6
BMW M5
Lotus Esprit 300
New Subaru WRX STi

Projects slowly moving forward...

As I write this, it's snowing big flakes outside. Carl just wrote me that the April 12-13 Trac school is cancelled because there is still too much snow in the paddock area to accomodate cars. They will have to squeeze the students from that school into the one the following week.

I spent Saturday "helping" Pat Boyer work on the blue Civic. We changed the holed exhaust line, welded on a Chery Bomb Turbo muffler, like the one on the race car, took apart the starter, to clean it, changed the oil and tranny oil and bled the clutch. After all this, the starter still does not work 100% of the time, so I will have to replace it. The tranny still grinds on the 2-3 shift at anything above 3000 rpm, so I will have to double-clutch and just live with it. The clutch feels fine. I finally bought the sleeve to install the radio properly. Pat noticed that the larger rear trailing arm bushings are pretty much shot. Fortunately, he has some polyurethane ones laying around that he will sell to me cheap and install.

Next step: change the starter, try to find some inexpensive used performance shocks and install them.

Steph called me to discuss the colour scheme he proposed for the race car and I agreed with him that it would look nice. Stay tuned for pics of the painted race car. Steph has had a burst of enthusiasm for the car and wants to install a different final drive. I've started searching for one. He also informed me that he wants to run in the Sundown enduro, like we did in 2007 and 2005. It takes place in only 6 weeks. I hope everything will be ready by then, because this 3-hour enduro at Mosport is one of the highlights of my year.

I just booked my plane ticket to Paris for my summer trip, which will take place in early June and will end with a trip to the 24 hours of Le Mans (after a short tour of Portugal). I can't wait!

Cool cars spotted:
Bentley Continental Flying Spur
Mazda RX7 twin-turbo
AMG s63
Audi RS4

Still cold... hard to imagine it's spring!

As I write this on March 22nd 2008, it's -8 degrees outside. It still looks and feels like winter and it's quite depressing. The first track school is in 3 weeks and I'd really like one of my Civics to be ready to drive. It looks like it will have to be the blue one. Unfortunately, things have not been moving forward on that car, only backwards. I had noticed a couple of days ago that the clutch engagement was pretty low in the pedal travel. Well, yesterday, the clutch pedal had no effect at all. It turns out there was no hydraulic fluid in the master cylinder reservoir. I added some and pumped the pedal a few times, but I know that is not the proper way to bleed the system. Anyway, the clutch works now and the fluid level is stable, although the engagement is still low.

Also, the grind on the 2-3 shift seems to be getting worse. When we did the swap, we only put some cheap-o motor oil in the tranny. I'm hoping that upgrading to Honda oil or Motul will help that situation a bit. I finally picked up the B-pipe to replace the rusted out one on the car. I've decided not to upgrade the exhaust system, except to the extent that this B-pipe is a bit bigger than the old one, as it comes from an Si.

I bought back some pretty used Hankook K104's that I had sold to a friend to replace the ones on my ASA wheels, which are in pretty rough shape. These are only a little better, and they will suck in the rain. I haven't decided what to do for wheels and tires. I will probably paint another set of wheels I have lying around, some 15x6.5, and mount my last of old Toyo RA-1's on them.

For the suspension, I also haven't decided what to do. I want to keep costs on the street car to an absolute minimum, to save my little bit of disposable income for some race tires and entry fees to do a couple of events. I only have the OEM shocks that are on the car. I have some Neuspeed Race springs and some Progress street springs. I don't know if it's worth installing either of these sets of springs on the OEM shocks. I would like to have a summer suspension and a winter suspension. Hopefully, I can pick up some used shocks and then have whole assemblies that can swapped in every spring and fall.

So on the street car, I need to change the oil, the tranny oil, the B-pipe on the exhaust, decide what to do with the suspension and mount a couple of tires on the summer wheels. It's just not motivating to get started on all these things when it's -8 degrees!

Winter will not release its grip on us!

I know it's been a while since I posted, but there has really not been much going on in the world of cars and racing for me. The race car is still dormant at Trac (unless they've started prepping it for the race season). The street car still needs a new exhaust pipe and I'm shopping around for a cheap starter since mine does not work 100% of the time.

The snow continues to pound us in Montreal. This past weekend we had 2 separate storms which dumped over a foot of snow on us. I was shoveling my balcony for almost an hour. The car got stuck in the snow a few times. I wish I could afford a limited-slip transmission. Sunday night, as I arrived home after visiting my friend Will, I searched and searched for a parking spot that was not restricted for snow removal. I eventually settled for a spot two blocks from home that was only good until 8:00 am, which would force me to wake up earlier than usual to move the car.

The next morning, the car was gone. It had been towed by the city, who left me a nice 92$ ticket on the windshield. Of course, I will contest it. There were no signs where I parked. Ironically, they did not remove any of the snow on the street right beside my apartment where they had put no parking signs!

I have compiled a list of race events that might interest me for 2008. I will only attend two or three race events on this list, because my race budget will be small this year. Here it is:

2008 events

April 12-13 - Trac school - St-Eustache
April 19-20 - Trac school - St-Eustache
April 26-27 - Trac school - Calabogie
May 3-4 - FSAQ Touring - Sanair
May 10-11- CASC sprints - Mosport
May 17-18 - Sundown GP - Mosport
May 17-18 - Hillclimb - Ascutney I
May 31-June 1 - CASC sprints - Shannonville
May 31-June 1 - Trac school - Calabogie
June 14-15 - FSAQ Touring - Calabogie
June 14-15 - Hillclimb - Okemo I
June 28-29 - CASC sprints - Mosport
July 12-13 - FSAQ Touring - ICAR
July 19-20 - - FSAQ Touring - Calabogie
July 19-20 - Hillclimb - Okemo II
July 26-27 - CASC sprints - Calabogie
August 9-10 - CASC sprints - Mosport
August 23-24 - Hillclimb - Burke I
August 30-31 - CASC/FSAQ sprints - Mosport
September 13 - War Bonnet Enduro - Mosport
September 13-14 - CASC sprints - Mosport
September 13-14 - Hillclimb - Ascutney II
September 19-20-21 - Fall Classic - Tremblant
September 27-28 - CASC sprints - Mosport
October 18-19 - Hillclimb - Philo
October 18-19 - EMRA sprints - Watkins Glen
November 15 - EMRA enduro - Summit Point

I put the hillclimbs on the schedule because I remember how fun it was the one time I attended one in 2002 (Mount Burke). I had finished near the back, but I had a 1.5 liter Civic with only 89 lb-f of torque, and that hill was steep! The atmosphere was great and the scenery was beautiful. Here is a picture:

Hillclimb!

Ice racing: addictively fun.

As I mentioned in my previous post, I headed to Minden, Ontario to participate in some wheel-to-wheel ice racing. The plan was to attend a trade show in Burlington, Ontario on Saturday and meet up with Lee W. and his friends in the evening in Minden. The plan was for me to rent his backup ice race car, a 1990 Civic Si, and run in the rubber-to-ice class and in the studded tire class. I was to be sharing the car with Pablo, another ice racer who'd had his own car bent up quite badly in multi-car incident while Lee was driving (it was not Lee's fault in any way!).

Registration opened at 11:00 am so I decided to arrive at the ice track at about 10:30. There were maybe 60 or 80 ice race cars there, but few people. I had never seen a photo of the 90 Civic or of Pablo, so I was sort of wandering around aimlessly. There were at least 6 or 7 Civics that fit the description of my car. Also, Lee had had an extremely tough night on Saturday and I knew not to expect his too early.

Because everybody knows everybody, someone was able to point me to the car I was supposed to be driving. It was not pretty, but it seemed like it would get the job done. As I did not see any studded tires around, I registered only for the rubber class, in case Lee did not show up in time to tell me where to get my 2nd set of tires. After a short while, Pablo and his son Andrew showed up at the track and we finally met. I was glad to finally find someone who knew what was to be done to prep the car (not much, it turns out). The car was completely gutted except for 2 metal race seats and some old harnesses.

Pablo graciously allowed me to go out for the rubber practice session. I strapped in to the race seat and Carl jumped in as a passenger. There were more than 20 other cars on track with us and it was quite exciting, even though we were diving slowly. I don't think I passed anybody in that session. The car had a tendency to pitch violently to the right a couple of times per lap, and this was quite unnerving. I figured it was because the car had taken so many hits in the past. At least it was pitching to the right during the day of clockwise racing. I was slow compared to the other drivers, but not embarrassingly so. I also had a small spin out. I finished up the session and handed the car over to Pablo for his first race. I asked him about the evil handling of the car and he did not seem to know what specific issue I was talking about.

I headed to the snow bank to watch Pablo's race. By this time, poor Lee had still not shown up and had missed his first stud race. One of Lee's friends found me and offered me the use of the stud tires, but I declined, as I was not prepared to participate in a much faster class, combining my lack of experience and a weird-handling car. Pablo concurred.

Pablo went out for his race and completed only a single lap before parking the car. I was afraid my day of racing was over before it began. However, after the race, he made it back to the paddock under his own steam. He said the car only had 1-wheel drive. We jacked up the car, which had received a new axle the day before, only to notice the axle nut was loose. Pablo was not happy, but he tightened up the nut so that I could go out for my race.

I was sitting on the grid ready for my race and Carl jumped in again. Lee had shown up and came to wish me luck. He asked if I was nervous, and answered that I was not, really, as there was nothing on the line. I was gridded last as I had no points in the current championship. The races are standing start. As Carl was in the passenger seat, he had a better view of the race starter and yelled "Green, go, go, go!". I gave it some gas and we basically just sat there. I felt like an idiot as the field simply pulled away. I finally managed to take off, very slowly, and I knew something was wrong. It only took me a short while to figure out we still had the axle problem. Normally, when you have a broken axle, the car would not move at all. It must have been the welded differential that allowed us to drive around at low speed. I could see the other cars pulling away and I did my best to keep driving. I was getting the hang of the car a bit more and was using left-foot braking to angle the car around the corner. A back-marker spun and I passed him, but he soon caught me and re-passed me. A couple of laps later, the leaders began to lap me. Then the slower guys lapped me too. Then I spun, used reverse to get going again, and continued to take the checker. I was quite disappointed. I had driven over 500 km to attend the event, and now it looked like the day was over.

We drove back to our paddock spot and took a look at the situation. The end of the axle had been stripped and I had lost the nut at the beginning of the race. Pablo began to look around for another axle but there were none to be found. The 90 Civic was done for the day.

I decided to go see Opal, as she had mentioned that she wasn't feeling great after the previous night's partying and that she might lend me her car for the final race. I looked everywhere for her and found her dozing in her street car. When I asked her if I could rent her car for the last race, she said yes without a moment of hesitation. On top of that, she refused to take any money. I was extremely lucky that Opal and Guillermo were at this event!

Thanks to Opal for this photo of me in my final race.

I went to look at their car, a 92-95 Civic hatch just like mine. It was bone stock and only had a few bumps and scratches on it. It had its original seats, most of the interior and a full heating system. It felt just like my car. I pulled out the dented front fender a bit by hand, installed my number plates with Guillermo, and headed out to my race.

I was gridded in last place out of 15 cars for the start. Carl did not jump in, as he had lent his helmet to a friend and couldn't get it back in time. I was pretty psyched, as I knew this car would be more reliable and easy to drive, if not slower, than the 90 Civic. Opal warned me that the other red Civic had non-tractionized tires and that he would be slower. I was gridded behind that red Civic and beside a FWD Subaru Justy.

As the flag dropped, I got the jump on the Justy and the other red Civic and drove down the straight on the left side, where there was a lot of snow on the ice. I believe someone spun in the first corner. I was then embroiled in a mutli-lap chase of a Corolla, a black Civic and a purple Festiva. I was doing OK in the corners, but was not good at dosing the gas pedal for optimal acceleration in the straights. The Festiva and Corolla were pulling away, but I had the black Civic in my sights. I managed to outbrake him and drive around him at the end of the straight on the before last lap and I took the checker without incident. The left-foot braking technique was not really working for me, so I resorted to using the gas pedal and handbrake to rotate the car. I don't remember for sure, but I don't think anyone lapped me. I was happy with my result (I don't actually have the result, but I think I finished around 12th out of 15). I handed the car back to G. and Opal, thanking them again for saving my day from being a bust, and Carl and I immediately began the long drive home. We made it in 5 hours and I managed to catch the end of the Oscars.

I have to thank Lee W., Opal and G., and Carl for making this a fun weekend of new experiences. As you can imagine, Carl was already talking about building a car for next year and the logistics of running the championship. Carl is the devil.

All in all, a great experience. It really feels like real wheel-to-wheel racing, and it's just a blast.

The next level: ICE RACING!

Sorry I haven't posted in the last couple of days... there really has not been much in terms of car stuff and I've been very busy with work. I took a long weekend to Niagara with Alex to enjoy a romantic Valentine's weekend last week. It was really nice (although the exhaust is getting quite loud on the Civic with all the leaks). It was the first time I had used a GPS device in the car and it was quite fun. No matter where I drove in the Niagara area, I only had to press a couple of buttons for directions back to my hotel. I also found out that my speedometer was optmistic. When it indicated 75 mph, I always thought I was gong 120 km/h. In fact, the GPS says that 80 mph on my speedo corresponds to 120 km/h. Good to know! The big news this week: Carl managed to find me a rental drive in an ice racer for February 24th. We were already heading to Minden in Ontario to check out the races in the Magnum Ice Race Series, but I had hoped to be able to actually try ice racing myself. Thanks to Lee W of the HADA club, I will be driving in the Sunday races next weekend in a 1990 Civic Si. I have to decide whether to run in the rubber class or the stud class, or both, which would involve a bunch of tire changes. I will be sharing the car with a more experienced driver who will run in the rubber class. It should be awesome! I couldn't find a photo of the car online, but here is a link to a video of the stud class in Minden taken by Lee W:

   

 I just have to get my race license renewed this week to be eligible and that's it! I can't wait!

Snowcross events 2 and 3... not so good

This weekend, I attended the 2nd and 3rd snowcrosses in Ottawa. I didn't do as well as at the first event. On day 1, I stuffed it in the snowbank on my last run (managed to drive out, but still scored a DNF for 2 wheels off) and threw away a possible class win. Still, I managed a 3rd place.

On day 2, I was doing OK after the first configuration, but went really slow on my first run of the second configuration. I did a pretty good second run, but in the third run, I stuffed it deep in a snow field before even reaching the first corner. The cloud cover was creating a weird lighting effect and I simply could not see the corner at the end of the start straight. When I finally saw it, I jabbed the brakes and the car pitched to the left, off the track. Worse still, when being towed out, I ran over a small frozen hay bale and screwed up the alignment somehow. Also, the small exhaust leak got bigger and I clearly need a new B-pipe, as mine is full of holes. I will probably pick one up that I found on the internet. Carl took the car to Trac/Simo to fix the problem with the alignment and I should have the car back tonight.

The back to back events made for an exhausting weekend, but it was still a fun event. My next event might be a real ice race in Minden, Ontario, if I can find a rental ride. Stay tuned...