First race of the year... I'm a little rusty.

I was really looking forward to my first race of the year in the Civic. I went to the track Sunday for the practice day and I was quite satisfied with the car's performance, although the transmission was grinding when I shifted into third gear and the exhaust hanger broke at one point, forcing me to use safety wire to hang it back up. I had some wheel to wheel contact with another race car as I was trying to pass him before the bus stop. I dented my fender and wheel. The other car had no apparent damage. The BFGoodrich tires did not have a ton of grip, but they were quite predictable.

On Sunday, there were 22 cars running in my series, the Super Production Challenge. I knew it would be extremely tough to finish in the top five or six cars, as Pat had done a few weeks earlier driving my car at Sanair. I set the 8th fastest time in the morning practice, but only managed to qualify 13th, as the other drivers shaved off more time than I did from one session to the next. My exhaust pipe was now almost completely broken, but Choo helped me secure it in place with some hardware I had bought at Canadian Tire.

There were to be two 10-minute races, followed by a 35-minute long feature race. In the first race, I did OK, but on two occasions I was passed on the start-finish straight due to having trouble shifting into 3rd gear. I re-passed one of the drivers, but not the other. I finished 11th in the first race.

In the second mini-sprint, I was running 11th when I had contact with the same car as the day before! There had been room to pass at the entrance of the carousel, and then the other guy shut the door. All I could do at that point was slide into his wheel. This really mangled my wheel, but I made it to the end of the race, in 13th position.

Luckily, I had a spare wheel, although my tires were looking quite second-hand. I headed out for the final race in 13th. The race was mostly uneventful. I had a small contact with Alex Lapierre's TSX entering the bus stop in traffic. I did not drive a great race. I had little confidence to aggressively pass rookies after they constantly closed the door on me. I just wanted to finish the race with the car relatively intact. A few times, the car would pop out of gear in 3rd. At least the exhaust was holding together. I managed to hold off a K24-powered Civic behind me, but I could not pass the Golf that had been running in front of me for the last few laps. I ended up in 13th position. I was disappointed that I had not managed to catch and pass the drivers ahead of me, as they were within sight at the finish. I really hoped I would do better than this at my home track, but I just wasn't patient enough and allowed myself to be taken over by the red mist.

On the brighter side, at least I finished every session and managed to bring the car home more or less in one piece. I will need 2 new tires, a new exhaust, and a new 3rd gear synchro, before the next race.

The car at home

Here are some photos from Flagworld.com and Montreal Racing:

And here is what I did to my wheel:

The Civic ran well in its first race of 2013

Pat managed a pretty decent performance in the Civic at the first Super Production Challenge event at Sanair last weekend. He came in 6^th in the first race, 5^th in the second, 6^th in the third, and 10^th in the enduro, which he completed three laps down on the winner due to an electrical issue.

Here are some photos from Flagworld.com and P. Savard: 

All in all, a solid performance, considering our car is 500 pounds (!) over the minimum allowable weight. The team now sits in 8^th place in the championship after one event. The next race is May 20^th at St-Eustache, where I will get my first race drive of the year. 

Finalists, but not champions.

The Diamonds gave it their all, but only in the second half. They were unable to come back from a 24-point deficit, but at least they lost by less than 20. Here is a team photo. As you can see, the boys are not overjoyed about their silver medals. Still, it is a good result for a school that did not even have boys last year.

The whole family will be heading to Calabogie this weekend for the second AISA school. Pat will be driving the Civic in the first SPC race at Sanair on Saturday. As the series uses short qualifying races, there will be six races in total for Pat... lucky guy!

Jules borrows a sun hat at a picnic in Lafontaine Parc

Cool cars spotted:
New BMW M5 (Frozen Silver)
E39 BMW M5
E24 BMW M6
E30 BMW M3
Alpina B7
Nissan GTR
Ferrari F430
Tesla Model S
Mercedes 280 SL (1960's)
AMG G55
AMG CLS63
Mercedes 500E
Porsche 997 GT3
Porsche 991 Carrera S
Lamborghini Gallardo

Jules' first day at the track!

I decided that, in order to do some pre-season testing on the Civic, I should head out to Sanair for the BMW Club of Quebec open house. I brought along Jules and my sister Val in the BMW, and Pat and his dad Alain met me there with the Civic.

Jules did not seem to mind the noise and spending the day outdoors, although he was a little bit fussy at the end of the day.

The Civic performed flawlessly. Pat and I both managed laps in the 1:02 range with the BFGoodrich street tires we will be running in the Super Production Challenge.This is not bad, as we had passengers when we recorded these times.

The tires themselves are not great, but they are not terrible either. Pat seems to have a bit rougher driving style than I do, but he was a couple of tenths quicker on most laps too. My smoother style was a bit slower, but I think it was easier on the tires. Pat will be running the first SPC race next Saturday while our little family heads out to Calabogie for the second AISA race school.

Our little team at the track

I can't reach anything!

Daddy forgot my sun hat, so I borrowed his!

Decided not to run the marathon...

I've quit the training for the Ottawa marathon. There are several reasons (also known as excuses)... I was sick for a couple of weeks. When I took a week off and got back to running, I actually felt fine. I was just not motivated, at the end of a long day, to go out and run for a couple of hours. The weather has been generally cold. More often than not, when I was out at night, it was near zero degrees. The basketball season just keeps going on and on (it's not over yet) and I decided I would rather have more free time. So there, I quit. So far, I don't regret it, as my days are still very full and I get to spend more time with Alex and Jules. 

 Jules keeps getting bigger... He can now safely sit in a shopping cart at the supermarket!

Our basketball semi-final was cancelled due to the other team being unavailable or not having enough players. So, by this stroke of luck, we will be playing in the finals next Wednesday. Unbelievable...

We held our first race school at St-Eustache this past weekend. My car was not ready, so I didn't actually drive at all. We had a good bunch of students in the 400-level group, and all received race licenses. This tasty McLaren  was parked at the track, but was not used in the school. I love this car in this colour!

This weekend, I will attempt to make my way to Sanair to do some testing on the race car. Pat and I will have to take care of a few small jobs first, but we should be able to do this Friday night. The first race is next weekend, and Pat will be driving, as I will be at the Calabogie race school.

Cool cars spotted:

Lamborghini Gallardo

Ferrari FF

Ferrari F355

Ferrari 458

Aston Martin DB9

Aston Martin Vantage

Tesla Model S

Jaguar XK-R

Porsche 993 turbo

Porsche 997 turbo

Porsche 928

Audi R8

Audi ur-S4

BMW 1M

new BMW M5

BMW M5 E39

BMW M6 E24

AMG CLS63

AMG G55

Nissan GTR

Rolls-Royce Ghost

McLaren MP4-12C

The Diamonds are in the semi-finals!

I can't believe it, but my boys' team, which wasn't even supposed to be in the playoffs, has won it's quarter-final game today, by a single point! They were behind the whole game, except for a couple of minutes in the first quarter. I think we were down by 6 with a minute to go. They played super aggressively in the final minutes, but without too many fouls, as the other team was in bonus. Then, with 4.4 seconds left, we were awarded 2 foul shots, and one went it. The other team could not score in the last 4 seconds and we stole a win. The boys were ecstatic. It will be a game for them to remember, that's for sure.

Alex and Jules are on a trip to visit her aunt in Victoria (along with Alex's Mom), so I have been able to catch up on some sleep here at home. I really need it, as I have been hammered by a cold that will not go away. Earlier on, I was continuing with my training runs, but I have had to skip the last two, as running seems to be prolonging the cold. I just hope this gap in the training does not hurt my marathon in May. I miss them, but luckily we can communicate with Skype.

The race car body work is done and Pat and I have decided to run the first two races with the engine as-is, while monitoring the oil level. After the first two races, there is a 6-week gap and we will have time to do the partial rebuild we have been planning. We should be in a position to do some testing at the St-Eustache race school in less than two
weeks.

My buddies are heading to Watkins Glen to race in the Chumpcar Series this weekend, but for the price of some decent seat time, I preferred not to attend. Besides, I have a couple of basketball practices to organize.

So for the rest of the week, I will concentrate on getting healthier and trying to organize the beginning of the race season, and the end of the boys' basketball season.

Cool cars spotted:
Audi ur-S4
Audi R8
BMW 1M
AMG E63
AMG CLS63
Lamborghini Gallardo x 2
Porsche 928 x 2
Porsche 997 Turbo
Porsche 993

Spring is here

It's taken until the last day of the Easter long weekend for me to find time to post here! Jules is napping as I type this. Alex says she heard him say "papa" this morning. I wish I had heard it myself!

Jules at basketball practice

After a final dumping of snow a couple of weeks ago, it finally feels like spring has arrived (even though the temperature will dip below 0 several times in the next few days). I guess I will have to buy some summer tires for the BMW!

BMW after a rare car wash

I'm actually glad it's warming up a bit, as I have been running four times per week in training for the Ottawa marathon and it's been less than pleasant running on the damp and freezing road. I have had a nasty cold for the past few days, which hasn't made things any easier.

My boys did not play very well in the tournament, winning only one game against a very inexperienced team. However, I was impressed by their serious performance in the last regular season game. Unfortunately, they lost by one point. Somehow, we were still awarded a playoff spot and will be playing in the quarter-final on April 9th. I hope they can bring their A-game once again.

I have not done anything about getting the race car ready. Alex and Jules will be out of town next week, so I should be able to move on that project a little.

Other than that, it's been a busy time! The basketball season is not over, the running season is in full swing, the car season is about to begin and the baby season continues to deprive me of my morning sleep. Still, it's a happy time and it all seems to be going by so fast!

Cool cars spotted:
Lamborghini Gallardo
Maserati GT
Maserati Quattroporte
Porsche 964
Porsche 997 turbo
Saab Viggen
AMG C63 Coupe
AMG SLS
Audi R8
Audi RS5
Audi S7
Audi Ur-S4
Audi S7
Audi S6 Avant
Audi S6 V8t
Land Rover Defender
Tesla Model S
BMW M5 E39

Tesla Model S