Back on track again, still some work to do...

After my successful outing at ICAR, I decided to attend a track day held by VAG Autosport at Tremblant. It rained almost non stop. Lap times were 30 seconds per lap slower than in the dry. I got black flagged three times in 5 sessions: the first time for forgetting to turn on my headlights, the second because I was leaking too much oil, and the third, because my car was too loud (93.6 decibels when the max was 92). I was officially kicked out because of the sound level of the car, but after 5 sessions in the rain, I was pretty much ready to leave. Speed-wise, I held my own. I was being passed by Porsche GT3's and GT4's, and a slew of Golf R's. I really wished my car had adjustable suspension, as it would have been nice to have softer settings in the dry. 

Rob was there with his M3 and we got to hang out quite a bit, which is nice, since I haven't seen my friends too much this year.

I had fun, but did not gather any useful data to see how much faster the car is now with the new engine. I really have to address the oil leak and, eventually, the sound level of the car. To be continued...

The Civic is ready for action

One of 2 new C8 Corvettes at the track

Not every car was super expensive

Ford-powered Lotus Europa

My neighbours had Vettes

Cool Alfa 4C

The official car of the day: Golf R

Cool track-focused 993

One of many 991 GT3's

This Locost seemed to be street legal... impressive

Cool Camaro

Vantage, not a car you see at many track days

Very different V8's

The Elise is tiny beside an M2

GT3 and GT4

My Civic and Rob's M3

Finally back on track!

 Last Tuesday, I finally managed to take the Civic back out on the track at ICAR. The last step after the engine installation was to have the car tuned on the dyno by Sajan. Pat brought him the car and I picked it up the followiong day. The final horsepower figure was disappointing, 192 hp (compared to 214 for the H23 in my old car back in 2014), but the car felt quick. 

I didn't need to adjust or change any settings on the car. Even the tires had held the same pressures as used in my last session at ICAR when we had the engine problems in June. I noticed that the car was leaking a lot of oil from near the oil pan, but this was not enough of an issue to miss the last chance to test the car before my track day at Tremblant scheduled for September 7th. 

I got to the track super early (around 3:30 pm) so I would avoid traffic. I managed to work with my lap top while a few race cars enjoyed a testing session. In fact, I found out that if I brought my race suit and arrived at noon, I could pay a flat fee of 150$ and lap all afternoon. It would not have been worth it to pay the flat fee at the time I arrived, however. I chatted with another driver to find out what he thought of the new 2020 configuration. He said that he liked it and that it was 4 or 5 seconds faster than last year's (others had told me 1 second, so I was a bit confused). A large variety of cool cars showed up, from modified old Civics to Porsches and Mclarens. I really like this aspect of the ICAR evenings.

I registered for the evening and was ready for the very first session a bit before 6:00 pm. The car felt fine but I was rusty. The acceleration and gearing were excellent. I was letting most cars pass me, and it took me a while to get into a groove. I finally managed some clean laps when I managed to hang onto a Camaro after it passed me and I managed my best lap ever at ICAR, at 1:48.52, which was quite a bit faster than the 1:50.25 I had managed in June. My top speeds were the same or better than those of June, which makes me think this H22 is making close to the same power as the H23 was. 

Pat joined me at the track and went out for a session as it was getting quite dark. For once, he didn't beat my time, which made sense, since it was pretty dark and he couldn't see the few reference points on the track. We noticed a drop in oil pressure in left-hand corners and this worried Pat, even though the pressure was no lower than at idle. We will have to keep an eye on this in the future. Also, the oil leak was pretty bad after we parked the car.

There are still things to work on with both car and driver, but the season seems to have resumed on a positive note.

A Focus RS and a Cayman GT4

Lovely Alfa 4C

This Civic passed me on track

Very clean RX8

The Civic parked beside me had a fuel leak on his B18c engine, which he managed to fix

Audi RS3

The Civic between sessions

Very aggressive looking Evo

This nice purple Mclaren parked near me

Exige heading into the paddocks

Nice Defender 90

One of many GT86's and a cool 3-series wagon

Almost the same colour for this Shelby and GT3

Fast and loud Exige

Lovely S2000's and a trio of 350Z's

Nice variety

Very nice MR2

Another Mclaren and an STi

Not "epic", but still very cool

The word "epic" is overused. Last Saturday, I went on a drive on some nice mountain roads between Lachute and Tremblant with my buddy Mazen. I have been dying to get back on the track, but my Civic is just not ready, as Pat, for reasons beyond his control, just hasn't had time to finish the engine installation. I conjured up the idea of a spirited drive on some of the province's best driving roads, and it was easy to convince Mazen to come along, given that he likes to drive his 911 GT3 and his M3 CS. He was on board with this idea months ago, when I first proposed it, but I had not been able to carve out a period of time to make it happen. 

This weekend, I decided that it was time. Mazen agreed and we set up a meeting in Lachute, at around 10:00 pm. I was driving the M3 (mine) and Mazen brought his 2018 GT3. The plan was to head north from Lachute in the 2 cars, swapping seats occasionally. It started to rain shortly after we got underway, but we were having a great drive on roads where, at the best of times, one would struggle to maintain the speed limit. There were many types of corners and more than a few bumps. Add in the wet roads and there was plenty to challenge the driver. I was mainly using 3rd gear, with an occasional drop into second, as I followed the Porsche. It was a bit surreal, as we were basically the only cars on the road on the way north, and there was a mist rising off the wet roads as we drove through. We were using bluetooth on our phones so we could converse as we drove and it was all very enjoyable. I mentioned to Mazen how wide his car looked on the narrow lane. After a while, Mazen pulled over so I could have a go in the GT3. He said "take it easy in the wet, the car is on Cup 2's!", referring to his aggressive performance tires with minimal tread (seemingly no tread at all on the outer third!). 

I got behind the wheel, and headed out. I had forgotten how light the clutch is. I can't say I felt immediately comfortable in the car. I was physically comfortable, of course, as the car has amazing seats and a lovely alcantara steering wheel. But I was afraid to use much throttle or carry much speed in the corners. Also, I could feel the car's width, which was good, in that it felt so planted, and bad, in that you felt you were taking up the whole lane. When we stopped again to switch cars a while later, Mazen was laughing... he said "I think I scared you talking about the tires... you could have gone a lot faster". Of course he was right, I was probably driving at 40-50% of the car's grip level. Another reason he was laughing I think is that he had not expected the E46 M3 to be so competent, and such a pleasure to drive. As we headed back north, Mazen probably upped the level to 70%. I would occasionally lose sight of his tail lights, but I could drive with more confidence in the car I have had for almost 10 years, which happens to have lots of tread on its "regular" summer tires. This was one of the best portions of the drive. 

After a while, we decided to head back. I took another turn behind the wheel of the GT3, and knowing the grip level was very high, even in the wet, I pushed it more. Still, I never used full throttle, which I had been using often enough in the M3. I could tell that Mazen probably was using full throttle in the BMW, because he was keeping up with me. In reality, in these conditions, with our level of driving skill, we could probably only use about 300 hp, which is about what the BMW has at full throttle, and the 911 has at part throttle. We caught to another pair of cars, a Honda Accord coupe and a Subaru Legacy. I figured it would be a good time to pull over, which we did. We switched cars and talked a bit, then got back on the road. I wondered if we would catch those two cars before the end of the road 15 or 20 km later, but we caught them within probably less than 5 km. The road was drying out and we were picking up the pace. Luckily, it was not long before we came to a passing zone and we blew by the two slower cars as we found our way back to Lachute. We went our separate ways, but continued to chat on the phone. We had both had a good time. I would not say this was an "epic" drive, but it was really a nice time. I would love to do this again, ideally on dry roads, maybe with the Civic or even the Saab. Maybe we can get a third of fourth friend out with us. I'm pretty sure Mazen will be up for it too. We will have to see if we can make it happen before the end of the summer driving season.

Saab story, and still no Civic

A couple of weeks ago, I decided to bring the Saab home from the country house so I could take the BMW to the shop to fix a few small issues. While the BMW was in the shop, we decided to take a little road trip to meet some friends in Gaspésie. We decided to use the Saab. The car felt slow on the highway, but was otherwise pleasant to drive. I recharged the air conditioning and it seems to hold a charge (we'll see for how long). We agreed to sell the car so we could get a newer winter car with less rust. When we were back home and had the BMW back, I put up an ad to sell the Saab. I received dozens of inquiries (maybe because there are few turbo Subarus available for 3500$), and a few people came to see the car. Despite the fact that I was clear about the condition of the body and undercarriage, people seemed turned off when they saw the car. One person who was looking at the car pointed out something that was not attached near the turbo. I thanked him and attached the item. It turned out to be the wastegate actuator, which had lost its little snap ring (the proverbial 10-cent part). It turns out that I had no boost from the turbo for my whole road trip to Gaspésie, and who knows how much longer! After driving the car with the turbo functioning properly and having patched some rust holes with bondo, I have decided I will keep the car for at least one more winter. It looks rough, but not terrible, and with full boost (I think), it's now a quick car as well. Also, I was tired of answering all the questions from potential buyers. While the car is still in this sort of nice condition, I will put it away at the country house again. 

The Saab after some touch ups and a quick wash

As for the Civic, Pat has been so busy at work, and was also sick for a week (not COVID), so he has not even touched the car... this season is sort of a write-off when it comes to track driving. I am almost tempted to take the Saab to ICAR just to get a few laps in. Hopefully, the car can be ready for at least a couple of track days this year.

As is normally the case in summer, there are a bunch of cool cars on the road these days. 

Nice E46 on BBS wheels

JDM Silvia

Oscar behind the wheel as we ride a ferry

Cool Beetles on the ferry

How to make a minivan cool

M3 and Z3M

Z3M in a nice colour combo

A surprisingly clean base-model Eagle Talon

Track-focused Miata in Trois-Rivières

A Viper in Deschaillons

Psychedelic but well-executed C3 Corvette

Ferrari Monza SP2 at the dealership

Cool cars at a Euro repair shop on Jean-Talon

NSX at the dealership

Great variety at EK Performance, including a 991 GT3 RS and a 90's Lotus Elan

They also seem to work on Italian cars

8-series in an interesting colour

Old and new Mercedes. I pick old. 

Nice spec for this Rolls

Cool duo of convertibles in Old Montreal

I like the wheels on this 911

Clean 944 S2 convertible. It's a shame it has that cheap plastic reflector.

I don't usually like spoked wheels on newer cars, but they work on this Jag

Porsche Taycan... looks like a smaller, lower Panamera

Clean Corrado VR6 at Canadian Tire

A rare Saab Turbo X