It's summer and there are many cool cars on the road

Nice colour and wheels for this C8, but I don't like the tail lights and side intakes

Very nice Z28

Lovely Cobra in the same spot

Tastefully modded S14

Mustang on Cragar wheels

Hurst Olds in great shape

Back when cheap cars were still fun

This Ferrari looked like a tuner car

Audi has the best-looking lineup these days

M2, fenders are a bit much

Great-looking Honda van

Aventador, not the colour I would pick

Neat old Defender 110

Civic on the way to Calabogie

After 11 years, the M3 had its first breakdown... probably the fuel pump

Another Defender 110, with what seems like a roof tent

GT3 in what Alex called Christmas colours

The Boxster Spyder is a great-looking Porsche

One of 2 CTR's spotted in Deschaillons

This was the other

Super clean E46 on BBS wheels

There are a couple of these Alfa Spiders in the area now

Rare small classic Mercedes

Nice colour 911 Turbo

The S2 Elise still looks great

QP and 997 Turbo

Very clean Jeep CJ

One of the only track cars in Outremont

The 488 is a great-looking car

First time I have seen an 812 Superfast up close. It's lovely.

,,, but you don't have to spend a ton to have a stylish and fun car.

Track car? Project car?

Unexpected spot: an MGTD on my street

Two brown German cars

Nice 300ZX on cool wheels

AMG GTR in a loud green

Cool wheels on this F10 5-series

Quite rare XK-RS

FC RX7, not a real Turbo though

Clean and stock-looking Lexus IS300... the design has aged well

Another dead engine in the Civic

The car when it was still functional

It happened again... almost a year after we thought all the oiling issues in the H-series engine were resolved (by the oil accumulator and special oil pan), a few laps at Calabogie in the dry were all it took to kill yet another engine in the Civic. I was at Calabogie on June 18th for a race school and was participating in the track day on the 19th when it happened. 

To make matters worse, when I called Canadian Tire roadside assistance for a tow, they refused service because I was at a race track. I was pretty pissed off because I had successfully called from a track many times before with no issue, and I had no other plan to get home. I ended up leaving the car at the track, with the nice people at Powersports, who operate a lovely race shop on the premises.

I wasn't sure if I would have the car fixed there, but I planned to figure that part out afterwards. Choo offered me a session in his Civic, which is of the same generation as mine, but already has a K20 swap with a 6-speed transmission and LSD. I was not pushing his car anywhere near its potential, but I could feel that the car itself was fast. I am not really jealous of the power the K-swapped cars are making, but rather of the reliability of that performance. 

I was going to have to figure out what to do with my car and the rest of my season. There were three options for what type of engine to install: 

a) My spare H-series... with the result that I would simply avoid ever coming back to Calabogie, since the oil problem would still be there for certain tracks;

b) Some kind of B-series: not too expensive for a non-Type-R, but less power than the H-series;

c) Bite the bullet and spend the money for a K-swap. These engines are affordable, but the initial installation is not.

I rode home with Choo, who was pulling his Civic on a dolly, and we got to talking. During the 3-hour ride home, we hatched a plan: he could install a K-swap in my car in his spare time. I would take my time to find good deals on all the necessary parts. I knew it would be a tough sell to convince Alex to spend a couple of thousand dollars more on my Civic. However, it was not that hard to convince her once I explained that I accepted that my 2021 season was now over and that I would focus on 2022. Given that I hadn't bought any tires or much of anything for the car this year, the 2021 savings would at least partially offset the cost of the swap.

The Civic on Choo's dolly

I also managed to borrow Choo's van and dolly and pick up the car this week, so it's already at Choo's shop. I have made arrangements to pick up an Acura RSX Type S engine and transmission in the next few days (in Toronto) and then it will be a matter of buying the smaller parts like engine mounts, header, etc. Although it's nor as fun to work on cars as drive them, at least working on the project with someone like Choo, who is very upbeat and knows what he's doing, will take some of the sting out of cutting the season short. Stay tuned for updates on this project!

Short evening at ICAR

I headed out to ICAR yesterday for Tuesday evening lapping. The weather forecast looked good, but there were a few dark clouds not too far away from the track. I arrived just as a green group session was about to begin. There was no way I would make the session (I had to get my bracelet, buy lap tickets and empty the car). I didn't feel like waiting an hour before the next green session, so I asked to run in the yellow group. The attendant said it was no problem as long as I followed the yellow group rules. I only pass with point-by's and in one of the three straights even in the green group, so this was not a problem for me. I lined up behind an E92 BMW non-M (license plate STIG) and a WRX STi with a big wing (there are a lot of big wings at ICAR...). There were a bunch of cars behind me, but, apart from an M2, nothing that looked super quick. The quick cars and drivers that usually pass me had all gone out in the green group.

Based on the way the car had felt last week, I had dropped 4psi of pressure from the front tires to see if the front end would bite better. I could tell after the warmup laps that this had not been the right call. The front end wasn't gripping well even after my 2 warmup laps. The front end started to feel more planted after a few laps, but that was when I caught up to the STi, who never gave me a point-by, despite the fact that the car was clearly holding me up. I guess egos are bigger in the yellow group, as I never get stuck behind a slower car in the green group. As a result, I only managed a mid-1:48. I would have dipped into the 1:47's with some clear track, but I don't think I would have beaten my personal best time. I measured the tire temperatures after the session and, sure enough, the fronts were only at 34 psi when these tires like to operate at 36 psi. I will bump up the pressures 2 or 3 psi next time. While I was on track, Pat had come by with his dad and son. We had planned to meet and I assumed that he would want to drive, but his ribs were sore from his recent karting exploits and he didn't feel like driving the car. As a result, after a 20-minute break, I strapped in again. I was ready to head out in the green session when it started to rain, which was strange, since it was still quite sunny out. I hesitated, but decided not to go out when it seemed the track was getting pretty wet. At some point I will have to see how ICAR is in the rain, but I did not feel like experimenting on a semi-wet track. I decided to pack up the car and head home early.

Despite only getting in one session, I was satisfied with my evening. Knock on wood, but the car really finally seems reliable now. If I can string together a few sessions, I think I can lay down a new personal best lap time. I look forward to trying!

Civic after a shower

Rain + sunlight

Huge swan neck wing on the silver Miata

Civic Si on track in the wet... he had more courage than I did.

The M3 at the end of the rainbow

A couple of cool Hondas

Dodge 600 with the license plate "K CAR"

This GT3 RS is a regular

Very strange weather

First test of my new shift knob... I like it!

Mazen's first Ferrari

Regular readers will know that my buddy Mazen has some pretty cool cars: a BMW M3 CS and a manual Porsche 991 GT3. Even with this great line-up, Mazen had been looking for a fun car that would also be a (relatively) solid investment. He sent me a few listings, but the one that I really liked was this black 2004 Ferrari 360 Modena. It was a great-looking car: it had optional rare Ferrari wheels that look so much better than the regular ones, and a Capristo exhaust system. Most importantly: it had a gated 6-speed manual transmission.

When he went to see the car, the seller mentioned that it needed a few repairs, even though it was generally in very good condition. We were a bit surprised someone would try to sell the car without repairing it, since the issues (bushings, shocks, belts) were relatively minor. Mazen assured me that he had worked out a fair deal including the repairs, but I was a bit skeptical until he told me he had the car, last Friday. I told him he had to bring it by my office to show it to me and he came over. He took me for a short drive (I will drive it at some point in the future) and I was really surprised at how comfortable the ride was on our terrible Montreal roads. It really seemed like a car one could drive every day. I am really impressed with the car. It feels special, it looks and sounds great, it should hold value as there are no more manual Ferraris, and it's not so rare that it will be impossible to get parts. It has the two modifications I would have chosen myself: wheels and an exhaust. It reminds me of my M3 in that it's one of the last cars of the mainly analog era. It's an exciting car and I look forwards to seeing it more in the future.

Maybe the car's best angle

The paint is in amazing condition

Awesome profile

The car looks at home in Old Montreal

So shiny!

Picking me up for a ride

Optional shields on the front fenders

Carbon fiber exhaust tips

Rear view