Race car is fixed... sort of.

I finally got to drive my Civic on track yesterday after several weeks of waiting for repairs to the transmission. I missed the Mosport lapping day organized by our club a few days ago as the Honda dealership sent me the wrong parts. I even bought a second transmission to install temporarily, but it turned out to be a dud. I finally got to try out the car yesterday and it was performing quite well before the clutch began acting up. 

I managed my best ever lap, a 1:00.908. It's not that much faster than last year's best time, but it was 27 degrees out and I was running on some older Toyo RA1's only 205 mm wide. I think that in optimal conditions, I should finally be able to break the one minute barrier. 

I also got to go out for a few hot laps in a student's Scion FR-S. I had been hoping to drive one of these cars and I lucked out yesterday. I can't remember the last time I had so much fun on track in a bone stock car. The car had the stock wheel/tire setup and the traction control was off. The level of power is just fine for me. There is not enough power to get into real trouble on the throttle, so I was able to drive it almost like a front-wheel-drive when it came to mashing the gas pedal coming out of second-gear corners. I am not much of a rear-drive specialist when it comes to on-track driving, but it feels as if with this car, that wouldn't matter. The over all pleasantness-to-drive factor was definitely there. It felt like driving a slighty more powerful and stiffer NB Miata, or a lighter RX8 (with a bit less power). The top-end power does not feel much different from the mid-range (compared to my vtec Honda, of course) but the engine seems to pull evenly and does not feel too harsh at high rpm.

The pedals were OK for heel and toe. Weirdly, the shift knob began to come unscrewed at one point while I was on track. The seats are really quite good and grip well for OEM. It surely helped that they are not leather. The owner told me that there is only one spec for now in Canada: power windows, a/c, cruise, no sunroof, no leather. The interior quality is pretty good, like many modern Asian cars, but nothing special. The stereo is not molded into the dash, so you can easily replace it with something aftermarket, which I think must be pretty rare these days.

I think this is a great buy for someone who wants a pleasant new performance car that can be used for the occasional track outing unmodified. If I had one of these as my back-up track car, I think I would probably keep it totally stock.

Alex and I went on another mini vacation last weekend, to the Baskatong reservoir and Mont Laurier area. We stayed in a lovely B&B and swam in a cool mountain stream, as well as the reservoir itself. It's easy to forget that there are some pretty nice places to see here in Quebec.

Other than that, there are still a ton of really cool cars on the road in Montreal this summer:

  

  

Cool cars spotted:

Aston Martin V8 Vantage

Aston Martin DB7

Aston Martin Vainquish S

Rolls Royce Ghost

Rolls Royce Phantom

Rolls Royce Corniche

Bentley Arnage Black Label 

Lamborghini Gallardo

Tesla Roadster

Nissan Skyline R32 GTR

Nissan GTR

Ferrari 360

Audi R8

Audi RS4

Porsche 996 GT3

Porsche 997 GT3

Porsche 997 Turbo

Porsche 993 turbo

Ferrari 458

Ferrari 458 Spyder

Ferrari 348 Spyder

Ferrari F430 Spyder

Ferrari California

Ferrari 599

Euro BMW M3 (e30)

Lotus Elise

Jaguar XKR

Jaguar XFR

AMG C63 Black

AMG C63 Coupe

Amg C63

AMG E55 Wagon

Triumph TR8

Shelby GT350

BMW Z8

New BMW M5

BMW M6 (e24)

Maserati GT

Maserati Quattroporte

Not much car stuff going on, but summer is still pretty great!

I can't say that I've been too busy to post here, but I have been out and about a lot trying to enjoy the last summer for Alex and I before the baby arrives! We went on a great little 3-day trip to the Charlevoix area last weekend. It was extremely relaxing and, even though it's only 300 km away, it really felt like a trip to a faraway land.

This is Alex in front of the B&B where we stayed. 

The lovely artisanal bakery where we stopped

The bakery's mill

Our lovely breakfast 

I have had a few mechanical issues with the Civic and have not been getting any track time. There was a problem with the transmission where it would not stay in gear in 3rd or 5th. I ordered a bunch of parts to fix it after Marc removed it and Pascal inspected it. I was hoping it would be fixed before our club's Mosport track day next week, but the parts still have not arrived. I had to resort to plan B, which involved buying a spare transmission to install temporarily. I also brought Marc a new steering rack (2, actually, since the first one was the wrong model) to be installed. The car should be ready...

Alex is now 7.5 months pregnant. She is still managing to enjoy summer and we go for many walks. Her endurance is almost astounding!

There have been an almost unbelievable amount of cool cars on the roads these days, including this ultra-rare Ferrary 550/575. I don't know if Ferrari ever officially made this car!

I also got a few phone photos of some other interesting cars, as can be seen here.

Cool cars spotted:
New BMW M5 (x2)
BMW 1M (x2)
BMW 635 Csi
Aston Martin Vantage (x3+)
Aston Martin DBS
Aston Martin DB9
Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 1, 3, 8, 10
Lamborghini Gallardo
Ferrari California (x3+)
Ferrari F430 (x3+)
Ferrari 360 (x3+)
Ferrari 550/575 (x3+)
Ferrari F355 (x2)
Ferrari 599
Ferrari Testarossa
Lamborghini Gallardo
Mazda RX7 twin turbo
Toyota Supra twin turbo
Toyota MR2 mk.1
Lexus IS-F
Maserati GT (x3+)
Maserati Quattroporte (x3+)
AMG C63, C63 Coupe, E63. SL63, SLS63, G55
AMG C63 Black (!)
Porsche 997 turbo
Porsche 993
Porsche 964
Porsche 928
Alfa Romeo Spyder (x3)
MGB
Audi RS4
Audi RS6
Audi Ur-S4
Audi R8 (x3+)
Rolls-Royce Ghost
Rolls-Royce Phantom
Dodge Viper SRT/19 (x3+)
Lotus Elise
Saleen Mustang
Shelby GT500

Busy times

It’s been a busy time, with many automotive activities and baby preparations. I have been driving the Civic as much as possible. Marc was able to rapidly change my power steering pump and fix the exhaust leak, so I was back on track without missing any events. On June 4^th, I managed to match my best lap time from last year at St-Eustache, a 1:01.2.

On Friday the 8^th, I went to the Formula 1 practice sessions at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve with Rob. Although we got soaked, we had a pretty good time.

The following day, I headed to Tremblant to instruct with the BMW Club of Quebec. The car was quick and I was driving with confidence right from the start, as I had been there only 2 weeks before. The lap times were similar to those of the race weekend (best of 1:58.6) but after a couple of sessions, I began to see power steering fluid accumulating in the driver foot well. I guess the power steering rack could not take the pressure from the new pump. Other than that, the car performed well and I had a fun weekend.

On Monday the 11^th, I was lapping when I lost all drive. It turned out I had broken an axle. I was about to call CAA for a tow when Pascal offered to change it on the spot. I could not believe it… it took him about 15 minutes and I did not even miss a single session on track. In my last session, I managed a 1:01.168, my best lap ever, although still far off what I should be doing. I was having more and more trouble getting the car into gear though, and I decided to again bring the car to Marc so we can first replace the shifter, then see if the synchros are OK.

Here is a pic of Pascal doing a lightning-fast axle change on my Civic:

Of course, with Grand Prix weekend, there were many, many exotic cars to be seen on the streets of Montreal, including such rarities as a Ferrari 599 GTO and a Bugatti Veyron. I saw a couple of Scion FRS’s and the styling is really nothing special. I also saw a Fiat 500 Abarth and, although I’m sure it’s a great little car, it looks virtually identical to other versions of the 500.

Cool cars spotted:

  

BMW Z8
BMW Z4M Coupe

BMW M6 (1988)

BMW 1M

Rolls-Royce Phantom

Ferrari FF

Ferrari 458

Ferrari F430

Ferrari F355

Ferrari 360

Ferrari 599

Ferrari California

Ferrari 599 GTO (!)

Audi R8 V10

Lexus ISF

Maclaren MP4-12C

Porsche 997 GT3 RS

Porsche Boxster Speedster

Porsche 996 GT3

Porsche 997 Turbo

Maserati GT

Maserati Quattroporte

Bugatti Veyron (!)

Aston Martin DB7

Aston Martin DB9

Scion FRS

Saab Turbo X

AMG C63

AMG E63

AMG G55

AMG SL63

AMG CLS63

Nissan GTR

Isuzu Vehi-Cross

Toyota Supra TT

It feels like summer is here!

I’ve been quite busy and haven’t had much time to post lately. At least I have been driving my car again!

When Pat finished my engine swap in the Civic, I took the car to Sajan’s shop, Synoptic Tuning, for a dyno tune. The numbers did not disappoint, as the new engine made 184 whp.

I lent my car to Pierre and Jam for the SPC road race at St-Eustache, which was to be held at the same time as the ASE time attack. Pierre and Jam would do their runs, then swap on my race tires so I could go out for my own runs. They each managed a top-10 finish with the Civic, but my own lap times were disappointing. Also, Pierre managed to scrape the wall and leave a few nice scratches on the righ side of the car (he has offered to pay for repairs). I was personally hoping to dip into the 59-second range, but my best lap was a 1:01.7. It didn’t help that the vtec was not engaging at the correct RPM (this would later be corrected by Sajan).

After that unsatisfying day, Pascal convinced me to enter the car at last weekend’s Spring Classic at Tremblant. This event is the subject of my previous, more detailed post. Suffice it to say, the car performed well, but it sure puffs a lot of smoke when I release the gas pedal!

I went out to Monday lapping before yesterday and still could not go faster than 1:01.7. I compared the data to last year’s laps, and the car is not significantly faster at the end of the straights. I don’t know if I’m still making 184 whp, or if I screwed something up. The car is presently at Marc’s and hopefully, he will be able to figure out what’s going on after fixing my power steering. At least I got to drive a C6 Corvette ZR1 for a few laps. The power of that car is simply insane! It must be the most powerful car I have ever driven, with 638 hp. 

Other than that, the weather has been pretty great and it feels like summer is already here. Alex and I are quite busy at home making preparations for the baby in August, and I will take a weekend off from racing to do some baby shopping and assemble a mountain of furniture from Ikea.

Alex with a Princess Cake (eaten by Vince) at Ikea

My next track event will be the BMW school at Tremblant on June 9th and 10th.

Cool cars spotted:

Early Porsche 911

Aston Martin Vainquish

Aston Martin DB9

Ferrari F430

Porsche 997 Turbo S

Porsche 968

Mercedes 190e 2.3-16

AMG C63

AMG C63 Coupe

AMG CLS 63

Lamborghini Gallardo

Audi R8 V10

Audi RS4

C6 Corvette Z06

Rolls-Royce Phantom

At Tremblant:

Porsche 997 GT3

Porsche 997 GT3 4.0 (!)

Porsche 997

Porche 997 Turbo

Porsche 944 Turbo

Audi R8 V10

Porsche 993 Turbo

New BMW M5

C4 Corvette ZR1

AMG C63

AMG CLS63

Ferrari 328

Ferrari Mondial

Ferrari 360

Ferrari F355

Lamborghini Diablo (!)

Lotus Elise Supercharged

Lotus Evora

Acura NSX

All these GT3’s were parked near each other in the spectator parking at Tremblant:

  

Tremblant Spring Classic Race Report

Pascal and I decided to sign up for the Spring Classic race weekend at Tremblant. We knew that even if there were not many cars in our class, at least we would be able to race

against each other.

The weekend was made up of a practice session, a qualifying session, three sprint races and a 45-minute “enduro”, so there was a good amount of track time available. By the time we were both registered, we realized that we were the only two cars in the GTE class, for cars that lap between 1:55 and 2:00. The weekend was turning into another Vince vs. Pascal type event!

Last year, my best lap was a 2:02, but that was with my old motor. The new motor made quite a few more horsepower and I was curious to see how this would affect lap times.

Pascal was 2 seconds per lap faster than me in the practice and qualifying, down in the 1:58 range. Of course, we qualified before last and last. It’s hard to keep up with GT3’s, Vipers, Radicals and M3’s!

We lined up for the first race and I managed to get the jump on Pascal in turn 2 and make the pass. I kept him behind me for the first lap, but he draft-passed me at the end of the straight on the second lap and then gradually pulled away. I was unable to keep up. I though I caught a lucky break when a full-course yellow came out, as I would be able to catch right up to Pascal, but Pascal would have none of it, and we kept racing for a while until we finally caught up to the group being led around by the pace car. The race ended under yellow, and that was that. Pascal 1, Vince 0.

Here is a video of that race:

 

It looked like the next race would be a bit more fun for us, as the G70-class semi-vintage cars would be running with us. This weekend, the G70 class was made up entirely of E30 M3’s and Porsche 944’s. This meant that there would be more cars running at around our pace. Sure enough, when I arrived at the grid, I wasn’t in last place… there were several cars behind me, some because they were slower, some because they had not put in a qualifying lap. There were also two cars between Pascal and me, so it would be harder to get ahead of him. Harder does not mean impossible: I had another great start (my video camera battery had died at this point, but Pascal has some video) and managed to pass several cars in the turn 1-2-3 combo, including Pascal, and I even managed to put one of the 944’s between us. I was quite excited about this, and Pascal was busy fighting with a 944, which meant he was too busy to catch up to me. Eventually, the 944 tried an insane pass on Pascal in corners 1-2 on the outside, in the marbles, and wiped out. Luckily, the car did not crash. Pascal then slowly began to reel me in. After a few laps, he was quite close behind me, but it’s not that easy to pass a car with almost exactly the same horsepower. What made matters worse for Pascal was that there was a standing yellow flag covering the second half of the straight, thereby removing Pascal’s best chance at passing me. I wanted the race to be over, as I was narrowly hanging onto my lead. I saw the “one lap to go” signal, and just focused on running a very clean lap. The yellow was still there on the straight, so I did not worry about him passing me at the end of the straight. I managed to hold on and take the checker, less than a second in front of Pascal. That last lap was my best of the weekend, a 1:58.6. After all the DNF’s, we ended up 12th and 13th out of 21 cars. Pascal 1, Vince 1.

We drove home to Montreal together and I watched Pascal’s video in the car as we chatted about the day. We headed back to the track Sunday for the final two races. 

Alex with me and the two Civics

For race 3, I decided to try some Toyo RA1’s instead of my Nitto’s. This turned out to be a mistake, as the tires had less grip and one of them was not properly balanced, leading to an annoying vibration. Also, one of my power steering hoses had come unbolted on Saturday and I had no power steering fluid. I thought Carl or Kevin would arrive with some more fluid, but after an evening at Pascal’s, neither of them made it to the track in time. Running without power steering actually made me smoother with my inputs in corners 1 and 2, and I think I actually improved my line there in race 3. It was cooler in the morning and I felt the car was making more power. Unfortunately, I was no match for Pascal, and he just pulled away and left me for dead. My poor tire choice and average driving meant that I had wasted a chance to dip down into the 1:57 range. Pascal was well ahead of me by the end of the race and had managed a lap in the 1:56’s. Pascal 2, Vince 1.

For race 4, I had added power steering fluid (thanks Kevin) and put the Nitto’s back on. It would not be enough. I did not have a great start, as I got caught up with faster cars that were somehow starting behind me. Pascal was again slowly pulling away and I again found myself alone. I experimented with different gears in different corners, and was driving like I was at a lapping day. A few laps before the end, I was somehow catching up to Pascal. It turned out he had a wheel bearing that was starting to go. I unfortunately ran out of laps before I could get close enough to attempt a pass. Pascal 3, Vince 1.

All in all, it was a fun and not too stressful weekend. If Pascal had not been there, it would have been quite boring for me.

When the race was over, I didn’t even change my tires or anything… I just loaded up the car, softened the shock settings, and drove home. I am still amazed with the Civic: I can thrash it on the track in wheel to wheel racing, then just drive it home. It’s a pretty amazing car, and I look forward to seeing what else it can do this summer.

Here are some pictures from Flagworld.com:

Civic on track

One of the only cars with a license plate

Chasing Pascal

Getting lapped by some single seaters

Keeping Pascal behind me

Entering the track

About to be passed!

When will I get to drive my race car again???

Last Friday, my men’s team won game 2 of our playoff series. I didn’t play a great game offensively, but I contributed on defence. Winner take all this Friday evening!

I was back at the track yet again Saturday instructing with the BMW Club of Quebec. Again, I had no car. The Civic was almost ready, but I did not have my new header yet, so Pat could not complete the job.  I did get to go out for a few minutes in Amélie’s nicely modified E36 M3. I forgot to shut off the traction control, so I was not as “quick” as I might have been. I did get to enjoy several laps chasing and being chased by a Porsche Cayman R. There were some pretty nice cars there, including a very rare Porsche 911 GT3 4.0.

GT3 4.0 RS

A rare M535i

1M

E30 M3

Alex and I dropped by Rob’s place and it was a good opportunity to photograph our cars, as they were all clean at the same time.

E46 x 2

Rob and Alex and her baby bump

Both clean

On Monday, it was back to St-Eustache for ASE’s lapping night. Sadly, I still did not have a car. AARRGHHH! There were some neat cars on hand, as usual.

Viper

Old person's Vette?

I should have my Civic back tomorrow. There is a time attack at St-Eustache Monday and I REALLY want to be in it! Also, Jam and Pierre may borrow the car for the road race being held the same day. If all goes well with the car, I will probably enter the Spring Classic at Tremblant the following weekend. Stay tuned!

A rare Mercedes 500E

Cool cars spotted:

At BMW day:

E30 M3

E24 M535i

Porsche 997 GT3 RS

Porsche 997 GT3 RS 4.0 (!)

Porsche 928 S4

At St-Eustache:

Corvette C6 ZR1

Acura NSX

BMW Z4M Coupe

Dodge Viper SRT10

On the street :

Ferrari F430

Ferrari 360

Maserati GT

Bentley Continental

Volkswagen A2 Golf Gti 16v

Volkswagen Golf R

Volkswagen Corrado

Porsche 911 Carrera (1980’s)

Porsche 991

Porsche 997 turbo

Mercedes 500E

AMG C63

AMG C63 Coupe

AMG E63

Audi R8 V10

Audi Ur-S6

BMW M5

Flat Grey E92 BMW M3

Nissan Pulsar Gti-R

Alfa Romeo Spyder

A lot of time spent at the track...

Apart from my failed attempt to run a 12-hour enduro a few days ago, there have been other car-related events going on.

First, there was ASE Lapping Club’s first Monday night lapping. The weather was clear and there were dozens of cars. The evening went smoothly and I think there were quite a few happy campers. Here is a neat pic that shows how popular M3’s have become at our events.

M3-M3-AMG-M3-M3

The Civic is still awaiting its new engine. Unfortunately it will not be ready before the BMW Club of Quebec track day at St-Eustache this Saturday. Here is a rare pic of both my cars together.

A rare pic of both cars together

On Friday night, my basketball team played in the first game of the finals. After being down 28 points in the second half, we came back part of the way to lose by 7. We have to play quite a bit better in game 2 this Friday, or the season will be over.

The next morning, I woke up at 4:30 am to head to Calabogie for the second AISA school. I did not have a track car, but I made arrangements to go out for a few laps in this:

It’s a Formula Mazda powered by a carburetted 13b rotary engine. It weighs something like 1150 pounds. I took it very easy during my few laps on the track, but I was still able to understand why people love formula cars. The car I sat in after lunch felt huge and heavy.

Here is a video of my slow but exciting laps:

 

There was once again some rare machinery on display at the track. Here is a pic of maybe the rarest car there, a Panoz Esperante:

There were other neat cars at the Calabogie school:

After a full weekend of track activity (and a trip to the dentist), I headed back to St-Eustache for our second lapping evening of the year. The weather was beautiful and again, there were many cool cars out there:

   

It doesn’t feel all that great to go to the track every few days without my track car. I hope I will get it back quite soon…

Cool cars spotted:

Aston Martin Vantage

BMW M6

Audi R8

Audi Ur-S4

Corvette Z06 (C5)

Corvette Z06 (C6)

Ferrari 599

Ferrari California

Ferrari F430

Ferrari F360

Porsche 914

Porsche 928 GTS

Porsche 996 turbo

Porsche 997 turbo

Porsche 993 turbo

Nissan GT-R

Nissan Pulsar Gti-R

Maserati Quattroporte

Alpina B7

AMG SL63

AMG G55

AMG C63 Coupe

AMG SLS convertible

Lexus IS-F

Lotus Exige

Volkswagen Golf R

Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 1