Jules agrees Nascar is boring.

The baby is here!

The baby arrived on August 16th at 9:44 pm, happy and healthy! Alex did extremely well and is recovering remarkably quickly.

Here are a couple of early photos of Jules Alexandre Basile.

Still no baby, so here are some photos of the race car!

Here are some of JAG's awesome photos from Saturday's time attack at St-Eustache. Enjoy!

Still no baby! Alex is due in the next couple of weeks, and we are pretty excited (and maybe a little nervous).

While I am waiting for the arrival of our little bundle of joy, let me take a minute to comment on some new releases in the automotive world, which can now be found on the streets of Montreal.

Scion FR-S: what can I say, now that I have driven one, I like it more than ever. I also like the design more and more (except for the wheels), because it really sits low to the ground.

Fiat 500 Abarth: the Abarth is undeniably cool. Who would not want a turbo 500? Unfortunately, it does not look any lower than the standard 500 and I still think the 500 is both too high off the ground and has weird proportions.

Hyundai Veloster Turbo: I already loved the look of the Veloster. Adding a turbo was a great idea, but I think they might have pushed the “look at me” styling a bit too far with that massive grille.

Mercedes SL: they seemed to have ruined the proportions of the car with the new nose. A shame, as I’m sure it’s a delightful car. The new SLK is even worse.

New Porsche Boxster: the Boxster was already a great car and the second generation was quite good-looking. The third generation blows it away in the styling department. It’s as if they found and fixed everything that was remotely wrong with the design.

New Porsche 911: these are becoming more common on our roads. I still have trouble telling the difference between the 991 and 997 from some angles. It seems a bit lower and wider looking than the 997, which cannot be a bad thing.

New BMW 3-series: another car that has barely changed visually, except to become a bit bigger. I understand BMW though… why mess with a good thing?

The race car received a new clutch before last weekend’s lapping session and was again performing well, with lap times close to my personal best. Then, the engine conked out while driving on the track and I coasted in. I could not restart the car and it was towed to Marc’s house.

The Civic once again leaves the track on the back of a tow truck.

Fortunately, it turned out to be only the distributor rotor and not a real engine problem. I have since returned to the track last Monday and again managed to lap in the 1:00.9 range. I will participate in our club’s time attack at St-Eustache this Saturday and I hope to shave off another couple of tenths of a second (if it doesn’t rain), but I don’t want to get my hopes up, as I haven’t been able to perform really well under the pressure situation of a time attack. The engine is still consuming quite a bit of oil and this will have to be addressed before winter. I’m glad that I am at least getting some track time before the baby comes.

Alex and I spent last weekend at Île d’Orléans, where one can find some of Quebec’s nicest villages. It was a great weekend, apart from quite a few bed bug bites. I know where I will NOT be staying next time we are there!

Here are two photos of Alex on Île d'Orléans at 8 months of pregnancy, as well as a nice one of the M3.

Another photo from Monday night lapping: the best of Japan

Cool cars spotted:

Ferrari 360

Ferrari F430

Ferrari 458

Ferrari 550

Ferrari 599

Ferrari California

Mini Cooper S Works

Lotus Elise

Lotus Evora

Maserati GT

Maserati Quattroporte

Bentley Continental Supersports

Bentley Arnage Red Label

Porsche 997 Turbo

Porsche 997 GT3

Porsche 930

Porsche 968

MGB

MG Midget

Triumph Spitfire 1600

Mercedes 500e

Aston Martin V8 Vantage

Aston Martin DB9

Acura NSX

Rolls Royce Phantom

Rolls Royce Ghost

Alfa Romeo GTV 2000

AMG C63 Coupe

AMG C63

AMG CLS63

BMW M6

BMW new M5

BMW 633

BMW 1M

BMW 2002

Dodge Viper

Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 1 

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