A Beautiful Day at Tremblant

The Civic in its natural environment

Yesterday I brought the Civic out to Tremblant for some track time at a BMW club of Quebec high performance driver education event. I have to thank Alex for being extremely understanding, in that yesterday was also her birthday, yet she was totally fine with the idea of me being gone all morning and half the evening!

Pat had been working on the car for a couple of days (one thing he did was remove 40 pounds of non-functioning air conditioning parts!) but he only told me the morning before the event that my front brake pads were toast... I reorganized my day and headed over to Perry Performance to get some Hawk pads from Carl. I went for a real race pad, the DTC-60, since the "street/race" pads I installed this spring really did not last (although they performed well). The DTC-60's performed flawlessly right out of the box.

The car had a small recurring issue where it would misfire at certain RPM... it almost felt like fuel starvation. The issue came and went in the first couple of sessions, which made me more hesitant to really lean on the car, as it is quite unsettling when the throttle cuts out when you are trying to accelerate and keep the rear of the car firmly planted.

I had a great time on track and ended up running most of six sessions on track. I was not able to beat my personal best time set last year, which may be due to the warmer temperature affecting horsepower, or to my driving conservatively. When I compare the data to last year, I can see that my top speed at the end of the straight was lower yesterday by 3-5 km/h...

Clearly, I had one of the lowest powered cars there, so I wasn't really keeping up with the other instructors' cars. That's OK, I am having a good time just being there. Still, I would really like a fresh engine, which makes all the horsepower it's supposed to make and doesn't burn a half liter of oil every session. Othwerise, I am happy with the ergonomics, the handling, the braking, the safety equipment and the general appearance of the car. As a project, the car is almost "complete".

I also felt the satisfaction of driving to and from the track... I love that my car still has a license plate and a radio and is functional as a street car. I also love to see other cars from the event on the road home (I drove a while with a lovely red E46 M3 on the way home).

Apart from the misfire and the oil consumption, the car was great. I had a nice exchange with an E36 M3 in the final session and I dropped the car at ICAR on the way home so Pat could get in some laps to reward him for his hard work on the car.

I got to complete the last leg of the trip home in the much more comfortable Saab, which Pat had driven to ICAR so we could make the exchange. I was home before 7:00 pm, in time to enjoy Alex's birthday dessert. All in all, it was a very satisfying day, despite the less than stellar lap times.

A very cool 280Z on Volk TE37's

One of several cool 80's liveried 944's under a big tent

Cool E30... is it a 335, as the badge says?

1M and E36 M3

GT3 RS and M4 CS

Bennet's E30 M3

Another of the 944 crew

Rare at the track: an R32 Skyline

One of the cleanest older Subaru's you will find

The M4 CS looks like a serious track car... it passed me several times

The guy who had the Fox-bodied Mustang last year now has this Ecotec-powered Exocet... it looks like a super fun track car

One of several E46 M3's

Another view of two of the newest track cars on hand

My neighbour's M2 beside the Civic

Nice-looking Cayman

The Civic basking in the sun

Summer is in full swing and it's a busy time

In the month since I last wrote, I have had a lovely 6-day vacation to Lisbon with Alex, been to a few lapping evenings and been to the country house, both for leisure and to work on it, on several occasions. Summer is flying by. 

The Civic needs a bit of work, but it's been reliable and requires nothing major. Pat and I went to a Wednesday evening at ICAR and I beat my best time from last year, clocking a 1:56.48. I'm sure I can go quicker, as Pat did a 1:55.15 without much effort.

I went to St-Eustache a couple of times, and it's still a bit frustrating, as the excessive oil consumptiom means that I have to push hard early in the session to clock a good time, because the vtec cuts out a lot in the second half of the session. I came within a tenth of a second of my best lap Monday with a 1:01.81. I was surrounded by Civics and GT86's, which was pretty fun.

Lisbon was fun and relaxing, but it's not exactly overrun with cool or rare cars.

We're pouring a lot of energy into the country house, and it's paying off, as we now have a mostly functional house (3 out of 4 bedrooms are ready, and most other rooms). The humidity in the basement seems to be under control, thanks to a dehumidifier. There is much yet to do, but fewer urgent matters than before. 

Common colour for the M2, it stands out

A student's quick K-powered Civic

Less quick, but still fun

A 1952 Chevy with trailer spotted in Deschaillons

The BMW beside out little barn

An unexciting car with fantastic wheels

I don't know why, but I like the electric Jaguar

Rare and cool: 1M

These new Vantage is becoming quite common. 

Alfa 4C in a loud wrap

 Portugal:

I was suprised to come across these antique Fords in a random garage in Lisbon

The Brera still looks good

So does the Smart Roadster

Surprising spot: vtec LHD CRX

Cool mini in a hipster neighbourhood (LX Factory)

Not just an old Jaguar, a Daimler...

Abarth Esse-esse

A very cool E24 5-series

Mini F1 GP Edition

Another design that's aged well

An MG hot hatch

UMM, the Portuguese Jeep

Seat Cupra

I didn't even know Citroen had a new Mehari...

A stroll down Jean-Talon avenue

I finally managed to have the BMW's air conditioning fixed (using parts generously donated by my racing friend Oktay) and on my way to pick up the car, I ended up walking along the portion of Jean-Talon with a bunch of car-related businesses, including the Ferrari-Maserati dealer. It turns out that there are several other cool businesses on that stretch.

Crazy bunch of cars here, including a Porsche GT2 RS (I think), 2 Mercedes 4x4 squared and a McLaren-Mercedes SLR...

European-focused garage with a bunch of air-cooled Porsches, including 356's and a 993 Turbo

A new BMW 8-series, strangely in front of the Ferrari-Maserati deal

Probably some overflow from EK Performance accross the street... so many cool Porsches there

Even this small garage had a cool Mustang Fastback

Cool old Alfa in Outremont

Early Range Rover

I really like these late Defenders

No new best lap at St-Eustache... but that's OK

Although I have been unable to beat my lap record, I really can't complain. I've made it out to the track several Mondays in a row and the car has been reliable (except that it needs oil added after every session). I got in three sessions on Monday and my best time was a 1:02.2. It was 28 degrees, so that might explain why I felt fast but didn't beat my best time. I really now feel I can lean on the car and trust it to do what I ask of it. 

In between my sessions, I was tasked with an extra special mission: instructing Carl's dad Bernie, who is 89 years old and has never driven on a track. Although Bernie has worked in the automotive industry for decades, he has never tried his hand at track driving. Somehow it came up recently and Carl took the steps to make it happen. He even provided Bernie with a car up to the task: his near-new Civic Type R. I got to drive the car for a couple of laps to show Bernie some reference points (not enough to provide a full review of the car, but I can say it's really fast in a straight line). After Bernie started listening to instructions, things went well and he seemed to really enjoy himself. It was a unique experience.

Last weekend was Grand Prix weekend and there were many exotics on the road, as well as more than a few classics. The most exotic car I saw was a McLaren Senna, and I was surprised at how unimpressive its appearance was. I was more impressed with the Golf GTI in the pictures below.

Carl's Civic Type R 

My Civic between sessions

2WD! Ural

Super clean GTi

A better photo of that new Vantage I saw the other day

Super clean early NSX

A lovely orange McLaren

4x4 Squared

I think the Ferrari 348 has aged well

Jules checking out a rare red M3

You don't see many Fiero's on the road anymore!

The McLaren Senna is much uglier "in person" than I expected...

Porsche had a bunch of cool cars on display again this year... GT2RS

Turbo S

GT3 in a cool colour

The boys on a pedestal

Never seen one of these in Canada before

A rare AMG GTR

Why don't more people put aftermarket wheels on electric cars?