The Link 2009 Summer - Motorsport Club of Ottawa

Transcription

The Link
Motorsport Club of Ottawa
60th Anniversary
Banquet Tickets
Available NOW!
See page 28
On Track
Or Off
The Season is in Full Swing!
12 Hours of Sebring
One Lap of Calabogie Motorsports Park
Five Tips For Better Alignment and Better Racing
Rally Report
MCO Presents the Lanark Highlands Forest Rally
My First Rally
Miscellaneous Rumblings II returns!
Targa Newfoundland School
Spring 2009 Edit ion ▪ Motorspor t C lub of Ottawa ▪ www.m co.org
CONTENTS
06
Lanark Highlands
Forest Rally
Targa Newfoundland
School
29
Five Tips to
Better Alignment
and Better Racing
12 09
12 Hours
Of Sebring
One Lap
At Calabogie Motorsports Park
My
First
Rally
19
22
15
Miscellaneous Rumblings II
4. Rally Report 8. Bump Draft 28. Traffic
Cover: Calabogie Motorsports Park
Photo and Design: Bryan Olynyk
MCO Executive 2008 - 2009
Board of Directors ▪ [email protected]
President - Pat McDermott ▪ [email protected]
Vice-President - Luc Saumure ▪ [email protected]
Club Director - Jean Mac Gillivray▪ [email protected]
Club Director - Craig Lee ▪ [email protected]
Club Director - Mike Nilson ▪ [email protected]
Club Director - Bill Olders ▪ [email protected]
Past President - Terry Dale ▪ [email protected]
Appointed Officers and Executive Members
General meetings
are held the first Tuesday of
every month, 7pm at:
Louis’ Steak House
1682 Cyrville Road
Ottawa, Ontario
Rally Meetings and
Executive meetings:
Tifosi Clubhouse
523 St Anthony St
(Lower Level)
Ottawa, Ontario
Karting - Pat McDermott ▪ [email protected]
Check the forum
on our website for the
latest meeting dates
Lapping - Chuck Payne ▪ [email protected]
http://www.mco.org
Closed Wheel - Richard Muise ▪ [email protected]
Marshalling Services Rep - Ron Woltman ▪ [email protected]
Open Wheel - Sam Mandia ▪ [email protected]
Rally - Jean MacGillivray ▪ [email protected]
Hosted by :
www.emoss.ca
Auto Cross - Don Laberge
SoloSprint - Position available!
Club Merchandise - Position available!
Health and Safety - Position available!
Marketing and PR - Sam Mandia ▪ [email protected]
Membership - Bill Olders ▪ [email protected]
Privacy Officer - Al Gullen ▪ [email protected]
Registrar - Luc Bouchard ▪ [email protected]
Secretary - Position available!
Treasurer - JP Walsh ▪ [email protected]
Historian - Mike Nilson ▪ [email protected]
Link Editor - Bryan Olynyk ▪ [email protected]
Webmaster - [email protected]
Associate Contacts
Ontario Race Director
Cindy Armstrong ▪ 613.489.2725 ▪ [email protected]
Ontario Race Organizers Rep
Mike Nilson ▪ [email protected]
Mail
MCO
PO Box 65006
Merivale Postal Outlet
Ottawa, Ontario
K2G 5Y3
LINK Article Submissions
Editorial Exhaust
The LINK is the official publication of the
Motorsport Club of Ottawa
and is published approximately
six (6) times a year:
BY BRYAN OLYNYK
The opinions expressed in the LINK do not necessarily reflect those of the LINK Editorial Staff
or the Club’s Executive.
First of all, apologies for the long delay
between links. I have excuses. None of
them particularly convincing. I’ll just invoke the old saying ‘better late
than never’ and move on.
Though all efforts are made to
ensure that facts stated in the
articles herein are accurate, the
individual contributors are responsible for the
accuracy of their respective articles.
There has been some superficial progress such as the colour contents
page and the more liberal use of images in the articles, but I have to
say that the real progress is in the articles. Thanks to all the contributors!
[NEW] Photos should be submitted with photo
credits listed in the associated article or within
the photo meta-data (EXIF)
Bryan Olynyk
Link Editor
Submissions can be sent by email to:
[email protected]
Our next issue will be published
July 2009
Yearly LINK Advertising Rates
deadline for submissions
June 31, 2009
Full page with web link $300
Half page with web link $150
Quarter page $70
Business card size $50
Business card size for MCO members FREE!
3 ▪ M o t o r s p o r t C l ub o f O t t a w a
The Link is printed at:
Delta Reprographics
613.594.8899
www.deltarepro.com
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BY RALLY DIRECTOR
Jean MacGillivray
Rally Report
Driving the Rally Roads
It’s springtime, and the Rally Group has already been busy for
months. What are we doing, you ask? I’ll start with a quick rundown:
 Planning for the Lanark Highlands Forest Rally on May 9
 Developing a course on co-driving in stage rallies
 Adding four new licensed HAM radio folks to the MCO list
 Planning for the upcoming road rallies,
Koch held a Saturday morning course for co-drivers on March
28 at the Tifosi Lounge, which attracted 23 students. For some,
it is their first season, so you could see the focus on their faces
as they paid attention to all the information Jane was imparting.
We also have four more licensed HAM radio operators in the
club, who will be put to work at the Lanark Highlands Forest
Rally. These folks took RallySport Ontario’s annual two-day
course in Toronto.
It’s a great feeling to see the talent being developed within the
Rally Group!
the Open Road Rally Series
 Planning for the popular MCO Rallycross series
 Competing in national and regional rallies, rallycrosses and
snowcrosses
And this doesn’t take into account all the prep work and planning that goes into building a car and developing a team! This
flurry of activity includes such things as renewing one’s First Aid
certification and so on, to get that all-important stage rally licence.
I am proud to say that our Rally Group keeps on growing, attracting members from further away. This has translated into
new names from MCO popping up on the entry lists of rallies
such as Rallye Perce-Neige Maniwaki, the new Shannonville
Stages Rally and of course our very own Lanark Highlands Forest
Rally.
On April 4, our rally friends from the Peterborough and the
Kitchener–Waterloo clubs are hosting a first-time tarmac event
next weekend at Shannonville.
At the RallySport Ontario AGM on March 21, I picked up a box of
calendar cards and was proud to see our club represented in
both the open-road and the closed-road series. This is a “first”
for us! These two events are the Lanark Highlands Forest Rally
and the last event of the Open Road Rally series, on November
1, which is part of the provincial open-road series.
I should explain to the uninitiated what the difference is. Openroad rallies are run on public roads at legal speeds. Anyone with
a driver’s licence and road-worthy car can enter these events,
which offer a good way to begin your motorsports career. You
need a driver and navigator. Example: the Open Road Rally series (formerly known as the Summer Night Rallies).
Closed-road rallies require a rally licence and a fully prepared
car and team. These are the caged cars that you see on televised
events, with teams wearing helmets and fire suits. These teams
typically have previous motorsports experience under their belt.
Closed-road rallies, also known as performance or stage rallies,
involve a driver and co-driver. Example: the Lanark Highlands
Forest Rally.
The Open Road Rally series will start at the end of May, beginning with a navigator’s school to be taught by Robert Roaldi.
We’ll be posting information on the Rally forum about when and
where. As was the case last year, the rallies will be held on the
last Wednesday of May, June, July and August, starting from the
Cheshire Cat Pub on the Carp Road / Richardson Side Road, just
north of the Queensway exit. They have been very good to us in
past years, and we appreciate their hospitality! The series will
end on November 1, with the final rally also being an event in
the Ontario Road Rally Championship. We can expect a good
turnout for this one!
We will once again be having rallycrosses at Augusta Motorsport Park, and the organizer will be Greg van Dalen, who did
a great job last year! We’ll let you know when the dates have
been finalized. Greg has work to do, to try to find dates where
the most people can compete during the busy summer season.
Last, is the jewel in the crown for the Rally Group: the 2009 Lanark Highlands Forest Rally! The core committee has been at
work for months on this, and May 9 is coming up quickly. We
have permission from the Lanark Highlands Township Council to
close down a portion of Lavant Mill Road for the rally, and HQ
will be at the Agricultural Hall in McDonalds Corners. Our modest hopes for our inaugural rally have already been exceeded,
and it has become a much-anticipated event. We can accept up
to 25 entries; I’m blown away to say that as of today we are at
23 paid entries!
That’s it for a snapshot of what the Rally Group is doing. If I
don’t get this to the Link editor today, it won’t be included in the
next edition!
Please come out and support the club at our first stage rally!
Visit us at www.lhfr.ca. See you on the rally roads!
To develop new teams, MCO stage rallyists Jane Laan and Mike
Motor spor t Club of Ottawa
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Left: Jaak and Jane Laan
Photo: Tom Hayston / performancerallyimages.com
Above: Vincent Landreville and Chuck Storry
Below: Matthew Manor and Ken Doyle
Photo: Tom Hayston / performancerallyimages.com
The Lanark Highlands Forest Rally:
A Tradition Begins
by Jean MacGillivray
T
his year marks the 60th anniversary of the Motorsport
Club of Ottawa. It also marks a
highlight for the Rally Group, with
our first-ever closed-road rally on
May 9. In all, 24 teams entered the
Lanark Highlands Forest Rally (LHFR),
including a record seven MCO teams.
Thirty-five years ago, the 1974 Word
Championship Rally of the Rideau Lakes was
held in this area. We are proud to build on that
tradition by holding our first regional stage
rally on twisty, technical Lavant Mill Road,
northwest of Perth. Rally HQ was at the
McDonalds Corners Agricultural Hall.
Stage rallying, or performance rallying,
involves closing a gravel- or snow-covered
road and releasing the competitors, one minute apart. Cars are divided into classes and
there are Overall and Novice awards as well.
First overall were the brother-and-sister team
of Nick and Kelly Mathews, who began rallying
in 2008. Second were Chris Martin and Phil
Narini. Both teams ran Open-class Subies. The
MCO team of Martin Walter and Ferdinand
Trauttmansdorff, in their Nissan 1991 240SX,
placed third overall and first in Group 5. I will
long remember the huge hugs and smiles!
Congratulations to MCO teams Jaak and Jane
Laan (4th overall); Vincent Landreville and
Chuck Storry (7th); Matthew Manor and Ken
Doyle (9th); and Matt Waters and Jodie Shay
(10th). Unfortunately, two MCO teams DNF’d:
Jeffrey and Emily Dowell, and Patrick and
Andre Rainville.
We attracted event sponsors HotBits Sports Suspensions and Tonik Motorsports (MCO member Warren
Haywood). MCO member Jerry Dowell, owner of
Whiticar Auto Body in Perth, came on as a stage
sponsor. Otto’s Planet, owned by Otto’s Subaru,
came out with their van and left us with more prizes.
My neighbour, who owns Jameswood Maple, gave us
exceptional prices on maple syrup, so I got some
Top to Bottom: Nick and Kelly Mathew, Chris Martin and Phil Narini ,
Paul Hartl and Steven Laye, Alexandre and Nicholas Ouellette
Photos Courtesy Tom Hayston / performancerallyimages.com
fancy bottles and we gave out maple-syrup awards to
the competitors. You could say they added a distinctive
local flavour to the event!
Thanks to our sponsors, we were able to give prizes to
our incredible workers, who stood out on the stages in a
torrential downpour. Many of our workers were new to
stage rallying and they did themselves proud. One exceptional worker prize was a kayak from Clear Water
Design, courtesy of owner/competitor Ian Crerar. We
did not expect this for our first event!
Speaking of torrential rain, you can imagine what our
service area looked like. It was a total mud-fest! It’s the
first time I’ve ever seen two tow vehicles in a service
area, hooked together in an attempt to extricate a
motorhome that was mired in mud.
For our t-shirts, we developed a LHFR logo based on a
Lancia Stratos, hearkening back to the 1974 WRC event.
Just as production was about to begin, a phone call from
the owner informed me that my “choice” of shades of
green had become just one, dark green, so that’s what
we had. We also made the tees available for purchase
by competitors, which helped our budget. I have a few
left over that will become worker prizes at the next
Open Road Rally TSD.
We could not accommodate spectators at this year’s
LHFR, so we did not advise the Ottawa media of our
event. Our motto this year was, “Keep it safe and simple, and do it well!” However, the local media took an
interest, and the result was well-written, informative
Motor spor t Club of Ottawa
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stories by Jessica Lovell of The Perth Courier and
Gena Gibson of The Lanark Era, plus one story by
Brian Turner of The EMC. Jessica and Gena came out
on rally day and both produced attractive photostories. Jessica was particularly keen to get on the
stage in a rally car, but we could not accommodate
her this year.
The LHFR event also supported the
local community. Thanks to the generosity of our competitors and workers,
we raised $235.50 and 362 items of
non-perishable food for the Lanark
Highlands Food Pantry. This was a terrific donation to give the people of
Lanark, and the vice-chairman of the
Food Pantry was most appreciative!
She happily pointed out the bin of
Above: Miscellaneous shots around service
Below: Contributions to the Lanark Highlands Food Pantry
Photos: Greg VanDalen
Special thanks to those MCO workers who took the
HAM radio and scrutineering courses so they could add
their talent to our event!
After taking over the Rally Group last summer, one of
my first jobs was to meet with Darryl and prepare our
pitch to the Lanark Highlands Township council. A year
later, we’re waiting for the go-ahead for a 2010 LHFR. In
the meantime, we’re going ahead with preliminary planning.
food for school lunches, telling me that she had been down to one item per child,
and now she could put four or five items in each lunch.
She said our donation had made all the difference!
So, how was our first event? An experienced team from
southern Ontario said it was ”Very well done, with a
level of professionalism that I’d normally expect at a
more established event.” An MCO team wrote, “Same
time next year? Twice the distance?”
We’ll need new folks on board for next year, so don’t
hesitate to come forward and get involved. Please contact me at [email protected] if you’d like to find out what
you might do. We’ll be meeting in August to start our
planning. We cannot have a thriving Rally Group without you!!
I would like to acknowledge the LHFR committee,
whose talent and dedication made our event a resounding success. They are: Darryl Malone, organizer; Robert
Roaldi, chief control marshal; Craig Hamm, route master
and clerk of the course; Greg van Dalen, service and registration; Ian O’Halloran, LHFR Webmaster; Alan Ritchie,
safety; and Chris Krepski, scrutineering.
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Bump Draft
BY MCO PRESIDENT
PAT MCDERMOTT
“Let them eat Cake?”
Bump Draft is a new column which we’re affixing to every issue.
Now’s your chance to let people know what you really think!
Send your submissions to [email protected]
I’m fairly knowledgeable about the automotive industry
from a hobbyist’s standpoint. Yesterday, I read an article
regarding the GM/ union’s agreement to keep the company viable. Everyone points to what the unionized workers are giving up. Guess what they’re keeping. ( you’d better be sitting down for this one if you’re not).
Easter Monday, The Friday before Victoria Day, and the
Friday before Labour day which are special paid holidays.
The days they are paid NOT to work between Christmas
and New Years. $2400.00 per year per child subsidy for
care. (I thought you were supposed to pay for that out of
your own salary). Car purchase discount up to $2,600.00
extended also to retirees. $100,000.00 restructuring payment including a $35,000.00 vehicle voucher. 50/30 and
out pension plan with $3500.00 per month and up payments. (My company’s been trying to get that since the
seventies. Too damn expensive to fund). Some of their
“spa” days, not all. 10 years of service and over still get 4
weeks holidays. Finally, they’ll still be making $30 bucks an
hour and up plus lots of overtime….. for screwing on fenders?
Look people, we’re way past the parts companies spinoffs
of GM going under and all the dealerships closing blah
blah. The dealership things going to happen anyway.
General Motors is so fat anything they do or say now
smacks of that very famous quote “let them eat cake”.
There’s only one way to fix this. If chapter 11 is declared
all collective agreements, policies, procedures, and directives as well as benefits agreements are off the table. Everyone starts with “you get to work 2080 hours a year and
oh yeah, you have a job….maybe”. Everything else is renegotiated. Everything! And that puts an incompetent Marie
Antoinette management and their bad child union out of
the picture.
I loved General Motor’s products, especially my three Corvettes, but how can anyone see their way to bailing this
company out under these conditions. They don’t get it
(figuratively) and therefore, they shouldn’t get it (literally).
Oh, and don’t get me going on Chrysler.
The business reports state that Subaru is one of a few
companies that is almost completely unaffected by this
automotive situation. Why is that? It’s because it’s a company that lives within its means and is well managed.
Anybody out there besides me have a problem with all of
In April of 2006 I was working a booth at the Ottawa car
that stuff in a company that’s bleeding 5 million dollars a
show and discussing General Motors going under when I
day and crying for a bailout loan?
was approached by a man who said he was a GM dealer in
Quebec. He heartily agreed that I was right and it was goOk, I’m not a rocket scientist but what’s up with this? And ing to happen. That was 4 years ago. Who the hell couldn’t
this company wants you and I to lend them tons of money see this coming.
when even they’re own auditors Deloite and Touche just
the other day concluded that GM is pretty much sunk? No
By the time you read this we could probably see these
damn wonder after you read the above. I thought the “jet companies still rummaging around bleeding off governin for the meeting” was a bit gauche but this other stuff is ment money (read yours) for severances and payoffs. I
nuts.
hope not. That’s just my opinion, like it or not.
Did you know that 5 years ago the largest mean income
for any one city in Canada was $87,000.00 and guess
Pat McDermott.
where it was? Oshawa it was. That figure is mean. 50 percent of people made a hell of a lot more than that. If this is
all GM and their union has to offer I certainly can’t condone any bailout. Can you?
BY MCO MEMBER
JAMES BERGERON
James is an Ottawa-based
automotive journalist, and
editor of CarTalkCanada
Audi was providing me with VIP access to
the race, but I wasn’t the only MCO VIP
member present. Our very own Terry
Dale was hard at work in the race control
tower. After a few hours of schmoozing
with Audi; actually getting my job complete for the trip (I was there to drive the
new Audi Q5) and after having checked
out some of the sights and sounds of the Sebring International Raceway I snuck into the race control tower.
Surprisingly if you act like you know where you are going people just assume you should be going there…
12 Hours of Sebring
P
erhaps I have been a little spoiled, sitting here by
the pool at my Hotel in Orlando – 30-degree sun
beating down on my laptop and me. I realize it is not
everybody that gets a chance to head down to Florida
to watch the 12-hours of Sebring and it is even less that
get to do it on someone else’s dime. But I didn’t come
to Sebring to just sit by the pool or soak up the sun.
After a long winter, a trip to Florida sounded great to
me, whom am I to pass up an invite from Audi Canada
to attend an exclusive all access pass to Sebring? I
could soak up some needed vitamin C from the seemingly endless supply of orange juice and of course the
endless supply of Vitamin D from the sun – but another
vitamin D was going through most peoples veins in Sebring, Vitamin Diesel supplied by the Audi team.
On my drive from Orlando to Sebring, once I finally
turned off the interstate, I was greeted with the fresh
smell of orange trees – what a refreshing smell! Once
at the track the smell changed to gas, rubber, burning
brakes, diesel and surprisingly as the wind blew in more
orange tree smell – wow can’t get much better than
that!
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Watching the race from an air-conditioned box is great
and the TV coverage by SPEED is an excellent supplement to the PA announcer and cars whizzing by on the
track in front of you, but being up in that tower is
where all the action truly is!
Initially had some reservations about sitting through 12
-hours of a race, heck that’s a very long time. But what
an experience, the sound of the Corvettes as they rumble by, the Audi R15 blazes by with a whisper quiet
whoosh. Half way through the race I was invited to
enter the pits. On with the fire suit and into the pits, I didn’t get to
change tires but I did get to watch as the two R15 cars came into the
pits only a few feet away from me. Murphy’s law hit just then and my
camera battery died! So I watch as Allan McNish waits for fuel and new
tires, in a flash it is over and he’s gone.
The next car comes in almost immediately after, I fumble for my cell
phone as a backup camera and get a few quick snaps from the back of
the car – I wish I could swap my tires out so fast.
I headed back up to see Terry and gang and a little more excitement as
one of the Acura LMP cars got into the tire wall. One of them on the
radio to corner workers, another coordinating rescue, another getting
the pace car ready and yet another on the radio to the sweeper tractor
to get the corner cleaned up. Response was there and gone in seconds,
a little stress as the pace car light system plug falls out and the track
sweeper seems to be doddling along. But everyone worked together
like a well-oiled machine and the race was back underway.
The most amazing part of the entire experience? 11 hours into the race
and we still have no idea who was going to win. The number 08 Peu-
M o t o rs po r t C lu b of O t t a w a
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geot and the number 2 Audi were swapping
places every pit stop and unlike F1 racing, actually swapping places on the track as well. The
number 07 Peugeot that looked strong early in
the race was down 8-10 laps after an airconditioning / fan failure an issue Audi does not
have to deal with, with their open cockpit design.
With only an hour and five minutes left McNish
was in the pits again for a re-fuel and tires, after
coming out he was now behind the 08 car by 25
seconds, what a tight race as Bourdais still had
one pit stop left to make. With 45 minutes left
Bourdais entered the pits to be swapped out for
Montagny, a refuel but no tires. The last stint
was exciting as McNish pulled further and further ahead
growing his lead to over a minute but still needing a
splash of fuel to get to the finish. 11 hours and 45 minutes of racing and lap times were faster then they were
all race: 1:44’s – faster than qualifying!
After the splash and dash and a few mistakes by Peugeot
the Audi had a 25 second lead – enough to cruise home
for the checkered flag. I’m not sure where the best place
would have been for the finish, but the Audi box ex-
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ploded with joy and congratulations all around. I’m sure
race control was relieved to have completed a long race
without a major incident.
It sounded crazy at first and I wasn’t sure how I could
watch a race for 12-hours straight without a stint behind
the wheel myself, but boy was I wrong, I’d do it again in
a flash – now I can’t wait for our season to start!
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Five Tips to Better Alignment
and Better Racing
BY PAUL GRAHAM
PEAK PERSONAL TRAINING
I’ve worked with athletes from many different sports, and typically most athletes of a particular sport have certain
tendencies. Baseball pitchers usually have weak rotator cuffs, hockey players have tight hip flexors, etc. Drivers are
no different; they have certain imbalances that occur due to the nature of the sport. In this article I’m going to give
you 5 techniques you can use to help correct or at least limit the negative effects of these imbalances.
Most athletes usually ask, why bother trying to fix these imbalances? The first major reason to try to attain better
structural balance is decreased risk of injury. There are two major ways in which drivers typically get injured, typically either from crashes or from overuse given the high endurance demands of the sport. Keeping a driver in better structural balance will help with decreasing injury rates with both of these instances. Better alignment will lead
to a healthier athlete with far less chance of being injured as a result of crashes and over use. The second reason to
try to improve structural balance is actual performance. The farther from being in ideal balance the more energy
your body will consume to do even basic tasks from breathing, to sitting. The wasted energy due to structural imbalance increases exponentially with the greater demand of the task. Many drivers are losing large amounts of energy due to these inefficiencies which will cause many to lose important seconds during a race due to fatigue.
So what can a driver do to help get their body working more efficiently? Here are five quick exercises you can do
daily to help get that body working better. It will only take you 10-15 mins to whip through all these. They’re quick,
easy and highly effective.
Stretch those calfs out! As drivers your calfs get over worked and little time to relax. This leads to many
drivers having calfs that are overly tight, which can lead to increased fatigue while racing. To keep things
simple you have two calf muscles one you stretch with your knee straight, the other you stretch with your
knee bent. Simply lie on your back with a band around the ball of your foot and pull your toes towards
your knees until you feel a stretch in the back of your lower leg. Do one set with your knee straight, and
then repeat with the knee bent. If you don’t have a band, you can simply fold a towel are wrap it around
your foot. Hold each stretch for 30 seconds, two times for each leg. If one side is tighter than the other
stretch twice as much until they even out.
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Stretch out your hip flexors. Similar to how your calfs are over
worked your hip flexors stay in a shortened position the entire time
you’re driving. On top of this they stay short if you’re sitting at a
desk all day long, on the computer or watching TV when you get
home. Get into a lunge position with your back knee on the ground.
Keep your tail tucked under you and don’t let your back arch as you
push your pelvis forward. You should feel a stretch at the front of
your hip. Hold each stretch for 30 seconds, two times for each leg.
If one side is tighter than the other stretch twice as much until they
even out.
Get those glutes working. A lot of drivers wind
up shutting their glutes off. Due to the prolonged
sitting and tight hip flexors mentioned above
many drivers tend to lack the development in
their glutes.
Start with you tailbone on the
ground, contract your glutes and push your hips
straight up brining your tail bone off the ground.
Do 15 reps 3 times daily. If you feel your hamstrings or quads doing most of the work slow
down and really try to squeeze those glutes as
you push your hips up.
Loosen up your pecs. Drivers chests muscles are on constant pressure from steering and shifting. This will help
loosen them up. Find a door way and put both arms up at
90 degreess. Breathe out and allow your body to sink into
the doorway, you should feel a stretch through the front of
your chest. If you feel pressure/stretch through the front of
your shoulders, then you want to make sure to put the front
of your shoulder on the door frame. Allow your body to
relax as you sink into the doorframe for 5 seconds, then
push back and repeat 10 times.
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Balance the neck muscles; drivers often have an
asymmetry through their neck muscles due to
the right hand always shifting as well as the
constant mirror checks. Sit up tall on a chair,
grab a hold of the bottom of the seat with one
hand and lean off to the opposite side. Try this
stretch out in front of a mirror, if you find there
is a difference in the range of motion, perform
twice as many on the tight side until it evens
out. Hold for 30 seconds, relax and repeat.
Although these are some pretty basic exercises, they will go a long way to helping drivers get their
bodies functioning more efficiency which will lead to less injury and better performance in just a
few minutes every day. For more information you can go to www.peak-personaltraining.com.
Paul Graham, HBPHE, MA, CSCS




New Car Sales
Used Car Sales
Fleet Sales
Commercial Sales and Wholesale
Call Rob Dale, Mews Chevrolet's Fleet Manager, for ALL your automotive needs, with over 10 years
experience at MEWS Chevrolet, and one of the highest customer satisfaction rates in the industry!
Do you need a family car? A truck to pull your trailer? A car to race around the track? Do you just have an
automotive question you need answered? Call Rob Dale (613)834-6397 today.
Today's automotive business is extremely competitive, fast paced and poses many challenges. I am
therefore committed to providing all MCO members with aggressive pricing and top quality service.
I look forward to doing business with all the MCO club members.
Rob Dale, Fleet Manager
Call: (613) 834-6397
Toll Free: 1-888 641-6397
[email protected]
The following is an excerpt from a
book entitled “Owning an Icon...and
DRIVING it”, written by Peter Brownhill. This book is about the fulfillment
of his dream to own a Porsche 911,
the experience of driving it on various
tracks and other motoring anecdotes.
The book is available in Ottawa at
Auto Import and Leishman Books, or
by telephone at 1-866-386-3962.
One Lap
at Calabogie Motorsport Park
Pit out. Accelerate hard up to third gear,
keeping the blend line on your right. Maintain about 5000 rpm as you stay tight to the
concrete curbing along the left side. Keep
about a foot away from the six-foot high
concrete wall on your left as you go downhill.
Brake firmly and release just before the end
of the wall, looking to your right to late apex
Turn 2 - Jacques.
Get on the power all the way, keeping it flat
as you go mid-track towards the gentle left
that is Easy - Turn 4. Track out to the right
all the way as you exit Easy, then drift
across to the left side as you continue to
accelerate up to maximum speed before the
braking for Turn 5. Ignore the slight twitch
the track takes to left – called Sir John A. –
and aim for the concrete on the right at the
beginning of Mulligans. Finish your braking
It is more than a ninety-degree corner, so
watch your speed as you clip the concrete
and accelerate lightly up the hill, tracking
out completely to the left. Wait half a heartbeat, then turn in and crest the hill. If
you’ve timed it right, you’ll tighten your line
a bit more, squeeze on the power and clip
the concrete on the right as you apex Turn 3
(Gilles) a bit early.
before the concrete curb and carry a fair
amount of speed as you rotate the car
around to the right, completely crossing the
track to the outside left edge. Begin your
turn to the right into Turn 6 – Big Rock – as
soon as you can see the concrete turtles on
the right that lead up the hill. Accelerate
smoothly and briskly up the hill, causing the
car to rotate clockwise and hug the curbing
all the way up. When you’re near the top,
turn left about fifteen degrees and aim just
left of the lone pine tree in front of you. As
you crest the hill, you should find yourself
aligned with the curbing on the left that
forms the apex of Turn 7 – Candy Mountain.
The car will be light as you crest the hill, but
as soon as it settles, accelerate hard and
track out to the right as you follow the road
to Temptation – Turn 8. Brake a bit early
and move to mid track as you enter Temp-
tation, carrying a fair amount of speed and
turning left gently, staying about mid track.
Reduce speed by easing back on the accelerator as you approach the second half of
the corner, turning sharply left when you
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can see the concrete on the left, around the
sharp bend. Accelerate through this apex on
the left, rotating the car counter-clockwise
and tracking out almost all the way on the
right. Completing Temptation properly
should have you aimed straight up the track
as you exit, about two feet from the grass
on the right. There’s no need to track out to
the left here and if you do – for example to
let a quicker car past - be very careful, because the track turns right over the crest of
the hill that is Deliverance – Turn 9a – and
may surprise you. Stay about mid track and
aim for the right edge at the crest of the
next hill, accelerating all the way to this
slight right hand bend – Turn 9b. As you
clear the hill, you can see the braking zone
for Turn 10 – Crown – on the extreme left
side. Watch the slight negative camber as
you enter this work zone – it can cause the
car to be unsettled under braking. Don’t
take off too much speed, since Turn 10 is a
banked, mid-speed sweeper that benefits
from a short ride on the concrete turtle on
the right. Hitting this correctly and adding a
bit of lock will help the car rotate clockwise
more quickly, allowing you to accelerate
fairly hard through Turn 11 – Brow - up to
the braking zone for Turn 12 – Beak. Enter
Turn 12 about ten feet from the left edge,
turning sharply right and unwinding the
wheel slightly after you’ve passed through
ninety degrees. This will allow you to accelerate briefly in mid track before turning in
sharply to clip the concrete on the left for
Turn 13 - Throat. Turns 10 through 13 have
these peculiar names because when viewed
from the air, they resemble the profile of a
duck’s head. Cross the track to the extreme
right while accelerating and then brake hard
the old quarry area. But you must touch the
brakes before turning in for Turn 16, or you
will have a wild ride out onto the grass on
track right. As you approach Turn 17 –
Quarry One – you have many options. Some
people enter it from the left, some from the
for the very sharp, slow Turn 14 – Hook. As
soon as you can see the concrete on the left
of Hook, turn in sharply and begin squeezing
on the power to hug the curb as you round
the corner. Then track out completely to the
right, using the entire road to allow you to
accelerate hard up the hill, called Ridge,
while crossing back to the left side to prepare for the next turn. Upshift before you
crest the hill at the end of Ridge, so the car
will settle quickly as you approach the turning point for Turn 15 – Spoon. Turn right
just after the crest, staying about two feet
away from the grass on the right on the way
down the hill and sliding closer and closer to
the curbing. The accelerator should now be
on the floor, and the steering wheel turned
and held firmly to the right, as the suspension compresses and the car rotates into an
amazing ride down through the gully, hugging the curbing on the right all the way. As
you climb out of the turn, stay on the right
and touch the brakes as you crest the hill.
Turn left gently into Four Left – Turn 16 – as
soon as you can see the concrete apex, even
though it seems early. It’s not a sharp turn
and you want to carry as much speed as
possible through it, tracking out to the right
as you head for the final complex of turns in
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right and some mid track. Recently I have
become comfortable with a mid-right track
entry, braking and downshifting early
enough to settle the car before beginning
my turn to the right. I don’t clip the first
apex on the right, but I do hit the second
one and try to maintain a constant radius as
I continue around to the right, clipping the
concrete on the outside (left side) of Turn
18 – Watts Up - before completing the right
turn. Then I tighten my line to the right and
begin the climb up out of the quarry towards the front straight. I hug the concrete
on the right as I climb through Wicked –
Turn 19 – then transition quickly but
smoothly to the sharp left-hander that is
Wilson’s – Turn 20 – leading onto the front
straight.
Accelerate all the way down the front
straight on the right side of the track, revelling in the echo of your exhaust note off the
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This completes one lap around Calabogie
Motorsports Park – Canada’s newest road
course and one of the most challenging and
technical tracks anywhere. No matter how
many times I drive it, I learn something new.
I also can experiment on each and every lap,
since there are so many options available in
many of the corners. And as I push a little
harder each day, I learn more about the
marvellous capabilities of these little cars.
concrete wall and the enthusiasts standing
along the same wall watching and listening
as you pass. Resist the temptation to wave
or toot the horn, because Turn 1 – Kink – is
coming up fast. This is the most dangerous
corner on the track and must be respected.
Many’s the car that has failed to slow
enough or has turned too late and overcorrected, only to find itself hazardously
close to the concrete wall on the left. My
preferred approach is to brake very hard for
a short distance after I cross the line that
marks the short track configuration. If the
track is wet, be careful here, as there can be
standing water. Then I turn in gently for the
concrete curbing on the left as I crest the
hill and accelerate quite briskly down the
hill. This results in counter-clockwise rotation that keeps the car around mid track.
Less acceleration and less confidence will
have you tracking way out to the right,
where the grass comes up to bite you in a
hurry, followed by some kind of incident
involving a wall.
I do not own a track car. I own a street car –
a 1977 Porsche 911S - that I enjoy driving at
its limits on a racetrack. I own an icon that
people admire on the street, at cruise nights
and, surprisingly, at the tracks I visit, despite
all the newer, more powerful Porsches present. It is not the fastest car on the track. As
a matter of fact, it is often the least powerful car there, surrounded by all the newer
Porsche models and other modern fast cars.
But it always attracts a broad cross-section
of admirers – people who have always loved
the
classic
Porsche 911’s
and who have
wished – as I
did for many
years – that
they
could
have one. Or
maybe
they
once did have
one and just
want to reminisce.
Either way, it’s a great experience and a
wonderful icebreaker. I have learned to
drive my car pretty well – although there’s
always more to learn – and I get a lot of
satisfaction out of wringing more speed and
better cornering out of this old girl that
some of the newer cars are able to deliver
in the hands of their owners. And I do it all
on the track, where it’s safe and legal. To
me this is the difference between merely
owning a sports car and actually experiencing all that it was designed to do. To fully
appreciate a Porsche, you have to drive it in
earnest in the controlled environment of a
racetrack.
This book is about the path that brought me
to this stage in my motoring life and the
various twists and turns that are part of
Porsche ownership and enjoyment.
Be a Volunteer!
Be a part of history! The Motorsport
Club of Ottawa (MCO) has been
active in our community since 1949. It
was one of the founding members of the
Canadian Automobile Sports Clubs, and
today it continues to be a non-profit organization fueled by people like you
with a passion for cars and driving. Why
not give back and support your club?
We need volunteers in all areas — from
the executive to volunteering at events
and functions. Can you BBQ? Can you
marshall? Can you help in the driving
schools? Can you organize events? Even
if you don’t feel like you have a special
talent, but are willing to learn, and willing to lend a helping hand, we are looking for you! Contact the Club executive
at [email protected], or visit the MCO
website at www.mco.org.
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Solo II Profiles
Photos: (Top Left & Bottom Right) Christopher Ellard / www.Spd-Kilz.com
James Bergeron
brought him closer to automotive
nirvana with the purchased of the
first 2004 RX-8 in Ottawa a Red GS
model – not long after though he
decided to return it under the Mazda
buy-back program and invest in what
we all now know as car #37 the yellow banana.
Having joined the MCO only four
years ago, James' his first event was
the MCO performance control school
and his love for cone crushing hasn't
stopped since. James not only participates in our solo II series but he
has participated in this year's inaugural rally cross; many snow cross
(slush 'n slide) events as well as Drive
-X rallies. James has also been an
instructor at the winter driving
schools and performance control
schools passing on his enthusiasm
for driving to others. He also helps
out as much as he can in setup and
organization of the Solo II series and
developed the website for the Ted
Powell race weekend in 2007.
Q. What do you do to pass the time?
A. Surf the web – read forums about
cars – work…
James is a quality assurance engineer for a major telecom company,
with a passion for driving and automotive technology. Growing up close
to the track, with his father a mechanic for a race team, James has
been around cars all his life. As editor and writer for CarTalkCanada
James spends a lot of his time driving; writing or talking about cars.
When he isn't test-driving the latest
offerings from auto manufacturers,
you'll probably find him at the track
or parking lot beating on his Honda
S2000.
James has owned only a few cars
starting humbly with a 1985 Cavalier
Sedan … automatic, after a year of Q. Pets?
painful motoring he picked up a new A. 2 cats
2000 Tiburon with a manual and
started to have more fun. 2003
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Q. What are you into besides cars?
A. Computers / Audio & Video
Q. Favourite restaurant?
A. Lone Star
Q. Do you play any organized sports?
A. Only curling … it's more fun than
you may think.
Q. Do you have kids?
A. No
Q. Favourite sports to watch?
A. Hockey and Racing
Q. Favourite food.
A. Pizza!
Q. What are your favorite TV shows?
A. Top Gear! Regular shows for the
most part I could live without … I like
House / Grey's Anatomy, ER though.
Q. Married or Single?
A. Taken?
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MY FIRST RALLY
[Pierce Neige 2009]
Showing up:
The very first rally I ever spectated
was Tall Pines 2006…Before that I
was not aware of Canadian rallying,
the MCO either for that matter.
Look where I am now!!!!! Driving
my own G2 car. Holy crap! I’ve met
so many great people along the
way, Ferd, Jaak & Jane, Warren and
of course Matt just to name few…
many more to come I’m sure.
I’ve been working on the car for the
past few months (when I had time)
so to avoid that classic 3 day madness before an event…it worked as I
had just a few things to do the week
before and all was ready Wednesday morning. I do most of the work
myself on it, tinkering away late at
night when my son is sleeping. I
bought the car last winter and it was
already logged but it had been sitting in a field since Sanair 2002. We
had to update the roll cage and install new (HANS friendly) seats so
my buddy Dan Poulin at PRONOX
fabrication (www.pronox.ca) did the
deed. He’s got an amazing shop out
in Embrum. They have a C&C
plasma cutter, hydraulic pipe bending equipment, all the welding
equipment you would need, a powder coating oven big enough to fit a
whole car in (and he does) and
much more. Good shop, great guys,
thanks a million. He did Matt’s roll
cage update at the last minute as
well just before Tall Pines so he
came through for both of us. War-
Photo: Andrew Snucins — worldrallysport.com / andrewsnucins.ca
ren at TONIK helped out tremendously over the past year as well by
giving tips and contacts plus a last
minute insertion of a high-flow cat.
Having no issues at tech was very
encouraging as the last event the
car did was in 2002 (Sanair) by the
previous owner.
For the past week, my little family
household was subjected to stomach flu and unfortunately; it was my
turn on Thursday night. I wasn’t
really feeling 100% all week and the
sinking notion that it was inevitably
my turn soon made it worse. At
2AM…. my stomach had enough and
proceeded to evacuate it’s contents
all over the hotel bathroom. Come
Friday morning, I had slept 2-3
hours but at least I was feeling a
little better. Had it been 24 hours
later, it would have been a very different race day……
Neige allows the competitors to use
the rally car for recce so I opted to
do just that to get used to the car
and the condition of the weekend.
It proved to be a very good call but
our bums were pretty sore. The first
recce stage was the longest of our
rally (Kitigan Zibi). My note giving
technique was practically nonexistent…. that means I didn’t know
what the h**k I was doing for the
first while but we managed to develop a vocabulary as the day went
on. Now I say that with having done
Tall Pines and having used near perfect note from Williams. But we
had never written our own notes
before. The last two stages we recce’d was Marie-Anne and Des Eaux
and WOW…it showed on race day….
much better notes for those two
stages. Writing distances between
features was a BIG improvement for
the better pace notes.
Recce:
Rally Day:
Here we are getting up at 5h15 to
go to the novice meeting and then
off we are to do our very first (both
of us) recce exercise to fill up a perfectly blank pace note book. Perce
All seems good, we just want to finish and have a good day. Keeping
the mood light in the car is very important to me. Bad mood, bad
day…. no fun…pretty simple. Very
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snow banks though and I must note,
it was the only night stage for us as
well. Thanks Matt.
The stages:
What can I say….slippery, slippery
infinity…
early on we kinda got in a grove. I
was pretty timid given how slippery
it was but I still managed to have an
argument with the snow bank in
every stage….luckily, the snow bank
Gods where kind to us and allowed
us to continue. SOOOO many teams
where not so lucky. One of our rivals Peter stuffed it good in the first
corner of Marie-Anne 2 and lost 15
minutes getting out. Peter’s mishap
gave us a important lead and he
never made up enough of the time
throughout the rest of the rally so
we finished the regional with a 9
minute lead on them still…I’m
happy with that. Matt did a great
job reading notes, I was a little worried about zoning him out during
the stages but generally, I could
hear him well and the information
did register (I think). The last section (Farley 2, Fix Auto 2 and Kitigan
Zibi 2), Matt was pushing me to go
faster. (Apparently that’s also part
of the co-driver’s job….ha ha ). It
worked as we managed to shave off
1.42 off Kitigan Zibi 2 from the first
pass (29m17s if anyone cares). But
that last stage, we hit alot more
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Farley is super fun and some sections where so slippery I thought I
had lost my clutch…absolutely no
changes to the car with inputs. All I
could do is try to find loose snow for
grip. We helped Pat Rainville in one
stage by pulling him out of the snow
bank. One little problem though,
André, the co-pilot improperly
hooked up the tow rope and when I
took off to pull them out on the first
attempt, the rope tore off my
bumper!!!!!! So quickly, we backed
up again, hooked it up properly and
pulled him out. If you ever read
this…Pat you owe me two beers,
one for the tow and one for the
bumper. Fortunately sweep picked
up the bumper and it made its way
back to service.
Kitigan Zibi has a very hilly section
that was super fun too. Having a
small, light nimble car makes those
sections particularly fun. Steve
caught up with us on both Kitigan
Zibi stages, he’s very fast. Jaak &
Jane warned us that being in the
back of the field meant it was more
likely we would encounter hardware. Well we did, going full out on
a (relatively straight) section; we
faced a complete exhaust system
lying right across the road. We just
drove right over it without even trying to avoid it. It’s like……WHAT
S pr in g 200 9 ▪
WAS THAT??!!??
Apart from that I think we had
about 8 or 12 cautions for the whole
race. Very few dips, we were too
slow to consider what Perce Neige
calls jumps, jumps for us and there
was only one ‘’rough’’ section under
the arch. Smooth icy roads were
the norm.
they put a 5 gal in for precaution at
service 2, we could have done the
whole event without fuelling. Now
this doesn’t mean there’s nothing to
do before the NEXT rally…..THAT list
is still growing…. I ran Perce-Neige
with a stock clutch and tranny so I’m
looking at upgrading to a LSD and
performance clutch for the rest of
the season….
I think we ran a safe, consistent,
clean run, and cared for the car. No
drama here…. sorry. It’s going to be
really hard to maintain this level. I
just hope it’s not just beginners
luck. Now that I have some points
towards the OPRC…who knows
where this year might lead us to…
See you all on the road friends.
The car:
What’s next?
Cheers
Nothing to put here: I towed it with
my Impreza there and back. We
didn’t get a flat; we didn’t have any
electrical issues like I feared, no suspension or steering issues either. The engine ran great all day,
in fact I would say it ran better at
the end of the day. It had been sitting in a field for 4 years and this
event took all the cobwebs out for
sure. It was the ONLY car from the
80’ and this old baby serves us
well. Thank you so much to the service crew for being there to
carry out the usual service
tasks such as checking….
well…everything. Some
teams go all out and basically bring a second car to
the event. I went on a limb
and had nothing as far as
sparing goes, if anything was
to break…. the race was over
for us. Luckily, nothing
broke and I didn’t damage
anything on the stages. I
hope Eric and friends went
around and checked out the
other service area while we
were out. We topped up
the stock fuel tank in the
morning and even though
For me, probably Shannonville or
the LHFR regional but unfortunately
(for both of us) Matt and I are doing
it so I’m looking for a good co-pilot
for the rest of the season…. too
bad. We’re having a blast and performing well. Being a privateer (no
sponsorship money) also factor’s in
any schedule I might undertake….
we’ll just have to see.
Vince
Summary:
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Miscellaneous Rumblings II
1. OK, the first thing I have to do is...
... to apologize to my reader for missing the
deadlines for the last two issues, these being Tanya and Arek’s “swan song” and Bryan
Olynyk’s first issue. The second is to offer
my congratulations to both Arek and Tanya
for a job well done during their turn at the
Editor’s desk. The third, of course, is to
welcome Bryan aboard as the new Editor
and to compliment him for a fine first issue.
And the fourth? “John, try to remember
when the ‘effin deadline is, you absentminded Old Fart!!!!!”
Oh yeah. As there is some catching up to do
here due to my missing the last two issues,
this month’s column is going to be sort of …
longish … very longish ... and with photos,
so bear with me folks.
2. So now, where was I ...
... oh yeah ... the last episode of the Winter
of 2007/8.
Naaah, I think we’ll skip that. After all, it
was a year ago and we’ve mostly forgotten
it, and those of us who do remember it
don’t want to, especially me. What with all
the hours on the tractor, the blown hydraulic hose, and the month of mud in my laneway and yards while the mountains of snow
melted away in the spring? Good riddance I
say!
And this year? Well we didn’t get anywhere
near as much snow, but the temperatures?
Brrrrrrrr!!! Also, with that and not much
snow cover the frost has gone really deep,
so if we don’t get much early rain, be prepared for a long thaw. As I write this, on
March 23rd , we’ve again had a few days of
winter-like lows (-15C or so) with a least one
more to come before it warms up a bit, and
some light rains predicted. The up side of
this winter was that I didn’t have to spend
as much time on the tractor, however, the
downside was that the savings on tractor
gas were more than offset by higher heating
oil costs. You win some and lose some, I
guess. Anyway, let’s get on with my 2008
racing season, such as it was, but first ...
3. … a prelude (and no, not the car).
OK, let’s open with the fact that, after a
three year absence I finally managed to get
back on a race track, and no, it wasn’t in the
RX7, but first let’s set
the stage, so to speak.
Those patient readers
who have been following my racing saga
since 2002 will be
familiar with my chagrin at our less-thanexpected joint household income over the
last few years, and
how this has negatively affected my racing
plans. It's not that I've lost my desire to
race, it's not time for that yet, it's just that,
in order to reduce my stress levels, I've
changed my approach since a weekend from
hell in 2004 and yes, age is a bit of a factor.
Back in the ‘60s and the early ‘70s, with
Lotus 6, the MGB and the Kiki 6A/8A, I
pulled my fair share of all-nighters getting
the car on track under various pressures,
including a full time job with shift work and
travel and keeping daily drivers on the road,
with no major ill effects. Plus which, living
in the east end of Toronto, towing time to
Mosport was about an hour or less and
Harewood (no longer used) was only 1 1/2
hours or less, so if anything major went
wrong, it was easy to get the car back to the
shop, fix it, and get back to the track the
next morning. Today, however, towing
times for me from the rural east end of Ottawa are about two hours for Calabogie, the
nearest track, about 2 3/4 hours to Shannonville, and about four hours to Mosport,
which means having to try to fix problems at
the track with whatever is on hand, and
such things are far more of a stress factor
for me now.
The real impetus for my change in attitude,
however, was the weekend from hell at the
test day/BEMC Indian Summer Trophy Races
at Mosport in September of 2004, where we
were pressing hard to get in at least two
race weekends for that season. We had all
kinds of car issues on the test day, and with
me in full panic mode, this and a lack of
sleep lead to a really bad stress attack,
which in turn led to me having to withdraw
and go home after the first day’s racing.
(For those interested in the gory details, the
full story can be found in the October 2004
issue of The Link.) After this I had a major re
-think of my approach, and decided that if I
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BY MCO MEMBER JOHN POWELL
was to keep healthy enough to get back into
racing I had to reduce my stress levels by a
significant amount. Given that the financial
issues were largely beyond my control, I
started to plan future efforts on the assumption that “man proposes and God disposes.” In other words, to have a general
plan but do what I can when I can, including
household “task interference” issues, and
leave the rest to Providence … and it’s working … most of the time.
So now, “Back to the” … ummm … “recent
past.” Given all the above and the ever
present likelihood of disruptions in my
plans, in April of last year I figured I’d better
have a back-up plan just in case I couldn’t
get the RX7 out for at least a part of the
2008 racing season. And this, of course, is
exactly what happened, as is noted in the
following section. A chance discussion with
Steve Greiner of Team 00 at about the same
time revealed that he had a car available for
rent if I needed a ride, and when an early
unexpected issue with the ’88 Volvo popped
up, I took that as a warning and promptly
signed on with Steve for a test day and one
race day … not without some panic, but this
time without any major stress thanks to my
changed approach.
Thinking ahead (good lad John), in March I
had booked my race medical exam for May
7th , and then when the time came (you silly
old fart John) I got the date mixed up and
missed it! L Damn!!! So speaking nicely and
oh so contritely to my doctor’s receptionist,
and with the car rental from Steve set up for
the CRDA event at Shannonville on the May
30th weekend, I managed to get another
appointment on May 22nd and passed. OK,
on to getting my licence renewed and entered for the race, and more bowing and
speaking softly, or more exactly e-mailing
politely, to Cindy Armstrong, the Regional
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Race Director, Debbie Johnston at the Region Office, and Anne McCallum, the Regional Race Registrar, I got my licence renewed for pick-up at Race Registration and
my entry accepted. Thanks, ladies, and
“Phew, we’re off to the races!!!” J
4. Don’t touch the brakes, John, don’t
touch the brakes,
... awww sh*t!
balance, but not so good for stowing or
removing them with a car on the trailer, plus
which my tie-down system involves threading the straps back and forth through the
front and rear wheels of the loaded car, and
both of these are a bit of a pain in the arse
… gotta look at these issues … someday. So
while Steve went off to pick up the Honda, it
was off to the track at a nice steady pace,
The car I rented
from
Steve
Greiner was the
recently acquired
Team 00 Saturn,
car number 001,
and it gave me an
opportunity
to
finally try a front
wheel drive race
car ... and that
was a real learning
experience
which deserves its
own story here.
was really low, the second was that the shift
lever seemed to be much higher than in my
RX7, to me it felt like it was somewhere up
almost at shoulder level, and the “A” pillars
seemed to be awfully wide. The latter, combined with a really sloping hood, made it
difficult for me to pick up the right front
corner of the car, and this gave me problems all weekend when trying to hit the
apexes on right hand corners. I understand
that Steve has now installed a higher seat in
the car which has largely addressed this
issue. Anyway, the second closed wheel
session came up, so out I went with advice
from Steve and Richard ringing in my ears
along the lines of “… remember, this is FWD
so be easy on braking in the corners.” Ri-i-iight!!!
After a lap or so to get used to the car I
started to up the pace a bit and … going into
the turn 4 complex (the loop that comes
back towards the grandstand an then out
again) the car got a bit squirrely and without
thinking I tapped the brakes with my left
foot to steady it up a bit and … around we
went! Next lap I slowed down a bit on the
entry and stayed off the brakes and …
around we went again! Next lap I slowed
some more on the entry but got a bit too
enthusiastic on the throttle trying to pick up
on the exit speed, started to understeer
right off the track, gave her a quick lift on
the throttle, and promptly got into a tankslapper! Bugger!! The rest of the session
was spent experimenting with what the car
did with various inputs, and though I slowly
got a bit quicker and smoother in my inputs,
I still had trouble with the rear end stepping
out with very little provocation. And yes, on
some occasions I still forgot not to touch the
brakes in a corner! Also, amongst the several more “offs” was one instance which led
to a humongous high speed tank-slapper
coming out of turn 11 at the end of the Fabi
straight, and a couple of “offs” in the hairpin
where I understeered right out into the
gravel on corner exit.
As Steve only had
one trailer and
two cars to go to
Ramp storage – great for balance but a bugthe track, the
ger
to get at with a car loaded on the trailer –
Saturn for me and the #00
hmm, some re-thinking required here.
Honda for Richard Muise, he
offered me a discount on the
rental if I would take the Saturn to and from and when I got there, I promptly parked in
Shannonville and save him from making two the wrong paddock! When Steve arrived I
round trips. Hmm. OK, let’s see if the old was informed that, as he was also running in
’88 GMC 1500 and the trailer could be made the CCGTC series, I should have parked over
ready. Due to its fairly long and hard work- in the skid pad area with all the others, but
ing life I hadn’t intended to use the GMC
it was late so we left that until the next
except for local hauling. However, with the morning.
motor-home not yet ready for towing duties, and with a lube, oil change and summer So now on to the test day … and what a day
tires back on for the pick-up, I figured it’d be it was! In that one day I had more “offs”
OK for one more out-of-town job. As for the and tank slappers than in any full season of
trailer, it hadn’t been used since I loaned it racing in previous years; in fact, perhaps
to Jeff Graves the previous year, but it almost as many as in all of my previous seachecked out OK except for some work on sons together, not including the few
the lights which, as usual, took some time. (perhaps three or four) due to mechanical The rest of the day got gradually better,
Four days before we had to leave everything failures! But I get ahead of myself.
especially after Steve found out why the
was done, so I took up on Steve’s offer and For the race weekend we were using the Full
rear end was so loose. Apparently the enwe set a time to load the car.
Track, which I actually like better than the
gine was leaking oil due to loose oil pan
Pro
Track
as
it
adds
a
few
more
interesting
bolts, and it was spraying back onto the rear
I picked up the Saturn at Steve’s house on
corners,
and
as
Steve
hadn’t
actually
driven
tires. Once fixed, the car was much more
the evening before the test day, which took
a bit of time. Jeff had made me a nice set of the Saturn before, he took it out for the first balanced and I was able to play around with
long heavy duty trailer ramps so I could load test session to check it out. He had a few the car at increasing speeds without too
the RX7 without having to take off the air issues with the back end being a bit loose, many more incidents. I began to learn that
dam, and I had chosen to store them in the so we gave the car a once-over, played with a judicious use of a light touch on the brakes
the tire pressures, and then tried my “fit” in
or a quick lift at mid corner would rotate the
centre of the trailer.
the car.
rear end enough to apply full power more
This was a good idea for weight
quickly, limiting the understeer to some
The first thing I noticed was that the seat
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Oops!!! And now you know why I don’t do
any Solo II!
extent, and thus getting quicker corner exits. I didn’t rely over much on left foot braking, other then the occasional light, quick
stab, as I haven’t had much occasion in the
past to use this technique, and am therefore
unpractised in modulating pedal pressure
with my left foot. If I were to drive a FWD
race car again at some time in the future, I
would make sure to take it to a test day in
order to improve my use of left foot braking.
As for resolving the hairpin understeer issue,
I found that if I went much deeper into the
corner hugging the left edge of the track,
and then gave a good stab at the brakes as I
“tossed” the car to the right, the back end
would come around nicely for a very late
apex and a straighter exit line. What this did
for rear tire wear I don’t know, but it reduced understeer on corner exit and enabled me to get on the throttle much
quicker and harder for a better exit speed.
Once I discovered this, I began to use variations on other corners with the same positive results. By the end of the test day I
became very comfortable with the car, except for the problem with picking up right
hand apexes, and really began to enjoy myself … hey, bring on race day! But before we
leave the test day, I must admit to an
“incident” while driving Richard’s car, the
#00 Honda, which, after the consternation
wore off, led to some merriment at my expense.
In one of the test sessions Steve suggested
that Richard and I switch cars just to get a
comparison between the two, so that’s
what we did. Before I went out I was re-
minded
that
the
Honda
didn’t have a
limited slip diff,
but I wasn’t
overly
concerned about
that. While all
Well ya don’t have to stick your tongue out at me!
of my race cars
except
the
Lotus 6 had
LSDs, I had driven many road cars with … phew!” So off I went again on my merry
“open” diffs, including some with FWD, with way, re-learning gentle throttle manageno problems even when being driven very … ment on corner exit, and with the higher
umm … enthusiastically. In addition, with a seating position in the Honda, getting better
race suspension on the Honda, quick lateral
at picking up the right hand corner apexes. I
weight transfer wouldn’t be as bad as that began press to harder and get quicker with
on ordinary road cars, so I thought that lift- fewer “whreeeee” … “brrrrrrr” noises from
ing the inside front wheel wouldn’t be that
the engine, and then went into the turn 4
bad. This was a mistake! It skipped my
loop just a tad too quick. In fact, more than
mind that, with the Honda being a FWD, a tad too quick. Picking up way too much
getting on the throttle hard would still shift understeer by mid corner, I gave it a quick
weight off the driving wheels from the front dab on the brakes to get the back end
to the rear, and that being a race car with around … too much … and started into a
grippy tires, the lateral “G” loads in a corner tank slapper. So, then, hard on the throttle
would still tend to transfer a lot of weight to to try to pull out of it ... and got into a masthe offside wheels. So, then, out I went in
sive push on the front end, which on corner
Richard’s car, and after a fairly gentle warm exit promptly took me off onto the grass on
up lap, coming out of the turn 14 carousel
the right side of the track, and then crossing
on to the pit straight I floored it, and …
the intersection where Fabi joined the Long
Track, I hit a few cones. Damn!
… the inside front wheel promptly lifted off
the ground, the engine went “whreeeee” …
After getting back on the track and up to
“brrrrrrr” and a red light lit up on the tach. I
speed a bit after this episode, I heard scrapquickly lifted off and thought “Damn, I’ve ing noises from under the car, and again …
over-revved it and blown the engine!” And damn! My first thought was that I’d gone
then, “Oh wait, this car has a rev limiter …
and busted something on Richard’s car and
there, the lights out and it’s running OK now
maybe messed up his weekend’s racing, so I
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ard was running for points. And as I was
driving around thinking about this, the Sentra was inching closer … hmm. So I decided
to stick on Richard’s bumper to cover his
rear, and maybe push a bit to try to get him
to pick up the pace some … which worked
for the next three laps or so, when …
Ecce conus delineare … OK, that’s
probably bad Latin, but it goes with
my bad case of ‘helmet hair.’
pulled off at the Fabi pits, and while gingerly
finding my way back to our paddock spot …
hmm … why is everyone looking at me and
laughing? I found out why when I got out of
the car as there was a track cone stuffed
way up under the front of the car … along
with several pounds of grass and dirt!
- After all the test day drama, race day was a
bit of a yawner as far as “issues” were concerned. The car was entered in GTD, and for
some reason we missed practice and qualifying. I do kinda remember doing … umm …
something … on the car, but anyway, this
meant we had to start at the back of the
grid. On the start I managed to pull ahead
of the #766 car beside me, and I didn’t see
him again until the cool-down lap. Getting a
bit quicker, I was soon glued to the tail of a
white GTD Nissan Sentra, #299, and started
to figure out where I could get past him. I
noticed he usually took a tighter first apex
than I did on the left hand turn 6, so on the
third lap I stayed wide, got around him on
the outside, which meant I had the inside on
the right hand turn 7, and then got ahead
and stayed there … for a while.
After passing the Sentra I soon caught Richard in the Team00 Honda, also in GTD,
which puzzled me a bit as I thought he
would be quicker. So, now, what to do? I
could try a pass, but if I made a mistake and
there was contact, well Richard’s a teammate so that’d be a no-no, and in addition I
was out for a fun day but I figured that Rich-
… coming out of the turn 4 loop on lap 10 a
gaggle of GT2/A cars roared past us going
into turn 5 … with the Sentra glued on their
tail and boxing me in … snookered!!
Damn!!! Then out of 5 another two (I think)
GT2/A cars came past and I got separated
from the Richard and the Sentra … damn
again! … I can’t try another pass in 6/7. I got
some back and tried him going into 11 but I
wasn’t close enough, went in a bit too hot,
and got into a bit of a tank slapper on the
exit which lost me a car length or so. OK,
let’s just reel him back in and try him again
on the next lap … not!! Coming out of the
Carousel on to the pit straight the race leaders roared past on their last lap and just
beat me to the line, so I got the checker and
the Sentra didn’t … damn and damn again!!
… just a few more feet at the line and I
would have had another lap to try to get my
place back.
So that was it. All in all it wasn’t a bad day; I
had fun, found that I could still “tiger” when
needed, finished 5th of 7 i/c, and had a best
lap of 2:13.066 which was 3rd i/c. I had also
come to like driving the Saturn, except for
the low seat height and the thick “A” pillars,
and was getting the hang of a judicious but
effective use of the brakes to help the car
rotate, reduce the power-on understeer,
and get out of the corners quicker. I also
new that, with a bit more seat time, there
was more in the car and I could have gone
much faster, which was apparent when
Steve’s best lap in the Saturn during Sunday’s first race was a 2:05.877. After Saturday’s race Steve had offered to rent me the
Saturn for Sunday as well, and I must say I
was sorely tempted. However, I had
achieved my immediate objective of a “just
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in case” race, and there was still the race
budget to consider if I had been able to get
the RX7 ready. Oh, and Richard? I learned
after the race that no, he wasn’t running for
points, that he was slower due to a car problem, and it wouldn’t have bothered him if I
had made a serious attempt to pass. Hmm.
Maybe I should start thinking about fitting
my helmet for an in-car radio.
And of course, there’s no way this page in
my racing saga wouldn’t be complete without some sort of panic ... which there was …
my trailer lights … again! These have had a
habit of letting me down at inopportune
moments, and loading up late on the Sunday evening was another one. The lights
that worked fine on the way down suddenly
decided to be uncooperative, with just a dim
tail light on the right hand side, brake light
OK, but no turn signal. Damn! After an hour
or more, in the dark, checking the wiring
and grounds, changing both the male and
female 7 pin connectors, etc., etc., I finally
got a right side brake light, a bit brighter tail
light, but still no turn signal. Bugger! Oh
well, I’ll just have to take a chance on not
getting stopped by the OPP or MTO. And
didn’t you know, by the time I got to Ottawa
to unload the car, I found that somewhere
during the trip all the lights had decided to
work properly … go figure!
So, except for the “task interference” household issues, that’s about it up to the fall of
’08 as the RX7 and motor home weren’t
made ready for the 2008 season for the
various reasons as noted below. For 2009 I
have objectives but no firm deadlines, and a
“just in case” rental remains an option.
Also, I have a new RX7 “FB Buddy” down in
Waterloo who’s just purchased an ’83 RX7
race car, and to whom I have been giving
some technical advice, and we have discussed the possibility of running an enduro
in his car. As for priorities, I think the motor
home must come first in order to have track
accommodation regardless of why I’m
there, and also for towing for whatever car
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is needed to be transported. And of course
the trailer lights … damn things … gotta
think of a better way … and the ramp storage and tie-down system!
5. And what Else did you do last year John?
Well, the first thing, in early May of ‘08, was
to change the front pads and rotors on the
’88 Volvo 240. For some reason, only a little
more than six months of use after I bought
the car, the pads that easily passed the
safety check were down to the metal and
grinding the old rotors to dust. I dunno why
as there’s now ten months on the new pads
and they’re just fine, so maybe the old pads
were real cheapies. Next, in June, I sent the
motor home out to a truck shop in Vars to
get the front end re-built. It cost a fair
chunk of cash, but it had to be done and
there's no way I could have done as good a
job all by myself, especially given my time
availability and the lack of a shop large
enough to house it. While it was in the shop
I also got them to re-seal the roof, do a tune
-up, and fix a few other things which were
included in the final cost. There were still a
few minor interior jobs (trim and panelling),
some of which I planned to do myself, a
small ding (my fault) on the right rear corner
to fix, and others which could wait as they
didn't affect the usability to any great extent.
There were also some jobs needed on the
'89 Volvo 240, but I figured they could wait
as it was usable for short trips if necessary,
we still had the '88 240 running well after
the brake job, and the rusting old ’93 Altima
could be used for local trips up until the
licence ran out in September ... NOT! The
effin' Altima had a rear trailing arm rust
out!! It was one of those made of two thin
stampings welded together making one
hollow stamping, and it rusted all the way
through leaving the right rear wheel flopping back and forth. Given its general condition the car was not worth the cost of repair
so we had to junk it in mid June. This meant
that I now had to fix the jobs on the '89
Volvo as we were down to one good car,
and I didn't want to waste what life was left
in the ’88 GMC pick-up on daily running
around.
I figured the jobs on the '89 Volvo would be
fairly simple, except for a small fuel leak
which looked to me to be a fuel line issue,
so I decided to do the work myself given
that the cost of the motor home repairs and
service had made a severe dent in the
budget. Well, into the garage it went and ...
it was still there in October! The first issue
was that the brakes didn't feel as good as
the ones on the '88, so off came the front
wheels for a look-see and ... a chunk of the
left front caliper which holds the pad retaining pins had rusted out, and this car, bought
a month before the ’88 Volvo, was also
(supposedly) safety-checked!!
So that meant replacing both front calipers,
which turned out to be a bugger of a job as
everything was rusted solid ... pad retainers,
brake line fittings, caliper mounting bolts,
and so on ... what an effin' job!!! After
what seemed forever, soaking in penetrating oil, carefully using some heat (the calipers were going back for castings anyway),
trying to undo the brake fittings without
buggering them up, and other crap, I eventually got the old calipers off and the new
ones installed, which just left bleeding the
brake system ... not!
The rear calipers were a bit rusty too, so
taking no chances before bleeding them, I
had soaked the bleeder screws in penetrating oil for three days, and then carefully
used a bit of heat so I could free them up,
but the left rear bleeder screw still snapped
off in its hole! I tried everything I could to
get the stub out with no success, so I decided the caliper had to come off, and that
had its own issues as I couldn't get at the
mounting bolts with the impact gun as they
were too close to the springs. I tried using
extensions through the springs, but I couldn't get them to line up square to the bolt
heads even with a swivel, and there wasn't
enough room to use a wrench or socket with
long lever to get enough torque to break
them loose. And for this job I couldn't use
the torches on 'em as the bolts would need
a lot of heat and the flame would be too
close to the piston seals in the caliper. All
that meant that the effin' spring had to
come out, another long job.
I couldn't remove the rusted out remnants
of lower spring retainer as there wasn't
enough left on the top part to get a good
grip in order to undo the locknut underneath the trailing arm. This meant I had to
work the bottom of the spring past what
was left of the lower spring retainer with the
spring still under some load, a bit of a
touchy job, and then remove the caliper so I
could put it in a vice and get out the remainder of the bleeder screw ... not ... again!!!
And oh yeah, I discovered while under the
rear of the car that the fuel leak wasn't from
the lines ... the rear seam on the tank had
rusted out ... and I still had to somehow
remove the buggered up lower spring
mount retainer.
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At this point, with working on the car between other jobs, about six weeks had
passed when, as I was leaving the motor
home one day after checking something
inside, I jumped out of the side door and
landed in a small hole in the ground, fell
sideways, and badly sprained my right ankle! After rolling around on the ground in
excruciating pain for a few minutes, I
crawled/limped into the house (unaided as
Susan wasn't home), sat down, and checked
out the damage as I thought I'd felt something snap when the ankle went. My first
thought was that I'd have to go into Orleans
to the emergency clinic, but with Susan not
home that would have been a problem. So,
I just felt around my foot and ankle really
closely, didn't find any broken bones, and
although it was painful, found that I could
move my ankle and foot around. I looked
for and found one of my old tensor bandages, then bound up my foot really tight
and hoped for the best. It took a while to
heal, but after about two weeks, with some
gentle walking around after the first five
days or so, I figured I was good enough to go
crawling around under the car again,
when ...
... my effin' back went out (herniated disc)
for the first time in about ten effin' years,
and for no apparent reason! So now I was
out of commission again with the ’89 Volvo
still not finished, none of the small jobs
done on the motor home, the RX7 still not
touched except for changing oil and fluids
and starting a couple of other jobs, and with
the end of the season fast approaching. And
oh yeah, at that point the starter quit on the
‘88 Volvo when Susan was in Orleans, and
that job went to the garage in Sarsfield,
budget problems or not!
I figured the disc problem to go away after a
few days, but this time it didn't for some
reason and I still had some pain up to the
end of the first week in September. Then I
found out why as I suddenly got massive
pains in my gut with lots of rumbling and
gas, and with the back pain still there. A
visit to my doctor revealed that it was some
sort of intestinal ‘flu ... oh great! So now,
after yet another week of down time due to
the bug in my gut, by about the third week
of September I was finally feeling well
enough to think yet again about getting
under the '89 Volvo and finishing the brake
job. What all this meant, of course, was that
it was then highly unlikely that we could get
the RX7 and motor home ready for the last
race of the season, plus which there was still
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(Continued from page 26)
household stuff that needed
doing, including some long overdue work on the tractor to get it
ready for winter. Bugger!!
airplane at Harewood, and
the replacement 8A we
were building from the remains of the 6A, which I had
to sell after our sponsor
backed out in 1971 and left
And that’s pretty much what
me short of funds. The Kiki
happened … no RX7 ready, no
story will now have to be
motor home ready, and no last
told soon, however, as part
race of the season. Why? First,
of this silver lining is that
after getting the buggered up
the remains of the 8A have
bleeder screw out of the Volvo’s
recently been found, and
left rear caliper I found a hairline
the current owner wants all
crack in the casting at the
the information I have on
bleeder hole, so that had to be
the car and its history in
completely replaced. Then, after
order to finish building it for
trying three times to bleed the
vintage racing. The good
Hmm!
Only
six
months
and
less
than
2000
Km
after
the
brake system I suspected a probnews, then, is that two of
lem in the master cylinder, so I
safety and this? But the safety is only valid for 30 days, so my old race cars have been
replaced it. After trying three
you’re on your own, John found, my ex-Tony Simms
times again to bleed the system
class E Production ‘65 MGB
it was better, but there still felt
wanted to have a spare engine, and al- and the Kiki FA/F5000 car, and my first car,
like air in the lines. By this time it was early
though not ported, this one came with a the ‘56 Lotus 6, although not found, is ruOctober with the tractor yet to get its enWeber DCOE 45 carburetor together with a moured to be somewhere in Ontario in
gine and gearbox oil changes and tune-up
Racing Beat intake and exhaust header. So, pieces. And this is a half silver lining only
for the winter, so after I had installed a new
given the slim chance at the time of getting
because I don’t still own these cars. L
left rear lower spring mount and the spring,
out in the RX7 that year, I took what would
I decided to send the Volvo up to the garage
7. Parting Shot
have been the entry fee and race costs put
in Sarsfield to have the brakes bled.
Instead of one of my usual rants about the
aside for the Celebration weekend at
So there you basically have my summer ’08 Mosport and bought it. J
idiocy of some in this world, this month I
and early fall. There was other stuff going
have something a little different ... pictorial
And the half silver lining? I still haven’t yet
on too, such as the grass getting so far
evidence. I don’t know the source of this
written the story of my time with the Kiki
ahead of me while messing around with the
photo, but I found it in a post on the discusFA/F5000 which car I owned briefly in the
Volvo that it never got cut at all in 2008, and
sion forum of the Canadian Motor Sports
early 1970s. This was the 6A car which got
I’m gonna pay for that this spring, but I think
History Group. Enjoy. J
wrecked while trying to play at being an
at this point you’ve got an idea of how my
summer went. And looking back on it, tight
budget or not, and given my time and frustration, it would have been better just to
send the ’89 Volvo out to get it fixed right
from the start… oh well, another lesson
learned, eh?
6. But for all of the black clouds …
… there’s always a silver lining, if you look
for it, and I had two ... or more accurately,
two-and-a-half. The first one was that I
again passed my race medical with no problems, which was a bit of a concern given
that I was then coming on 68 years old, and
got my race licence back, albeit a Novice
licence again, the fourth in my several attempts at racing over the last four-and-ahalf decades. Plus which, as described
above, I got in one test day and one race
this year. J
The second silver lining is that, while browsing through the Mazspeed forum in early
September last year, I found an ad for a
good used 12A RX7 engine. I have long
One would think that, of all people, snowmobilers would know that the ice is always thinner
near the shore!
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MCO celebrates its Traffic
by Al Guillon who has been
60th Anniversary Contributed
writing for Traffic Technology International (TTi) a London based trade magazine since 2006
Saturday, November 7
at the Tudor Hall.
Red-Light Cameras II: Replacing failed C&C with
A&A
Please join us at the special gala dinner
and awards presentation on Saturday,
November 7, 2009, and be with friends old and new.
Cost: $60 per person, which includes a
fabulous sit-down meal and wine.
Tickets are available online at mco.org,
or at the MCO monthly meetings,
(7 pm first Tuesday of the month at
Louis’ Steakhouse)
Special guest speaker is 24 Hours of Le
Mans class winner John Graham. John,
an excellent speaker, also has 11 starts at
the 12 Hours of Sebring and has competed in the gruelling Paris-Dakar Rally
and NASCAR.
On display will be a Panoz-Mugen ALMS
P1 car co-driven by Milka Duno, other
winning race and rally cars, and you can
try out the CMP race simulator. See if you
can beat Bruce Gregory on his own
Track!
The Tudor Hall is located at
3750 North Bowesville Road, Ottawa.
Cocktails at 6 p.m.
Dinner at 7 p.m.
BY MCO MEMBER
AL GULLON
▪
[Note: I started to write this
column while watching the
Belgian Grand Prix and noted
that the brake lights on the F1
cars were flashing rapidly on
and off – see below.]
Command and Control concisely describes a control paradigm that has
failed traffic safety miserably for the
past century. Which shouldn’t be too
surprising because it was originally
conceived to curtail the activities of the
rich in their new-fangled ‘horseless
carriages’ in favour of those on foot,
bicycles or horse-drawn carriages. Fortunately, as argued in my Oct/Nov 2006
column, ITS now makes the required
paradigm shift to Advice & Assistance if
not easy at least very possible.
I’ll get to A&A to prevent intersection
collisions shortly but first I’d like to
mention some feedback from the west
coast of Canada on my calculations in
the previous column. He correctly said
that I had neglected those drivers who
time their approach to a red light so
that they don’t have to stop and thus
will not be starting from rest as my
calculations assumed. Although neither
of us had any statistics I’m convinced
that it is a small proportion of drivers.
Moreover, since I often do it myself, I
believe those drivers will be more likely
to notice the speed of approaching
cross traffic and will brake to avoid the
so-called “red light runners (rlrs)”.
The feedback was very welcome because it showed me that I’d gotten so
wrapped up in Schumacher doing a
racing start in his F1 Ferrari at a suburban traffic light that I neglected the
main points of the column: i.e. that
those rlrs getting ticketed for the first
couple of seconds into the red cannot
possibly be responsible for the horrible
toll of intersection fatalities and that it
T h e L in k
▪
thus becomes directly analogous to
tickets, including photoradar, being
issued on straight sections of motorways where there hasn’t been a collision, let alone a fatality, in the past two
decades!
Those intersection fatalities are
caused by the same human foible which
causes all ‘accidents’ whether in the
home, on the job or on the road: the
mind is not on the motion. I call it the
Absent-Minded Professor Syndrome
(AMPS) and my research has shown it
to be the precipitating cause of all collisions. A driver in full AMPS can, with
eyes wide open and staring straight
ahead, drive right through a red light
without ‘seeing’ it. You will undoubtedly recognize it as “the cellphone stare
… without the cellphone!”.
So, where C&C has failed can A&A
succeed? Yes!
Although AMPS eyes cannot ‘see’ a
steady light they can be ‘assisted’ out of
that dangerous reverie by a flashing
light. Many jurisdictions currently use
an upstream flashing light when a traffic light is hidden from on-coming traffic by topography or infrastructure. The
expansion of that idea, preferably using
strobe lights, to all suburban roadways
should dramatically reduce intersection
collisions.. Those drivers willing to
‘work with the system’ would be able
to slow down early when told by the
flashing light that they weren’t going to
make it and would, not incidentally,
also save fuel.
Glossary
ITS: Intelligent (i.e. computerized)
Transportation Systems
ISA: Intelligent Speed Adaptation (a
proposal to install a computerized
'speed limiter' on all cars which will
use GPS to 'know' the local speed
limit)
IPCC: Intergovernmental Panel on
Climate Change
S pr in g 200 9 ▪
Targa Newfoundland School
Rob and I left for Mosport on June
19 at about 3 PM with the Porsche
on the trailer. After an uneventful
trip, we arrived there a little before
7 PM and looked for a place to
unload and leave the truck. The
gates to the Driver Development
Centre (DDC) were closed, but
there was both a vintage race
meeting and a karting event in progress, so there were friendly people
in the registration building. We
unloaded and left the rig behind
that building, pretty confident that
it would be secure until we could
pick it up Sunday morning. I
dropped Rob off at the Holiday Inn,
Oshawa where he was planning to
meet friends from Peterborough
and went to Les and Maureen’s,
arriving a little after 8 Friday night.
We had a nice visit with a couple of
beers and hit the sack fairly early,
since both Les and I had to be up in
the morning.
Saturday dawned wet and miserable. I picked up some coffee at
McDonald’s and drove through the
rain to the Holiday Inn, arriving well
before the 9 AM start time. We
spent most of the morning in a
boardroom which they had laid out
as a classroom, going over many of
the basics of the Targa NF format,
scoring and preparation. Around
11:30 we all set off for a practice
exercise, running a short TSD-style
rally north towards Taunton Rd.
and Highway 57, where we broke
for lunch. The rally computer was
not registering any speed or distance information, so we used the
Porsche’s odometer and calculated
a correction factor of 4% at the odo
check. After a quick A&W lunch, we
followed the second set of instructions back to the hotel and resumed our classroom work.
Later in the afternoon we tried another practise TSD stage, working
our way up to the DDC. Upon arriving, we retrieved the multimeter
and a couple of tools from the truck
and tried to troubleshoot the computer. It turned out that the Porsche speedometer input was only
0.7 volts, whereas I had built a little
conversion circuit to reduce an assumed 12 v feed to the 5 v needed
by the Brantz. I bypassed this circuit
but of course 0.7 v was not enough
to drive the computer, so we removed it and all the wiring before
returning to the hotel on the last
practise TSD stage. Everyone was a
little late arriving back, so it was
closer to 6 PM than 5 before we
wrapped up for the evening. I got
to Les’s around 7 PM where we had
a really good BBQ steak dinner, sitting out on the patio sheltered from
the warm scotch mist that was still
hanging around.
BY MCO MEMBER
PETER BROWNHILL
For Sunday morning, the format
had been changed so we didn’t
have to meet at the hotel at 7 AM
for another practise TSD up to the
DDC. The weather was overcast but
clearing a bit, and it promised to be
quite warm. So I picked Rob up
there around 8 AM after a coffee
and Egg McMuffin and arrived at
the track in time for the drivers’
meeting at 8:30. The plan for the
day was to run a series of mock TSD
stages on the track, which has numerous cut-outs and bus stop type
loops, running first clockwise, then
anti-clockwise. The objective was
for the team to practise communi-
▪
T h e Li n k
▪
S p ri n g 20 09 ▪
ww w . mc o . o rg
cations and preparation, as well as
performance driving at pretty aggressive speeds. The track is only
about 1.8 km around the outermost circuit, so it was all 2nd and 3rd
gear stuff, with mostly fairly tight
corners.
In our first stint, there was standing water in one of the turns, so we
did a little tail waggle before continuing. Later in the same stint we
were catching two cars, when one
of them turned right, while the
other went straight on. I got distracted and missed the right turn
as well, but it was all asphalt track
so that was not a problem. While
waiting in line for that stint two
guys came over to the car to say
hello – Lance and Steve, whom I’d
met at Calabogie in May. Lance had
brought the BMW race car down
from Collingwood for some free
lapping, which he did during our
classroom time (at the track) and
over the lunch break. Every time he
went by, Glen had to pause for a
few seconds because of the noise.
Glen did most of the classroom
stuff on both days, although he had
help from Evan Gamblin (his winning 2006 co-driver) and Andy, his
2008 co-driver. Bob Giannou was
also there, who is the principal organizer behind the whole Targa
event, along with one of his Competitor Relations Officers
(Alexandra).
it was a fun day with some interesting driving being required. Since
Rob and I have rallied together for
3 years, we didn’t need to learn
how to communicate, just how to
adapt. Most of the others were
novices at rallying, with some track
experience. So for them it was
quite a learning experience.
There were some interesting cars,
including a freshly rehabilitated
Sunbeam Tiger, a 1966 NSU with
the Wankel engine, a couple of
Corvettes and a guy named Bob in
a Bullitt Mustang. We voted him
“most improved” driver of the day.
We struck up a conversation with a
fellow named Andrew who is an
orthopaedic surgeon from Toronto.
He was driving an Audi rally car
that he had bought recently, and
he proceeded to itemize all the
cars he currently owns: a BMW
M5, an Aston Martin, a Porsche
944 and Boxster, and a truck.
Tough life.
The event ended at 5 and everyonetayed for a drink and some chatter. We finally hit the road about
5:30 and got home 4 hours later.
En route we saw a number of vintage racers returning from their
event and everyone waved as they
passed us. Rob and I are now qualified for Targa Newfoundland competition licences – all we need is
money to buy them. We’re talking
loosely about going in a couple of
During the day we had about 8 lap- years, but we’d need a new car and
ping events, four in each direction. some sponsorship.
In each case the course was laid
out differently, requiring new verbal instructions from co-driver to
driver. In one stint, Glen sprinkled
dried corn in a sharp turn to simulate gravel in a corner. During another stint we got a rain shower,
which made the cold patch at several corners very slippery. All in all
▪
T h e L in k
▪
S pr in g 200 9 ▪

The Link 2009 Summer - Motorsport Club of Ottawa

Transcription

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