Looking through the latest Performance Racing News (PRN) Magazine, it appears that the team got a little print press.

2009 Toyo Championship Recap - Click for full size view.

Also, there was a 2009 Solosprint season recap where the team was mention again.

2009 SoloSprint Season Recap - Click for full size image.

Now that the 2009 season has come  to an end, it’s time for a little update.

The CASC banquet is this Saturday (Nov 14th) at the Sheraton in Richmond Hill.  I will be attending to pick up the hardware, and meet up with fellow competitors.  I’ll post up some picture shortly after.

The upgrades have already begun on the car.  Parts have been ordered, and existing parts are coming off and being sold.  So far, I’ve picked up some Koni Double-Adjustable shocks for the front, and some Beehive valve springs for the motor.  I will be dropping off the rear differential to Wildgoose Performance tomorrow (Nov 13) so they can start rebuilding the unit.  A new Eaton Posi LSD will be installed along with all new Timken bearings.

I’m also updating my sponsorship proposals so I can send them out within the next 2-3 weeks in hopes to work with new & existing partners for 2010.

SHANNONVILLE, ON – The last 2 events of the CASC SoloSprint series were held at the Shannonville Motorsports Park on September 13th & 14th.  This not only marked the end of the season, but also we’d see the final results of a seasons worth of competition.  Some titles had already been clinched, some were not.  For the MadDogMotorsports team, we only had to show up and turned one timed lap to clinch the Class Championship….but what’s the fun in that.

Saturday morning was chilly and overcast.  A decent total of 51 competitors showed up for the event.  The “Fabi” configuration was set for this event which is 2.23 kms (1.4 miles) consisting of 6 right turns, and 3 left hand turns.  The team had never run this configuration, therefore, this was more of a learning experience than a competition for us.

Ray Vachon at Driver's meeting

After a brief driver’s meeting, open lapping began for approx. 1 hour.  Our first lapping session did not go very well.  The combination of no-experience, and cold tires made for a very slippery experience along with a semi-flat spotted RF tire breaking at the end of the long front stretch.  Joe the Car Chief decided to come for a few laps for the experience.  Results were not much better, and that’s when we noticed the limited slip differential (LSD) was not working at 100% (maybe 30-40%) therefore making any good acceleration off the corners nearly impossible.  We were hoping for a 3rd lapping session, but the way the organizers were doing it this time, it did not work out.

MadDogMotosports' Black Betty in action on Fabi course.

Before heading for the weekend, we had decided on a goal of 75 seconds for the Fabi configuration based on previous results.  The 2 morning timed session didn’t go well out all.  Grip was non-existent and we couldn’t get out of the turns because of the worn out LSD.  First session we managed a 75.851 lap, and a 75.137 on our 2nd timed session.  This was within our goal of 75, but not good enough to top the SGT3 class which was a 73.087.  Over 2 seconds off the pace.  The afternoon sessions were a write-off for almost everyone as the track got greasy, and we only managed a 75.746 best in the afternoon.  Some lapping seat time is in order for this configuration prior to the 2010 season.  Overall, it was a very frustrating day.

On Sunday, only 46 competitors shows up for the last event of the season.  For today, we were running the Long configuration which is the entire facility; 4.03 kms (2.5 miles) which is mostly a combination of the Nelson & Fabi configuration linked together.  We had some success at Nelson in June so that was something to look forward to, but we still had a bad LSD and with all the turns, we knew that was only going to make it even more challenging.

After the morning lapping session, we felt a little more confident as the track felt grippier.  We did not have any goal time for this layout as no one had any experience here yet so it was anyone’s guess.

Our 2 first timed session came in at 125.443 & 125.393 respectively.  Once again, we were 2 seconds behind the pace as first in SGT3 was at 123.369.  In the afternoon sessions we did not improve with a best of 125.864. Now that we have a benchmark to work with, next year, we’re shooting for a 121 second lap.  Big goal?  Yes.  Attainable?  Definitely.

Now that everything was said and done, here is the announcement on the final season standings for the #73 NiagaraSynthetics/AMSOIL MadDog Motorports Trans Am:

• SGT3 Class Champion
• Toyo Top Novice
• 3rd Novice Overall
• 18th Overall Standings

In the end, we are VERY satisfied by our rookie season.  Getting the class championship and a Top 3 in the rookie standings in our first year is truly satisfying.

We would like to take this time now to thank our partners that helped us get good results all year, and a great overall finish;

Talon Tire & Toyo Tire – Overall great service, and great tire.  They help up good for an entire season of abuse on a 3200 lbs car.

Carbotech Brakes – The XP10 pads help up to everything we threw at them including abuse of small tight tracks, and the long stretches of Mosport into turn 8.  Even after a whole season, the pads still have over 1/3 left.  We look forward to working with them again in 2010.

Wildgoose Performance – Thanks for the great support all season.  Great service, great guys, great prices.

And finally…NiagaraSynthetics/AMSOIL – The synthetic products kept the entire car rolling through 30 min lapping sessions with hanging 5500 RPMs, and 150 MPH stretches.

BOWMANVILLE, ON – On Saturday August 22nd, TAC (Toronto Autosport Club) hosted a Tune & Test/Lapping Day on the bigMosport Grand Prix track.  From 9 AM to 5 PM it was non-stop and what we learned about the track and car was invaluable to the success we had the next day.  The weather was perfect for a weekend at the track, and we were glad as Mosport in the rain would have been REALLY scary.

For the lapping day on Saturday, we ran with the Hoosier scrubs from the Koni Challenge series instead of wasting the competition rubber.

The first session we took it easy considering the track was still a little damp from the morning dew.  For the 2nd session, we pushed it a little harder to find that these Hoosiers really had nice grip.  From the stop watch, it looked like we were turning 1:37 laps which is over 3 seconds faster than the July 5th Solosprint competition time of 1:40.3.  The remaining 2 session we worked on different lines for different corners trying to find the optimal line for the car.  Overall, it was a great learning day which transfered to next day’s competition.

We began the day with some morning lapping to check tire temps & pressures, and what we found is that the Saturday lapping/practice gave us more confidence in the car, and handling of the track.  The Toyo R888s were not as sticky, but still felt great overall.

The competition start at around 10:30 AM and we were part of the 1st run group.  We were one of the first cars on the track.  Our first session felt great; car handled great and it felt like we turned a good lap time.  We later found out that we did a 1:38.129 which was over 2 seconds faster than our best time of 1:40.3 in July.  Fantastic news!  When our 2nd timed session came along, confidence was at an all time high and shooting for 1:37s was a definitely possibility.  Unfortunately, it was not so.  We started experiencing clutch slip in 5th gear of the backstraight severely cramping our top end speed, and losing time.  Our fastest lap of session 2 was only 1:38.612.  There was also a bad vibration that developed under braking which meant a warped rotor.  This did not help things at all.

For the 3rd timed session, we weren’t expecting to get much better with an ill car.  The clutch was getting worse, now slipping in 4th & 5th gear, and the brake vibration was also worse.  Our best lap of that session was a 1:38.604, again slower than our 1st session.

Weekend results are as follows;

• 2nd in SGT3 Class (out of 6 class competitors)
• 8th Overall Fastest (out of 55 competitors)
• 5th in Novice division (out of 14 competitors)

Weekend results can be seen HERE.

Overall results HERE.  These will change once the last 2 events are completed, and the best of 6 events is calculated.  Let’s hope we can manage a Top 10 overall.

Even with the car problems for the 2nd half of the day, it was still a great weekend overall.  The experienced we gained of the track & car was worth it.

We’re looking forward to the final 2 events Sept 12-13th at Shannonville Motorsports Park.  The Fabi & Long configurations will be used which again favors HP.

JULY 26, 2009 – BOWMANVILLE ON — The 2nd event in the Attack Time Trial Series (ATTS) was held at the Mosport DDT facility located in Bowmanville Ontario.  The threat of weather was around all morning, skys’ opened up during the lunch break, and the afternoon brought beautiful sunshine.

I arrived at the track around 8:20 AM, and registered before doing anything else.  Unloaded, checked tire pressures, and fluid levels.  Following the driver’s meeting at 9:30 AM, the track opened up for morning practice for the D Mod class which we run in.  The track was extremely slippery;  traction was non-existant.  The back of the car could not stay straight even when I wasn’t on the throttle.  This did not look promising.

Black Betty after Practice Session #2

After my first practice session, I checked tire pressures & temperatures and dropped the rear pressures by 1 psi, and adjusted wedge.  In the 2nd practice at approx. 11:00 AM, the car felt a little better, but still very loose.  Upon checking tire pressures & temperatures, everything seemed optimal so I did not change anything.  Other were complaining of the slippery conditions, so I felt a little better that it was more of the track surface issue, than a car handling issue.

For the 3rd practice session, the track was still wet from the downpour we had from 12:30 to 1:30.  Needless to say, it was stupid crazy slippery and all I could do is try the wet line and hope it stuck for my timed lap.

The timed session came along around 3 PM, and it worked out beautifully.  The track was completely dry for my run, and the track seemed like it had “washed” itself as grip was at an all time high.  I pushed the car hard, and it handled beautifully.  I did have trouble getting into 3rd gear (again) after the kink right before the long straight, which I’m sure cost me 3-4 tenths.  Overall, I felt confident the run was good.  After checking the time sheet, I nailed a 62.59 sec lap, which was 1.4 secs slower than the leader.  I placed me 6th out of the 13 competitors in the class.  If I wouldn’t have missed the 2-3 shift, I feel I could have been in the Top 3.

Overall, it was another fantastic day at the track, and the car once again, ran flawlessly, except for the trans shifter.

With the combined results of Event 1 & 2, the #73 NiagaraSynthetic.com AMSOIL Trans Am sits in 9th place.

The next scheduled event is at the Dunnville Autodrome on Aug 29th, which is a Touge, or a cat & mouse setup.

Of all the tracks, this is the one I was anticipating the most.  The Mosport Grand Prix track is world renowned for a reason.  It’s scary, but exhilarating & fun all at the same time.  As expected, it did not fail in this regard.

We left MDR headquarters at 5:45 AM to make the 8 AM registration deadline at the track.  The trip there was uneventful, and smooth, although tiring.  the predicted weather was suppose to be great, and it was.  It turned out to be sunny, and warm at 25C.

We arrived at the track at 7:20 AM and already a bunch of cars were there and ready to roll.  Some had camped there from the school that was on the previous day.

Morning Lapping - 95 MPH on the front straight.

Immediately after arriving, we went ahead and registered, then unloaded all the gear & car.  After 15-20 mins of getting the car ready for some morning lapping, we walked around the paddock taking pictures & talking to fellow competitors.

Morning lapping/warmups began around 9 AM & scheduled to run for 1 hour.  Being this was my first time driving this track, I had nasty butterflies in the pit of my stomach.  After all, PEOPLE HAVE BEEN KILLED ON THIS TRACK! I lined up in the pits, and within minutes I was off down pit road onto the track….gut wrenching feeling.  My first few laps I took it easy, but after 5-6 laps, I was starting to get comfortable & started pushing things a little harder.  After approx. 10 laps, I pulled into the paddock to check tire temps &

Passing on the Front Straight

pressures.  Everything looked perfect.  After a quick drink & snack, I proceed to do another 4-5 laps before the session was over.

After a drivers meeting, competition started and my group was up first.

I completed my first time trial and felt pretty good.  My goal for my first time was to get into the 1:40 range, and I found out my best lap of my first session was a 1:40.4.  I couldn’t have been happier and couldn’t wait for my next session to improve this time.

Some were not so lucky.

Unfortunately, there were a few incidences that delayed things, and we lost one of our proposed time runs.  Later that afternoon, I had my 2nd timed session.  When I was done, I felt I had significantly improved my time, but found out later, I only managed a 1:40.3 which is not a big improvement.  The good thing is, I know where I’m loosing time and where I can improve.  For the next event, I’m shooting for 1:38s.  I know the car is capable, and then some.

Final results:
My SGT3 class got merged once again with GT1.  Within this merge, I ended up 4th our of 15 cars.  In the Novice points, I finished 4th there also out of the 25 Novices competing that day.

The next event in the CASC SoloSprint Series is again at Mosport GP track on August 23rd, which also has a full day of lapping the day before which I plan on taking FULL ADVANTAGE of with the Hoosier Cup tires.

Next scheduled event is the ATT Series – Time Trial at Mosport DDT track on July 26th.  I think we’ll do great at this event.

Hey everyone…quick update on the last event held at the Barrie Molson Centre.  This was a “Gymkhana” or a more open autoslalom.  Bottom line, Black Betty isn’t setup to run those very effeciently.  Although I had a great time, we got annihilated.  Results in my Open Modified class below;

Black Betty in action

As you can see, I finished 10th out of 19 entries in the class which isn’t that bad I guess, considering the remaining 3 events I should do ALOT better.

Also worth noting from all the results, all the bigger RWD cars (Mustangs, Camaros, etc), none broke the 58 sec barrier, so it gives me some comfort that it wasn’t all the drivers fault.

For more pictures, CLICK HERE.  There’s also a video of my timed lapped which can be found by CLICKING HERE.

Final results from all classes can be found by CLICKING HERE.

Next event is at Mosport DDT on July 26th.  Looking forward to this event…should be a blast.

MadDog Motorsports will be at the Barrie Molson Centre this Saturday (June 27) for the first event of the Attack Time Trial Series (ATTS).  This first event is called Gymkhana which is like autocross, but with a more open course, and you only get 1 timed lap.  The morning is spent practicing the course.

There are only 4 classes;

• Class A – Street,
• Class B – Street Prepared,
• Class C – Street Mod, and
• Class D – Open Modified.

We will be running in Class D Open Modified because we trailer the car.  Our competition is a bunch of Miatas & Suburus…the anti-christ to huge F-Bodies like “Black Betty”.

None the less, it should be a fun little series and it has decent prizes for each event, and for the final Championship.

The other events are as follows;

• Event 2 – Time Trial at Mosport DDT track on July 26th
• Event 3 – Touge at Dunnville Autodrome on August 29th
• Event 4 – Drag Racing at St. Thomas Dragway in September.

Weather looks great.  Lets hope the results are also.

Wow, what a great weekend overall.  The weather was perfect, and everything ran smoothly including the Team.

Friday June 12

We left MDM headquarters in Port Colborne at 12:45 PM for the 370 km trek to Shannonville Motorsports Park with a plan stop at the AMSOIL warehouse in Toronto to pick up some product.  We hoped to miss the Friday afternoon traffic in Toronto, but we did not luck out.  It was a slow process to get there, but we did arrive at approx. 6:30 PM.  We parked next to fellow competitor and also Chief Registrar for the CASC SoloSprint series, Pete Lines, and

Lapping on Friday evening.

unload the car.

There was a lapping event available on the Friday night, and even though I already missed over an hour, I decided to still take advantage of the seat time as I had never been to this track facility or driven any of the configuration.  Got about 5-6 laps on the Nelson circuit before the checker flagged and switched to the Pro circuit.  I managed to get 15-20 laps on the Pro circuit which helped my confidence going into the weekend events.

Saturday Jun 13 – Event #3 – 1.8 km Nelson Circuit

Sky was a little overcast, but not threatening, and weather was warm & humid.  We got to the track around 8 AM which was a little later than I wanted, but still managed to register and get the car ready & scrutineered with plenty of time left.

After a brief 15 mins driver’s meeting at 9:30, open lapping began.  I managed to go for 2 sessions to test out the track, and check tire pressures, which I adjusted after my 2nd session.

On the grid.

Competition started shortly after 10:30 AM and since I was in the ‘X’ group, that meant I was up on the grid for sessions 1 & 2.  My first session I nailed a 54.572 which was respectable considering my non-existent experience at this track.  Approx. 30 mins later, I went for my 2nd session, and this time I busted out a 54.414.  At this point, my confidence was up and couldn’t wait for my next session to further improve on those times.

My 3rd & 4th sessions did not come till later at approx. 1:30 PM.  Temps were higher, and even had a few rain drops.  Still I felt confident I could improve on those times.  My 3rd session did not feel good at all.  It felt very greasy & uncontrolled and I knew I had not improved before I picked up my time slip.  Result: 54.522 = No Improvement.

Forty-five mins later, session 4.  Again, I did feel I had beat my best and sure enough: 54.664.  My worse time of the day.  I was basically over driving the car, and given the hotter conditions, only made things worse.

Overall, I was satisfied with my best of 54.414 as I had a goal of 55 seconds for this configuration based on past results from drivers I know.

Sunday June 14 – Event #4 – 2.47 km Pro Circuit

Looking at the weather website Saturday night, they were calling for rain early Sunday afternoon.  But if it’s one thing I learned, meteorologists are way overpaid for the info they provide.  The day turned out to be a clear sunny, hot day.  Couldn’t ask for anything better.

Today I got there about the same time, but was done everything even faster since I didn’t have to get the car scrutineered again so the only thing I did was play with my tire pressures to try and balance the hot pressures compensating for greater right hand turns, then left turns.  I did get to do a half dozen laps in the lap session in the morning, and my pressure turned out to be exactly where I wanted them.

Out of turn 2 on 1st session.

This time I was part of ‘y’ group which meant I was marshaling first before running any sessions.

My 1st & 2nd sessions of the day were not until 11:30.  My personal preset goal for this configuration was a 77.5 seconds.  My 1st session, actually felt good but I knew I had FUBARed a couple turns.  Result: 78.727.  Ouch!  I was over 1 second my goal time.  Determined to do better on my 2nd run, I planned in my head what I wanted to do differently, and it worked….for most of the turns I felt like I had a great lap going, until I

Turn 10 on 3rd session.

got out of the last turn and MISSED A SHIFT.  Result: Time did not improve.

My 3rd & 4th session were later in the afternoon in the hot blaring sun, greasy track, etc. I decided I was not going to let that stop me.  Again, planning in my head before hitting the track where I was going to brake, turn, accelerate, I went off for my 3rd run and BAM…results: 78.207.  I knocked over half a second off my best time.  I still was not where I wanted, but it was an improvement.

My 4th session was terrible, actually almost downright embarrassing.  Again, I tried too hard and over drove everywhere.  I don’t know what my best time was for that last session.  All I know is that it wasn’t an improvement.

In the end…..

I was very satisfied with my overall experience for the entire weekend.  Great people, great weather, and great fun competition.  I can’t wait for the next scheduled SoloSprint which is July 4th at the Mosport Grand Prix track.  To say that place is intimidating is an understatement.  Should be fun!

Final Results

The final results were posted on the CASC site today and here is how it ended up;

Saturday: Classes STG3 & GT1 were merged in with GT2, and I finished 2nd in class, 2nd in Novice, and was the 5th overall fastest of the day out of 50 competitors.  Not bad for a rookie, huh?

Sunday: I finished 3rd in Class, 4th in Novice, and 9th fastest of the day out of 53 competitors.

Dunnville Track Layout

This past Sunday we tested the car at the Dunnville Autodrome which is small, technical 1.36 mile (2.2 km) flat road course located within the confines of the Dunnville airport.  First thing I did after unloading the car off the trailer was bed-in the new brakes while I had the track to myself.  After some administrative duties of running a lapping event, I went for my first session which lasted approx. 10 laps.  I knew right away something was NOT right with the rear suspension.  There was a “clanking” sound with every little bump I hit thus making the rear of the car jump around like a frog.  It was not very pleasant and I couldn’t push the car to it’s limits because of it.

My 2nd session start 30 mins later and went on for 15+ laps until I noticed I could not get into 3rd gear anymore.  At that point I pulled off track, where I noticed I could not get into 1st, 3rd, 5th or reverse.  This was not what I wanted to see.  What was really suspicious was that it never gave me any warnings, or grinding or other noises.  I thought at that point it might have been heat soak related.  So I parked the car for almost an hour, but that did not make a difference.

Lapping at Dunnville

Instead of sitting around waiting for 4:00 PM to come along, I decided to go for a 3rd session with only 2nd & 4th gears.  That lasted about 5-6 laps before I could not get into 4th gear.  I pulled off the track, and loaded the car on the trailer at that point.  For sure I thought I needed a new trans rebuild.

The next day (Monday), I took off the rubber boot that sits at the opening of the shifter in the car.  Low & behold, the problem;  The bump stop screw had turned itself in blocking the shifter from acessing the top  gears (1, 3, 5 , R), and eventually when it was out enough, it would not let me get out of 2nd enough to get to 4th.  I was extremely relieved that it was a simply 5 minute fix.

Now for the rear;  checking the shock travel, there is approx. 1″ left so that was not the problem.  Turns out it was the spring plates that are used for the weight jack setup that were touching.  Since I’m only using an 8″ spring in the back, there was only 1/2″ clearance between the 2 spring plates.

Other things about the car;  the engine worked great.  Pulls really strong with not issues.  The brakes are fabulous and actually feels like the skin is pulled from your face under heavy braking.

With everything dealth with at this point, I’ll be off to Shannonville Speedway this weekend for my first SoloSprint event.  At this point, weather looks great.