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.

Tomorrow (June 4th) I will be spending the day in the Hamilton area.  First thing in the morning at 8 AM, I have appointment with Scott Murfin at Can-Alignment to get the car aligned, and corner balanced & weighed.  Scott is an expert in the field of setting up track cars.  I was there a couple times before with my 86 Camaro and he does a fantastic job.

Later that day, I will be headed to DL Motorsports in Burlington to get the car dyno tuned.  My buddy Dan will be coming down from Waterloo, is an expert with LT1 tuning and will be tweaking the snot out of the beast.  Then I will get my 3 referrence pulls for the CASC Classification in case I need it.

I will be posting pictures and videos of the day.

This Sunday, June 7th, I have organized a lapping session at the Dunnville Autodrome to shake down the car before the CASc SoloSprint event the following weekend at Shannonville Motorsports Park.  Should be a good time.  Pics & video will follow that also.

Ray