I don't think I posted these before but here's some pictures from Mosport back in October of this year.

It didn't rain until about about noon so we got in a few sessions in the dry; after that it started pissing real bad and it got to the point where there was standing water on the track which was a blast to drive although I was concerned about writing off the car.

The GP Track is very slippery in the rain and there's some corners which are like threading a needle at the best of times. Corner four is a downhill gradual left followed by an uphill 90* right. I lost it on the downhill part and came up the hill to five absolutuly sideways and expecting to go into the gravel if not the tyre wall. As it happened, I managed to gather it up and stay on the track but it really was just luck.

The car goes very well on this track in the dry and the 32/21 bars with a prokit, Koni Yellows and 275/40/17s seems to stick real good whereas on short tracks it seems to have a bit to much understeer.

The GP track is very big so you don't realize how fast you're going. With the 3:23 gears my car tops out at about 140 mph half way up the main straight. When the course was red flagged because of an accident I was touring up the straight at about 60 mph and it felt like 30 mph. As there's no great sensation of speed it's very easy to go into a corner to fast so there's a big transition from driving on smaller tracks; no one ever pointed this out to me as I just showed up at a track day and said; yeah, I can do that..lol

Our cars are not very good in the rain at any kind of speed and actually a bit frightening when there's hills and corners involved. Once it started raining I was getting pissed on by race prepped GT cars with rain tyres on them. In the dry though, the car can hold its own which is pretty good considering that it's not a race car.

Anyway, for next year I think I'm going to concentrate on running the GP Track; it's very easy on tyres and brakes as opposed to short tracks where you're beating on the car all the time. Also, it's a *** of a lot more fun..lol

 

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Very Very Cool George.

Need more info about participating in a track day. When are they what do they cost ? Is there a tech inspection of your car? What are they looking for ? Do you need a helmet? Fire suit? Special Seat belts?

Ric

 

Ric:

There are a lot of track days held by diffrent clubs and sometimes they come up on short notice. Here's the link to the CASC site which has pretty much all of them:

http://www.casc.on.ca/forums/

Last August there was a free lap day at the Dunnville track which is on an old airport near Cayuga. That was announced on CASC a couple of weeks before the event and it filled up in a few days. They also had a some Formula 2000 cars there - $20 for five laps which was cool. I don't know if they'll do it again next year.

Cost for track days is pretty cheap all things considered.

OMSC has about 4 lap days at the Mosport short track per year; $125 for members and $135 for non-members. They also put on a school about twice a year and that's $200 which includes the $135 track fee. There's a barbeque afterwards also included. I've never taken any kind of driving school but people say the OMSC one is very good. Anyone w/out prior experience would have to take the school before running at an OMSC track day. I've done a lot of events with OMSC and I like their club; only thing is that they don't run them on the big track.

Trac Lapping Club from Montreal runs two days a year at the Mosport GP Track. That's the event which the pictures are from. I've been running with them for a couple of years although I'm not a member of their club. Cost for the big track is 300-350 for the day which is good considering that they have paid marshals on the course, ambulance and race rescue team on hand etc. Run groups are split between fast and slow; each group goes out for 30 minutes. If you register early it's 300 and it goes to 350 etc. as the date gets closer. They give TFBM a discount so I've never paid more than 300 at the door. Also, at one of their track days you will get more track time than most cars or drivers can handle..lol

Usually there's no tech. Safety is the responsibility of the driver. Obviously though, the car has to be up to it and the brake fluid should be fresh and good for about 450* at least. I use the Ford HD stuff and flush the system 2-3 time per season or as needed if I boil the brakes which is what happened at Dunnville.

An up to date helmet is required and you don't need a fire suit. OEM belts are acceptable.

Here's a shot I forgot to include - race prepared camaro which went pretty good.

 

Here's some more from an OMSC track day on the short track at Mosport:

 

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That is awesome.

What Kind of tires do you run? They look pretty sticky.

Ric

 

BFG KDW 275/40/17s - very much in the nothing special category but not bad for a street tyre. This was the third season for them so the compound is pretty hard by now. Still OK and they're predictable so I'd probably buy them again or maybe the KDs which are a bit softer.

R-compounds would be nice but there's things I need more like a brake upgrade for one. With the offset on the Hawk rims I'm pretty much limited to a floating caliper 1LE setup because anything bigger will contact the back of the spokes. I don't want to spend the money on 1LE brakes though because there's so much better stuff available now.

You guys might want to check out Dunnville in the spring for lap days. It's not the greatest track but it's close enough to London. Very hard on brakes - be prepared to bleed them before you drive home. The hanger straight is cool though - there's a chicane in the middle of it which can be taken flat out and it doesn't look like the car will fit if you strainght line it but it does..lol