Monday, June 4, 2018

[6/3/2018] CSCS #1 (DDT)

[6/3/2018] CSCS #1 (DDT)
Event: Canadian Sport Compact Series #1
Track: CTMP DDT
Weather Conditions: 19°C, Overcast (Qualifying), Rain & Fog (Time Attack)


I was able to participate in CSCS Round 1 because Can-Jam & Steelcase Tires were gracious enough to lend me a set of 265/35/18 Pirelli Trofeo R's (spec tire). Thank you very much guys! 



Unfortunately on just my 2nd hot lap of the day, I clipped the curbing at T16 a bit too aggressively and the car became unsettled and I went into a spin. I counter-steered and pinned the throttle to try and keep it on the tarmac but didn’t expect the fronts to regain their grip so suddenly. All of this happened within a split second and before I could re-centre the steering wheel I was in the grass with no choice but to rip the e-brake with two feet in and hope for the best. I’ve clipped that curb (and many others) so many times in the past… a bit unlucky that it put me into a spin this time. I'm not going to jump to conclusions about changing any suspension settings just yet, but if I continue to get random instability in the future it's something I'll definitely have to look into.

This is the 2nd red flag I’ve caused in my career, hopefully the last. I had to get towed out of the wall and grab my 17” street wheel to be able to drive back to the pits because the front left Trofeo R came off the wheel. Luckily, I was able to do that.


I had a busted front left fender & bumper, broken brake duct, and front left tire dismounted. Unknown amount of damage elsewhere. No CEL. There didn’t seem to be any powertrain issues. 

After assessing the situation I decided that I would try to fix what I could and go back out on track to see how the car performed. Lots of hammering later and the car looked like it could drive again.



I went back out on track but just a few laps in another car went into a wall, cutting this session short too. My car seemed to drive fine but the alignment definitely felt off so I wasn’t confident in pushing 100%. Not only that but it started to rain shortly after I got off track. My time of 1:43.865 was good enough to qualify for the time attack in 6th place so I decided to just head back and not break anything else.


During the time attack, not only did it start raining harder, but a heavy fog came down on the track as well. Visibility was poor. The car wasn’t handling very well. And my confidence was low. Still, I tried to put down a respectable time given the conditions. I took the 1st lap very conservatively, then decided to go for it in the 2nd and 3rd. In the 3rd lap, I botched the braking zone into T1 so I decided to scrap the lap entirely. I finished with a 2:00.055, good enough for 5th place overall, 1.1 seconds behind 1st place’s 1:58.889. 

I’m obviously bummed about the crash. But everyone knows that’s the risk you take when you go racing. All things considered, the damage appears to be quite minimal. Hopefully I’ll be back on the track before the end of the season.

Saturday, June 2, 2018

[6/1/2018] HANSON School (DDT)

[6/1/2018] HANSON School (DDT)
Event: HANSON International Driving School
Track: CTMP DDT
Weather Conditions: 25°C, Sunny



In 2017 I took a sabbatical from work and since I was technically unemployed I chose not to track for financial reasons. But I’m back to work now, and the beautiful weather was enticing me to go out and play.

I registered for CSCS on Sunday so I wanted to get in as much practice as I could at the HANSON School on Friday.


I’m still running the same set of Direzza ZII’s as my last blog post in 2016. These tires continue to perform and are honestly some of the best bang for the buck tires you can buy for having fun at the track.


There were a few changes I wanted to test with respect to the pace notes I made in 2016:


T1 – A different approach influenced by Jim Houghton’s line in his record setting 1:25 lap and a vlog post by Michael Gardener explaining the same concept.. This involves cutting T1b aggressively (read: 2wo) and tracking wide left to get a very wide approach and late apex (post-concrete curbing) vs. my old approach of shallow-in, neutral apex. Also not downshifting into 3rd but rather keeping a higher entry speed in 4th to carry momentum.

T10 – Keeping 4th gear rather than downshifting into 3rd for similar reasons as T1.

T11 – Staying more to the left of centre as I bomb down the curve so that I can take T12 as wide as possible. Previously I would be too close to the right/grass and end up with an awkward sharp entry angle into T12.





I forgot to record the first session. I only did two more sessions later in the day as I was suffering from some pretty severe motion sickness after riding with my student in the morning (despite using my killer anti-sickness combo).

Although I didn't have a lap timer to prove it, the line changes to T1 & T11 seemed faster to me. I think I still need to go wider at the exit of T1c though. Although holding 4th through T1 & T10 is certainly easier, I'm not entirely convinced it's faster, as there's still a decent amount of braking involved and in doing so I lose a lot of boost/torque.

Overall a solid day back at the track with much rust shaved off. Feeling good for CSCS on Sunday.