Eurotrash Motorsports

Eurotrash Motorsports was extremely well represented at MCO’s 2nd autocross race of the season – with 9 drivers spanning four different classes.  With the generous contributions of Metric Homes and Koffman signs, all but 2 had team-sponsored number plates.

The day turned out to be very exciting.  The weather was great, and the course was too.  It was extremely technical and challenging - it was very inviting for those who wanted to push hard, but didn’t leave any room for error.  If you pushed a bit too much, missed gates or downed cones would result.

One of our A-class drivers, Phil was having his first day in his new car – a turboed miata that he had just purchased the week before, and was able to finish 12th of 14.  He wasn’t the only one with a new car though - One of Chris’ friends, Quentin, had purchased a 1984 Nissan 300ZX for autoX and have been working on it for the past 3 weeks.  Sunday was it’s virgin drive and he seemed to be having a blast as well!  Naresh was also keeping in A-class in his boosted miata but seemed to be having some trouble, scoring only one clean run – but it was good enough to get him 5th!  In B-class, my dad Pierre was also driving his first autoX and was doing great, finishing 11th of the 22.  In C-class, the competition was heavy between Chris and I.  We were swapping back and forth for 2nd and 3rd place all day, and we were both pushing hard.  I had my first spin at an autoX though – I came into an off-camber corner with the tail a bit loose and it sent me around before i knew it.  After that, it was time to play catch up.  I took 2nd place on my 4th run, but Chris pulled out some magic on his last and beat me by 0.05 seconds!!!!  As frustrating as it was to be beat by my little bro, I’m proud of what he did, and can only blame myself as I was making mistakes all day – hitting cones in two runs and spinning out in a third.  Plus, it landed us another double podium!  Chris now has 2 second place finishes, and I have a first and a third.  Quentin was also in C-class, and for his first time was doing great.  He managed to squeak out his faster run on his 5th and final run of the day which ranked him 19th of the 2o in class.  An engine cooling issue prevented him from doing his last run. In D-class there were a few cars duking it out as well.  Our newest Eurotrash member, Jamie (who had driven with Jeff and Naresh in their Caboose this winter) has been continuing his reign of glory, coming in with his 9th straight first place finish in D-class (continuing from last year).  Pat and Jeff seemed to be having some trouble and only landed 2 clean runs with DNFs and cones in the others and finished 4th and 9th, respectively.  It was obvious that the track was taking it’s toll on us as many strong, consistent drivers were just fighting to keep it clean.

We also had a whole bunch of spectators come out to watch including family and friends.  It was really great to see all the support we received.

The event ran extremely smooth once again.  There were a few re-runs but nothing extreme, and we were able to get 6 timed runs in with some fun runs at the end of the day.  Naresh took some amazing pictures, so be sure to check them out in the gallery!

Results were as follows:

A-Class:

B-Class:

C-Class:

D-Class:

Shawn

The weekend of June 19 to 20, Emil and myself attended a Targa Road Rally school hosted by Glen Clarke from Open Road Motorsports at the Mosport Driver Development Track.  Emil and I both know Glen through the Carleton University Formula SAE project that we worked on a few years ago, and Glen was gracious enough to invite us down to participate.  This was an incredible opportunity that neither of us could pass up, so we eagerly agreed.  Because of the nature of the course, part of it would be on public roads, so I couldn’t take the BMW.  Instead, I took my Subaru and Emil took his Jetta.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with Targa, it’s a road rally that is held on the streets of Newfoundland in September every year (http://www.targanewfoundland.com/).  A total of 2200km of roads are closed for the week-long event, and teams from all over the world attend.  It is truly an exceptional race, one that I have been dreaming of participating in since I found out about it.

As the race is a rally, it consists of drivers and navigators racing their way through unfamiliar road stages with only a routebook and possibly a rally computer.  Several stages are held every day, and the teams must “transit” to each stage.  To win, teams must try complete the stages in the alloted time in order to avoid time penalties for being late.  Generally, it is not the fastest car that wins, but the team that makes the least amount of mistakes.

The school consists of a day of theory, and a second day focused on driving.  The instructors were all incredibly experienced – many having participated if not won multiple Targa events.  Since both Emil and I wanted track time, we found ourselves some navigators and headed down to Oshawa, where we were staying.  I invited my brother Chris, while Emil invited another FSAE member, Eric.  Saturday morning, we attended the classroom portion of the course, where we learned techniques for driving, navigating, prepping the cars, and what to expect at the event.  The day finished with a navigational rally on public roads where we followed a set of instructions from the hotel to the Mosport track and back again.

Emil and Eric had no problems with the navigation part, however Chris and I had a few issues right from the get-go.  A few turnarounds later, we got it all figured out, and we made it back.

Sunday was focused on track time.  The morning started out with driver+instructor lapping of the Mosport DDT while the navigators took it all in and reviewed their log books.  My instructor was to be Glen, but as he was organizing the course and he’d seen my driving, he gave me permission just to go out and have fun.  So I did :).  In total we got over 3 hours of lapping (150+ kms) plus a mock navigational stage midday, and a typical stage-transit-stage sequence at the end of the day that mimicked the actual event.

Well the lapping was really great for all of us – Emil and Eric were having a blast and Chris and I were both loving driving my Subaru – our tires and brakes saw a lot of abuse!  When it came down to the navigational part though, my brother discovered that his stomach couldn’t handle it.  As soon as he’d look down to read the directions, he would get so nauseous that I actually had to pull over on the track!  For the last stage-transit-stage, he was so green in the face that he couldn’t even get in the car, and I had to enlist the services of one of the navigation instructors.

It was an amazing weekend and truly a great experience.  Coming home on Sunday, Chris and I decided that we had to try Targa.  This year it won’t be feasible, but we’re each going to find some navigators and try to make it to the event next year.

A huge thank you to Glen Clarke for allowing us to be there!  For more information on the school, be sure to check out http://www.openroadmotorsports.com/.  Also check out the gallery for pictures that Eric took of the event.

Shawn

Now THAT is how you spend a Friday night.

After picking up the car from Ralf at Canadian Tire Carling only hours before, I set out to Shannonville Motorsports Park to participate in an evening lapping event with the new swaybars installed. I was excited to see how the behavior of the car would change with the addition of the bars and was one of the first cars in line to set out onto the track.

Unfortunately my first outing was cut short when my car suddenly died mid corner. I had just come down the front straight and was barreling through the first corner in the top of third gear – now when I say top, I mean 6800-7000rpm – when suddenly my car just bogged and then jumped back. My initial thought was “OH GOD I BLEW THE ENGINE!” but when the car came back to life there weren’t any sounds of mechanical carnage. I cruised back to pit lane to diagnose the issue. After checking that the alternator belt was tight, my friend pin pointed the issue. The 4 gauge power wire from my old stereo system had pulled itself out of the empty fuse holder and had begun arc welding itself to a screw. Every time the wire made contact, the entire electrical system shorted, and the car would die. Thankfully it was an easy fix.

With the electrical issue sorted out, I set back out for round two of testing the swaybars.  The balance of the car hadn’t changed all that much but there was definitely less roll which really through off my internal speedometer.

That being said, the car did manage to rotate a little bit….

After taking a few minutes to collect myself after my adventure into the infield, I came back determined to find the limits of my new setup. Everything was really coming together, the added stiffness, the tires, the brakes – they were all working perfectly. Although lapping isn’t a race, it’s always nice to play cat and mouse. I’m happy to say that, for once, I was the cat more often than I was  the mouse!

After taking a ride along with one of my teammates (Pat), I was shown a few different lines that I hadn’t tried yet. Excited to test them out for myself, I hit the track. The result? A 2:18, a 2:19, and TWO 2:15 lap times. I was impressed.

The added stiffness really helped and by the end of the day I was taking down A4′s, Z06′s, mustangs, V70Rs, and even a Cooper S .

Check out the video section for some clips of yesterday’s action!

Pictures from the first event have been posted – Click here to check out the album.

Happy browsing!

Shawn

Hey guys,

Just a quick heads up to let you know that I’m working through my backlog of videos that I need to update. The list is pretty long so it’s probably going to take me a while (stupid sluggish Youtube uploads).

What I’m trying to say is make sure you check our video page regularly for more updates.

Here’s what you have to look forward to:

• 2010 Ice race
• Full track lapping day at SMP
• Weekend of lapping at Calabogie
• Picton Double header

Stay tuned!

We were all eagerly awaiting the arrival of the first event, and it has come and gone, with excellent results!

The first MCO event was for members only, and it was a blast.  The timing system worked flawlessly, and the re-runs were minimal.  Also the weather held up better than anyone could have expected!  The track was damp in the morning but quickly dried up, and there was only one downpour in the afternoon which also dried up very fast.  All in all, we were able to get 7 runs in (only 6 counted since the downpour washed away all the cone boxes) and then non-timed fun runs at the end of the day.  The track was very well laid out – it was fast and open, with some tight technical section that you could really get caught up on if you didn’t speed check in time.  It was also fairly easy to follow, so it was a great track to get back into the sport without having to worry about getting lost.  Also, thanks to Koffman signs, everyone on the team had magnetic number plates bearing Eurotrash Motorsports and Metric Homes, except for me – since my car doesn’t get driven on the street, I had decals :).  Unfortunately, my Eurotrash decals weren’t ready yet, but I still had my numbers and they turned out awesome!

It was also the first Autocross that the “new”  BMW had experienced, and the very first event with the new rims, tires, and camber.  WOW.  What a difference it made.  The car is so much flatter than it was last year, and the grip from the tires is phenomenal.  I was a bit concerned about my front fenders rubbing under hard cornering and they did but only VERY slightly, and not enough for me to be worried about.  I was also a bit concerned about not being used to the width of the tires, especially due to the spacers, but I managed a clean day, so it didn’t cause me any problems.  Basically, I was very nervous going into my first run, but as soon as I launched from the gate, I felt right at home.  The car was extremely well set up and I was so happy – it was very neutral with just a hint of throttle-oversteer which was perfect for setting me up in the corners.  The brakes were fantastic and the steering response was excellent.  Even with the massive tires, the steering felt light and nimble, and the rear-end rotated just the way I wanted it to.  It was perfect.  I couldn’t have asked for anything better.  The gearing also was great, as I didn’t really feel the extra unsprung weight of the wheel/tire package.  And it paid off:  I held first in class all day (even in the wet), and that’s how I finished!  It was my first podium at an Autocross, and my first individual first place finish (as opposed to the team ice-race event, where we also finished first).  I was hoping to come top three, but this was incredible.  My brother Chris had a similar experience – he hadn’t Autocrossed his car since he added the swaybars and R-compound tires, and camber bolts, but he had been lapping with his setup.   All in all, things went very well for him too.  He had followed me up to C-class with his mods, so once again, we were competing head-to-head.   He wasn’t too far behind me either – after a couple messy runs in the morning, he scored a solid third run which put him in 3rd at that point.  On his last run, he squeezed out another 0.7s an ended the day right behind me in 2nd place!  The Bernier racing team finished on top!  Congrats Chris!

Jeff and Naresh were sitting in D-class, as Naresh was driving Jeff’s Protégé since he was having last minute issues with his Mazdaspeed Miata.  Jeff’s had a few events in his Protégé now, and after seeing the results from the last event, it shows that he really knows how to drive his car!  This event, it seemed as though he has some stiffer competition but still ended up with a solid time which ranked him in 9th.  Considering some of the cars he was going up against, that’s an awesome finish!  Naresh slotted in right behind Jeff (his first time driving the car) in 10th place.

So, as you’ve all been waiting patiently through my rambling, here are the run results:

In C-class:

and in D-class:

Jeff had his Go-Pro camera running, and I’m sure he will be posting videos shortly.  There were also a few photographers so pictures should be coming soon as well!

The next event is in three weeks, and I can safely say for all of us that it can’t come soon enough!

Shawn

As part of my prep for my first auto-x event of the year in Picton, I decided to install my GTspec Lower Tie Bar. The bar connects the two front control arms and is designed to provide added stiffness, decrease wheel-hop, and provide better turn-in feel.

The install was fairly straight forward and the prep for the install actually had more drama than the work itself.

Here’s a lesson in safety kids, Rhino Ramps on an inclined driveway don’t work out so well. While trying to put my car on ramps, my driver’s side wheel spun and launched the ramp under my car leaving the protege 3-wheeling. I had to jack the car up, place the ramp back under the tire, and lower the car back down. The rest of the work was performed on the street at the bottom of my driveway with the car on jack stands.

As I mentioned, the process for installing the bar is fairly straight forward. Before starting any work on the car, it wouldn’t hurt to spray down the two bolts on your lower control arms with either WD-40 or breakaway spray either the night before or a couple of hours before starting.

Tools you’ll need:

• 17mm wrench
• 17mm socket
• breaker bar
• jack and jack stands

Start by jacking the front of the car up and placing it on the stands. Next, locate the main bolt on each of the control arms. The bolts thread into a welded nut on the opposite side of the control arm. This is where the wrench comes in. If your car is 11 years old and fighting a losing battle with rust like mine there’s a chance that the welds on those nuts may break. Place the wrench over the nut to make sure it doesn’t move. Using the 17 mm socket and a breaker bar, remove the bolts.

Once the bolts are out, it’s just a case of holding the bar up in place, putting the bolts back in, and tightening everything up. Note: The nuts should be torqued with the wheels loaded otherwise you’ll get a clunk.

Check out the gallery for all the pictures and stay tuned for more work

It’s a new season with a new car which means a new round of regular maintenance needs to be followed. First up, new plugs and wires.

I’m a little ashamed to admit it but in the 6 years that I’ve owned the car, I’ve never replaced any of the plugs or the wires so this maintenance may have been a little overdue – better late than never right?

When it came to choosing a brand of plugs and wires, there were a few brands to choose from but after doing some reading and talking to my parts guy, I decided on some NGK V-Power plugs and NGK wires.

The V-power plugs lower ignition system voltage requirements and offer overall superior performance and reliability over the standard OEM replacement plug. At just over 3$ a plug they aren’t going to break your budget either.

The install is fairly easy and only requires the appropriately sized spark plug socket and a spark plug gaping tool. Before installing your plugs, make sure to check your service manual or the spark plug manufacturer’s website for the proper gap specs.

The scariest part of the install was when I went to remove the plug from cylinder 3 and found that it was SIGNIFICANTLY less torqued than the first two plugs. I wonder if I was loosing any compression there?

Check out the gallery for pictures.

With great pleasure, we wish to announce our newest sponsor:  Koffman Signs.

Through Metric Homes, we approached Marc from Koffman Signs to help us make some decals and magnetic number plates for our race vehicles.  We found out quickly that the price was right!

Thanks again to everyone at Koffman!

Shawn

Combine great weather, 3 airstrips, and 160+ cars and what do you get? One hell of a weekend.

May 29 – 30 was the famous “Rumble at the strip” double header weekend at the Picton Airfield in Prince Edward County Ontario. Although I was only attending the events for fun, they counted as the 2nd and 3rd regional events of the CASC-OR season.

Although the events were officially classed as solo 2, they were quickly referred to by many as “solo 1.5″ as the course was spread out over 3 runways spanning a distance of more than 2km.

Rumor has it that this was actually the worlds longest solo II track. With speeds reaching upwards of 120 kph through the final slalom, the day definitely wasn’t short on excitement.

When the dust settled at the end of the day, I managed to finish second in class (ST1) with a time of 113.117, only 0.374 seconds behind first place.

Day two had us running the same course but in reverse. This provided both an advantage and a disadvantage to the competitors who had also competed on Saturday as they knew which features to expect next but were also thinking about which gear and speed they were using the previous day. After making a couple of mistakes and killing a couple of cones (R.I.P corvette corner #1) I decided to wipe my memory of all of the previous day’s telemetry and focus on the present. The end result? A respectable 3rd place at a time of 109.448  which was 0.6 behind first place.

Check out my GoPro Videos for some of the action.