Eurotrash Motorsports

Well I’m a bit behind, but last saturday was another awesome event for Eurotrash Motorsports.  MCO held they’re 8th autocross and it was a beautiful day.  The course design was changed last minute, but turned out to be really great.  Due to some timing equipment issues, we got started late and ran into a few errors so we were only able to get 3 runs in the morning, but we made up for it in the afternoon because we got 8!!!

The course was open  with very little cones.  It was really nice because it allowed drivers to pick their own lines, and it was hard to get lost on.  Nonetheless, there were a few off-courses.  Wearing the Eurotrash numbers we had Naresh and Phil in A-class, Pierre in B-class, myself, Chris, and Pat in C-Class, and Jeff and Fadi in D-Class.  There were a few podiums this event as well and a big congrats goes out to Jeff for getting his first – and it was a first place!  Chris and myself also finished 3rd and 1st in C-class, respectively.  Chris just barely squeaked in though - beating out the 4th place driver by 0.006seconds on his last run!  See below for the results.

Despite the good results, my car was running funny all day, and the check engine light kept coming on and off.  After some diagnosis this week, I discovered that I had some water in my spark plug pocket which was causing misfired.  After drying it all up, everything seemed good!  After that, I also did a compression test.  The results for that we’re as good as I hoped.  5 out of the 6 cylinders were great - readings of 190-210 psi which is a very healthy motor.  Cylinder 5 however had a reading of 150 psi.  Looks like I might be doing some engine work this winter… 

We got some video and some pictures of the event, so make sure to check out both of those pages as well.

Shawn

Now for the second event of the double header weekend – and was it ever wet!

Torrential downpours overnight and more during the day brought us not just a wet parking lot, but a FLOODED parking lot.  Instead of a normal Autocross, this event was a bit different.  There would be two cars on the track at once, and would start on opposite sides.  The first one to complete a full lap would win (best of 3) and then would eliminate their competitor.  It followed an elimination tree format until we had a winner in each of the 4 classes of cars.  The classes were determined by averaging the raw times of 3 past events this year, and grouping those with similar times.

Rain was a big equalizer, as many of the top runners who relied on their R-compound slicks couldn’t put them to use.  This made several races extremely interesting, including some head-to-head Eurotrash battles.   One of the big upsets was Chris vs. Jamie.  Jamie, who had not been de-throned in the past 12 events he had competed in was forced to run his street tires against Chris.  Now Chris had a double advantage: his R-compound tires were treaded so they worked in the rain, and he had all-wheel drive.  Sure enough, Chris took Jamie out in the first round!  I was placed in the A category, and was put head to head with an A-class car – a Honda S2000.  Unfortunately, I went off course in my first run (and ended up driving through a lake – Click here to see the footage).  On my second run I found the course but spun out so I was also eliminated.  After my “lake” experience, my check engine light had come on – I had gotten water in my intake.  I was able to take it all apart to dry it up and then disconnect the battery and fortunately the light went away!

There were a few other Eurotrash battles:  Pat vs. Naresh (Naresh winning), Jessica vs. Quentin (Jessica winning!), and afterwards Shawn in Quentin’s car vs. Jeff (Jeff won).  In fact, surprisingly, Jessica was the driver who made it the farthest up the elimination tree this event:  After beating Quentin, she went on to beat a SUBARU WRX in her TOYOTA YARIS!!!  Now the WRX driver hit a cone on his first run and went off course in his second, but Jess had two clean laps and earned the win.  Unfortunately, she couldn’t quite get the third round driver, but it was better than the rest of us!

Despite a wet day, it was an awesome event and a very cool setup.  Make sure to check out our videos (there are some of Jess’ Yaris and Chris’ Subaru) and pictures!

Shawn

Last weekend was another double header – this meant some of us have done 6 autocross events in the past 3 weeks!  It’s been a busy, but incredible august so far!  Here is the summary for the saturday event:

As Jamie had designed the course from the previous event, I decided to pick up a pen and try my hand at one too.  After 2 revisions, and then some slight tweaking, the course was ready and was posted.  We would be running “La Shawn”!  My goal for the course was to combine fast sections and tight sections so as to not benefit specifically only one type of car.  Also, I didn’t want it to be too straight forward, so I added a few technical, tricky sections that trip up the un-observant.  During the setup, there were a few other modifications that were made, as on paper it looked much more open than in the lot.  Nonetheless, it looked like it was going to be a fun day.

The course ended up being a 50 to 60 second track, which worked out great because it allowed us to have 8 timed runs, plus some fun runs at the end of the day.  Overall, the feedback I received was that it was a good track.  A few were saying that they would have liked some sections to be a bit more open, but generally I’m pleased with the results – especially considering it was my first time designing a track, and I drew it up on my lunch break!

All our Eurotrash drivers were having fun and doing well.  Jamie, as usually dominated D-class.  The battle for C was much tighter.  After the first two runs, I was in first but then on the third run, one of my main competitors bested my time by a full second!  That was going to be hard to beat!  After my third run, an AutoX guru, Bill, asked if he could drive my car.  I quickly said yes and hopped in for a ride-along to see what the car could do in his skilled hands.  Sure enough, he did not disapoint:  He was able to run a time that was 1.3 seconds faster than my fastest lap up to that point.  Now knowing what the car could do, I set off to see what I could do.  After 6 of 8 runs, I still hadn’t made it all up – I needed to be another 0.3 seconds faster.  Then Mike Rabie showed up and asked if he could come for a ride-along.  I almost said no because I was worried about the extra weight, but I decided to be a good sport and let him in the car.  Sure enough, it paid off – There was one left-hand corner where every time I would accelerate, I would have to fight to keep the tail of the car in check.  I guess with the extra weight on the passenger side, the car just dug in and I was able to get on the throttle much harder and faster than my earlier runs.  AND I SHAVED 0.5 SECONDS!!!  That gave me a solid 1st place, with one run left to go.  As my competitor ran before me, I was able to see before lining up for my 8th run, that I had won my class.  I was extremely happy.

Another interesting note is that Pat has joined us up in C-class.  With his new (used) R-compound tires, he got bumped out of D to come play with the big boys ;).

That being said, here are the results for the rest of the team.  As there were so many runs, I’m only including the fastest runs and when they acheived it.

We got some awesome in-car videos, and Naresh took some great pictures, so make sure you check them out in the gallery and the videos section!

Shawn

The weekend of August 6th to August 8th, ASE Lapping Club hosted the 2010 Canadian Autoslalom Championships at the Autodrome St-Eustache, in Quebec.  Both CADL (Club Auto-sport Des Laurentides) and MCO were asked to help with timing, and with the three clubs working together, the event was a huge success!  From Eurotrash Motorsports, we had several members including myself, Chris, Jamie, Pat, and Naresh.  Furthermore, there were about 20 drivers of the roughly 110 who registered who’s local club was MCO.  It was an incredible turnout!

This event used a different classing system than what the MCO does, and because of that, the way our cars were prepared was slightly concerning.  Specifically, I was in a class that allowed use of full race compound tires, whereas the only tires I had were streets!  I was a bit worried about how competitive I would be, but really it was just to have fun.  Every Eurotrash driver was classed differently, so there were no head-to-head battles within the team.

The autocross course was set up ON the race track, and even took advantage of some of the banked corners!  It looked like it was going to be an extremely high speed course.  Friday was a test and tune – runs tickets were for sale and you could buy as many as you want to practice and to set up your car, should it be required.  The organisers had set up a mini-course (just under 30 seconds) to give racers a feel for the grip levels without giving them a run at the full track just yet.  We had each purchased 5 runs, and we were able to get a quick feel of our cars on the track.

After our practice runs, we all went in for our tech inspections and passed with no issues.  An on-site BBQ with corn on the club started up the evening festivites, which ended in Laval, where we had rented hotel rooms for the evening.

Saturday was the first day of the “real” event, and we started by running the course clockwise.  As expected, it was an extremely fast course, and a lot of fun.  On top of that, the weather was fantastic.  Myself and another MCO BMW driver (Phil) were battling it out with times as close as 0.03s econds at the end of the day!  We figured as long as we beat out the CADL folk that were right behind us in their Subaru, it wouldn’t matter who won.  Saturday night was another BBQ, however the evening was much more tame as we were all tired and just wanted to sleep after a late night from friday, and a long day in the sun.

Sunday, the course direction was reversed and a few gates were changed.  The day was a bit gloomier, and it looked like it was going to rain any minute.  and I were hoping for rain, as our competitors were using race slicks, and our tires would have been much better suited for wet weather.  Once again, the battle was hot within my class, but it seemed like the Subarus might have it.  Then, on my second last run, I took the lead by 0.3 seconds!  Phil and I were super happy, as our competitor only had one lap left.  As he lauched off the line and into his first gate, he clipped a cone and we both knew at that point that I had it.  Then, the car in front of him spun in the stop box, and he was given a re-run!  Sure enough, his re-run was clean and he took my lead back by 0.04 seconds!  I couldn’t believe how close the times were.  On Phil’s last run, he cleaned us both up and ended up being 0.2 seconds in the lead, which i wasn’t able to beat.  Adding up the times from both days classed me in second place (with a 129.387 second total), right behind Phil out of the 9 people in our class.  In fact, MCO racers did extremely well in all their classes.  Eurotrash Motorsports had a few podium finishes of its own and all our drivers did great.  Adding to my second place was Naresh (131.654 seconds) finishing 5 of 14, Jamie (131.526 seconds) finishing 1 of 1, Pat finishing 2nd of 4, and Chris (136.598 seconds) with a finishing 6 of 8 in each of their respective classes.

To determine an overall champion, equalizing factors are applied to each class, and they’re all grouped together.  Unfortunately, the factors are not perfect as they seem to favour stock cars, but nonetheless, here are the overall standings for Eurotrash members:

Chris : 66th – 10.699 seconds behind 1st

Pat: 65th - 10.616 seconds behind 1st

Jamie: 49th - 8.684 seconds behind 1st

Naresh: 42nd - 8.135 seconds behind 1st

Shawn: 28th - 6.597 seconds behind 1st

Note that the times behind first are the adjusted times, so as you can see, it doesn’t necessarily mean that the faster driver finishes the best overall!  For more info, visit the event’s website - www.cac2010.org

Check out the gallery for pictures, and the video section for links to our youtube pages where you can see some in-car footage.

Shawn

July 31st was the 5th installment of MCO’s Solo II series, and it was a great one.  After a few weeks of being out of commission due to my appendix, I was ready to get back in the driver’s seat.

It was another special event as it was for MCO members only, and Jamie designed the course (which was absolutely incredible).  Not only that, but we ran it counter-clockwise in the morning, and then clockwise in the afternoon.  On top of that, because it was for members only and it was the long only 70 cars were registered so we were able to fit 8 runs in!  Finally, it was our family reunion, so Chris, Jess, and myself had a bunch of our relatives come out and watch.

As I said, the course Jamie designed was incredible – it was fast and flowing and not one person had a complaint.  Despite a few mechanical issues, we were able to fit in our four runs in the morning, and another four after the provided pizza lunch.  Eurotrash Motorsports had a large showing today with 7 of our 12 Auto X drivers competing.  We had a couple podiums this event as well: to continue on his streak of glory, Jamie finished first in D-class, and I managed to grab a first place in C as well (despite spinning out twice today – I was pushing extra hard!)  Unfortunately though, 2 of the mechanicals involved our drivers: Phil blew a rad hose on his Miata so he missed all his morning runs but came back to finish the day in his STI.  Pat also had an incident while driving a competitor’s car, and was not able to complete his afternoon runs.

There were a few photographers that we’re still waiting to edit their pictures but we’ll make sure to get the pictures up as soon as they become available.  On another note, I finally received my GoPro high definition video camera, and was able to get some great footage throughout the day.  Check out the Video’s section to see my two best runs, and also be sure to check out Eurotrash Motorsport’s Youtube Page to see even more footage.

Here are the results:

Stay tuned for pictures – you’ll see them when we do!

UPDATE:  Pictures added – make sure to check out the gallery

Shawn

Well we’re a little bit behind in our write ups, but a few weeks back  (on July 18th), the fourth MCO Solo II event was held at the Scotiabank Place.  This one was special as it was the annual inter-provincial cup.  Our sister club from across the border in Quebec, CADL, was invited to compete against MCO drivers to determine which province was the fastest!  Last year, Jeff and I competed in this event at PMG in Blainville, and this year it was MCO’s turn to host.

Unfortunately for me, I wasn’t able to participate as I had had my appendix removed earlier that week.  So, as a spectator, i watched as the others raced.  Everyone seemed to be having a blast and the event went off without a hitch.  With close to 120 drivers, they still managed to get 7 runs in plus some fun-runs at the end of the day.

Here are the results for the team:

Back to back Autocross weekends – now that’s a way to spend a summer!

Last Sunday was the third MCO event and was it ever a scorcher.  The sun was crazy hot, and the water bottles were gone before we knew it.  The track selected for this event was very interesting – it involved two loops, an increasing-decreasing slalom, and several fun chicanes.  It was said that the track favoured higher powered cars, but everyone seemed to really enjoy it.

We had a few different cars this week including two new racers.  My sister, Jess, decided to try her first race in her Toyota “Jellybean” Yaris, and one of mine and Jeff’s long time friends, Nick, decided to join us in his Mazda 3.  On top of that, Jeff was co-driving Naresh’s Mazdaspeed Miata, and Pat did a few runs in another racer’s Miata.  It seemed as though the setup on the MX-5 was causing both of them some trouble, as they were both fighting to keep the car straight.

In A-class, we had Naresh, Jeff, and Phil, all driving red miatas.  With Jeff and Phil getting used to new cars, and Naresh having setup issues, all found themselves having some issues, but were having a blast nonetheless.  B-class was absent of Eurotrash drivers this week, but C-class had myself and Chris duking it out again.  This week, big bro got revenge!  Right from the get-go, I was feeling the car and I had found my sweet spot.  My times improved steadily throughout the morning, but in the afternoon I had a few sloppy runs where I hit a few cones.  On the 6th and final run of the day, everything came together and I was scored my fastest run which ranked me 3rd.  Chris also improved throughout the day, but was a few seconds behind me (2.4 to be precise) and ended up in 7th.  D-class was a big battle between Pat and Jamie again – with Jamie coming out victorious once again and Pat close behing.  Our two new drivers – Jess and Nick – were fighting in E class and both did excellent considering it was their first events.  Naresh was trigger-happy with his camera again so we have have some great shots in the gallery.

Results are as follows:

A-Class (25 entries):

C-Class (16 entries):

D-Class (24 entries):

E-Class (7 entries):

More photos have been added – make sure to check out the gallery.  Thanks to Tim from OttawaPhotog for letting us use his pics!

Shawn

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

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

Happy browsing!

Shawn

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