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

The main functionality and content of the site shouldn’t be affected. Notice how I said “shouldn’t”  instead of “won’t”.

Anyways, stay tuned for a new look coming your way.

Cheers,

Jeff

These events are held on public roads, and speed limits must be obeyed.  The challenge is to ensure proper communication between the driver and navigator, and to decifer the sometimes complicated instructions.  This particular event was held on August 18th with the start and finish at the Cheshire Cat Pub in Carp.  The directions took us through many country and gravel roads (don’t bother asking me where we went… I was just following where my navigator was telling me to go), and our total driving time was about 2 hours and 15 minutes.  As we were on public roads, only street-legal cars were permitted so i used my 2007 Subaru Impreza 2.5i daily driver.

Basically, after being given a set of directions only moments before we were to set out, we had to follow them through five sections.  Hidden in each section are checkpoints, where you are to arrive on time.  At these points, your penalties are reset.  This ensures control of the rally and makes sure no one is speeding.  In the directions for some sections, we were given distances and street names to follow, in others simply “tulip diagrams” which indicated changes of direction with distances, in others, we were told to go certain speeds during certan sections.  To make it more challenging, sometimes the distances were cummulative, and other times the distances were given between points only, so the navigator had to add them up ahead of time.

As my brother didn’t work out so well last time, I enlisted the services of one of my long-term friends, Sean.  He’s always been great at math and great at directions, and since we get along well, I figured he would be a good bet.  Turns out I was right!  We had a ton of fun, and only missed two turns (but we realized it right away so we didn’t lose too much time).  Out of the 18 teams, we finished 9th overall, and 6th out of the 14 novice teams registered.  It was an awesome experience, and one that we will repeat for sure.  The next event is on November 6th out of Perth and is a 4-hour event.  We definitely won’t miss that one!

Now if only we can come up with a TON of money to do Targa… any sponsors out there want to help?!?

Check out http://www.openroadmotorsports.com/W10ORRS.html for the series details.

Shawn

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

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

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

Taking the pulleys off would have been easy however my electric fan that was bolted to the radiator prevented the long bolt from coming out.  But after removing the rad, the rest was a piece of cake.  I had ordered new bolts and caps as well so all was fresh and ready to reinstall.  Nothing was seized, and I didn’t strip any bolts.  Because the tensioner is hydraulic, I don’t need to set the tension in the belt (it’s auto-adjustable)

A few hours later, all was back together and the car was running!  I was a bit worried about a blown head gasket or valve, but the engine sounded strong, and there were no issues.

I was ready to race!  Well, almost – I just had to wait for the scars from my appendectomy to finish healing…

Check out the gallery for more pics!

Shawn

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:

To get the bimmer ready, I had taken the day of work.  My exhaust had developped a leak between the manifold and the midpipe, so I decided to just weld them together.  I realize that this is going to be an issue if I ever need to remove it, but I’ll deal with that issue when it arises.  Also, my front brakes were getting low, so I had purchased some new hawk pads to install.  Unfortunately, there was a shipping issue so those  didn’t arrive in time.  Thirdly, the truck manifold had blown out, and that was still in the shop being fixed by our good friends at Canadian Tire on Carling, so I had to borrow a tow vehicle from a coworker.

All signs seemed to be telling me that I wasn’t supposed to be doing that lapping day.  Well, there was another one on the track – my brother was the second car to stage, and I was the fourth.  He was let in front of the car from him early on, and I was as well.  With one car separating us, he was pulling ahead (not that’s its a race or anything, but still fun to try and pace each other).  I finally got let by the car, and worked on catching up to Chris.  When I did, he let me by right away.  A few corners later, I hear a clunk coming from the engine and my battery light comes on.  Then I notice that I had lost my power steering. THEN i noticed that my coolant gauge was starting to creep.  I quickly put my car in 5th and nursed the car back to the pits.  Thankfully I was able to shut the car down before the gauge got into the red zone.  However, once the car was off, the coolant temps kept rising, and stayed high for a while.  I assumed it was just the serpentine belt that drives the water pump, alternator, and power steering pump that had come off, and that it wasn’t a big deal as they have a part store at the track.

Turns out, the belt was fine!  One of the pulleys had seized and tore off the car, which caused the belt to slip.  That was the end of my night – 15 minutes in.  I was also concerned about engine damage as the temps were through the roof, but as the car wasn’t running, I hope it will be ok.  After letting it cool down, I fired it back up to get on the trailer, so at least i know it runs!

I’m hoping that no bolts broke, as that would require me removing the whole front end of the car to be able to extract them.  If I can simply replace the two pulleys and the belt, it should be a fairly simple job, and my car will be ready in no time.

Thankfully, no one else on the team experienced any issues and had a blast.  The track was damp, but there was no rain and it was a great evening.  I stuck around and went for in for a session with Pat and it was lots of fun.  Plus, we got more people hooked – Jamie will now be registering for the MCO lapping day in September!

Not sure if anyone took pictures, but if I find some I’ll post them for sure!

Shawn