Canada Day with the Audi boyz

[Lee]

So, we are a couple of days away from the Calabogie weekend. I know for sure that Michel, David, Hugo, Marc-André and myself will be there. Anybody else we shall meet at that event?

[MadMax]

Hi Lee,

The Stang & I will be there

Hopefully we won't have to run rain tires the whole weekend !

[johnmdanskin]

Me. I'll be driving there tonight, but it will be tomorrow when I arrive.

Friday should be good, but sat&sun look like rain. I just dicovered that 225/35r18s fit on my mini, so my rain tires are relative steam rollers. For a mini. On the other hand the tread is brand new. 8-)

[Andrei]

Dunlop racing rain tires of any size will make you look like Senna in the rain.

I hope you guys don't see too much rain, but then it's an Audi event so most of the participants are not going to park their cars anyway.

I'll see ya'll at Tremblant for 10-11.

[Lee]

I drove the track in the rain. Don't worry. It still sticks. Look for the 10' x 30' Boondock Motorsport lounge if you get soaked in the paddocks.

[Lee]

Marc-André R. and his WRX STi will be there too. He left on Thursday to start driving that new track on Friday.

Hugo and I are meeting around noon on Friday. Set-up the trailer and head to BMW Laval to mount some tires. Then off to Calabogie around 4PM

[Andrei]

Calabogie is very good in the rain. The drainage is good and the surface has plenty of grip. If it rains a lot stay away from the entry of the kink (corner 1). Stay in the middle of the track away from the puddle.

[Andrei]

With a paved paddock all you need is a good tarp to cover your stuff. Or you can go the sissy man route. A covered trailer for the event.

[Lee]

We had a 10' x 10' and 10' x 20' canopies. Great to keep cool under the sun, and dry when it rains. BTW That was a great event, very well organized as usually, by the Audi crew. They had plenty of qualified instructors, plus an instructor training program in full fledge.

[bmwqc]

Originally Posted by Lee

We had a 10' x 10' and 10' x 20' canopies. Great to keep cool under the sun, and dry when it rains. BTW That was a great event, very well organized as usually, by the Audi crew. They had plenty of qualified instructors, plus an instructor training program in full fledge.

How was the turnout?

[Lee]

45 students and around 22 instructors.

[Phil]

Originally Posted by Lee

45 students and around 22 instructors.

Ouch. For a weekend, this had to be a money-loser, maybe a big money loser.

DE events are not filling up right across North America, a dramatic change from a decade ago.

BMW CQ and BMW CC need to be mindful of this worrisome trend.

Phil

[Lee]

There's indeed a trend where people don't drive the distance to a remote track. Which is why I have previously highlighted that chapters must develop a local drivers and instructors base for local tracks. We are blessed with LCMT, iCar and Calabogie. So, we can have all the fun without driving longer than 300 Kms (Calabogie), 125 kms (LCMT) or 40 kms iCar.

People towing their track cars will also get hurt more. A 600 km trip at 10mpg can be very costly.

BTW If you want to have a good laugh. Take a look here.
http://videos.streetfire.net/video/i...deo_168752.htm

[Phil]

Originally Posted by Lee BTW If you want to have a good laugh. Take a look here.
[URL="http://videos.streetfire.net/video/icar-crash-video_168752.htm"

http://videos.streetfire.net/video/icar-crash-video_168752.htm[/URL]

OK, Its wet. But this is the second FSAQ video I've seen recently and I can't beleive the poor judgment and skill of some of the competitors.

I'm glad I've stayed away from racing with them.

Phil

[Gregster]

Originally Posted by Phil

Ouch. For a weekend, this had to be a money-loser, maybe a big money loser.

DE events are not filling up right across North America, a dramatic change from a decade ago.

BMW CQ and BMW CC need to be mindful of this worrisome trend.

Phil

The crummy American economy doesn't help either and the price of gas. Now a track weekend can cost an extra 100-200$ just in Gas.

[johnmdanskin]

I had some gasoline sticker shock. I spent about $200 in gas at the track (it's a mini, remember), and something like $400 getting there and back. $600, just for gasoline. Ouch.

Lift rotate works really well in the rain over a hump. I managed to rotate 3 times with just one lift. I put two wheels off. First the rear wheels. Then the front wheels. Then the rear wheels. Then the front wheels. Then the rear wheels. Then the front wheels. Then I was pointed the right way with the front wheels on pavement and off I went. To get the slicks off my car. (rain just starting. made the wrong wets/drys call.)

I literally said "grip is really pretty good" and spun within 3 seconds. I decided the track was good after all, reverted to dry driving, and whee!

Lots of good learning experiences in my life.

[Phil]

Originally Posted by johnmdanskin

I had some gasoline sticker shock. I spent about $200 in gas at the track (it's a mini, remember), and something like $400 getting there and back. $600, just for gasoline. Ouch.

Lift rotate works really well in the rain over a hump. I managed to rotate 3 times with just one lift. I put two wheels off. First the rear wheels. Then the front wheels. Then the rear wheels. Then the front wheels. Then the rear wheels. Then the front wheels. Then I was pointed the right way with the front wheels on pavement and off I went. To get the slicks off my car. (rain just starting. made the wrong wets/drys call.)

I literally said "grip is really pretty good" and spun within 3 seconds. I decided the track was good after all, reverted to dry driving, and whee!

Lots of good learning experiences in my life.

Racing in the wet is:

a) really intense

b) really expensive

c) really stupid

d) all of the above.

[johnmdanskin]

Originally Posted by Phil

Racing in the wet is:

a) really intense

b) really expensive

c) really stupid

d) all of the above.

Hi Phil, do you really sit out the rain for racing? Don't even bother with rain tires?

Mike Morris told me he does this. Even if he wanted to drive in the rain, there are all those other guys... In DE conditions I can (should be able to) control my own driving. In a race in the rain, bumper cars seems pretty common.

I'd been planning to go out in rain/snow/plagues of scorpions and so on, but maybe my plans were expensive and stupid.



On another topic, the -amazing- thunder shower which hit calabogie at the end of sunday had localized cousins all the way over the mountains in new hampshire. Gosh I just love hydroplaning over rivers I can't see in the dark when I'm towing. I'd been doing a constant 119kph until I got up into the white mountains and my first hydroplaning adventure. Ooops. Slow down. Then it happened again. Slow down more. The tires on my x5 are still legal, but they might be in a landfill pretty soon.

I dropped my trailer off at Schneller around midnight. Home around 1:30am. I think if home had been 10 miles further I would have had to get a motel 10 minutes from my house. Calabogie is just exactly at my limit for driving home after an event.

[Phil]

Originally Posted by johnmdanskin

Hi Phil, do you really sit out the rain for racing? Don't even bother with rain tires?

Mike Morris told me he does this. Even if he wanted to drive in the rain, there are all those other guys... In DE conditions I can (should be able to) control my own driving. In a race in the rain, bumper cars seems pretty common.

I'd been planning to go out in rain/snow/plagues of scorpions and so on, but maybe my plans were expensive and stupid.

Racing in the rain used to put the advantage back to the drivers versus the mechanics/bankroll. I had my most intense races in the rain and some of my best, highest finishes.

Yes, the risk is definitely higher because of you, the other guys, and sometimes variable conditions, even from the front straight to the back straight. Definitely a higher risk of bending something when you go out
when its raining.

Now technology has taken over. To be fully prepared you need drys, damps/intermediate wets, and full wets. Full wets are Dunlop Rains or Hoosier Dirt Stockers, etc. Even if you never use them, they don't work after a season of sitting in/on your trailer. But if you are running in a steady rain, they are unbeleivable. Your times are almost as fast as your dry times.

So those of us with treaded Toyos as our non-dry tire are out there doing are best to stay within 30sec. of a dry time and the outfitted boys are just roaring around as if nothing had changed. Not fun.

I just can't pay to play. So I won't this year. If it is really raining I'm going to park it. And watch with a bunch of other racers doing likewise.

Phil

[johnmdanskin]

Originally Posted by Phil

...
Now technology has taken over. To be fully prepared you need drys, damps/intermediate wets, and full wets. Full wets are Dunlop Rains or Hoosier Dirt Stockers, etc. Even if you never use them, they don't work after a season of sitting in/on your trailer. But if you are running in a steady rain, they are unbeleivable. Your times are almost as fast as your dry times.
...

Ahh. spece36 has spec rain tires. Some kind of yoko. I forget which. Of course that first set is $2000 with wheels, so there is still pay to play, but it's more under control. I'm going to think about sitting out the rain until I have my full license, just as an indication that I'm handling the traffic, and have some idea what I am getting into. That delays the $2000 another year and delaying spending is always good.

There was a guy at calabogie this last weekend with some kind of michelin rain slicks. Apparently they needed a lot of standing water everywhere or they would overheat. He came off the track in heavy rain with tires too hot to touch. Of course he also had michelin slicks about 24" wide for the dry as well. Some kind of gt3. It didn't look like the tires were a huge financial burden for him.



Hugo and David were there with the boondocks-mobile. What a beautiful car. Hugo was -really- ripping, and David was moving pretty darned fast.