While Schmoo was autocrossing in Picton at the end of May, Mom and I took a boat cruise from Kingston (see pictures below), had a beautiful lunch at Brandy’s, then toured Old Fort Henry in the afternoon of the 29th.  Cooling off with ice cream from White Mountain afterward, I got a message from Schmoo that everyone was coming to Kingston for supper.  I replied that, as we were already there, we’d go find a place to sit and sip on a glass of wine until they got there.  Dins was had at Ye Olde Speckled Hen.

Sunday saw Mom and I head to the Picton Airfield to check out the action.  After about an hour, we wandered into Picton and had a light lunch at Budda Dog, then gelato at the place next door (forget the name, but the gelato was delish).  We explored Picton for a while, then drove the tour of Prince Edward County, starting with Sandbacks National Park, then a hunt for a winery that we could return to on Monday for lunch.  We met up with Schmoo at the airfield to help him gather up all his gear.  Dinner was at Shoeless Joe’s (we had eaten there on Friday evening as well).

On Monday morning, Mom and I got up at a leisurely hour, and meandered to our winery of choice: County Cider Company and Winery Estate (thanks to Mike and Amanda for the recommendation).  We had a beautiful lunch at the entrance to the vineyard, which overlooks Lake Ontario, and left with several bottles of cider and wine.  On our trip to meet Schmoo at Shannonville, we stopped at Black River Cheeses, and picked up more of what we had sampled at lunch.  Dinner at a pub in Kingston.  Dropped off a tired but happy mother at 10 Monday evening.

Mom and her new best friend, Hannah

Anyone for a ride?

Lunch at County Cider

Surveying the beach at Sandbanks Park

Kingston boat cruise

Out with the guys at Ye Olde Speckled Hen

Old Fort Henry staff and David the 9th

The first outing of the season was St. LAC’s traditional test and tune on April 18th. A few of us convoyed down to the Picton airfield that morning for a day of autox fun with our St. LAC brothers and sisters. I was running the same Hankook R-S3 (225/45R15) tires I ran all last season and things were fine. No big surprises except for the normal “rattle the car to death” issues that Picton reveals. In this case, the blow-off valve rattled off, then the throttle body inlet pipe did the same. It was a test and tune, remember? I didn’t pay much attention to times as I was more concerned with finding all the clamps I hadn’t quite tightened enough. Big positive? The brakes remained firmly attached to the car!

My second outing was probably the most highly anticipated — 3 days of lapping at Calabogie Motorsports Park! We started on April 30th and as a CMP newbie, I was assigned to a driving instructor who would show me the line and then “sign me off” to drive solo. I got Canadian Touring Car driver Alex Healy who came showed the ropes as I built up speed over the first couple 20 minute sessions on track with the beginner run group. Alex was great, giving me great tips throughout the lap, but I swear that I made him flinch at the end of Rocky Road as I resisted braking too early. After a couple of sessions, Alex gave me the green light, I thanked him, and off I went to drive CMP solo. During this first day, the track was intimidating with complex corners, tons of elevation change, and some intimidating walls, particularly in turns 1 and 2. In the afternoon, I moved into the advanced group and ran with buddies Rob, Bill, and Physk. Bill, in his boosted Miata was predictably lightning quick and while I could hang with him if I really pushed, I couldn’t lead him. Impressively, Rob in his M3 stayed with us, but Physk’s super-charged NA miata couldn’t. A couple of weeks later, he would purchase an NB Miata with an FM II Turbo Kit.

Day 2 saw us leave the full track layout to run on the East course layout, which felt considerably different because turn 1 now went right instead of left and Deliverance was now a genuine problem spot. I started to get more comfortable and started to get faster, slowly building to Shawn’s pace in his BMW. I figured if he can do it in that car, on those tires, I can do it. I was right… thankfully. Around mid-day, was switched to the West Track, the shortest and fastest layout for a couple of hours. While not as entertaining as the other layouts, some hard braking zones made it exciting, especially in the rain. And believe me, it rained… hard. I did a few laps in the downpour with fellow MCOer Ian before we decided to pull off and take a break. Pulling into my parking spot, we noticed everyone’s stuff was drenched. Luckily, I had my waterproof bags keeping my gear nice and dry. As the rain slowed, it was time to return to the East Track. While it continued to rain lightly, by the end of the day, I was able to run top down again. Oddly enough, I seemed to be going faster in the wet than I was going in the dry the day before. Felt pretty good.

Day 3 began on the East Track again. It was hot and sunny and suddenly, I was having to watch my temperature gauge and run with the heater on to keep Ginger from over-heating. It was obvious I was going even faster today as I tried to hang with Steve Fong and had a couple of “moments”. The weekend wrapped-up on the full track with me turning my best laps of the weekend and feeling relaxed enough to check my watch on Rocky Road.

I had brand new Toyo R888 tires on (225/45R15) with the standard baseline alignment. The car tended to understeer the whole time and the inner shoulders of the tires took a real beating. They were pretty good in the wet, perturbed only by standing water.

The next event was the Rumble at The Strip — Regional Double Header at the Picton Airfield, hosted by SPDA and St. LAC on May 29 and 30th. This was a terrible weekend for me. In an effort to manage the understeer I felt at CMP, I had altered my alignment a bit to decrease the level of negative camber overall and make the front and rear camber settings equal. Combined with the tire wear from CMP, the grip of the airfield, and the very different conditions (autox vs. lapping), the alignment transformed high-speed understeer to low-speed oversteer. The car would rotate rapidly — great in slow sections — but would tend to want to spin in high-speed sweepers — not good for Picton. I softened the rear shocks and stiffened the front and it made the car drivable. Still, I didn’t make out particularly well netting only the most mediocre times. Still a good time with good friends. The R888 tires looked like hell at this point.

The double header was turned into a long weekend with lapping at Shannonville with St. LAC on May 31st. It was another hot day so managing the car’s water temp was a primary concern. I tried a few different things, but still saw water temperatures as high as 257F. Yikes! Met some guys from miataphiles.ca and took Physk for a ride with me for some valuable feedback. Unfortunately, he had some issues towards the end of the day and had to tow his car home to Cornwall — St. LAC autox fairy Bill to the rescue. A few weeks later, Rob and I headed to Cornwall to help Physk with an engine swap as the car’s motor was done.

We’re now into June and still no MCO event (damn hockey play-offs), but that was to be rectified on June 5th when I drove Jeff’s Protege in MCO Event 1. Ginger was fine, but I was kind of in the middle of a job so rather than rush to reassemble what I would end up disassembling later, I just asked Jeff to co-drive. If someone had told me that going back to a softly sprung, under-powered front wheel drive would have been so hard, I never would have believed them. I was shocked at myself be shocked. I found myself yelling, “Turn, damn it, turn!” Jeff ended up being quicker on the day, which was appropriate, but I wasn’t too far off at only half a second behind. MCO 2010 – Event 1 Results

With no MCO event until late June, I was happy to have session scheduled at Shannonville the evening of June 25th with the guys from midnightruns.com (thanks to Greg and Carey for organizing). In addition to my regular partners in crime, Jeff (Protege2886) and Pat (condor888000), we also had Kevin (Karmaboy) heading down for the 2 hour session. I ran at wastegate boost (7psi) to avoid any over-heating, which worked beautifully aside from hurting my straight line speed. Still I managed decent lap times with a few onlookers indicating that I was among the quickest three cars out there. My best lap was a 2:06.295, which is way off anything that could be considered “fast”, but I was pleased given how poorly the car was handling with over-steer in just about every phase of every corner — I think my R888 are done. This outing was also my first with the AiM MXL and SmartyCam. I think the video speaks for itself regarding the coolness of those two gadgets.

Jeff had a bit of drama that night with a dramatic off-course excursion into the very muddy grass. Luckily, car and driver were unaffected. It was good to see Jeff maintain his aggression after that off. I guess is sense of self-preservation is waning.

June 27 brought with it MCO Event 2 at Scotia Bank Place. Ginger was back in action and the course was a fun one. However, it was becoming more and more apparent that the R888s were done as I continued to battle over-steer throughout the event. Still, I managed 5th in class, although the time was nothing to write home about. At the end of the day, I gave the car to our favourite Canadian Tire service manager for a fun run. I figured it would be good to determine whether the over-steer was in fact the car or just my driving. Ralf enjoyed the drift-fest that ensued and agreed that the car had no rear end grip. At least it wasn’t me!

MCO Event 3 came up the very next weekend on July 4th. I offered Jeff a drive in Ginger so he could help be burn-off the R888s. He agreed and had a good time, although I felt bad as the car was downright evil. Evil enough that I spun it three times on one run! Suffice it to say that I didn’t rank well, but Jeff kept pace, about 1 second behind. The tires were done and they were coming off. MCO 2010 – Event 3 Results

Given the handling issues I had been experiencing, I wanted to minimize the variables at play so rather than mount the brand new Hankook R-S3 I had at home, the R888 were replaced with the very well worn set of Hankooks I used last season. With them mounted and the alignment returned to settings I liked last year, I headed out for two hours of evening lapping at CMP on July 9th. It had been pouring on the drive up the track was drenched and greasy, but still the Hankooks restored Ginger to the happy fun-loving, do anything car I loved. Gone was the evil demon threatening to spit me out of every corner ass end first (yippee!). I guess the R888 required fundamentally softer rear suspension set-up. Further vindication came as Christian (eyemaster), a longtime R888 driver, was funding his car had gone to crazy oversteer with his new, stiffer suspension.

Laptimes weren’t great given the wet and my worn rubber, but it was still a blast. In particular was a dice with Greg (1morelap) in his Mustang. Greg had completed a big CMP-organized lapping event the week before and had clearly gotten faster.

No rest for the wicked as Pat and I left for Peterborough the next day in preparation for the July 11th Regional Series Event at Kawartha Downs and Speedway. Thanks to Greg, who despite living in Peterborough, drives hundreds of kilometres to come to MCO events. Going to this event, which he was organizing, was the least we could do, particularly as he offered us a place to sleep the night before. It was almost as hot as Event 3, which was a scorcher and for the first time, I drove with the top up on a dry day. Having the A/C on made it quite comfortable, but I still felt weird until I put the top down around the junction between highways 7 and 37.

The event itself was very interesting with the course set-up on what appeared to be a quarter-mile, banked oval track. This made it even hotter, kinda of like standing in an oven. Thankfully, the event went smoothly and the driving was fun. With Ginger back to being her old self,  I pushed and managed to win my class (STU) by nearly 2 seconds, PAXed 2nd overall, and landed 5th overall in raw times, albeit nearly 2.5 seconds back. Thanks to Greg and the Peterborough Motor Sports Club for putting on a great event. PMSC Regional results can be found here: Raw Times, PAX, Run Times By Class

That brings us to now and the upcoming MCO-CADL Inter-Provincial Cup Event on July 18th. Can’t wait! And yes, I’ll keep up the site… I promise.

It was still the dead of winter…
… when the MCO Solo II organizing committee convened its first planning meeting for the 2009 season. Having had a great time in the last six events (two podiums) of 2008 in Zhaan, our Mazda 3 Sport GT, I had volunteered to be “general labour” for 2009 so that I could contribute to the series and learn the ropes. Given that I’m comfy with computers and that most don’t like working with timing and registration, I had mentioned to the more experienced guys that I would be willing to help in that area. However, at the meeting, my “general labourer” status morphed into “Head of Timing and Registration”. While I was kinda worried about whether all the gear was going to fit into Ginger, I felt OK about the job as it seemed the more experienced guys would have my back even though I still couldn’t match-up all the names to the right faces. The meeting ended and we all headed home through the cold, snowy February night. Top down driving and autocross seemed and eternity away.

Wired or Wireless?
Having taken on the role of timing guy, the early spring was spent on a blend of learning the timing system with the help of luker and working on Ginger. While work on the car was going well, the timing system was proving pesky. It would behave perfectly during testing at my house, luker’s house, and DEye’s house, but refused to work nicely at Scotia Bank Place.

We discovered this at the MCO Summer Performance Driving School, which pedwar completed from Ginger’s driving seat. I spent the first part of the day as a cone monkey keeping the exercises in good shape as the students flattened cones, but we also took the time to test the timing gear in advance of the next day’s autocross, which would be be Event 1 of 2009. Lo and behold, the wireless system refused to work so we went to the wired system, the standard contingency play. It worked… or so we thought.

The next day arrived, along with a two hour long registration line! I was drowning in registration forms, freezing in the cold, and really feeling pressure as no matter how fast we took forms, handed out bracelets, and entered people in the timing system, the line didn’t get any shorter. Eventually, we got all 97 entrants registered and got the event rolling and as if the delay and the newbie organizing crew weren’t enough, we were then plagued by weird timing issues that really slowed things down as re-run after re-run was necessary. It was an exhausting, humbling day with only five timed runs.

pedwar and I were both driving Ginger and with all of the registration work, I had not been able to do a course walk or coach her on how to do it. The result was that she spent the day getting lost and my largely driving the course from memory (we ran the course in 2008) in a car that I had never really driven in anger. To top it off, the alignment specs I had put on Ginger were horribly wrong, making her an over steering nightmare, but driving aspect of the day was still a hoot and I think the autox bug had landed on pedwar’s arm and was preparing to bite.
2009 Event 1 Results

Inter-Event Hand Wringing
All the timing issues and the line-ups at the first event really had us concerned, but with only a week before Event 2, there wasn’t a lot we could do. Besides no one expected another large turn-out so early in the season, particularly given the challenges of Event 1. Boy were we wrong as we had 96 entrants, many of which were new and again needed to be entered into the computer.

On top of that, the timing glitches were even more plentiful, which cut the run count to four. Yes, only four. We were demoralized and I was feeling pretty shitty as the guy in charge of timing.

On the upside, we had fixed Ginger’s alignment making her much more controllable. pedwar arrived earlier and took more course walks, this time knowing what to look for and what to think about. The result was that she only had one or two DNFs and cut the gap between our times from 20 seconds to 8 seconds — that’s 12 seconds faster after only event! She was also hooked, not only on the driving, but also on the friendly atmosphere and great people.
2009 Event 2 Results

One Hundred and Ten!
Yup, Event 3 saw a field of 110 competitors, which meant long wait between runs, limited paddock space, and frayed nerves, making the on-going timing issues that much more annoying. Despite all this, we still managed four timed runs. No, that’s nothing to be proud of, but at least we held the line despite the larger field size. Discussion raged in the forums regarding how to address the timing issues. pedwar’s shoulder was becoming more an issue at this point and she decided that the violent steering required for autocross, coupled with the need to brace one’s head and body against the cornering loads was only making her pain worse. She watched from the sidelines, making Event 2 her last autocross of 2009. I kept getting more comfortable in Ginger and as my confidence grew, I was getting quicker. Course Map – 2009 – Event 3 – 2009 Event 3 Results

Regular Service Resumed… Almost
Event 4 saw another 90+ field, but with fewer brand-spanking new bodies, registration was becoming easier, allowing us to start on time. While we continued to face timing issues, the earlier start time meant we were still able to get seven timed runs. Everyone rejoiced as it was apparent that the organizing crew, composed largely of newbs (myself included), was starting to gel.
Course Map – 2009 – Event 4 – 2009 Event 4 Results

First Trip to PMG
To virtually every MCO autocrosser I asked, those three letters meant autocross nirvana — huge expanses of smooth, flat, flawless asphalt totally devoid of curbs, light posts, painted lines, or pot holes. A place where coneheads could push with reckless abandon that lay a mere 2 to 2.5 hours outside Ottawa in Blainville, QC.

PMG is actually the name of the firm that operates the Transport Canada automotive test facility in Blainville. The facility is huge, with a massive banked oval for high-speed testing and of course the large skid pad that we would be using. There is nothing dramatic about getting there, but going from the front gate to the skid pad is another story: waivers are signed at the front gate and cars are led in by security in groups. Once at the skid pad, parked cars must have their engines over the grass, not over the asphalt. Also, any use of jacks is to involve a plank of wood between the jack and the asphalt. Yes, PMG does consider the asphalt that precious.

While it was a beautiful day and our CADL hosts ran a great event, we were disappointed at the tight technical course. After all, we can do tight and technical at home. Here, we wanted 3rd gear speed and fast flowing corners.  I had a really hard time driving the course without cone penalties and was pretty frustrated all day long, but still had a great time.  After the event, I made 123go, the CADL/MCO double-agent promise me a fast course for the next PMG event, planned for late September.

Some Things Must Be Done, No Matter How Hard
Event 6 (or Event 5 if you only count the local events) was the first where the MCO Solo II imposed a cap on registration and began to require that current participants register on-line. We took some flack and there were concerns voiced by highly respected members of the community, but DEye made the hard call and stuck to his guns. The 75 driver cap worked and we ran with 78 participants. Even with continued timing glitches, we managed a relaxed six runs. The event flowed better, people had space, and everyone’s anxiety began to slip away. Change is hard, but sometimes its necessary.

As we progressed through the next events, we moved the cap upwards as we got better at dealing with timing glitches and could reliably hit our run target. Event 7, for which our CADL brethren joined us saw us hit 6 runs with 96 competitors. Event 8 had 83 competitors, each of whom got 7 timed runs. Event 8 also saw us discover that the wired system was actually the cause of our problems. Out of desperation, having tried everything else, we switched and ran problem free for the rest of the day! How annoying that the very strategy we adopted to avoid problems was causing the problems. Course Map – 2009 – Event 8

Once the switch over happened, we were rolling as we wrapped up the last point-paying, local event of 2009. All that was left was the members only event of October 13th, which saw 61 members swapping and sharing cars as we ran the course clockwise in the morning and then counter-clockwise in the afternoon — yes, that’s 8 runs and we had tons of fun runs, too. A great day, with pizza, beverages, and cookies. Does it get any better?
2009 Event 6 Results – 2009 Event 7 Results – 2009 Event 8 Results – 2009 Special Event Results

I’m singin’ in the rain!
The last MCO event of the year was back at PMG where CADL was hosting the annual Inter-Provincial Cup (IPC), where Ontario and Quebec drivers square-off to determine the fastest province. It’s all in good fun and since the event is run under the rules of the hosting club, the hosting province tends to win. We left for PMG in convoy bright and early under torrential rain that didn’t let up until the event was almost over. What this meant was that PMG’s flat, drainless asphalt was very, very wet, with lots of standing water. Combine that with fun course that 123go promised and it made for a hell of a fun day of driving, even if marshalling was cold and wet. Root_Moose and I traded cars for fun runs and I discovered just how forgiving Ginger is. She wants to please and does all she can to follow the commands I issue through the steering wheel and the pedals. Root_Moose’s AP1 Honda S2000 was a different matter. Unlike Ginger, it heard my requests, considered them, and then not-so-politely told me where to go — I spun three times on my first run, avoided a couple spins on the second run, and put down a respectable time on the third. bigdog and sfong, regular S2K drivers, were laughing at my bug-eyed expressions in the car. Root_Moose? He was off doing his best times with Ginger, who just a week earlier had needed to be towed home.

Needless to say, Quebec won the IPC and the results of the day decided the MCO series champions once I got home and entered the data in our timing computer. My work as timing guy was done for the season and I felt pretty good about how I had handled myself and I later discovered that my peers were pretty happy with me, too.

Discovering friends you didn’t know you had…
… is always a great thing and that’s what I found when I made it out to a few St. LAC events. Not only did I see another approach to running events, but I also made some great friends in the form of Rob and Bill and their respective families. If you’re ever able to make it out to a St. LAC event, even if its one of the two-hour evening sessions at Shannonville, I highly recommend it. Say hi to Rob, Bill, Greg, Rob Sr., and the Brunners for me. Next year, I’ll be a dues-paying St. LAC member.

St-LAC hosted my last autox of the year, again at Picton, on our anniversary weekend, which also saw Ginger and I hit the race track at Shannonville for the second time this year. I had so much fun, I went back on November 1 for my last hurrah of 2009.

Car and Driver: A Season-Long Progression
Through the middle of the season Ginger was a different car every couple of weeks as the Flyin’ Miata goodies got installed, but as she was improving, so was I. This graph charts how my times compared to FTD (Fastest Time of the Day) at the MCO events this season (I treated the members-only event as two events to capture my morning time vs. my afternoon times).

As for lapping, with no precise instrument for measuring my times, I’ve had to rely on video footage, which shows that between October 18 and November 1, I managed to trim 5-6 seconds of my laps at Shannonville with no changes to the car. I’m pretty happy with that after about 8 hours on track in my whole life.

Overall, this has been one of the best summers of my life. I’ve done things I didn’t think I would ever do, I’ve gotten to be a better driver than I could have imagined and I know I can improve more. My wife and best friend has also become enamoured with the scene and the activity and I’ve made a raft of new friends in the process. The crazy thing is that I get to do it all over again next year!!!

We sat with Don, his wife Marilyn, and J-P at a table with a few other folks I didn’t know. The conversation was good, the food was great, and the atmosphere was fun an relaxing. Then the awards came!

For autocross, nothing was much of surprise to me (I did the scoring after all), but it was still cool to see Kevin and Jamie go up and take their 1st and 2nd overall trophies before the class winners, condor888000 included, took their plaques.

Then came the surprise… I won the Solo Fanatic Award for 2009! The award is for someone who put forth more than required for the love of the sport and the other names on the Trophy made me feel pretty good. It was good to be recognized, but amazingly enough, it wasn’t over.I was also chosen as the 2009 inductee to the Order of the Holed Piston, which recognizes the Hardest Working MCO Volunteer. I’m not convinced that I met that standard, but it is good to know others appreciated my efforts. I’m not one who normally seeks the approval of others, but I gotta say that it was nice to recognized.

Friday, right after work, we took off for Kingston to meet Rob S. and Bill R. for dinner at Rob’s house. It was cool, a few degrees over freezing when we left and it only got colder as the sun went down. Despite this, Ginger’s top was down and we were loving it. This was our first long, highway drive since I installed the Clearwater speakers and those 8″ component speakers revealed themselves to be very capable, both with respect to volume and clarity, even at 130kph.

Dinner at Rob’s was yummy and a ton of fun. We met the kids that we didn’t know as well as Rob’s son, Will, and got to know Rob, Bill, and their partners, Beth and Alicia much better. Great friends… too bad they’re about two hours away. We spent the night at the Best Western Fireside Inn on Princess Street in Kingston. The room was big and comfy, decorated like a lodge, with a nice king size bed and gas fireplace.

The next morning, we had breakfast at Cora’s where Don, this year’s MCO autox director, and his wife, Marylin, met us to start a day of touring Prince Edward County in our miatas. As we left Cora’s, pedwar seemed annoyed that Don’s 1.6L NA was louder than Ginger’s exhaust note.

The drive was beautiful! The weather was pretty chilly, but the sun was bright and the sky was virtually cloudless. We took the ferry to Amherst Island where it seemed like every second house was for sale — Don and Marylin were intrigued. We got to Picton a little after noon and had lunch at one of the restaurants on Main Street. The food was delicious and quite reasonably priced.

After lunch, we stopped at a couple of wineries. We would have made more stops, but some wacky GPS direction saw us waste some time, forcing pedwar and I to turn back in order to make our check-in at the Traveller’s Dream B&B on Centre Street in Picton.

The room was clean and nice and the bed was reasonably comfy. We had some challenges with the shower (tons of water at the tap, none at the shower head), but the owners fixed it up while we were out for dinner.

We had a few hours to kill before our dinner reservation at Portabella so we thought we’d walk Main Street and check-out the local shops. Unfortunately, the town had gone into winter mode and everything that hadn’t closed at 4:30, was about to close at 5:30, even the top local coffee shop — we ended up at Timmy’s. We called Don and Marylin, who had left to check-in to their hotel in Belleville after also discovering that everything was closing.

Faced with boredom, we walked back to the B&B, got into Ginger and went exploring again. I showed pedwar the location of the airfield where the next day’s autox would take place and took a look at some Picton’s neighbourhoods. When Don and Marylin got back to Picton, we hooked up with them, and then headed to Portabella to see if they could seat us, an hour early.

They took us in and fed us well as we enjoyed some great conversation, including Don relaying the gory tales of his engine blow-up with his former Mini Cooper. It was good to get to know Don outside of the tension of an autox event, as well as meet his wife, who is not as enthusiastic about autox as pedwar. We wrapped up the evening relatively early as we both had to be up early (besides, everything was closed) the next morning.

Morning started with a yummy breakfast, followed by the drive north to Shannonville Motorsports Park to meet up with the Midnight Runs crew. There was already a large contingent when we got there. We said our hellos and immediately started emptying Ginger and prepping her for lapping. Jeff and Shawn from Eurotrash Motorsports, who were bringing Ginger’s 6UL rims and Hankook rubber, arrived shortly after us. I grabbed the wheels and my jack and went to work, swapping the four wheels over in about 10 minutes, just in time for the drivers’ meeting.

We hit the track right on time and it was a blast. Ginger felt fantastic and the benefits of this season’s modifications were quite clear. Back in June, I was topping out at 145kph, but this time we hit 180kph, while I had a passenger! Interestingly enough, the corner right after that straight was slower this time as the higher approach speed made me brake harder (too hard), decreasing my corner speed below what I know was possible.

Jeff Graves, curious about the performance of the AFCOs, took Ginger out for a few laps, and without pushing, got within three seconds of his best time in a gutted, caged, race-focused miata, set later that day when the track was warmer and grippier. He noted that while Ginger was softer than he was used to, she felt good and well-sorted.

Seeing how Jeff was posting times four to five seconds faster than me, I used my next outing to try and find speed by mimicking his lines and shift points. Unfortunately, traffic and some on-track mechanicals prevented more than one or two clean, fast laps. Still, I know what to shoot for now.

We wrapped up the session, gave Jeff and Shawn the Racing Harts to cart home, and then left for the Picton Airfield with Mike P. in tow. We stopped for a nutritious lunch at McDonald’s and then proceed to the event. Our buddies at St. LAC welcomed us and let us log the full six runs after the appropriate safety briefings, etc.

Being pumped from lapping, autox speeds and the width of the tarmac made me particularly brave so my runs were uber-aggressive — condor888000 and Will couldn’t handle more than two back-to-back ride-alongs. The results aren’t posted yet, but I think I did reasonably well.

On the downside, Rob’s Corvette continued to giving a hard time as it blowed a power steering line, which Luc helped him repair, allowing them to finish the event — good thing someone had some power steering fluid! Alos, despite the whole experience, Marylin still had no interest in trying autox. Don shed a tear.

The MCO crowd (goesfilled, luker, bjackson, culridr, condor888000, DEye, me, Marylin and pedwar) left Picton with East Side Mario’s in Kingston as our dinner target. From there, we took Hwy 15 home. Glad we did as the road was curvy and the stars were beautiful. As we got closer, cars started to leave the convoy eventually leaving culridr alone when goesfilled, luker, condor888000, and I exited the 416 at Bankfield and Brophy.

Pedwar and I were in complete agreement that we couldn’t have had a better anniversary weekend. Great friends, good times, driving fast cars, gorgeous sunshine. Couldn’t be happier.

The day began early at the northern most Tim Horton’s in Orleans where I met fellow MCOers condor888000, eyemaster, Protege2886, sb_600, Aero, Chris B., and quicksilver. At PMG, we were joined by adambro, root_moose, Mrs. Moose, XL51, bdog, sfong, crimp, and Greg C. 123go was also there, but when he’s in Quebec, he’s a CADL member first.

The day was wet the whole time, but it got better as the day wore on. Despite the rain, it wasn’t particularly uncomfortable when marshaling. When running, it was a hoot. The course was quick and with the water, a really fun challenge.

No matter how big a challenge it was for me, it was nothing compared to what root_moose was facing. We swapped cars for fun runs and I promptly spun his AP1 S2000 twice on my first run. The second run was better and the third was actually respectable, but going quickly in that car required 100% concentration. On the other side, root_moose was finding Ginger to be benign and forgiving compared to his car. Not surprisingly, he bettered my times on a very slowly drying course.

After dinner with the CADL crowd, where it was announced that Ontario had lost the IPC, we settled into a horribly wet drive home, taking us through Montreal to highway 40. Note to self: take the backroads!

Thanks to CADL for running another great event! See you next year.

Results

Some images shot by Tony Collins and “enhanced” by me…

condor888000 also drove Ginger and he was giggling like a little girl. At the end of his first run, he offered to buy Ginger from me!

While the test trip was the focus, there was also the bonus of absolutely gorgeous roads coupled with stunning scenery. Most roads had light traffic and speed limits that allowed you to have some fun and get into a rhythm without risking the ire of NY State’s normally over-zealous speed limit enforcement squad (or a trip into the dense bush). We set off from home a little into the afternoon (I had a small brake repair to effect, and parts were in short supply) and drove directly to Lake Placid where we checked in and then strolled down the town’s main drag, checking out the typical touristy shops and some of the real estate listings (let’s just say there’s some wealth in the region!). One cool property was right on the drag and comprised a boat garage at water level and small but luxuriously appointed cottage above. From the street, it looked like someone’s shed, but was listed at $620,000 USD–and it was one of the smaller and more affordable properties. The affluence of the region was also obvious in the people on the street, but everyone was warm and friendly. We concluded our walk with some time in the hotel’s hot tub and pool, which was perfect relaxation before our dinner at The Brown Dog Cafe. The restaurant was pricey, but well worth it, both for the food, the surroundings, and the service. I actually had a glass of wine!

The next day was truly a test day, as we planned to hit the southern tip of the Park and then work our way back. Unfortunately, the rain of day one was still around so we only managed brief stints with the top down between Lake Placid and Gloversville. The drive into Gloversville on Route 10 was AMAZING with turn after turn where the exit of one turn would contain a warning about the next one, which was virtually immediate. Some were banked, some were off-camber and some changed camber mid-corner. Of course, elevation changes figured heavily given the mountainous nature of the region, and the tight passing opportunities meant the gearbox got a work-out, too. Getting into town about 1PM, we grabbed lunch at The Railyard restaurant, which was a very pleasant surprise with decent food, great prices, and friendly service (although I hated the chairs).

After lunch, Ped took the wheel and was rewarded with the longest period of top down motoring in actual sunshine. We were almost in Hoffmeister when the top had to go up again, but it was great while it lasted. Her cornering speeds increased steadily over her stint and by the end, I was reaching for my imaginary brake pedal. She handed the helm back to me just outside of Remsen when her shoulders started screaming for mercy, a byproduct of her physiotheraphy. Her timing was good as the drive between Remsen and Old Forge was full of traffic, mostly minivans and trucks, which meant a lot of over-taking. I was trying to stay relaxed, but one van going 10mph below the limit was too much. Thank heavens for Ginger’s passing aplomb.

When we hit Eagle Bay on Route 28, our GPS asked us to turn left on to Uncas Rd. We complied and were rewarded with over eight miles of unpaved roads, missing some really twisty bits of Route 28. I was not amused, but I guess I should read the device’s manual to see what the various routing modes mean. The rest of the trip to Long Lake was fantastic as we followed a capable and intrepid GMC Sierra Driver who was keeping a 60 – 70 mph pace on the wet, twisty roads. From Long Lake on, we were retracing steps from the morning and from Day 1, and of course, it was raining… again. On the upside, there was virtually no traffic after Tupper Lake, and some sections of that road are extremely rewarding. We refueled at Sunoco in Ogdensburg, dropped the top, and completed the journey home.

The only section of the Park that was somewhat weak was from Tupper Lake to Lake Placid where traffic and police were more plentiful and bends were less so. Details of our route are below. You’ll notice that there is plenty left to be explored.

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