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This weekend was hosted by the PMSC and thanks to all who helped make it happen (I especially loved our sweetheart on grid lady). As I write this I still have a wicked head cold that plagued me all weekend so this may be shorter and/or more incoherent than usual.

There was a really good turnout with a ton of spectators at the west end of the track on Sat. We ran full schedule for the Menards  - 10 lap qualifier and 12 lap races! I again ran the MR2 in both SS1 ands S1 classes so thanks to Steve Drysdale and Ian McIntyre for assisting in tire changes.

 I got to the track around 12:30 noon Friday and watched as they track was being flooded (watch a short video) . I had never watched this and am amazed at how slow the truck has to go and how little coverage a truck load of water does. On this day the temp. was cold enough that on it's second lap the truck could drive on the water it had laid down the previous lap as it already had turned to ice. I checked the transmission fluid level in the MR2 and found it to be good. Temperature was cold Friday night, around -18C and I went back to the track around 10 PM to see what was up and found

Steff Haas doing a track skate practicing for the "Special" Olympics. Temp. rose to a max. around -8C Saturday and was generally overcast all day Sat and Sun with scattered flurries Sat night and most of Sunday.

Canadian Rally driver "Crazy" Leo Urlichich brought his Can-Jam prepared Subaru to Mindenhammer after competing in the Maniwaki rally to run in the Menard class. Some type of problem with the car Saturday caused them to swap out the diff and the tranni and they worked on that late into Sat night. Sunday saw them run out of fuel in the first race but they cleaned up in the second race starting from the back of the pack.

I think Kiyo had the best race of his season in the last race Saturday in studs while Sunday he stated that a possible cracked piston might keep him out of the races for Sunday - I believe I saw him tow home early Sunday afternoon.

I was witness to one of the cleanest starts this year in the 2nd stud race Saturday as everyone was clean through the first corner and pretty much the rest of the race.

Peter Klute, co-host of television's Dream Car Garage, was racing in Menard class driving a black Mustang. I was scheduled to go out with him at noon Saturday for rookie school to teach him a few tricks but stud school was not allowed to run due to concerns over preserving the ice thickness.

I had some good  racing with both Tony Silvaggi in Street Stud and Ahmad Khodkar in studs again this weekend however Ahmad was suffering transmission problems - no 3rd gear - but thanks for some good clean fun anyways.

"Somebody" barricaded our cottage door sometime Sunday morning before we got up with chairs, shovels and chunks of wood - why I'm not sure - practical jokers? We weren't sure if we would be able to get out in time to make it to the first race so I wrote "HELP!" backwards on the front window with toothpaste (Steff didn't have any lipstick) and in no time "Elvis" and Ian McIntyre miraculously appeared and rescued us with just enough time to get to the track! You guys are just so marvy !
 

Along with my head cold came a few mistakes that I regret - one in particular - I accidentally deleted 4 of the 6 videos I took of Saturday's in-car video from the MR2 while I was transferring them from the camera's card to my laptop - bummer. Then on Sunday for the last race my camera wouldn't turn on - dead batteries ... it's the little things sometimes that really get under your skin! The few vids I do have are listed at the bottom of this page.

Racing:

Saturday SS1:

In general my Saturday sucked, starting with another tire puncture in the first corner of the first lap in SS1 qualifying. I had a great start up the inside snow bank but braking on the glare ice that was there was no where near as good as required and my right front of my car made contact with the left rear or Graham Lobban's grey MR2 resulting in another cut tire! This happened the first weekend when I touched the other side of his car and the rusted pieces of metal sticking out from his fender flare area cut a brand new tire. I therefore missed quali and started from back for the 1st race.
The driver of car #193 seemed to be on a destructive mission this weekend and I, among several others, was on the receiving end of some very aggressive, full contact driving. Watch a short clip of one example from the in-car cam of Richard Piper, car #227. The result was, having started from last in the 1st race in SS1, I think I only managed a 4th. In the second race I finished 4th again. I had borrowed a new street stud tire from Steff Haas for the right front of the MR2 and the studs were still not protruding very far from being flush with the tread surface so on a counterclockwise (left turning) track I had loads of under steer unless I really pitched the car sideways but then I would scrub off a lot of speed. I suppose I could have swapped it side to side and run it backwards (a directional tire). I considered running it on the rear drive wheel but didn't want to give up acceleration.

Sunday SS1:

Clockwise today and much better turn in as the new right front tire was on the inside of the right hand turns. Both Lobban MR2's missing from grid as they had gone home so both Tony and I moved up a couple spots on the grid with Tony starting ahead of me for the 1st race. I won both races both times beating Tony McGrath's shiny red MR2 in the first race by passing him on the 2nd last lap on the outside of the last turn (really good racing right from the green Tony!) and in the second race I got a good start barely keeping Tony behind me through the 1st corner but eventually had 3 AWD cars behind me and at least one of them between Tony and me. Camera battery died sometime halfway through Sunday's racing so don't have all those vids.

S1 Races:

The car ran excellent and smooth all weekend in S1 and with no real competition in my class (rear wheel drive) I found some solace in beating all the front wheel drive class Sunday and all but 3 of the all-wheel-drive class. I finished 4th overall (1st in class) in the 1st race Sunday. Saturday's 2nd race I discovered I had been driving only about 9/10ths because on the 3rd last lap I remembered that this was indeed Menards not SS class so I planted my right foot to the floor  Andy Hughes had been on my bumper for most of the race but faded in the rearview after that.

Well, only 2 weekends to go, hopefully we can run the Menards both weekends, thanks again to all who spend so many hours flooding the track, it looks to me like it takes a lot of time and patience.

Results:
MR2, Studs (Menards - class S1): pole and 1st in all 4 races
MR2, Street Stud (class SS1): DNF (quali), 4th, 4th?, 1st, 1st

Complete results (usually posted within a few days of the event) ...
 http://casc.on.ca/iceRacing.php

Scoty@rogers.com

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