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This weekend went really well and the weather was awesome too! Thanks to BEMC for a very well run event. I finished 1st in all 8 races (4 races in Street Stud - Class SS1 and 4 in Menard Studs - Class S1). I drove at 100%,  as hard as I could, and with the conditions as they were I felt exhausted at the end of both days. I am happy to say I have video from all qualifying and all races I ran this weekend posted to Youtube and listed at the bottom of this report. The temps were up to +5C on Saturday and +1C on Sunday, overcast Saturday morning but very sunny in the afternoon and sunny all day Sunday, so warm that I broke a sweat for the first time this year. The result of the warm temps and strong sun was very soft ice that was easily chewed up by the Menard stud tires and turned into basically dry slush on the outside of the racing line like 6" deep after a couple laps. There was only a car and a half width to the race line in a lot of places and on the straight the churned up "ice pooh" was so deep I had to shift to the extreme left of the track to stay out of the stuff because you could feel the front of my car float up on it and lose traction.

Racing was halted for 1/2 an hour early Saturday afternoon just before the first stud race as Tom Prentice went out and plowed the track because so much snow "pooh" had built up just outside the race line. There was a "Grand Canyon" like depression at the east end of the straight about 5 to 6" deep , 5 ft wide and 50 ft long right on the racing line that had developed during the week from attempts to flood but warmer temps this past week wouldn't allow it to freeze over properly and it remained come Saturday morning. By the end of the weekend this area was right down to the dirt, the corner at the quanset hut had like a 30 degree Nascar style banking happening and similar banking at the kink. My MR2 just loved it! Tom said they will have to push the banks out for next weekend to cover the exposed dirt which will narrow the track but not any narrower than the width of the race line we were running this weekend - about a car and a half wide in some spots.

The street stud tires on the MR2 seem to be holding up well, I have only lost like 1/2 a dozen studs in the right rear tire and 3 in the other rear tire all season. They had really good grip in the softer ice and, as long as you didn't get into any deep snow, the tread design allowed for good grip on any sticky snow like the berm around the outside of the race line that you would run in Rubber-To-Ice under these mild conditions. The two new Menards on the rear of the MR2 are still mint looking and the fronts haven't changed any and are old ones from 2 years ago. I can't believe the gas mileage with the Toyota compared to running the Ovlov - the Toyota ran in the two classes all weekend and only used half a 25 litre gas can! I checked the tranni fluid level and had to add about 500 ml so the axle seal will have to be changed for next weekend. Wish I had washer fluid in the car Sunday because of all the dirt thrown up on the windshield in the stud races, I turned on the wipers and it only made it worse.

Hi Lite Reel:  HD Video

Much thanks again to all who helped down around my pit - Steve, Ian, Steff, Jeff, and anyone else I may have forgotten. Thanks for the chili from the McIntyre camp, the sandwiches from Richard Piper and the chocolate chip cookies from Jackie Lok.

Racing:

Saturday Class SS1 (Street Studs):

Drew pole "from the hat" for quali and started ahead of 12 AWD (All Wheel Drive) cars, not someplace I wanted to be as a RWD (Rear Wheel Drive) car! I am going to see if at the driver's rules meeting next Sunday if this can be changed so that (for qualifying only) your grid positions remain within your class ie. AWD cars grid together at the front then FWD (Front Wheel Drive) cars then RWD. I mean watch this HD Video clip of the start as a swarm of AWD cars blast by me, around me and behind me into the 1st corner where I am basically at

their mercy. I was finally passed by Graham Lobban in the grey MR2 and finished 2nd behind him. I must say that all weekend I had very hard very close racing with all classes that were in my races - I had a blast!

First race I got past Graham on the first lap at the quanset house cause the black Forrester Subaru station wagon cut hard left across in front of Graham causing him to spin sideways and I went around him. The rest of the race I kept Graham behind me (you can see his red hood and yellow painted "headlights in my rearview mirror in the video) and always was trying to pass another AWD to put a car between him and myself. I did that once with Dietmar's car but Graham got by him then we came up on lap traffic and I almost got sandwiched between Dan Demers and Leon Lok but managed to squeeze through (watch HD Video clip) between them leaving them for Graham to deal with - I finished 1st.

The second race there was a lot of "ice pooh" buildup on the straight which made for poor starts and allowed the AWD to get a ways ahead. Managed to stay in 1st in class by the 1st corner but soon caught up with #67 Dan Demers (AWD class) and had to try to go around cause Graham Lobban was right on my butt. I got past Dan and that put him between myself and Graham. I never saw the two of them again and managed to hang on to the tail end of the rest of the AWD class with Dietmar (#88 AWD) dancing in front of me. I had to start to move over to the inside of the straight about lap 8 because the snow was so deep anywhere else on the straight. Graham Tullet (#2 AWD) tried to go over the inside snow bank in turn1 on the last lap of the race.

Saturday Class S1 (Menard Studs):

No practice but full quali and only the last race was reduced to 8 laps. Drew 2nd on the grid for quali and again not too happy to be starting in front of all those AWD cars. Fairly clean start and finally made it past Ahmad Khodkar (#141 AWD). Tony McGrath

raced his Mazda 323? this weekend most successfully (check the results for his finishes but I think he did really well - like firsts. On the last lap of quali I narrowly missed getting clobbered as I was lapping the Mustang Car #294 by the swinging ass end and had to take to the weeds at the quanset hut to avoid getting tail slapped. That let a couple FWD guys by. Didn't do too bad in the quali (1st in class) and finished 1st in both races but didn't drive too well otherwise.

Sunday Class SS1:

Studs were up first and the ice was very soft which led to less track today, more mud, more snow pooh and banked turns at the quanset hut and the kink all led to very narrow track and race line and a very exhaustive day working the controls. But over all a much better feeling of accomplishment having had to work so hard to get it. Won both races Sunday and again raced with the AWD cars. There was a lot of grip in SS and I really enjoyed the banking in turn 1 and 2, you could really build up a lot of speed through there all day Sunday. had to be really innovative at getting around the AWD cars which made for some great racing and fairly clean considering how difficult it is to pilot an AWD car. After putting a few AWD behind me I again caught up with Dietmar in the AWD car 88. I managed to pass him  in the last corner and beat him down the straight to find Ian Lok's car (#96 RWD) stopped on the apex of the 1st corner. This provided an interesting challenge for the rest of the race and no one stopped to give him a push - apparently the battery cable came loose. I next caught up to Ahmad Khodkar (141 AWD) and passed him as well as he tried to go up the inside of Ian's stopped car. I then had some clean air and really started to enjoy the banking at the quanset hut and the kink. This continued for several laps until I caught up with a bunch of the back markers in my class RWD and a white Eagle AWD Talon (Car #220) who seemed to be having some sort of piloting trouble. With less than 3 laps to go I followed him for a lap and needed to get by, as he went really wide at the quanset hut and slid past the front of my car I shot up the inside but he came back beside me and pushed me into the weeds on the outside of the kink. I followed another lap and he basically did exactly the same line again at the quanset hut so I darted up the inside again and again got cut off so I wondered if he new he was being lapped or even if he saw me so I bumped the back of him to let him know I was there and he put the brakes on. I finally went up the inside on the next corner but he passed me back at the finish line.

Sunday Class S1:

Down to the dirt at the end of the straight through the first corner and a lot of mud on the windshield. Lots of grip though for the MR2 and again more racing with the FWD and the AWD cars. Very narrow race line, severe banking at the quanset hut. No problems, loads of fun and 1st place in both races. More amazing starts and tight racing - too much fun, won both races. The second race was a really good race and kept passing AWD cars and then went wide in the first turn on the beginning of the 2nd last lap and first Ahmad Khodkar (Car #141) then Dietmar (Car #88) re-passed me. But as I caught up to them again on the last lap, about halfway to the kink, Ahmad veered left towards the inside bank and then fishtailed to the right cutting off Dietmar who then slammed into Ahmad's right rear wheel and I slip by them both (watch HD Video clip). I think I finished 3rd overall behind Kiyo and Tony McGrath.

One more weekend to go - hope studs are allowed to run. Don't forget to get your tickets for the April 10th awards banquet.

Results:
MR2, Menard Studs (class S1): qualified pole, 1st in all 4 races
MR2, Street Stud (class SS1): qualified 2nd, 1st in all 4 races

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

Scoty@rogers.com

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