TPC invite to track school/day at Mosport Track on Sunday, July 22

[BETRTHNU]

I went a couple of years ago and it was a blast...thought I'd put this out here for TM3 members....ok with the TPC Prez.

Official Thread on TPC.
http://www.hondaprelude.to/forums/showthread.php?p=1045775

Toronto Prelude Club in conjunction with Ian Law Racing will be holding a track school/day at Mosport Driver's Development Track on Sunday, July 22.

The day will be split into 2 groups with a school portion (to be taught by Ian) and lapping only. We will be using the Driver's Development track, and it will be open for all levels of drivers from beginner to advanced. You can choose to just do lapping, or for an extra cost, attending the Ian Law racing school. If you've never been on a track before, then take the school.

Lappers will lap when the students are in the classroom, and will take breaks when the students are on the course. Iain's instructors will be marshalling the course and helmets are mandatory. If there are enough people, there may be an organized GB for helmets. Passing will be limited to designated passing zones only and will be discussed at the driver's meeting.

Ian Law's racing school will cost $260, which includes classroom sessions with videos, in-car on track instruction, handbook and certificate. Lapping only will cost $160. Everyone signed up will have an all you can eat bbq lunch included. Those interested in the BBQ lunch only (and to just come out and hang out) look for another thread also in the events section for details).

We're limiting this to 30 cars for lapping and 15 cars for the school portion. Space on the track is limited so please get your spot paid for if you want to make sure you're guaranteed a spot.

For those of you that went last year, here's your chance to get some of your friends/family/colleagues/etc interested in it as well! Here's an overhead view of the track we'll be at (those of you unfamiliar with DDT).

http://www.mosportkartclub.com/Images/aerial_small.gif

Grant is the president and founder of the Toronto Prelude Club.

If interested, email money transfer to either "GrantTPC@sympatico.ca" or "GrantTPC@hotmail.com" (PM or email him separately the password) AND send me an email or PM with your full name (alias too if you're on this board), phone number and car you'll be driving.

School + Track = $260

Track = $160


Working on a first come first serve basis (you're confirmed when we get your money in full)

One more thing, we have an opportunity to have a professional photographer come out and photograph us in action. It will only cost $20 cash each to have a CD of the day done. We need to know how many will commit so we can commit to the photographer. He has been catching cars in action since the 1960s and has done F1 racing around the world. He does amazing work and Ian has a lot of his photos framed and hanging on his office walls. Let me know via PM or email when you submit your info to me if you're in or not too (sooner rather than later).

Any Questions can be forwarded to grant via his email above. Hope to see some Mazda's representing.

Peter

[Fuman]

please read the car prep thread as well
http://www.hondaprelude.to/forums/showthread.php?t=70780&highlight=lapping+prep
Can someone with a 3 tell us if there is anything additional or less we need to do to get the mazda 3 cars track ready?

[Fuman]

spots are starting to fill up and payment is due realll soon.

[BETRTHNU]

Bump. Have a good day at the track Fuman. Its a fun time every year, and TPC are safe and classy guys to track with.

[Fuman]

Bump. Have a good day at the track Fuman. Its a fun time every year, and TPC are safe and classy guys to track with.

are you going?

btw sign up for track school is closed
lapping is still open

[BETRTHNU]

I'm actually going to be in montreal. GF lives there and this is one of the weekends I promised to come up. She'd take my nuts and hang them on the rear view mirror of her car if I cancelled to go lapping. :P The sacrifices I must make...Grant is the prez of the TPC, great guy to hang with and I'm sure you're going to have a blast.

[Fuman]

I'm actually going to be in montreal. GF lives there and this is one of the weekends I promised to come up. She'd take my nuts and hang them on the rear view mirror of her car if I cancelled to go lapping. :P The sacrifices I must make...Grant is the prez of the TPC, great guy to hang with and I'm sure you're going to have a blast.
i went skiing with them once... great guys.
the # of S2000 are crazy.. almost as many ludes

[BETRTHNU]

yeah as a lot of the guys get older and have higher incomes they tend to go straight to the s2k, I on the other hand am looking at Miata. :P Keeping it real.

[BETRTHNU]

So how was it?

[Fuman]

It was great
4 Mazda in total.
Mazda 3
Mazdaspeed protege
Mazda RX-8
Mazda Maita

I didn't drive my 3 though, I shared one with my friend, since his is more track ready then mine. His car almost looks identical to mine.

One of the first thing the instructor asked:
did you mod your car? (in particular, the suspension).
Most ppl raised their hand. BIG mistake he says, since it is likely none of us can bring out the car's 100% potential.

The instructors sit with you in the car, and they help you develop needed general driving skills and track only skills. E.g. for general driving skills, Vision (looking ahead), track only skills: braking points for a corner.

After Ian (the head instructor) took my friend's car around, I realized how much of a difference between him and the 2 of us. Ian took 1/2 a lap to catch up to an S2000 in an AUTO mazda 3 2.3 (only on S-techs, no other mods). It took me 1 1/2 laps to 2 laps to catch up to the S2000 (i think it was the same S2000, can't be too sure). There is a HUGE difference in skill level. But we learned the limits of the car during cornering, so we were able to go A LOT faster.

Due to the fact we were in school, we weren't able to go tracking with the lappers. As retarded as this may sound, playing Driving simulators helped (I.e. GT4) me learn the theory and go-karting gave me real-life practice. So I think I had an experience advantage compared to other students. I was able to tail some Preludes and S2000s; the DDT is not a power track, track is pretty tight and the car will hit around 120 on the straights. By end of the day it was taking longer and longer to catch up to my fellow students. It was great to see everyone in the class improving.

picture of DDT, we were going counter clock wise. ( i modified the picture to only show the path we took). original picture found here http://www.racing-series.com/images/course_map.gif
http://i192.photobucket.com/albums/z30/***wan/DDT-1.gif
I was coming down the straight turn 11 to 10 and I don't brake enough for turn 10 (in respect to the two rights after turn 10). I'm still braking AFTER the apex of turn 10, I almost lost the back end twice doing it. Once with the instructor in the car (minor), once without (i got lucky this time).

All the students / teachers in the class are awesome, we didn't have any 'I know it all ppl' in the class to ruin it for people.

If we ever organize a track day, we should consider make it a rule that unless you've been to some sort of track school, they cannot come lapping with us.

[BETRTHNU]

glad you enjoyed yourself. Ian is a master at driving. I don't think I could catch him in a vet. :P I think they might do one more in Oct. If they do I'll keep you all posted, with enough notice. I'm going for sure. Haven't tracked the cars in years.

[Fuman]

glad you enjoyed yourself. Ian is a master at driving. I don't think I could catch him in a vet. :P I think they might do one more in Oct. If they do I'll keep you all posted, with enough notice. I'm going for sure. Haven't tracked the cars in years.

GOO... it'll be nice to have another mazda 3 going, not to mention a sedan winning blue like mine and my friends =)

edit: i was surprised the OEM pads on my friend's 3 held up so well. He still has a LOAD of pad left after track. (hes at around 44000km?)

[Elder_MMHS]

Sounds great. I'm doing a track day at Mission Raceway (about an hour out of Vancouver) next Thursday with a local motorsport club and it'll be my first time too. Oh, in my Mazda3, of course. It will be pretty stock - about the only car prep I'm doing is brake fluid replacement (Motul RBF 600), tires (OEM Toyo's to some Falken FK-452's) and brake pads (switching to Hawk HPS). Had my regular annual service last week too so that timed well.

How did the OEM brake pads hold up performance-wise? Sounds like they didn't wear down too much, which is awesome - but did you experience any fade or did you simply compensate by taking longer braking distances? Or are they actually semi-suitable? :)

[Fuman]

How did the OEM brake pads hold up performance-wise? Sounds like they didn't wear down too much, which is awesome - but did you experience any fade or did you simply compensate by taking longer braking distances? Or are they actually semi-suitable? :)
First off, HAVE FUN!! But thats a given =p.

My friend's car was on Goodyear RS-As, stock brake pad and fluids(I've NO idea how ppl complain theres not enough traction and lateral traction in these tires. I do admit they suck below 15 degrees Celsius; track temp went from 22-28 degrees Celsius). But I've no idea how the your Toyos will hold up. Are those Falken R-Compounds? You might want to consider running those Toyos to the gound and throwing them away after? Remember to bump up your tire psi before track. I told him to use 38F 37R psi. My prelude friends told me to go higher but we choose not to.

Brakes: OEM pads. We usually did about 5-6 laps and then we would pit and let the cars rest for a bit. The pads held up great. After about 3-4 sessions (an hour or so rest in between, I was in class), and at around 28 degrees, the pads started smelling a little bit on the 6-7th lap. The brake fluid wasn't holding up that well though. After class we were able to go lapping with the lappers. The brakes started fading a weee bit on my 8th lap, it was still very very strong. I was still able to keep up (braking wise) with the prelude that wouldn't let me pass. I got blacked flagged (too much traffic) and I got off after the 12-13th lap.

My friend switch to Motul 5.1 afterwards track since he needed a flush after track.

Remember to drive around in a circle after lapping if u can, to cool off the car and don't use the parking brake after lapping.

I hope your taking track school, the instructors do a great job pointing flaws in your driving.

[Fuman]

http://www.hondaprelude.to/forums/showthread.php?p=1060622
pics and videos posts.
http://www.hondaprelude.to/forums/showpost.php?p=1060622&postcount=113
a video of me driving my friend's 3 among S2000s (during school).

please check out: http://www.torontomazda3.com/forum/showthread.php?goto=newpost&t=19512
if you're interested in track school.

[Elder_MMHS]

Cool thanks for the info. :)

There is no "track school" per-say at the event, but there will be a lot of senior drivers and an instructional session that day. We already got a bunch of prep info from the experienced guys.

Yup, will definitely bump up tire pressure - I will probably do something like 39F/36R ... I have done autocrossing in this car before and I usually run 41F/36R for those, but I think the track will heat up the tires (front especially) a bit more. I remember the first time I ran an autox with only a modest tire pressure boost and I was rolling on my sidewalls (didn't help that I was on 16's).

The FK-452 is not R-compound - I think the closest thing Falken has to R-compound is the Azenis RT-215/615. Nevertheless, the 452's should be much stickier than the RS-As and my Toyo Proxes'. I won't be tossing out my Toyo's - they will serve as my winter tires on another set of rims (we can get away with them in Vancouver provided you don't drive north or up the local ski mountains during the season).

[Fuman]

Cool thanks for the info. :)

There is no "track school" per-say at the event, but there will be a lot of senior drivers and an instructional session that day. We already got a bunch of prep info from the experienced guys.

Yup, will definitely bump up tire pressure - I will probably do something like 39F/36R ... I have done autocrossing in this car before and I usually run 41F/36R for those, but I think the track will heat up the tires (front especially) a bit more. I remember the first time I ran an autox with only a modest tire pressure boost and I was rolling on my sidewalls (didn't help that I was on 16's).

The FK-452 is not R-compound - I think the closest thing Falken has to R-compound is the Azenis RT-215/615. Nevertheless, the 452's should be much stickier than the RS-As and my Toyo Proxes'. I won't be tossing out my Toyo's - they will serve as my winter tires on another set of rims (we can get away with them in Vancouver provided you don't drive north or up the local ski mountains during the season).

ahhh i see =) Have funnn man. They told me auto-crossing works on your vision, is it true?

[Elder_MMHS]

ahhh i see =) Have funnn man. They told me auto-crossing works on your vision, is it true?

Well basically you have to look ahead extensively (at least two to three gates ahead) and make sure you pre-turn as there's a fair bit of response time between the steering wheel input and actual car rotation. It's anti-intuitive to novices like myself but it really does work when I do make the conscious effort.

[Fuman]

Well basically you have to look ahead extensively (at least two to three gates ahead) and make sure you pre-turn as there's a fair bit of response time between the steering wheel input and actual car rotation. It's anti-intuitive to novices like myself but it really does work when I do make the conscious effort.
Is it possible to just do one event and not a whole season for auto-crossing?
i would like to try it!

[MajesticBlueNTO]

Is it possible to just do one event and not a whole season for auto-crossing?
i would like to try it!

Fuman, check out the slalom schedule here: Twin Lakes Motor Club (http://www.twinlakesmc.org/) ...the events take place at the Molson Centre in Barrie.

you don't have to be a member to run and it costs $25/event for non-members ($20 for members).


Also, there's the Trillium BMW Club auto cross events (http://www.trillium-bmwclub.ca/site/page.jsp?Autocross) but I think you have to be a member to run (~$58 for the year) plus $15/event.

there's a bunch more info at www.solo2ontario.com (http://www.solo2ontario.com) for auto-x events in the GTA. however, if you just wanna run once to see what it's like, the one in Barrie is a good one.

hope that helps.

[Fuman]

thank you
thank you thank you
thank you thank you thank you
thank you thank you thank you thank you
k my hands are getting tired from repeated movements, lol.
I will check it out during lunch break tomorrow