Autox in/near London?

[MazdaMatt]

I can't afford to take the car to a track this year, so I was wondering if there was any autox in London or really close? I know WOSCA is in Sarnia, but that's an hour away.

I have heard of some in the past being hosted either at the airport or at Fanshawe College...

[Marsh]

The airport and Fanshawe are also WOSCA. We are the only club west of Brampton that host autoslaloms in Ontario. We might be returning to Sarnia soon. Hopefully we'll have news shortly.

The Fanshawe event is an annual charity event and promotional event for the school. It will be occurring in September again this year. The airport was a desperation move a few years ago but it was outrageously expensive (the club lost about $1000 hosting one provincial there).

There is basically nothing in London to get. If we move from Sarnia it will likely be a similar driving distance from London. Although I have one more St. Thomas long shot to take.

[MazdaMatt]

Marsh... St. Thomas would be the best... I just moved there :D

May I ask here, or for a PM from you, what the long shot is? This town is FULL of large unused parking lots lately...

I will look into the Funshawe one when the time comes, thanks for that.

[MazdaMatt]

Is there such a thing as a non-casc autocross?

[mopar1]

Yes,St Thomas sounds great.I am keeping my fingers crossed.

[Sober99]

I'll be happy with anything west of Kitchener or east of Chatham, otherwise I'll be driving to Brampton or Detroit they're both a 1.5 to 2.0 hours drive for me.

[darcyw]

sarnia is not that far to drive from st thomas...if you have the bug, then you'll get up early in the morning, drive to the site, set up, broil in the sun, and heat, or get drenched in the rain, put your street tires back on, drive back home for dinner...then get ready for the next one. its a drug. hell, marsh comes from 2 hours+ away and when we were in woodstock some (me) drove 2 hours to get there too.

incidentally, i'm working on the sarnia lot and have yet to hear an official word...stay tuned.

later
darcy

[Greg F]

Have you tried Toyota, Marsh?

[MazdaMatt]

Darcy, that bug bit me back in '06 when I attended >20 events from oakville to ottawa and everywhere in between. Now I have an F350 with a 20 foot cube that rests in storage waiting for me to pick it up, drive it home, load up my non-street-legal del sol then drive it to events. Considering the inconvenience of picking it up due to my storage arrangement and the cost of driving that big old beast, I'm not going to travel over an hour for 7 minutes of driving.

Until Marsh suggested that St. Thomas may be a new venu, i was pretty sure my car was remaining parked till next year (new house expenses).

I have offered to tour the entire town dropping off a club pamphlet (lot request) at every large parking lot we have here. There must be at least 15 lots in this town suitable for autocross, a few of which would be suitable for nationals they are so massive.

[Marsh]

Have you tried Toyota, Marsh?

I'm told that the new plant's employee lot is filled with concrete curbing. The Cambridge plant I know HADA took a stab at a few years ago and was flat rejected.

[kills0]

Considering they are picky about contractors going in there to work, I'm fairly certain Toyota wouldnt consider auto-x happening within their compound.

[mopar1]

I am okay with sarnia but London or St Thomas would be better for me but I guess we have to think of the best place to get and with insurance these days we probably cant be picky.This is probably a huge longshot but what about the John Labbat Centre?Mabey too many curbs.The only reson I ask is because the powerade centre seems to get a lot of use for autocross.

[Marsh]

I am okay with sarnia but London or St Thomas would be better for me but I guess we have to think of the best place to get and with insurance these days we probably cant be picky.This is probably a huge longshot but what about the John Labbat Centre?Mabey too many curbs.The only reson I ask is because the powerade centre seems to get a lot of use for autocross.

JLC? They don't even have out door parking do they? Anyway anything in London that is remotely near a house or condo will get killed because of noise. Ask anyone that ran regionals in 1998 how we know.

[MazdaMatt]

I vote for JLC! Underground parking autox! :p

The only hope in London, i think, is the far south end (adjacent to 401) or the north east. Nothing really stands out to me except Fanshawe and GDLS (good luck) in the north east... as for the south... Maybe Casco? I think the lots there are relatively small...

St. Thomas is a parking-lot goldmine. There is quite a car culture here, too, even if they all drive american muscle or cavaliers (or F150s, but they're drunk anyway so they can't compete. Especially with the gun rack in the back.)

[Marsh]

Matt, if you want to suggest or discuss specific lots in your area bring it up on the WOSCA board. Frankly I'm not aware of much in St.T that's big enough except for the 3 properties owned by Sterling and we've been flat denied on them. The reason sited is that two years of what we could afford for rent wouldn't even cover the legal fees to draft a contract.

If it wasn't for general liability I could have my pick of a half dozen lots.

[Scracho]

Marsh did you ever try the Brantford Airport? I remember we were talking about that a year ago. They have that old Bus compound there and across from airport was another compound.

[Burnsey]

The old Budd/Kitchener Frame plant is now, sadly, idled and no one is working there.

I *might* have a *very distant* contact that could get me in touch with the current owners.

If anything comes of it Marsh, I'll pass it along if that's OK...

[darcyw]

yes there is now autoslalom in sarnia...first event may 17th...check out wosca.com soon.

later
darcy