mlab601
09-06-2003, 12:27 AM
Hi folks,
Let me echo Eric's comments(CADL's president). We were really happy so many of you showed up for this event. I will certainly pass the word around to our members about your enthusiasm for PMG and the type of course design used. Believe me I will be the first one to agree with you that this course was fast and fun to drive. Who needs tight slow courses anyways! When you drive a car like mine (Audi A4) you don't like small tight, full of bus stop type courses. I'm all in favor of fast flowing courses, it is good for powerful cars and good for light less powerful but nimble cars. Proof of this, a multitude of light less powerful cars made excellent times and a Type R had the second best time. The super light weight MR 2 had the best time. BTW, that car weighs half the weight of my car! Now on to the more delicate subject of classification. I know some of you guys were disqualified for been in the wrong class and I know this is a PITA situation but unfortunately several things contributed to this. First, it was the third and final round of the Quebec championship. Two, within the CADL championship it is very tight in all categories so we could not switch a car to a different class once the event had started. The only recourse was to disqualify the driver because moving him to another class would have caused the same problem there. Let me just say that we followed the SCCA rule book on that, there was no choice, it is written that a competitor who wrongfully classifies his car will be disqualified. I can only apologies for the lack of time I spent with our Anglophone friends after the French driver’s meeting. I tried to go over all the major points that were briefed in French but we were short on time. Next time, we will try harder to make it less confusing. I hope this makes sense to all of you. Just one more word on the classification rules. It is the responsibility of the driver/owner of the car to make sure he is in the proper class. I’m going through the same thing myself now. My intention is to participate in a SOLO 1 event at Shannonville in September, so I have been corresponding with several officials from the Ontario Solo commission to get my car in the proper class.
I would like to get more comments about the different things we could improve. Also comments on PMG would be appreciated. The reason I ask, it is the first time in two years that we use this facility because of what happened with Silvester Stalone’s when they were filming “DRIVEN”. PMG as tighten security a lot, they are not as flexible anymore, they won’t allow free access in and out of their facility, you noticed we had a shuttle system in place. Children a not allowed on site anymore neither are pets.
They inspect every car before they go in for oil and coolant leaks or any other fluids and anything suspicious about a car. They don’t want another mess on their hands. We are under strict orders to report any leakage on the pavement or any damage done to it. We have to clean up right away to avoid further damages, you get the picture. We also have to give them a $10,000 deposit against any damage. PMG is also very expensive to rent now, without going into details; I think they double the rental fee. Technically this weekend we were suppose to park our cars in the grass after our runs just in case a leak occurred. I think you guys realise as we do that PMG is most likely one of the best places in Canada to do a SOLO 2 event but is it worth all the troubles we may encounter? Would you like for the Canadian championship to be held there, no restaurant on site except for the club’s BBQ and your own food, limited potties(more could be ordered), no camping on site for a two day event, not too many hotels in the area. Again would it be worth the inconveniences for a two day championship held at PMG knowing what kind of course we could design for use on its surface?
Again, I would like to apologise as a member of the club, for any confusion created by the classification rules. Our decision was not meant to ruffle anybody’s feathers. Thank you for coming down to Montreal and to our event and I hope to see you people back here in the near future. In the mean time I will probably see some of you at the next SOLO1 event in Shannonville, hosted by the Ontario SOLO 1 commission on the weekend of September 20th and 21st.
Cheers,
Mike
Let me echo Eric's comments(CADL's president). We were really happy so many of you showed up for this event. I will certainly pass the word around to our members about your enthusiasm for PMG and the type of course design used. Believe me I will be the first one to agree with you that this course was fast and fun to drive. Who needs tight slow courses anyways! When you drive a car like mine (Audi A4) you don't like small tight, full of bus stop type courses. I'm all in favor of fast flowing courses, it is good for powerful cars and good for light less powerful but nimble cars. Proof of this, a multitude of light less powerful cars made excellent times and a Type R had the second best time. The super light weight MR 2 had the best time. BTW, that car weighs half the weight of my car! Now on to the more delicate subject of classification. I know some of you guys were disqualified for been in the wrong class and I know this is a PITA situation but unfortunately several things contributed to this. First, it was the third and final round of the Quebec championship. Two, within the CADL championship it is very tight in all categories so we could not switch a car to a different class once the event had started. The only recourse was to disqualify the driver because moving him to another class would have caused the same problem there. Let me just say that we followed the SCCA rule book on that, there was no choice, it is written that a competitor who wrongfully classifies his car will be disqualified. I can only apologies for the lack of time I spent with our Anglophone friends after the French driver’s meeting. I tried to go over all the major points that were briefed in French but we were short on time. Next time, we will try harder to make it less confusing. I hope this makes sense to all of you. Just one more word on the classification rules. It is the responsibility of the driver/owner of the car to make sure he is in the proper class. I’m going through the same thing myself now. My intention is to participate in a SOLO 1 event at Shannonville in September, so I have been corresponding with several officials from the Ontario Solo commission to get my car in the proper class.
I would like to get more comments about the different things we could improve. Also comments on PMG would be appreciated. The reason I ask, it is the first time in two years that we use this facility because of what happened with Silvester Stalone’s when they were filming “DRIVEN”. PMG as tighten security a lot, they are not as flexible anymore, they won’t allow free access in and out of their facility, you noticed we had a shuttle system in place. Children a not allowed on site anymore neither are pets.
They inspect every car before they go in for oil and coolant leaks or any other fluids and anything suspicious about a car. They don’t want another mess on their hands. We are under strict orders to report any leakage on the pavement or any damage done to it. We have to clean up right away to avoid further damages, you get the picture. We also have to give them a $10,000 deposit against any damage. PMG is also very expensive to rent now, without going into details; I think they double the rental fee. Technically this weekend we were suppose to park our cars in the grass after our runs just in case a leak occurred. I think you guys realise as we do that PMG is most likely one of the best places in Canada to do a SOLO 2 event but is it worth all the troubles we may encounter? Would you like for the Canadian championship to be held there, no restaurant on site except for the club’s BBQ and your own food, limited potties(more could be ordered), no camping on site for a two day event, not too many hotels in the area. Again would it be worth the inconveniences for a two day championship held at PMG knowing what kind of course we could design for use on its surface?
Again, I would like to apologise as a member of the club, for any confusion created by the classification rules. Our decision was not meant to ruffle anybody’s feathers. Thank you for coming down to Montreal and to our event and I hope to see you people back here in the near future. In the mean time I will probably see some of you at the next SOLO1 event in Shannonville, hosted by the Ontario SOLO 1 commission on the weekend of September 20th and 21st.
Cheers,
Mike