FREE rust proofing!

[RRRex]

Not only did you get full 3 days worth of world-class track and curriculum at the Trac school this weekend, a Carl BBQ, complete evening mayhem and get to hang with the coolest Honda racers in the country, but a lucky few people also got free rust-proofing with Castrol 5W30 if they were lucky enough to be following me when first I blew off my oil filter, then on another session had my plug back itself off and grease down the track a second time. Congrats to all of those lucky few - I will give you a 1 year warranty against rust!

I have to say TRAC did an absolutely spectacular job as usual. I can't imagine how many hours or planning a preparation went into this. 5 star effort for all the TRAC crew and instructors. 9 CRXs were at the track, all kicking ass! (in my case spewing oil). Darren was a giddy little school kid the whole weekend. CRX's are the amazingnesses. :P

Ana is a completely different driver now and has taken really well to her new ride and setup - can't believe how well she drove on snow tires for the final race - could've swore she was on Rs. Wes did an amazing job managing to cord his tires just after the last race - nice planning Wes! Anna was out in Anthony's ol' ITR CRX on Dave's F1 pads holding her own. Both An(n)a's can now change their own brake pads. Taylor got really good a yelling FIRE!! and pointing at the hood of my car.

Darek's new old turbo Porsche is the pure sweetness - it's almost as fast as a CRX. Moose was sick as a dog, but still looked strong beating on his wagon. Opal was hopping a lot. I'm serious. Every time she got out of her new civic she hops around the paddock singing 'he-he-he-he-he' and clapping her hands. You had to be there.

I took the inside line on Tom killing my corning speed then running wide while he set me up for a re-pass on the inside on the last lap of the session. Was really strange sitting in my 2L monster as a rusty LS was passing me, but thanks to the straight away he wasn't a problem for long. Jason's instructor also took the the Bridgstone school, so they actually were catching up and critiquing each other's lines.

Christine ran her CRX really smoothly while humming to herself. Unlike Ana who drove to a violent Lucy Lu speech from Kill Bill V2 blasting on her stereo - to each his own.

I have a new respect for the new K20 powered Civic Si - my crx could NOT pass it on the straight aways. All I can say is wow. Can't imagine how quick it would run if that thing was wearing Rs - got the feeling I would've been schooled by a stock civic :( . Dave is going to be pure evil with his green goblin this year.

Steve had his SRT4 stolen from the hotel which was pure balls - though that said, he was forced to become immensely smoother in his driving because that was the only way to be quick in that Hyundai rental car. Definitely developed some mad driving skills this weekend, though doubt he'll be replacing his SRT4 with Hyundai but who knows.

AndrewW is fast on the track - yet he's portable and small enough to fit into the trunk of an SIR hatch. Hanif cracked his rad which sucked balls. Todd has a really big head. An XXL helmet fits him like a beanie. Keith broke a sway bar before he started the event but seems to be adjusting quite well to a sans turbo setup. Andre and I took a 3AM tour of Montreal in search of a rave club he knew about but couldn't find it. Geo stiffed, so Andre was the only guy there with a stook.

There are more merriment's I left out - mostly because I'm tired and have laundry to do. But all in all Carl, Stephan and his crew out-did themselves again. Nice work boyz!

So to summarize: we were either driving like our car's were stolen or wreaking havoc and mayhem on the street of Laval! What a blast the trac racing school was!

[craig]

Just wanted to explain that some of us MCO/SPDA folk were told that afternoon that "Carl is having a BBQ for you (us) guys." We weren't told it was for-HADA-and-TRAC-only until we had chicken wings in our mouths, and icy glares (and worse) directed our way :eek: . We were not deliberately crashing your BBQ and freeloading. I hope you can understand our confusion, and accept my apologies. :o

[Sky_high]

Just wanted to explain that some of us MCO/SPDA folk were told that afternoon that "Carl is having a BBQ for you (us) guys." We weren't told it was for-HADA-and-TRAC-only until we had chicken wings in our mouths, and icy glares (and worse) directed our way :eek: . We were not deliberately crashing your BBQ and freeloading. I hope you can understand our confusion, and accept my apologies. :o

I wouldn't apologize, I crashed the BBQ. Actually.... I was 'invited' by a nice HADA individual, so I technically didn't crash the BBQ.

I would like to say a big 'Thank you' to Carl for being concerned about my food allergy and cooking my burger separately from the chicken.

Another thanks to Hanif for expert teachings on how to change brake pads. You are a role model for the rest of the HADA individuals :p

Even though I had difficulty being smooth and Fast on the track, I learnt a lot thanks to TRAC and it's instructors. Looking forward to next year!

BTW, does anyone have pictures to share????

[RRRex]

I have these. :)

Mental note: Clean car...

http://i.pbase.com/g3/66/532966/2/58806709.170406_0846.jpg http://i.pbase.com/g3/66/532966/2/58806715.170406_0848.jpg

[ScotcH]

Yup, great time I must say ... even with a soggy bum from the leaky sunroof saturday morning :rolleyes:

Man, that was one bumpy track ... the car basically hopped it's way around the track! My ABS didn't like the wheel hop in the braking zones at all. I guess I have a lot of tuning on the suspension to do.

Thanks to all the instaructors and TRAC for a great weekend. Excellent job, with the right mix of fun/eductation/seriousness/jokes ... I also crashed the BBQ, but whatyagonnado :p

The race simulation was super fun, and I can't wait to try the real thing! That's the way they hook you I guess .... a lttle taste of the excitement, and you never look back. I just wish I could have gotten closer to Andrew so I could see his line better! Man he was flying in that Sti, and ChrisP was close behind me in Gerry's RX7. I'm going to have to work hard in Solo this year! Big thumbs up!

[13inches]

Just for you Miles :p

[ScotcH]

Just for you Miles :p

Lol ... played out, but very appropriate in this case :)

[tanney]

Definitely great fun. The start of the "race" with 30 cars all bunched up going into the "S's" was freakin' awesome! Good move by Tom jumping to the inside and leaving a bunch of cars in the dust. Too bad I was on the outside and not behind you, I would have done the same with everyone else tucked in line in formation..... I would have caught you in those last couple of laps, but due to tire delamination, it was not to be. (I should post a picture of what's left of the tire........ or should I say show you my cord! :) )

I finally got my car to "rotate" this weekend! It's amazing what trail braking can do to help a car rotate or to unsettle it.....

The instructors were great! The track was interesting, specifically in the wet. An entire day of setting up passes was a blast! Being the slowest car in my cell wasn't so much fun, but chasing Craig's or Andy's Porsches was definitlely a lot of fun.

A thanks to Stephane, Jeff, Carl and all the TRAC instructors for making it a memorable weekend. Awesome..... Also thanks to the ladies that spent their entire Easter Sunday marshaling for us!

[Slowpoke]

Fortunately, I wasn't Castrol Rust Proofed, but our group was sent out there to scatter the oil dry. I have a rad and intercooler to clean when I get back home. I also need to change the cabin air filter... it's full of blue oil smoke that was coming out of the tailpipes of all the CRX's..... :rolleyes:

Like Stephan said, we learned to drive in the rain, on dry tarmac, on oil, on oil-dri and cement dust... Can't beat that! Carl and the TRAC crew did an excellent job with the challenges that we and mother nature presented them with. Thanks to everyone... that was wonderful practice for the Nationals in the fall. :D

Hey, and I only got one black flag. Woo Hoo! (I have to be careful now that I bought that white XXL helmet that Todd couldn't fit into... People can draw black flags on it.) Hey, I'm not that much of a fat head!

Thanks to Tashko for babying my car. He didn't have to, but he did. My car was fine over the rough braking zones.... even trail-braking too late. Biggest problem I had was a "varied engagement position" brake pedal. Not really fade... still had tons of braking force. We're still looking at it.

Maybe the only thing my car didn't like was powering into the hairpin. I don't think that the center diff knows what to do with the paint surface, the wet surface in the rain, the banking on the track, etc. The car was telling me, "The Back's going to come around!!! ... oh no, nevermind. Now !!! Now! The back wants to come around!!! .... oh nevermind. My bad again." :(

I must say, the "Group 1" folk were a pleasure to be on the track with. I'm sorry if a pass freaked anyone out. That "rolling start" thing at the end was a little nerve wracking as the pace car was stopped setting us up... until I rolled down the passenger window and shouted, "Do you love your car???" "Yes!!! Very much!" "Good! Me too!!!" Then it was okay. I'm really glad that it wasn't two wide coming into the S's though. The Mazda's behind us would have been doing some serious braking from us negotiating that turn... "No, no, you go first!!!" :eek:

This weekend it's the BMW School at Mosport Big Track. Looks like it's going to rain. GOOD! I love the rain, it's a wonderful teacher. (Hopefully I'm still saying that at the END of next weekend...) OMSC track day / ILR Track school at the DDT the week after.... Oh I love the spring! :D

P.S.: Did anyone else have their credit cards put on hold that weekend? "Sir, we had an excessive amount of gasoline transactions on your card that weekend." Me: "Oh really???" Life with a turbo...

[thekid]

I also had a great weekend, and learned a great deal more on my return visit to the TRAC racing school. Like others have mentioned, that track is super bumpy, my car definitely isn't setup for that track, but I have all summer to find softer springs before Nationals.

Thanks for letting us crash the bbq, but I'll just consider that repayment for use of my parts truck for all those Honda's that kept breaking down and had to go to town to try and find parts... sorry that it didn't work out for either ChrisP or Hanif.

I had a ton of fun from chasing ChrisP driving Gerry's RX-7 was lots of fun... to learning how not to start a race at the front of the pack with cold tires... sorry if anyone behind messed themselves, I was too busy trying to keep the car on the track to think about that...

As for the gas consumed this weekend... only 500L when you factor in the gas for the tow vehicle... ouch!

Thanks to everyone at TRAC for putting on a good school and great times!

[opal]

P.S.: Did anyone else have their credit cards put on hold that weekend? "Sir, we had an excessive amount of gasoline transactions on your card that weekend." Me: "Oh really???" Life with a turbo...

My card wasnt put on hold, but VISA fraud division called on Monday to inquire about the excessive fuel purchases.
Heh. A whole weekend of firsts ;)

This track school is worth every penny, folks, you wont be disappointed.

Many many thanks to the TRAC team. Fabulous weekend!

[rpr]

Should I be worried about my CC company NOT calling me... :)

Just as an aside, the speedy-dry seems to come off fairly easily. Not so much with the paint that got rubbed off from the tire sitting in the bus stop. Thanks for that Darren... :)

[angrytegR]

I also got the RBC Visa fraud charge call. Messages were waiting for me at home AND at work. I guess that's what happens when you use the same gas station 3 days in a row....

I would also like to apologize for not showing up to the BBQ, I meant no disrespect, spent the whole time trying to get over the flu or whatever hit me on Saturday morning so that I could get a good day in on Sunday.

Brian.

[glh]

I have a real hard time summing up this weekend after my car being stolen friday night I had a real hard time getting myself into the school
I realy want to thank everyone for there suport you Hada guy are great Tom for the hement darren for the coat mine was in the trunk Hanif for the tires to use in the mock race a couple others for tools not that I did much wrenching

Also the Trac people you guys did a great job it's a great school thanks I'd do it again but I'm not sure I'd go back to Laval again

Thanks Again Steve

[RRRex]

Sorry for you loss but nice driving none-the-less. Hate to be the next guy to rent that car. :D

[Chris91GT]

Good to know that the VISA system is working. :D I got repeated messages on morning following a weekend of filling up empty vehicles and some travel. They even printed notices on my receipts to call them, and one gas attendant told me that I was supposed to call VISA. Nice...

[Carguy]

Just for you Miles :p

OK, no one else said it so here goes... Nice cat-back! ;) Groan...

Sorry to hear about the car Steve. :(

Miles... Well nothing surprises me anymore... :rolleyes:

Nice to hear the ladies eating up the track! :)

Disappointed I couldn't make to the school this year , but for sure next season. Anyhow, I'm looking forward to the new season with a few tweaks to the 240.

Go Nissan!

[Anamaria]

What a fantastic school. TRAC went above and beyond to host this event.

Thanks to Opal for recommending it in the first place! ;) , Miles for the quick but very informative tech lessons on Friday afternoon, now I get my car ready for the track all by myself :cool: and Carl and Stephane for making us feel like it was our home track.

My new Civic on 710's is "Da Bomb"! :) although I changed back to street tires on sunday to get some more feedback and work on my car control skills. I can't wait to bring it to the track again !!

All in all, a very informative 2-day session, at least for me personally. I got what I wanted out of it, and have little to nothing to complain about.

Definitely will be back next year!

[Guillermo]

I had a great time at the school and learned a few things.
My rear drum brakes look like they got red hot :D
But it must be a cone on the other side because my drum brakes are not that large.
photo by Benjamin Wong (http://static.flickr.com/52/131648542_a3f4d73f19_o.jpg)

Here is a sampling of some of the photos I bought from Ben that he took over the weekend.
Flickr photos (http://www.flickr.com/photos/49007203@N00/)

[Slowpoke]

Did Ben take photos of others as well? Specifically, I'm interested in a blue Subaru... Body roll felt minimal with the new suspension but I would like to see it from outside the car.

[h-bomb]

Biggest problem I had was a "varied engagement position" brake pedal. Not really fade... still had tons of braking force. We're still looking at it.


Sounds like it could be worn wheel bearings or loose axle nuts. The rotor pushs the pads back into the caliper during hard cornering and then you get a low pedal as you push the pads back against the rotor.

Hanif

[craig]

Another possibility:

On Brembo's, if you drive in salt, then after a few winters, the slider plates typically have to be removed, and the corrosion taken out with a wire brush/grinder, etc. Otherwise the pads will stick, and lead to random pedal heights for the same reasons Hanif mentioned.

Heat the little hex bolts that hold the slider plates in place before trying to undo them, as there's pretty strong loctite on them, and it is easy to strip the hex heads (BTDT).

[Guillermo]

Did Ben take photos of others as well? Specifically, I'm interested in a blue Subaru... Body roll felt minimal with the new suspension but I would like to see it from outside the car.

To see if Ben has photos of your car, email him:
bengineer.wong [at] gmail [dot] com

[benyyz]

Hi Guys/Girls,

First of all, I would like to thank Guillermo for posting for me while i was getting things sorted out with the preview page on my site.

I've placed the TRAC weekend highlights on my site: http://bengineer.ca/performance/TRAC_APRIL2006/index.html
(Click on the right-hand side of the large image to advance to the next image and vice versa)

I have many more photos that aren't shown on the above site. So just email me at -> bengineer.wong [at] gmail [dot] com and i'll send you proofs of what i have for your vehicle.


Thanks for your patience!
Ben.

[soloZ]

Not only did you get full 3 days worth of world-class track and curriculum at the Trac school this weekend, a Carl BBQ, complete evening mayhem and get to hang with the coolest Honda racers in the country, but a lucky few people also got free rust-proofing with Castrol 5W30 if they were lucky enough to be following me when first I blew off my oil filter, then on another session had my plug back itself off and grease down the track a second time. Congrats to all of those lucky few - I will give you a 1 year warranty against rust!

I have to say TRAC did an absolutely spectacular job as usual. I can't imagine how many hours or planning a preparation went into this. 5 star effort for all the TRAC crew and instructors. 9 CRXs were at the track, all kicking ass! (in my case spewing oil). Darren was a giddy little school kid the whole weekend. CRX's are the amazingnesses. :P

Ana is a completely different driver now and has taken really well to her new ride and setup - can't believe how well she drove on snow tires for the final race - could've swore she was on Rs. Wes did an amazing job managing to cord his tires just after the last race - nice planning Wes! Anna was out in Anthony's ol' ITR CRX on Dave's F1 pads holding her own. Both An(n)a's can now change their own brake pads. Taylor got really good a yelling FIRE!! and pointing at the hood of my car.

Darek's new old turbo Porsche is the pure sweetness - it's almost as fast as a CRX. Moose was sick as a dog, but still looked strong beating on his wagon. Opal was hopping a lot. I'm serious. Every time she got out of her new civic she hops around the paddock singing 'he-he-he-he-he' and clapping her hands. You had to be there.

I took the inside line on Tom killing my corning speed then running wide while he set me up for a re-pass on the inside on the last lap of the session. Was really strange sitting in my 2L monster as a rusty LS was passing me, but thanks to the straight away he wasn't a problem for long. Jason's instructor also took the the Bridgstone school, so they actually were catching up and critiquing each other's lines.

Christine ran her CRX really smoothly while humming to herself. Unlike Ana who drove to a violent Lucy Lu speech from Kill Bill V2 blasting on her stereo - to each his own.

I have a new respect for the new K20 powered Civic Si - my crx could NOT pass it on the straight aways. All I can say is wow. Can't imagine how quick it would run if that thing was wearing Rs - got the feeling I would've been schooled by a stock civic :( . Dave is going to be pure evil with his green goblin this year.

Steve had his SRT4 stolen from the hotel which was pure balls - though that said, he was forced to become immensely smoother in his driving because that was the only way to be quick in that Hyundai rental car. Definitely developed some mad driving skills this weekend, though doubt he'll be replacing his SRT4 with Hyundai but who knows.

AndrewW is fast on the track - yet he's portable and small enough to fit into the trunk of an SIR hatch. Hanif cracked his rad which sucked balls. Todd has a really big head. An XXL helmet fits him like a beanie. Keith broke a sway bar before he started the event but seems to be adjusting quite well to a sans turbo setup. Andre and I took a 3AM tour of Montreal in search of a rave club he knew about but couldn't find it. Geo stiffed, so Andre was the only guy there with a stook.

There are more merriment's I left out - mostly because I'm tired and have laundry to do. But all in all Carl, Stephan and his crew out-did themselves again. Nice work boyz!

So to summarize: we were either driving like our car's were stolen or wreaking havoc and mayhem on the street of Laval! What a blast the trac racing school was!

That sounds like fun, Anna He was telling me about it before the even that she was going. I actually gave her her first spin on a track a couple years ago at Shannonville(a spin not just around the track)