It's a speed thing.
2001
The year has just begun, not a single event yet. The '87 is still behind
in it's preparations, so we went out today (1/13/01) and bought a 1983
Mazda RX-7 that has been prepared to the Pro7 rules. Only time will tell
how we'll fair when we go wheel to wheel... looking for that adrenaline
rush again.
2000
Y2K was an off year. I got married and moved to San Francisco. I brought
the car but it's not road legal in SF. We tried hard to get it prepared to
run in NASA's Super Unlimited class but never got the project completed. It
is still a work-in-progress.
1999
Event results from '99 backwards can be found at the
MCO Results page.
In 1999, we installed a new suspension on the '87 and it proved to be a
real blast. Unfortunately, due to family issues, the car was only run
at two events in the 1999 season. At the first event, I set Fastest
Time of the Day. The second event didn't prove so fruitful, as we
finished second in class, but back in the pack. Later investigation
showed that we'd accidentally set the car up with -4 degrees camber
instead of -2 degrees... we later found this to be due to uneven floor
where we initially set the car up. We FTD'd the first event, and finished
5th overall the second event with the badly handling car.
1998
In 1998, I once again ran in the A Street Prepared class in the
1987 Mazda RX-7 Turbo II. The car wasn't far from stock with only
a Fuel Cut Defeater and a modified exhaust system. (I bought the
car in this form.) Again our RX-7 showed top form and won the A-SP
class championship. To make ourselves feel better we started having
a "Closed Wheel FTD" when the Karts and Formula cars came out, and
to that end we scored three this season.
This season proved to be going so well that at the end of the year after
having only run in MCO events I chose to take the car to Toronto for a
Regional event and attempt to qualify for the Top Gun Shootout. This
"Shootout" basically came down to crowning the best drivers in Ontario.
We qualified easily and went back the next week to find out who was who.
By carefully examining the Regional rules we found that by simply returning
our suspension to a more stock setting (ie. not using the slots in the
strut towers as an attempt to get come negative camber) we could drop
ourselves back into A-SS. That done, I returned the following week and
was crowned A "Sports Car" Champion based on PAX. Had I run the car in
A-SP rather than A-SS, Mike Guimont would have had a very deserving victory.
To be honest, I still feel some guilt for this win even though the car was
legitimately an A-SS car that day.
Following the A, B, and C winners being announced and overall winner was
to be found with the top two drivers from each family taking a Camaro and
a Neon around the course. In this, I only managed third of the six drivers.
The Neon proved difficult to drive as the owner had a race seat mounted
very near the floor (he was tall)... alas, I am not tall and it made it near
impossible to see properly and I clipped a cone on each and every run made.
All in all, I'm still very pleased to have represented MCO and walked away
with the A Sports Car title in Ontario.
During this season I also started to spend time on Shannonville Motorsport
Park's great track. As many events as I could fit in; I'd even drive the
3.5 hours from Ottawa to run evening events. It was a blast. It gave me
the chance to drive the car fast and hard. Much faster than Solo II allowed,
although I never got the same adrenaline rush as I had gotten from Solo II.
1997
In 1997, I started this year campaigning in the '82 RX-7 and then bought
the '87 RX-7 Turbo and moved to the A Street Prepared class,
besting the likes of a Corvette ZR-1 and a Supra Twin Turbo in the chamionship.
Moving up to the Turbo netted us a few more FTDs this season, Three, and
several very, very close calls.
1996
In 1996, I campaigned a 1982 Mazda RX-7 base model in the
Motorsport Club of Ottawa (MCO)
Solo II series, capturing the A Super Stock class championship.
One Fastest Time of Day was set this season.
pre-1996
Prior to 1996 I ran a '92 Honda Civic Si fairly successfully, and with
much more success after installing some Tokico Illumina shocks. I haven't
yet managed to find the results from these years online.
Tires
Over the years I've run a lot of different tires. Yokohama A008RSII,
BFG R1 (original design), BFG R1 (second design), Toyo Proxes RA-1, and
Kuhmo Victoracer V700. Actually, the Kumhos are on the '87 right now and
I've not had a chance to even get them up to temperature yet.
Crewing
Over the years I've also had a lot of fun crewing for a variety of cars.
Usually, Martin Walter (martin@qnx.com) has been the driver for these
cars and Jim Hartin (Hartin Automotive and Truck Repair - 613-272-3146)
was crew chief & wrench. Together we've run CASC-OR Regional F1600,
ESSO Protec F1600, ice raced a 1st gen RX-7, oval tracked a 1st gen RX-7,
dirt tracked a 1st gen RX-7 and oval tracked a Datsun 510. It's always
been fun, and I like to think I've always managed to lend a hand when the
team needed it.
Officiating
I have rarely done this, aside from helping with some basic things at MCO
Solo II events. Basic technical inspections, course design, layout,
start/stop box, and timing & scoring. The usual teardown help as often
as I could, too.