Vince in Montreal

Tremblant Summer Classic, July 26-27 2003

This past weekeng was the Summer Classic at Le Circuit at Tremblant. This is a 4.42 km track 75 miles North of Montreal. I was eager to see what kind of improvments I could make over my previous appearance here at the Spring Classic when my Civic had only 92 hp (vs 125 hp I have now). This was also to be the first ever wheel to wheel race of my buddy Rob with his 93 Civic hatch (B18B powered). BMWCCA was also there and there were 41 BMW race cars (compared to only 14 in our Production class), about 25 of which were E30 and E36 M3's. There was supposed to be a vintage class, but due to low turnout, our classes were combined. As is our custom, we drove to the track with our race cars (like they used to do in the old days), unloaded, taped up the headlights and got ready to run. There was only one other car among the 60 there that drove to the track, a nice BMW 2002.

It turned out Rob and I had the only Hondas, which is really strange in Quebec, where about one third of all track cars are Honda products. There were two twin-turbo 911's in our group (one was actually a 935), a 550 hp 60's Corvette, a 944 Turbo Cup, a custom-made 928 Spyder, a 300 ZX twin turbo, a Golf, a Rabbit, a Scirocco, a 2002 and two Minis (the real Minis). Add to that our Civics and it makes a total of 14 cars. Not a large field by any means, but we didn't mind so much. I was looking forward to seeing how Rob and I would compare, given that he usually beats me by about a half second per lap at Solo 1 events on smaller tracks. I had the advantage of experience at Tremblant since I'd done the Spring Classic and Rob had never been to Tremblant at all. Also, I had Brand new Toyo RA1's and his were about half worn, so the weather would turn out to be a huge factor.

We were to have two practice sessions, qualifying and the race on Saturday, then one practice and two races on Sunday. It was pouring rain for both practice sessions. These sessions were uneventful for me and I felt like I was alone on the track. Actually, not a single car passed me in either session. That's when I realized that I wasn't THAT slow. It was surely due to the fact that I had pretty good tires for the rain and a relatively softly sprung car (H&R Race coils). Things were not as rosy for Rob, as his Toyos could barely cope with the water. He decided to switch back to his street tires after several off-track excursions, but it didn't help much. He was lapping 12 seconds per lap slower than I was. When qualifying came around, it was still raining hard, and there was standing water in turn 6 and a few other places. It was a bit scary in that every lap, the car would hydroplane at 6, no matter how slow I went. You had to stay focused to keep the car on the track there every single lap. I ended up qualifying 5th, behind the Corvette, the Golf and the two Minis. It was quite impressive that the Corvette could still be fast in the wet, considering none of the turbo RWD cars could hold a candle to the FWD econoboxes out there. Rob qualified about 10th or 11th. Here is the only comment I will make about the BMW drivers, who came with race slicks, race rains and even race intermediates in many cases: my qualifying time would have put me 4th on the grid out of 41 BMW's. Nuff said.

An hour before our race, it stopped raining. Many people put their dry tires on. I only had one set of tires, so it was merely a question of adjusting pressures for me. I figured I'd leave them at high (rain) pressures until the last minute, then decide. Sure enough, the rain started up again about 15 minutes before our race, as hard as ever. Luckily for our group, this gave people time to put on wet tires before the race. We gridded, went out with the pace car for a rolling start. The race was to be only 8 laps because they were behind schedule and I think the volunteers were a bit wet by this time. At Tremblant, the first four turns are right-handers, the second one over a crest. This is intimidating even in the dry, so I figured that no one would try anything stupid on the start at this point. It turns out no one did. The 944 Turbo that had qualified just behind me poked his nose in on the inside of 1 and 2, but I knew he could never hold that line and he backed off. The Corvette and the Golf (190 hp at the wheels, he told me) checked out and I was following the two Minis with the 944T on my tail. The others were far behind. The three of us managed to ditch the 944 because he couldn't put the power down in the heavy rain and the lead Mini (which was running race wets, not R-compound DOT tires like the 2nd Mini, myself and the Porsche) managed to pull away from us and I was left alone with the second Mini, a beige car built to vintage specifications. I knew the driver a little in that he used to drive for the Honda Michelin Challenge team that owned my car when it was new in 88. We had spoken about the series a little, even though I wasn't even old enough to drive back then. It must have been great to see 50 Civics battle it out at Mosport, but I digress...

The Mini driver and I began a battle that was to last the rest of the race. He was clearly faster in 1-2-3-4, then it was pretty close and I would close up on him at 9-10-11 and again at Namerow. However, I didn't have the guts to try the pass and this was the case lap after lap. Even though his car was tiny, I could not see a way around. I couldn't out accelerate him or outbrake him, so I had to sit back and wait for a mistake. The mistake only came on the last turn of the last lap (Namerow), where he crossed it up. Unfortunately, I was a bit too enthusiastic myself and had to correct on the exit too. However, I hadn't slipped up as badly as him and I got a run on him coming into the little bend before the start finish line. He moved over to block the only line through there where one could remain flat out and I was forced to lift or hit him. I lifted briefly and continued to accelerate, trying to take him on the outside. I wasn't able to capitalize and we crossed the line almost side by side, the Mini winning by about 1/3 of a carlength. Still I was happy with my 5th place considering the cars against which I was running. I talked with the Mini drivers after and they were both running 1275 cc's with about 120 hp each, so I was not so unusual that they should beat a 125 hp Civic (which weighs 700 pounds more). Many people came to talk to us after to say how much they had enjoyed watching our battle.

Sunday was much the same, I tailed the 944T in the practice session and he was faster because despite the rain, there was much less standing water on the track. Before the race, the 944 owner's nephew came over to ask what kind of engine I was running and could hardly believe it was a stock Si engine. We started the race in the finishing order of the previous day, but the blue Mini was late and started from the back. I started in 4th as a result and dropped to 7th almost immediately when I was passed by the Scirocco, the Rabbit and the 911tt. I repassed the 911 on the first lap and then left him behind. I was following the 2 VW's and the beige Mini. I caught the Scirocco, but it was having some sort of problem and he later DNF'd. The Mini pulled away and I was left tailing the Rabbit. He was way off line and really pussyfooting through turns 1 and 2, but I didn't have the guts to try to pass there, his inexperience at this track showing clearly. He would then pull away 20 carlengths from me on the straight. I could not get close enough to pass and he could not lose me. We crossed the line in 4th and 5th place. I went to talk to the driver and found out he had 190 hp, which would explain his totally crushing me in the straightaway.

The last race in the dry was anticlimactic for me, but probably the highlight for most. I was hoping for a showdown with Rob, but in his 7th offtrack excursion, he soaked the engine and developped a misfire which seriously limited his power. I should have borrowed his tires, because my new Toyo's were useless in the dry. I was lapped by all the high-powered cars I had so easily beaten in the rain and finished 9th. The race was won by Jacques Villeneuve (JV's uncle and Gilles' brother) in the 935 with a staggering 1:43 as a fastest lap (he lapped me 2 or 3 times). My dry lap was only 1 second faster than my wet lap, which is a testament to how fast new Toyo's are in the wet and how useless they are in the dry. However, I can't complain. I went there with only 1 set of tires and for 2 out of 3 races, they were excellent. You can't have it all on a tiny budget. So, no trophies (they put all Production cars in one big class) but decent results, nothing broke, all I had to do was check the oil and drive home. A satisfying weekend for me but unfortunately quite a disappointing weekend for Rob's first road race (on his 27th birthday, no less!).

Liam in Montreal

Must be cool to say that you were lapped by Jacques Villeneuve (albeit Sr) .btw get me those pics