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Great day at Mosport today

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Old 05-19-2008, 11:00 PM
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fc-racer
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Default Great day at Mosport today

Thanks to Paul (997GT3North) and Joe (from Motul), I had an amazing day at Mosport today. As a young child, I watched Richard Spenard and David Empringham hammer around Mosport in their 944 Turbo Cup cars. It was always a dream to drive on this legendary and infamous track.

Today, after pacing myself with some smaller tracks with the new car, I had the chance to finally live out that dream. Videos, video games and verbal articulation cannot convey the intensity and drama of this track. I've raced in karts, hillclimbs, and have done more track days than I can count, but nothing has scared me more than this track.

My heart was pounding on the startline as the rain began to fall. Fortunately, it just sprinkled throughout the session. Both Paul and Joe instructed me throughout the day and I'd like to thank them for that. As many of my fellow Canadians know, Mosport is a very unconventional track; it would have been very difficult to progress without their help. So many corners are counter-intuitive! I can't tell you how many times I wanted to lift in 2 because it just didn't feel right to lay on more and more throttle...

I've gone fast at other tracks, but this track, quite frankly, was tough for me to go fast on. I purposely left the Traqmate at home because I didn't want to get caught up with lap times, but I did get video footage and was able to obtain track times from the video +/- 1/30 second or so. Morning times were 1:48's, mid-afternoon were 1:45's and then second to last session were 1:42's. Unfortunately, the best session I had didn't get recorded

I'm certain these are not impressive lap times, but the key was that I wanted to bring the car home in one piece from my first Mosport experience. Given the cold temps and the off-and-on rain, I wasn't going to push my luck. Unfortunately, one car didn't make it home in one piece and I felt so bad for the driver when they unloaded the car off the flatbed and the wheels from one side of the car had detached completely.

In terms of speed down the straight, in the morning, I was limiting myself to 200km/h; mid-afternoon, I was up to 230km/h and in the last session, I was bouncing off the limiter in 4th which I believe is around 240km/h. I admire you guys that do 250k+ down the straight!

With every track day, I get more and more enamoured by this car. With the Toyos, track alignment and the Pagid Yellows, the car just runs and runs and runs without missing a beat. I now have 7,200km on her, four track days and some road trips and it hasn't even used a drop of oil!

Thanks again to Paul and Joe for all your help!
Old 05-20-2008, 10:00 AM
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Christien
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Those are pretty damn good lap times - you're obviously well experienced in other tracks in order to pull those #s on your first day at Mosport, which, like you said, is very intimidated, especially under even slightly wet conditions. My best laptime so far is 1:46.3, and this is my 3rd year driving at Mosport (probably 10 or 15 events there so far), in a 996 turbo.
Old 05-20-2008, 10:42 AM
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Turbodan
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are you using the r-888 toyos? I just ordered a set for my 951. if so how do you like them and what pressure are you running?
Old 05-20-2008, 11:12 AM
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Danny, I was running the Toyo R888's. They have been great so far and have much more feel on the limit than the OEM MPSC's that come on the 3. I'm running 34/36 hot if the sessions are long and 36/38 hot if the sessions are short. At Mosport, the red group sessions were 30mins so I was running 34/36 hot which kept them very consistent from beginning to end. They seem to get uneasy if they go over 40psi hot.

Christien, from what I was told, they had a Sentra race there on Saturday where guys were turning 1:42's in the wet and another fellow told me that David Empringham turns 1:31's in nearly stock Boxsters. It's so cool to be on a track that has layers and layers of secrets that come out each time you lap it. I can't imagine what it would be like to turn a 1:31 out there.
Old 05-20-2008, 11:29 AM
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Farzan,
thanx, looking forward to trying them out. I am going to the Glen on Monday and Tuesday
Old 05-20-2008, 01:29 PM
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jumper5836
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1:31 in a boxster? Time to trade in the 911, I can only get up to 220 on the straight and best laps I've done are probably in the 1:45 range.
Old 05-20-2008, 02:00 PM
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Geez, that's fast! I couldn't get below 2mins (according to Paul & Geoff) at the last PCA day...I blame traffic! That's my story and I'm sticking to it!!
On another note: what cold tire pressure do you run at the track Greg?
Old 05-20-2008, 02:09 PM
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rideau
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At an Apex event last year, we shared the track with Porsche North America. They were having a media day and we were asked to be courteous to slower drivers. Three base Boxters proceeded to pass me at will (and at a high rate of knots). Can't recall if I was lapped, but I probably was at the speed they were travelling. Drivers were Bill Adam, Rick Bye and David Empringham. A large dose of humility was issued!
Ian
Old 05-20-2008, 02:33 PM
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fire_n_ice
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Originally Posted by fc-racer
Thanks to Paul (997GT3North) and Joe (from Motul), I had an amazing day at Mosport today. As a young child, I watched Richard Spenard and David Empringham hammer around Mosport in their 944 Turbo Cup cars. It was always a dream to drive on this legendary and infamous track.

Today, after pacing myself with some smaller tracks with the new car, I had the chance to finally live out that dream. Videos, video games and verbal articulation cannot convey the intensity and drama of this track. I've raced in karts, hillclimbs, and have done more track days than I can count, but nothing has scared me more than this track.

My heart was pounding on the startline as the rain began to fall. Fortunately, it just sprinkled throughout the session. Both Paul and Joe instructed me throughout the day and I'd like to thank them for that. As many of my fellow Canadians know, Mosport is a very unconventional track; it would have been very difficult to progress without their help. So many corners are counter-intuitive! I can't tell you how many times I wanted to lift in 2 because it just didn't feel right to lay on more and more throttle...

I've gone fast at other tracks, but this track, quite frankly, was tough for me to go fast on. I purposely left the Traqmate at home because I didn't want to get caught up with lap times, but I did get video footage and was able to obtain track times from the video +/- 1/30 second or so. Morning times were 1:48's, mid-afternoon were 1:45's and then second to last session were 1:42's. Unfortunately, the best session I had didn't get recorded

I'm certain these are not impressive lap times, but the key was that I wanted to bring the car home in one piece from my first Mosport experience. Given the cold temps and the off-and-on rain, I wasn't going to push my luck. Unfortunately, one car didn't make it home in one piece and I felt so bad for the driver when they unloaded the car off the flatbed and the wheels from one side of the car had detached completely.

In terms of speed down the straight, in the morning, I was limiting myself to 200km/h; mid-afternoon, I was up to 230km/h and in the last session, I was bouncing off the limiter in 4th which I believe is around 240km/h. I admire you guys that do 250k+ down the straight!

With every track day, I get more and more enamoured by this car. With the Toyos, track alignment and the Pagid Yellows, the car just runs and runs and runs without missing a beat. I now have 7,200km on her, four track days and some road trips and it hasn't even used a drop of oil!

Thanks again to Paul and Joe for all your help!
Great summary. Sounds like you had an amazing day. The GT3 must feel just awesome around there.
Old 05-20-2008, 04:01 PM
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Originally Posted by pongobaz
On another note: what cold tire pressure do you run at the track Greg?
I start out with 27/33, which when heated up will run be 36/44. The rears still may need to be dropped some on really hot days.
Old 05-20-2008, 06:03 PM
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Video From this weekend. It was my second session out with the instructor Joe Chan:

YouTube: http://youtube.com/watch?v=2cMuDDjfU34

Hi-res version: www.fcracer.com/videos/mosport-lap.mov

Last edited by fc-racer; 05-20-2008 at 07:18 PM.
Old 05-20-2008, 06:25 PM
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Awesome vid and very smooth driving on your part. The line is pretty much identical to what Matt White has been showing me around there.

It's hard to tell b/c I can't see the shifter, but I am assuming you are in 3rd for most of the track?

Glad to see you are enjoying the car as it was meant to be driven
Old 05-20-2008, 06:32 PM
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Originally Posted by jumper5836
1:31 in a boxster? Time to trade in the 911, I can only get up to 220 on the straight and best laps I've done are probably in the 1:45 range.
Hard to believe those times for a Boxster.
Old 05-20-2008, 07:25 PM
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Originally Posted by fire_n_ice
Awesome vid and very smooth driving on your part. The line is pretty much identical to what Matt White has been showing me around there.

It's hard to tell b/c I can't see the shifter, but I am assuming you are in 3rd for most of the track?

Glad to see you are enjoying the car as it was meant to be driven
Hi there,

Yup, it's 3rd gear. I hate the GT3's tall gearing on the street, but it starts to make a lot of sense on the track. I only had to shift once on the track. 3rd gear redlines at ~180km/h, 4th redlines at ~240km/h and 5th redlines at ~285km/h. Even 2nd will take you to ~130km/h.

The GT3 is geared quite a bit taller than my turbo which would have been madness with all the shifting required at Mosport between 3rd and 4th gear everywhere and into 5th on the straight.
Old 05-20-2008, 07:55 PM
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Originally Posted by TurboS
Hard to believe those times for a Boxster.
Eshel what speed do you get up to on the back straight?


fc-racer, thanks for the video with commentary, great track cam/video. What kind of camera out of curiosity?Edit: Just watched your hill climb videos too, looks like great fun, looks like Northern Van.?Edit 2, in Kelowna


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