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First off, a big thank you to my sponsors Gord and Leslie Elliot from the Minden House B&B  for continuing their support again this year. If anyone has not tried their hospitallity as yet you better book soon, I think there might be some vacancy still in the main house for some of the remaining icerace weekends.

Cold on Friday afternoon (-25C) when I got to the track to fix my Ov’s heater blower motor and had to clear 4-5" fresh snow. Cold Saturday morning (-33C) and sunny and I couldn’t start the Toyota MR2 as the starter motor froze after all the rain earlier this week and then temperatures plummeted and it froze up and so had to get it bump started (thanks Steve Drysdale for driving the tow vehicle). I had to give the Ovlov a shot of ether but it fired on it’s own battery and starter , thanks Jimmy McGlade for lending a hand. Everything did start, got all the padlocks unfrozen using a propane torch, put the propane heater up against the generator for an hour, got it started, plugged in the compressor so I could re-inflate the left front tire on the Ov which had gone flat over the week (slow leak). Mounted the new SS tire on the MR2. Too cold to install the video camera in the MR2 so there is no video from today.

This was a TAC run weekend (thank you Andy Hughes, Sharon Feeney and all volunteers who helped make it a smooth show despite the freezing cold) and again, for the second weekend in a row, no stud (metal-to-ice/Menard) classes were allowed to run because there is not enough ice thickness yet (approx. 4-5”). So the MR2 was again outfitted with street stud tires and the Ovlov relegated to rubber to ice class. Tom Prentice told me they were not able to flood this week until yesterday (Friday) because about 5 inches of snow fell late this week and all hands that would otherwise be available to flood were busy plowing snow around the local area. The rain that fell earlier this week had frozen as shell ice (air trapped beneath the most recent upper frozen layer of ice) and flooding could not commence until this had dropped and adhered to the existing ice.

The new street stud Hankooks from Concord Tirecraft so far have not lost any studs and that's after 2 weekends (8 races, 2 qualifiers and 3 practices) of running them on the MR2.

Saturday Street Stud (SS1) in the MR2:

It was my birthday today but I feel 92 not 52, I got some damn itch all over my body for the last week, I got indigestion since last Sunday, the cold fresh highly oxygenated air and outdoor physical activity is making me tired, my fingers have frost bite in the tips. But I did get a nice birthday present, started 12th on the grid for quali and finished 5th overall, 1st in class, and then won both races Saturday. But, when they gridded me for the first race they had me listed as finishing 9th overall in the qualifier ! I asked the grid marshal if that was right because I said I had finished ahead of all my class and also passed two of the all wheel drive class cars and finished like 5th overall in the qualifier. I gridded in 9th anyway because I was too short on time to unbuckle and climb out then run all the way to timing, argue with them and then run all the way back to the grid and belt in again, they would have started the race without me. As I sat on mock grid and the rest of the cars started filling in the positions in front of me. The first car in front of me pulls into place- it’s the white BMW 318 that I had lapped twice! Now I know this is screwed up! But I can’t do anything about it. Then Graham Lobban pulls up beside me in his grey MR2 and he looks at me, raises his hands in a questioning manner and shakes his head in disbelief because he knows I won the quali and he should be gridded somewhere behind me. I shake my head and raise my hands and he pulls ahead and grids two positions ahead of me! Still, nothing can be done so I decide I will just have to deal with it and try to win the race from 3rd place in class. There are no points for qualifying so no loss except I will have to re-pass my competition again.
Both SS1 races Saturday in the MR2 were really good, I got really good starts and made several passes for position before the 1st corner and subsequently won both races.

There was some give and go with Graham Lobban and myself which was all good racing except when the guy driving the black all-wheel-drive Subaru Forrester station wagon #135 started messing with Graham and me and screwing up our race; that guy should learn how to control a car before he gets on a track, he was everywhere and apparently hit Graham hard enough that he screwed up his race. I didn't see him out on track Sunday.

Saturday Rubber to Ice (class1) in the Ovlov:
Lets see, I think I finished last, SACond last and 3rd last today over the course of the qualifier and 2 races. A locked diff day it was not, ice very smooth, no grip, car sideways in the corners. The Ovlov is still running rough and hard to feather the throttle, upon lifting the hood I discovered a hose had come off the cold start valve and once replaced it ran a bit smoother and then I removed the wires from the cold start valve and the car idled better; I think the valve was jammed cause when I tapped it against the valve cover while the car was idling it would run smoother for a moment then rough again. Now I think I have to crimp off the hoses that go from the exhaust manifold to the EGR valve cause it has broken away from it’s base and is probably causing a vacuum leak. Maybe I can talk Steve Drysdale into doing that tomorrow morning.

After racing I celebrated my birthday with a basket of chicken wings at the Rockcliffe and caught up with Glenn MacKay and his 16 year old son who had dropped by the track earlier for a bit after checking on their cottage.

Sunday Street Stud (SS1) in the MR2:

Slightly warmer today but damp with lots of snow and kept snowing all day total accumulation 5" (12cm). The Lobban's were not racing today so there were just two MR2's in rear wheel class, myself and Tony McGrath. Visibility was not very good and in the first race I found there was way less grip than yesterday in the extreme cold and the line was very narrow.  As a result I did not get the best start in the 1st race Sunday and Tony McGrath passed me into the 1st corner (clockwise track) along with a fair bit of bump and grind from a couple of the All-wheel-drive cars. Was able to pass  him back during 2nd (?) lap and kept for the win. In the 2nd race Sunday I got a better start and Tony seemed to drive better and kept up most of the race.

If you're running in SS1 & SS4 races you should watch out for the grey 4x4 , driver #5 (who was that?) -  what a dangerous driver! I had to lift on many occasion to stay clear of his crazy line(?) I would suggest he let off the throttle in the corners and regain control of his car - I mean I'm passing him on the inside and I only have two wheel drive - something wrong here (watch the video). I think I accidentally double clicked the start button on the video cam so there is no vid of the 2nd race Sunday.

Kiyo managed the inside bank on the last race very well getting right up on top of it with the back wheels just touching the track.

 Eric Chapman could be seen every once in a while cruising around in "Christine" (Terry Dalton's old Volvo #70) and we finally saw it on track.

Sunday Class 1 (rear wheel drive, Rubber-to-ice):

What can I say, still no grip but the car ran a little smoother and I drove a little better but still 2nd last finishes. It's still running too rich for rubber. The Ov overheated on mock just before I went on track so popped the hood to check and squeezed the upper rad hose. I think there must have been an air lock as it cooled right down as I started onto track and stayed at normal temp throughout the race.

Ian Lok hauled up from Whitby to race SS1 on Sunday with the rejuvenated "blue flame" Ovlov but complained of a vibration from the drive train, cause yet to be determined. His brother Leon was also racing in SS1 with last year's Ovlov.

Tony Silvaggi raced well against Ahmad Khodkar but lost the turbo during the last race Saturday and trailered it home, he'll be back next weekend for sure. Lisa Shaw and Steffan Haas presented me with a couple dozen birthday cup cakes complete with candle and everyone around the table at Sunday dinner at The Dominion sang happy birthday - thanks for thinking of that guys.

A new floating inflatable pontoon style bridge has been installed just down river from the main street bridge crossing the Gull river for snowmobile use, too bad that wasn't there the winter Mike crossed the river on foot a few years back.

Really looking forward to next weekend as Tom P. says we may well be able to run the Menards in Metal-to-ice class as the weather looks like it will stay cold all week and allow him to get some ice down. Also next weekend is hosted by the DAC and we have our annual awards banquet on Saturday night so that will be fun too.

Results:
Usually posted a few days after the weekend ...
 http://casc.on.ca/iceRacing.php

Pics:

Courtesy Jimmy McGlade:
http://jimmy1.smugmug.com/Cars/Magnum-Ice-Racing-2010-TAC/11105379_paXYa#777830913_bFmnX

Scoty@rogers.com

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