DAC - Feb 6th & 7th, 2010
(Story and photography - Scott Miller)
Ice Race Journal Index
DAC -
Feb 6th & 7th, 2010
(Story and photography - Scott Miller)
Ice Race Journal Index
Read the disclaimer if you are prone to believing everything you read.
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An excellent weekend weather wise with temperatures topping around -10C and sunny both days and yes! ... Menards were allowed to run but with no practices with only a 6 lap qualifier and races reduced from 12 laps to only 8 laps. As a result track fees were reduced for the stud classes by $10 dollars.
A well run weekend overall, big thanks to my club, the Deutscher Automobil Club (D.A.C.), and to all club members, volunteers and of course the Minden Kinsmen for a successful weekend. I think I heard we had about 6 -7 inches of ice minimum at the start of races Saturday. There was a higher turnout of entries this weekend compared to the previous two probably due to the fact stud cars were allowed to run. I caught a short video clip of ice racing on the local "The Weathernetwork" channel Saturday night and had noticed a guy with a television video cam trackside earlier in the day, also Jim McGlade posted some photos of ice racing on the internet WeatherNetwork website.... Click This is the only weekend my wife Judy is attending ice racing this year, she had a great time although I could not convince her to ride as passenger with anyone. We stayed at the lovely Minden House B&B (my sponsor) in the "big room" upstairs, talk about luxury! The place was booked full with other DAC members as well. It was good joining them for lively conversation in the evening and around the breakfast table. Delicious huge breakfasts both Saturday and Sunday prepared us all for the calorie burning events and weather for the day to come. Thanks Gord and Leslie, may many more get to experience your wonderful hospitality. Both the MR2 and the Ovlov started no problem both days with Saturday morning temp about -17C. Since I am doing well with the MR2 in SS1 class (Street Studs rear wheel drive) and the S1 class (Menards - Metal-to-ice, rear wheel drive) was allowed to run this weekend I decided that I would use the MR2 in both SS1 and in S1. This meant tire changes on the MR2 throughout the weekend and that the Ovlov (normally entered in SS1) would not be driven.
So I offered it to my friend and fellow DAC member Rick Creuzburg who drove it in SS1. Rick used to icerace with me many years ago when we shared a 1980 BMW 320 and so he had a bit of a relearning curve what with the welded diff in the Ovlov. But by Sunday's last race he seemed to be doing really well and reported he'd had a good time.
Steve Drysdale agreed to help me with tire changes on the MR2 and all went smoothly, thanks Steve and Ian McIntyre for all your help. There was a small leak developed from the right axle seal at the diff in the MR2 but was deemed not significant and to keep an eye on it - so far so good. I am using a new HD camera in the car this weekend (Canon Powershot SD980is) that
produces 1280x720p high definition wide angle video and have recorded in-car footage from the MR2 in all the SS1 and S1 qualifiers and races. I am posting them all to Youtube so you will have the option of viewing them in HD (720p) and "full screen" by clicking the appropriate buttons on the Youtube player (see "Videos" at the bottom of this report). If your internet connection or machine causes them to playback too jerky then press pause and wait until the entire file is loaded in the player and then press play or choose a lower resolution like 480p. D.A.C. always
holds their annual awards banquet on the weekend that we host the ice
races and this year we partied it up at the "Gull on The Grill" (Grill
On the Gull for those who aren't dyslexic). Good to see such a healthy
turnout of members and volunteers. The meal was delicious as usual. I
won't cover the award winners here suffice to say I didn't win anything
:-)
Chris Bartels went as passenger with Stef Haas in the SS3 race Saturday and came close to experiencing a roll over as Stef clipped a bank and sent the car up on two wheels! The result was a bent control arm which was subsequently replaced and Stef was able to continue racing.
We had our first rollover of the weekend in a front wheel drive race. And now folks,
under the category - "A Funny Thing
Happened To Me On The Way To The Track This Morning" ...
was a problem, was there a red light situation?
So I look to the next set of corner lights on track, just past the kink,
and see that they are facing the "wrong" way! For a split second I think
perhaps someone has mistakenly turned that light
the wrong way but
then remember - duh! - I am going the wrong way! I got just past
the kink by this time and, red faced, turned around and drove back to
the track entrance where by this time they had started letting the other
cars out on track. Can you say brain fart! I even have it on video.
Apologies to all for that, I suppose I am so used to having someone
standing ontrack pointing the direction to go when I enter and am very
seldom first one up for a practice as I pit at the far end of the
fairground. I am just thankful that was only practice and that I was
able to provide such fodder for so many jokes (Raul would be proud).
Racing: Saturday Street Stud (SS1) in the MR2: Temp was -17C
in the morning and rose to about -10C by afternoon and sunny most of the
day. Started ahead of the other SS1 cars for the qualifier but about 2nd
or 3rd lap Tony McGrath pulled a nice slide job at the end of the
straight and passed me to hold on to 1st in spite of having to deal with
4x4 blockers and some SS1 backmarkers - nice driving Tony.
As I come up on the 1st corner at the end of the straight I had to avoid a collision with Ahmad (see 22 second video clip) which put me down from first to 3rd. I had to go wide around the back of his car after he clipped the inside snow bank and spun sideways in front of me (he wrecked his control arm but Tony subsequently replaced it and he was back racing). I consequently wound up in the "weeds" where I watched helplessly while slowly getting going as 2nd and 3rd place cars of Tony McGrath and Graham Lobban, both driving MR2's, got by the front of Ahmad's car to take 1st and 2nd. However, I was able to drive back to a 2nd place finish behind Graham and just ahead of Tony (complete video) . In the second race I noted that I had about 30% less grip running after the Menard race as they carve into the ice what could be described as a carpet of small bumps on the surface so that not all the smaller street studs find grip. After a few laps however this effect is lessened as the SS chew through that "pebbly" ice. Saturday Menards (S1 studs) in the MR2:
YES !!! Good
to be back in the race that the car was built for! The suspension
rebuild and new shocks work excellent and make the car much easier to
drive compared to last year with no shocks, one inch of rear toe-in,
worn out ball joints, no front sway bar etc etc etc. In fact the car
handles so smooth it beat several of the all-wheel-drive cars.
Jim Feeney was running in S1 and spun (I believe it was the last corner or the last lap of the last race Saturday) just around the sharp last corner onto the straight and scared the crap out of a few people, himself included, as you couldn't see his car until the last second when you came around the snow bank and whoa ! - there he was parked right up against the inside bank like he was hiding or something waiting to jump out at you and shout "BOOO"!!! Sunday Street Stud (SS1) in the MR2: Temp about the same as yesterday but sunnier. The MR2 just feels more smooth each time I drive it in street studs in fact several people commented on how smooth it was in the first race Sunday. Got great launches and basically raced about mid pack of the nine or so 4x4's. Cleaner racing from all 4x4's this weekend, thank you, but about 3 or 4 of them still seem to flit about the track a lot. I believe I won both races in Sunday however neither of the Lobbans were racing. Sunday Menards (S1 studs) in the MR2:
A beautiful
sunny conditions and good clean racing, spent most of the 1st race
behind Andrew Majik and Ian McIntyre until they both went wide on the
last corner of the second last lap and I took them both and held onto to
4th overall and 1st in class S1. Really enjoyed myself, no complaints, can't wait till next weekend, hope you enjoy the new videos, see you Saturday! Results: http://casc.on.ca/iceRacing.php Pics:
A large selection courtesy Jimmy McGlade: Another great selection courtesy PicsByVicsr:
Videos:
Alternately: Individual links to each race video in chronological order
1)
Saturday SS1 Practice 2)
Saturday SS1 Qaulifier 3) Saturday S1 Qualifier 4) Saturday SS1 1st race 5) Saturday S1 1st race 6) Saturday SS1 2nd race 7) Saturday S1 2nd race 8) Sunday S1 1st race 9) Sunday SS1 1st race 10) Sunday S1 2nd race 11) Sunday SS1 2nd race
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