44 replies to this topic

[RETROCRX]

Preet,

I'm a Mechanical design engineer at Multi.  I'm in the production engineering side though so I design production car hood and door hinges.  ooooo exciting huh?

As for Dick Barbour....um he's a big fella alright!!  He does seem like quite a nice guy though.  I just wonder where he got all his money to run the race team!  

We are actually running the cars out of Toronto if I understand correctly and Scott Maxwell will be doing all of the testing and development.  I'm with yah on the front engined thing, I can't understand why they would keep flogging a dead horse.  It'll be a 2 car team in the LMP 900 class, with John as lead driver on 1 and Didier DeRadiges as lead on the other.  John drove a Reynard-Judd this year for the record.  He drove a Lola-Nissan at LeMans in 2000 to a 675 class win with Scott and Greg Wilkins!

Personally I don't think John is a very good driver at all.  Shit this past summer he was holding up GT cars in an LMP 675.  To quote one of our mechanics, "He couldn't drive a nail into a piece of wood"....I tend to agree!  The guy didn't hit the same line once around corner 5 at the ALMS weekend at Mosport last summer!!!  Several of us at Multi all agree that if we were in the car and given 20 laps we'd be quicker than him!  He seems to be a Rent-A-Driver who just either dumps a lot of his cash in or has a really stupid personal sponsor!  Scott is 10X the driver John is and he doesn't have a steady drive! And don't even get me started on Poor David Empringham who should have a drive somewhere but has no personal sponsor!

Sorry, drivers who pay their way in frustrate me, especially when there are tons of good drivers out there with no ride!!

Anyway.....enough from me for now...this is etting off topic.

And Welcome to the board seeing as I haven't said so yet!!

Rob

[Preet]

Well, the business of racing is a very complex thing Rob.  Without these pay drivers, the racing scene would be barren.  True some drivers shouldn't be allowed to race, but this is not true for a vast majority of pay drivers.  I can't personally comment on John Graham as I've never seen him drive.

There used to be a driver in F1 who started out as a pay driver.  When he retired, he did so after winning 4 world championships.  Yup, Alain Prost started as a pay driver in F1.  Personally I think it would be a shame if he didn't drive in F1.

Michael Schumacher started as a pay driver.  In fact, you will never find a famous driver who wasn't a pay driver.  The difference is, they performed well enough to get offered paying contracts.  On the flip side there are people who will never get paid a salary to drive racecars for their entire careers.  Actually this is the majority of drivers.

I agree with you that not all good drivers are where they should be.  Maxwell and Emp, they should be getting rides in whatever series they want, fantastic drivers.  You know Ugo?  He was probably your classroom instructor at BFRA, he's got gobs of talent.  I've yet to see a student drive faster than he can.  And many students from the academy end up in the big time.  Unfortunately this is the racing life.  Plain and simple.  

There are many sayings in racing, like If you want to make a small fortune in racing, you better start with a large fortune.  Let me give you an example of budgets for various racing series.

Top team in Canadian Formula 1600 - $125,000 not including damage
USF2000 - $400,000 CDN
Atlantic - $1.5 Million

A driver has to provide sponsorship funding to cover this for the privelege of driving for a certain team.  I don't know anyone who gets paid by a team in any of those series.  They are all pay drives, or the drivers own the team.  Open wheel drivers don't get paid unless they are at the top level (F1, Champcars, IRL), and even then some are still pay drivers.

Depressing isn't it?  You have to remember, motorsports is a business first, a sport second.

But I understand the point you were making.  Sorry for the drawn out response.  There are a few drivers out there who just don't have what it takes yet they persist, and it sucks that other drivers can't have the same opportunities as these guys because they can't catch a break, weren't born the sons of oil barrons, etc.

Preet

[Preet]

Oops, forgot to answer some of your questions Rob.  Yes I've heard of Multimatic.  I'm not sure if these guys are directly associated with you, but the CIBC/Tim Hortons Mustang which I believe runs in SGS Grand Am Cup hold their promotional events at Mosport's DDT (Where you drove the formula cars).  I seem to recall seeing "multimatic" on their trailer.  What's the connection?

Second, is the solo car you refer to the Blue CRX?  That thing looks gorgeous from the pictures that I've seen of it.  Can you tell me the specific modifications/work you've done to it?  I'm very jealous of it, I must say.

We definitely have to go for a beer when I get back to Toronto.  Oh, and you still haven't told me who you know from HADA.  Just curious as to which sickos you know.  You may not know it, but everyone in HADA is crazy, we just don't let on. Heh heh...

Preet

[SlowRexer]

heh I guess this means you checked out the faq

welcome to the board

.  Don't know if I like the sound of carbs over winter though.  Start convincing.  

I've still got the stock carb (trying to swap it but still cant get my hands on an 84 or 85 accord carb)  in mine and so far its been holding up well but then again it hasnt exactly been a typical toronto winter and its my first one with a rex

[RETROCRX]

Hey Preet,

you definately don't have to tell me the economics of racing, I'm all too aware that you have buy your way in in the first place.  That's my problem, I can't afford a full racing school let alone a season racing a 1600!!  And yes it is depressing!!!

Multimatic runs the CIBC/Tim Horton's mustangs!!  In fact we like to call them the fastest street stock Mustangs on the planet!!  Check out our website www.multimatic.com and go to the motorsports section, it gives a big overview of what we do/did!!

As for Ugo, having talent.......no doubt!!  One of the guys I did my school with showed up in a brand new Ferrari 360 F1 and he let Ugo take it out after!!  Damn did he rape that car!!!  He only did 2 laps, but it definately worked the car harder that it had ever been worked before!!!!  I actually met Ugo before I went to the school when he was at my old College canvassing for employees for the summer marshalling at the school!  In fact he was going to come in and be guest speaker for me for a class project but had to cancel at the last minute!

The Solo car is the the Blue CRX or RETROCRX as the lisence plate reads!!  It's had very extensive reworking.  It's not 100% race prepped, but very close.  I've changed the motor to a dual cam ZC, all the suspension (bushings, springs, swaybars and dampers) has been upgraded.  I have extensively rebuilt and stiffened the unibody shell to cope with stiffer suspension.  It has also been fitted with a complete Integra brake system, front and rear discs all with larger calipers and a larger master cylinder also!  I figured, it better be able to stop and turn well enough to cope with the 135hp the motor turns out!!

As for who I know in HADA.  Chris P and his dad (Black 86 CRX and an S2000) and David (I can't remember his last name) who has a red 88 CRX!  I've met a few other guys but I can't remember their names!

I used to be a member of OMSC so I ran into them a lot at lapping days at the DDT!

Anyway....that's enough typing from me!

Rob

[BigGuy]

HI Preet.

     Welcome from the third member of RPR !!  I'm the old guy of the lot and I'm an old Porsche fanatic.  I'm still waiting for the right opportunity to buy something.  I'm a car guy,turned bike guy(cause it's a lot cheaper)back into a car guy because of the projects I have assisted Tom and Darren with.  It's great to get someone like yourself on the forum cause you sure sound fired up about this stuff and that's what we need.  I believe RPR is going to race at Lemans in about five years.  Just think man on the moon.  Keep up the enthusiastic posts and enjoy.  Merry Christmas!  Andy.

[Preet]

Hi Andy.  So you, Tom, and Darren are all of the RPR guys then, right?  Nice to meet you.  As I've said before, you guys have a great site.

Ah... just thinking of Lemans makes a chill run up my back!  Can you imagine driving down the Mulsanne straight?  Knowing all the legends who have driven that before?  In the most famous race the world has ever seen?  Pure magic.  Damn.

Rob:  Did you meet Chris and John from their 1600 days? Or just from lapping?  The David you're thinking about is probably David George.  If memory serves, he ended up putting a b16a into that Rex, and it is now gutted with a chromoly roll cage (half cage for now I think).  It is damn fast.  Twitchiest car I ever drove though.  I think he's sorted that out now though.  He was recently elected to vice-president of HADA.  Super cool guy.

BTW, anyone here going ice-racing this winter?, I think the season is starting up soon.  Not enough snow out here unless you're in the mountains!

Regards,
Preet

[RETROCRX]

I met Chris and John from lapping, but I was aware of their 1600 exploits.  I talked 1600 with Chris the last time I saw him!  As for David....that sounds right, I had heard he was putting a B16 in it!  I haven't seen him in a long time though!  Your right about the super cool thing though!

As for Ice Racing....a lot of folks from OMSC are running, but I can't afford a beater to race.  Only the beater I drive every day of the winter!!  

Let me know when you gat back in town, then you, me and all the RPR boys can get together.  Maybe we can all meet up at one of the indoor kating places and go fo a spin!!!!

Cheers

Rob

[Preet]

Mmmm, karting!  I don't know if I mentioned this earlier, I was the Competition Director for HADA Motorsport for just under 3 years.  Anyways, I get special deals from our karting track.  How does $40 a person for 130 laps sound?  We could use the format that I used for HADA: 2 qualifying sessions each, plus 2 races each.  Compare this to $20 for 20 laps you pay if you just walk in the door to basically any kart track in the GTA.  I have a membership to I think 4 different places.

Has anyone heard of Brencole?  Most people I know consider this the cheapest form of racing and without missing any of the excitement.  I hear their karts are capable of 100 km/h.  It's a very professionally run karting series (outdoor) in Hamilton.  If anyone is interested, I could ask the guys from HADA who do it for more information for you.

I'm no longer on the board of directors for HADA.  I was since it's inception back in, oh boy must've been 1997, initially as the secretary and social director for a year, then elected to 2 terms for competition director.  As soon as I was accepted to the academy though, I knew I wouldn't have enough time so I stepped down half-way through the second term.  Some of my best memories stem from those nutjobs.

Preet

[rpr]

That would be exceptionally cool if we could set that up. Make it a mini-CRX meet, with kart racing to bring the people in. Let us know what we have to do to get it setup.

[RETROCRX]

Brencole is a very cool way to go racing!!  I actually raced karts for a while but now my brother does and I just crew!  Maybe I will again, but that depends on the big car racing!!  We should definately set something up for when you get back!!

Rob

My brother's kart     VVVVV

[BigGuy]

Count me in.    Maybe we can do an endurance thing(warmup for Le Mans)  When do you get back Preet?  and were is the track you get the discount at?  Looking for ward to getting together.  Andy

[Preet]

Prokart is the track I get the discount at.  In terms of the track design, it isn't as good as Formula Kartways, but FK doesn't give good deals at all.  The cheapest they could do is twice the cost of Prokart.  FK is a great track though, big and they have an oval too.

Prokart's track is basically like this:

x x x x              x x x x x x
x      x              x          x
x      x              x          x
x      x              x          x
x      x              x          x
x      x              x          x
x      x              x          x
x      x              x          x
x      x x x x x x x           x
x                                 x
x                                 x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x  x
^
|
Turn One

It looks simple, but it is still challenging nonetheless.  Obviously the corners are not all 90 degrees, they're more flowing.  The main sweeper is more fun than you can imagine.  The surface in turn one is fairly slippery, and when you get up to speed, the fastest way around is flat on the throttle with about 15-20 degrees opposite steering.  Now, that feeling alone is worth the price of admission, but when you have a guy beside you and you're both trying to pass someone through there, it's a heart pounder.  MANY a driver stuff themselves (or get stuffed) in that exit wall.

I believe HADA organized an enduro event recently there and in addition to the regular winter karting challenge they put on, they have a separate enduro challenge.  The new competition director was telling me that the format they ran for that is 3 hours straight with teams of 2-5 people (4 recommended).  Each team payed $120, so $30 each for a team of 4.  I don't remember the specifics but refuelling was done to all karts at the same time, they had to stop on track at a siren, and was mostly an honour system thing making sure people stopped at the same time.  To properly run an endurance challenge we would need no less than 32 drivers (max 8 karts allowed on track at once x 4 people per team)  Unless you have less than 4/team, but then time in the kart gets excessive and I kid you not, people missed work the day after because they were so sore.

I would suggest running a simple individual event at first, then take it from there.  Or, you could sign up a team of 4 for one of HADA's enduros this year if you want.  Let me know if you guys want to do that, because if they aren't booked already, they will be soon.  Unfortunately the cost is $150/team for non-members.

I would STRONGLY recommend for anyone on this forum that is interested in doing lapping days, or other amateur motorsports in their Honda's to join HADA Motorsport Club.  The fee is $65/calendar year, but you pay almost half price for HADA lapping days, so if you do 2 you'd save more than $65.  In addition, the pool of expertise in HADA on driving in Solo II or I is worth the fee alone.  Sorry, I know this sounds like an ad for HADA, when I come back, I'll intoduce anyone interested.  We can go to a monthly meeting or just meet up at a Solo I or II and I'll make sure you all get a few laps as passengers with the HADA peeps.  I have a feeling you guys and HADA would benefit eachother greatly.

Anyways, my fingers are getting tired.  I'll type more at you later.  

Oh, and I get back last week of February.  I might drive the CRX from Vancouver (50 hour drive!), but I might just have it shipped.  I believe the heater core is leaking as when I put the heat on, the windows get foggy (coolant leak).  I'm thinking that's going to be a pain driving through BC, Alberta, and Manitoba in -30 degree weather.

Regards,
Preet

[rpr]

That all sounds great! Where is Prokart anyway? I am going to check out HADA, what is the website? And when you get here, we will definitely have to get together. Where will you be living in Toronto?

[RETROCRX]

Prokart is at 427 and the Queensway.  It's a shitty looking place compared to FK but the karts are OK and the racing is always fun!  I did an event there with 22 guys from my work last winter, it was a blast but we finished up at like 12:30 at night and all had to go to work the next day!!  I prefer FK just for the track but a change is always good.  speaking of which FK is supposed to be moving in Feb to a hanger at the old Downsview airport!  Could be interesting!!!  I'd be in for an enduro as long as I get to have my little bro on my team.  At 100lbs there's nobody who can even dream of keeping up with that kid, plus he ain't a half bad driver for a 16 year old!!!!

Tom, the HADA site is www.hadamotorsports.com it's a pretty decent site.  Take a look!!

Cheers

Rob