Calabogie Track Days

[Slick]

Originally Posted by jvincent

Thanks for the info, I was wondering if the extra camber was going to result in toe in or out.

Looks like I'll be working the phones tomorrow morning.

Depends where the steering rack is. If in front of wheels like most FR cars, results in toe-in but with our cars it's behind so more toe-out.

[Slick]

Originally Posted by jvincent

Thanks for the info, I was wondering if the extra camber was going to result in toe in or out.

Looks like I'll be working the phones tomorrow morning.

Not sure if you lined anything up but here's the info for Canadian Tire Carling:

Only speak with Ralf Koulaib (Shop Manager) in phone or in person and tell him you're referred by MCO. He will likely put only Phil on your alignment.
I have my wheels done there too and only Phil is allowed to touch them.

Both these guys are racers and understand the extra care needed when dealing with "car guys" as opposed to the general public and their soccer-mom vans.

613-725-3111


If you haven't researched alignment specs, go with:

Front:
Camber up to -2.5 to -3.0 (on stock springs with camber bolts you'd probably get max -0.5 to -1.0 so just max it out as even as you can)
Max caster
1/16" toe-out or zero (I prefer a bit of toe to help turn-in)

Rear:
Camber is not adjustable without lower arms but up to -2.0 for street driving
Zero to 1/16" toe-in (a bit of toe-in helps the car track better, many prefer zero toe on rear)

[jvincent]

Ralf is out today, so I'm going with plan B. This is what happens when you leave things to the last minute.

Thanks for the pointers BTW.

[Slick]

Great choice!

Originally Posted by normancw

I got my alignment and corner balance at MainStreet Auto in North Gower (run by Ken Baird, a local racer)
http://mainstreetottawa.com/MSRAindex.htm

Website looks terrible, but they know their stuff.

613 489-0948 Ken Baird
2319 Community Way, North Gower (by the Alfred Taylor Recreation Centre)
Hours: 8:00am to 5:00pm Weekdays

[FRS_Ken]

@normancw or @Slick ...
So will I ruin my 18x8 street tires (8,000km on them) Falken 512's - at CMP tomorrow or should I swap on the stock 17s??

[Slick]

Originally Posted by FRS_Ken

@normancw or @Slick ...
So will I ruin my 18x8 street tires (8,000km on them) Falken 512's - at CMP tomorrow or should I swap on the stock 17s??

Stock for sure, unless you have other plans for those tires?

Keep your streets as streets, will minimize the wear on those.

[jvincent]

Originally Posted by normancw

There were a LOT of bugs on Monday, so paper towels and window cleaner are also good to bring.

Just watched your HPDE video. You weren't kidding about the bugs.

[jvincent]

Managed to get in at the Frisby in Kanata for an alignment. Since I wanted a custom, they asked me to go in the back while they did it, which was nice.

They measured first and the only thing at was off was the front toe as expected and I had them set that to square. Rear toe was 6* in for both sides.

Front camber ended up being -1.0* L and -1.2* right.

Funny thing was I had a collection of shop guys under the car checking it out. They noticed my Fumoto valve on the oil pan right away.

[Slick]

Hope the weather changes vs the forecast, looks nasty.

See you guys in the classroom tomorrow!

[UMB FR-S]

Hopefully the weather is good I'll be there bright and early also!

Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk

[jvincent]

Good to see all the FRS guys out today. We were well represented.

I personally had a blast. Unfortunately due to operator error I didn't get a video of any of my laps.

Tough break for Norm today, but he handled it well.

[UMB FR-S]

videos of my best laps

last lap in the vid was my fastest of the day with about a 2:36

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QtRRr0GpxTk"]chasing the calabogie mustang - YouTube[/ame]

[jvincent]

Random lunch time musings.......

I had watched a bunch of Calabogie track videos before Friday and to be honest I never really got that much out of them. I found I was mostly looking at the car ahead and not really knowing what to look at.

Watching Kenny's videos yesterday and today I found it MUCH easier to follow what was going on after having actually driven the track.

I found that as I was watching the videos I was looking for the turn-in points and apexes as if I was in my own car. Having even just the one day of real experience helped a lot.

Other random thoughts from the day.
- The experience drivers really use the whole track. My instructor (Manny) was always super wide exiting the turns compared to me.

- There's a lot to keep track of. I forgot to check my tire pressure during the day and my last session as I was able to get my speed up I started to lose grip with the tires.

- Lots of room for improvement. My best lap time on the session I recorded was 2:59. I did two more sessions after that which were both faster, but still a long way to go.

[Slick]

Great job! It's all about gradual but safe improvement in driving faster and feeling the car and how it behaves at the limit and getting closer to that limit.

I'd lie if I said I don't look at laptimes, but I do it to validate what I'm doing. If I take Temptation differently, and the car feels good, I'll look at that sector to see if I was actually slower or faster, as sometimes it may "feel" faster but be slower and vice-versa. So just don't use it as your ultimate barometer.

And I think that looking at videos of a track before ever driving it should only ever be used to memorize the turns, not what a driver is doing. Great observation there of your before/after experience.