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BMW Club of Canada | |
| Club Racing Views | ||
by Phil Abrami (514 487-4646, pabrami@alcor.concordia.ca)
For the first time in its history, the BMW Club of Canada (BMW CC) organized a club race at Mosport in conjunction with a driving school on the September 10-12 weekend. Feedback from participants, organizers, sponsors and guests tells me that "Mosport Dayze 1" (MD1) was a substantial success. In addition, we held our third and best joint event with the Boston chapter of the BMW Club of America (BMW CCA) at LeCircuit, Mt. Tremblant on the July 30-August 1 weekend. Bimmers Across the Border III (BAB3) drew a record field of school and club race entrants to the partially repaved track in the heart of the Laurentians during the weekend of the blues festival.
Personally, I am pleased with the progress made this year to encourage club members who wish to get involved with gentlemanly (and lady-like!) racing of their BMWs. Club racing (CR) is designed to take members a step beyond the level of participation they currently enjoy in our driving schools programme by providing a competitive, but safe, environment for participation.
In this installment of Club Racing Views, I'd like to review some of the highlights of the year from my position at National Race Co-Chair and BMW CCA Club Racing Advisory Committee member. Its been a year of great progress but not without some controversy.
The Racers
We began the year with only a small handful of club members with CR licenses, only a subset of whom were active. Our first objective was to dramatically increase the number of licensed racers. I'm happy to report that we more than exceeded our expectations. We now have 15 race license holders: Philip Abrami, Mike Boekdrukker, Nick Botsinis. Peter Botsinis, Bill Chalkias, Frank Coliviras, Steve Coliviras, Markus Glarner, Frank Gray, Peter Hanson, Peter Koleros, Sandy Macnie, Bob Munro, Jamil Murni, and Arum Tourikian.
While we only had a few BMW CC members take to the track and race at LeCircuit, we had the largest field of Canadians ever to participate in a club race at Mosport for MD1. We will want to duplicate and even enlarge our field of Canadian entrants for MD2 next year and see what we can do to mirror this success at Mt.Tremblant for BAB4.
We've been aided in our efforts to encourage Canadian CR license holders by Scott and Fran Hughes, American National Chair and Registrar, respectively. Normally, All CR license holders must be members of the BMW CCA. Scott has allowed Canadian applicants for licenses to substitute membership in the BMW CC. Fran worked energetically with us this year to process license applications and to insure that only qualified participants took to the track. Fran checks the credentials and references of all applicants carefully to insure that each participant has the skills and attitudes necessary to participate safely and enjoyably in CR. The care and concern that Fran shows in scrutinizing license applicants is just one example of how the Hughes make the program a safe and successful one.
The Races
Two of the approximately two dozen BMW CCA club races were held in Canada in 1999. It is my opinion that they were two of the best not only because of our great tracks but because of how well they were planned and organized by some very dedicated volunteers from BMW CC. My heartfelt thanks to them for jobs well done.
Bimmers Across the Border III at Mt. Tremblant, Quebec Friday was an optional lapping day run under school rules for competition license holders but mandatory for provisional and rookie license holders. Many of the racers took advantage of the lapping day to re-familiarize themselves with the course and learn how to negotiate the re-paved turn 7 now that the big bump is gone.
Saturday was devoted to racer practice and qualifying including practice starts. In CR, we devote part of one session to practice starts with trailing and following pace cars to help keep things moving. Everyone gets a chance to start at various places in the pack and to roar down the front straight with cars all around.
Saturday concluded with a 30-minute sprint race and a field of 23 racers. There was lots of close racing but an unfortunate incident in Namerow corner which brought the pace car out and bunched the field. Results of the Saturday race determined the starting grid for the Sunday enduro.
| Mt. Tremblant Regional Race Results Mt. Tremblant Boston Chapter BMW CCA & BMWCC BMW CCA Club Racing July 31, 1999 |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Race 1 Classes: All classes | |||||||||
| Course Length: 2.65 Miles | |||||||||
| Race Length: 13 Laps | Fastest Lap of Race: | ||||||||
| Race Distance: 34.45 Miles | Car #: 70 | ||||||||
| Elapsed Time: 31:12.507 | Time: 1:56.001 | ||||||||
| Average MPH: 66.23 | MPH: 82.241 | ||||||||
| Pos. | Car | Class Pos. | Class | Driver | Make | Laps | Time Behind | Fastest Lap | MPH |
| 1 | 70 | 1 | BM | Stickley, Charles | M3 E36 | 13 | 31:12.507 | 01:56.001 | 82.24 |
| 2 | 09 | 1 | DM | Fitzgerald, Steve | 320 | 13 | 00:20.417 | 02:02.587 | 77.82 |
| 3 | 30 | 1 | HP | Orwicz, Paul | M3 CSL | 13 | 00:21.893 | 02:02.378 | 77.96 |
| 4 | 80 | 1 | IP | Checca, Ron | 88 M3 | 13 | 00:22.281 | 02:02.543 | 77.85 |
| 5 | 91 | 1 | JS | Gengaro, Chris | 88 M3 | 13 | 00:26.613 | 02:02.410 | 77.93 |
| 6 | 63 | 2 | DM | Salama, Don | M3 E30 | 13 | 00:29.576 | 02:00.403 | 79.23 |
| 7 | 77 | 2 | JS | Klein, Peter | M3 E30 | 13 | 00:31.762 | 02:04.228 | 76.79 |
| 8 | 05 | 2 | IP | Weber, Richard | M3 E30 | 13 | 00:33.164 | 02:05.747 | 75.87 |
| 9 | 16 | 3 | JS | Ferguson, Fred | 88 M3 | 13 | 00:35.093 | 02:05.340 | 76.11 |
| 10 | 52 | 4 | JS | Abrami, Philip | M3 E30 | 13 | 00:45.031 | 02:09.425 | 73.71 |
| 11 | 33 | 5 | JS | Jervinis, James | M3 E30 | 13 | 00:45.856 | 02:09.020 | 73.94 |
| 12 | 153 | 1 | HS | Hahn, Fred | M3 E36 | 13 | 00:55.698 | 02:10.807 | 72.93 |
| 13 | 23 | 2 | HS | Landwehr, Fred | M3 E36 | 13 | 00:56.963 | 02:11.765 | 72.40 |
| 14 | 03 | 6 | JS | Allaway, David | M3 E30 | 13 | 00:57.415 | 02:11.225 | 72.70 |
| 15 | 78 | 1 | EM | Karlin, Ross | 78 320i | 13 | 00:57.926 | 02:11.454 | 72.57 |
| 16 | 13 | 1 | KP | Jackson, Steve | 325is | 13 | 00:58.671 | 02:11.179 | 72.73 |
| 17 | 32 | 1 | KS | McIntyre, David | 89 325 | 13 | 00:59.646 | 02:10.717 | 72.98 |
| 18 | 81 | 7 | JS | Colquhuon, Joe | M3 E30 | 13 | 01:07.578 | 02:13.397 | 71.52 |
| 19 | 46 | 3 | IP | Ball, Whitman | M3 E30 | 12 | -1 Lap | 02:02.970 | 77.58 |
| 20 | 200 | 1 | JP | Boekdrukker, Mike | 88 M3 | 11 | -2 Laps | 02:02.194 | 78.07 |
| 21 | 87 | 8 | JS | Mike DeCunzo | M3 E30 | 6 | DNF | 02:11.468 | 72.57 |
| 22 | 45 | 1 | AM | Gray, Frank | M3 E30 | 5 | DNF | 02:02.391 | 77.95 |
| 23 | 47 | 2 | BM | Lombardo, Ernest | 95 M3 | 1 | DNF | 02:10.908 | 72.88 |
There was a one hour endurance race at midday on Sunday. CR enduros require a mandatory five-minute pit stop to allow for driver changes and refueling. Especially when you're chasing someone down or someone is chasing you down, an hour of intense concentration and physical exertion is a long time. That's why some folks use co-drivers but mainly its to share the fun with a buddy.
It was unusually warm for our weekend in the Laurentians. Virtually every racer who pitted had vapor coming from their front wheel wells during the pit stops. Fortunately, everyone tested their brakes on exit and there were no brake failures due to boil-over.
Both the endurance race and sprint race were won outright by Chuck Stickley in his A-Modified E36 M3. But there was lots of close racing in the field and most class winners had their hands full, loving every minute of it. And Chuck would have his comeuppance at Mosport.
| Mt. Tremblant Enduro Race Results Mt. Tremblant Boston Chapter BMW CCA & BMWCC BMW CCA Club Racing August 1, 1999 |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Race 2 Classes: All classes | |||||||||
| Course Length: 2.65 Miles | |||||||||
| Race Length: 28 Laps | Fastest Lap of Race: | ||||||||
| Race Distance:74.2 Miles | Car #: 70 | ||||||||
| Elapsed Time: 1:00:18.844 | Time: 1:54.449 | ||||||||
| Average MPH: 73.81 | MPH: 83.356 | ||||||||
| Pos. | Car | Class Pos. | Class | Driver | Make | Laps | Time Behind | Fastest Lap | MPH |
| 1 | 70 | 1 | BM | Stickley, Charles | M3 E36 | 28 | 1:00:18.844 | 01:54.449 | 83.36 |
| 2 | 30 | 1 | HP | Orwicz, Paul | M3 CSL | 28 | 01:48.652 | 01:58.416 | 80.56 |
| 3 | 09 | 1 | DM | Fitzgerald,Steve | 320 | 27 | - 1 lap | 02:01.708 | 78.38 |
| 4 | 05 | 1 | IP | Weber, Richard | M3 E30 | 27 | 01:14.681 | 02:03.184 | 77.45 |
| 5 | 77 | 1 | JS | Klein, Peter | M3 E30 | 27 | 01:15.448 | 02:03.303 | 77.37 |
| 6 | 80 | 2 | IP | Checca, Ron | 88 M3 | 26 | -2 Laps | 02:01.961 | 78.22 |
| 7 | 16 | 2 | JS | Ferguson, Fred | 88 M3 | 26 | 01:37.338 | 02:04.540 | 76.60 |
| 8 | 153 | 1 | HS | Hahn, Fred | M3 E36 | 26 | 01:51.490 | 02:03.454 | 77.28 |
| 9 | 33 | 3 | JS | Jervinis, James/Serdar,Luka | M3 E30 | 26 | 02:20.698 | 02:06.016 | 75.70 |
| 10 | 52 | 4 | JS | Abrami, Phil /Stormer, Rick | M3 E30 | 25 | -3 Laps | 02:08.003 | 74.53 |
| 11 | 03 | 5 | JS | Allaway, David | M3 E30 | 25 | 00:26.331 | 02:09.171 | 73.86 |
| 12 | 13 | 1 | KP | Jackson, Steve | 325is | 25 | 00:29.359 | 02:10.497 | 73.11 |
| 13 | 81 | 6 | JS | Colquhuon, Joe | M3 E30 | 25 | 00:40.378 | 02:09.749 | 73.53 |
| 14 | 32 | 1 | KS | McIntyre, David | 89 325 | 25 | 00:44.637 | 02:11.406 | 72.60 |
| 15 | 23 | 2 | HS | Landwehr, Fred | M3 E36 | 24 | -4 Laps | 02:07.229 | 74.98 |
| 16 | 91 | 2 | KP | Gengaro, Chris | 93 325is | 23 | DNF | 02:02.907 | 77.62 |
| 17 | 46 | 3 | IP | Ball, Whitman | M3 E30 | 20 | DNF | 02:01.145 | 78.75 |
| 18 | 63 | 2 | DM | Salama, Don | M3 E30 | 19 | DNF | 01:58.730 | 80.35 |
| 19 | 78 | 1 | EM | Karlin, Ross | 78 320i | 12 | DNF | 02:10.325 | 73.20 |
| 20 | 200 | 1 | JP | Boekdrukker, Mike | 88 M3 | 5 | DNF | 02:01.691 | 78.40 |
| Car 80 assessed 1 lap penalty for excessive speed in pit lane | |||||||||
| Car 23 assessed 2 lap penalty for pitting after 50 minutes and refueling infraction | |||||||||
Mosport Dayze I The most anticipated weekend of the year was September 10-12. Some of us worked for almost a year to get the event approved by BMW CC and by BMW CCA and organized. There were many details to arrange, large and small: special insurance was required; we planned for certified corner workers, two ambulances, and a flat bed; we arranged for a CR race steward, tech steward, and a timing and scoring steward; we booked the hotel and arranged for a banquet; there were sponsors to be gotten and plaques to make; we had to come up with a schedule for a full school and a race weekend; we helped get drivers licensed and worked on advertising the event; and so on.
By the time MD1 came around we had the experience of doing three large, joint school and race events at Mt. Tremblant with the Boston chapter but this was the first weekend we got to do solo. Would we spread our wings and fly like eagles or fall on our faces and look like a gaggle of turkeys?
We soared! No one could have asked for a better inaugural event at Mosport. For the first time in a long time BMW Canada was an official presence. Tobias Nickel and Oonagh Baerveldt from BMW Canada Corporate Communications were there and provided us with the official pace car, a brand new E46 328ic. Peter Gregory of Tire Works, along with Pirelli Canada, were there all weekend providing free tire service to everyone. John Dimoff, Raven Performance, also lent his support to the event and it was great to see the decals from a Canadian company on all those race cars. And we attracted 19 racer drivers in 16 BMW race cars to our first ever solo school/race weekend.
Since this was the first club race at Mosport, and, well, because it was Mosport, we decided to include Friday lapping for all the racers as part of their registration. In addition, we arranged with Derek Hanson to serve as race coach and mentor. On Friday, before the track was open for lapping, Derek conducted a walk and drive around the course stopping at strategic corners to discuss the racing line. An hour later the racers were still spellbound. Following lunch and a couple of lapping sessions, the racers headed to the classroom for another session with Derek. And much to my delight, EVERYONE attended-a testament to Derek's knowledge of the track and ability to communicate effectively to a very expert group of learners. Thank you, Derek!
Things started to get serious on Saturday. Full nomex, no passengers, passing in the corners, and so on throughout the practice and qualifying sessions. The tone for the day was set when the big rig pulled up and a pro team scrambled to unload a super exotic LeMans prototype LOLA chassis racer with a twin turbo Ford V8 power plant. During our lunch break everyone was treated to the sight and sound of Scott Maxwell circling the track with lap times around 1:15.
By the end of the day, we were ready to race. A short, but intense, 30 minute sprint race brought the day's track events to a close. And for the first time ever a Canadian stood atop the victory stand. Steve Colivaros has the distinction of being the first Canadian winner of a BMW club race.
Now before anyone gets upset that I'm emphasizing the overall win too much, let me also say that there were battles throughout the field which made things exciting for both the racers and the spectators. Remember club racing is about participating more than its about winning outright or even in class. Even us slow pokes at the back of the pack were having fun.
I had a race long battle with Joe Colquhon. He was gradually gaining on me as my tires went away. I was relieved to see the starter hold up four fingers indicating four laps to go, then three, then two, and then the last lap. Neither of us made any mistakes and Joe was right behind me. Okay, he's faster than me down the back straight. Gotta build up a lead through four and five. Out of three into four; full power, no lift, and no brake. Under the bridge and to the left, heavy braking, downshift to third, and up the hill and onto the rumble strip. Okay don't brake and turn in just right to exit at 5k rpms. Did it! But what's this? The car's bogging down. Oh !@#$. I'm starting to run out of gas.
Drag race up the back straight but the loss of momentum means its no contest. Joe's gonna pull me. Here he comes. OK, give him room on the left. Take the right side and see if there's room to take the racing line through eight. Yes. Its there. We're side-by-side through 8 and I gradually regain the lead as we go through nine together, and then 10. I just beat him to the finish line. What a great race for…tenth place!
After track festivities included a nice buffet catered by Mosport Concessionaires and lots of conversation. One of the better ones was whether driving the ideal line down the back straight was blocking.
| Mosport Sprint Race Results BMW Club of Canada & BMW CCA Club Racing September 11, 1999 |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Race 1 Classes: All classes | |||||||||
| Course Length: 2.459 Miles | |||||||||
| Race Length: 19 Laps | Fastest Lap of Race: | ||||||||
| Race Distance: 46.72 Miles | Car #: 147 | ||||||||
| Elapsed Time: 30:23.904 | Time: 1:33.718 | ||||||||
| Average MPH: 92.22 | MPH: 94.458 | ||||||||
| Pos. | Car | Class Pos. | Class | Driver | Make | Laps | Time Behind | Fastest Lap | MPH |
| 1 | 147 | 1 | AM | Coliviras, Frank & Steve | 89 E30 M3 | 19 | 30:23.904 | 01:33.718 | 94.46 |
| 2 | 70 | 1 | BM | Stickley, Charles | M3 E36 | 19 | 00:04.799 | 01:34.936 | 93.25 |
| 3 | 47 | 2 | BM | Lombardo, Ernest | 95 M3 | 19 | 01:34.297 | 01:38.770 | 89.63 |
| 4 | 80 | 1 | IP | Checca, Ron | M3 E30 | 19 | 01:34.685 | 01:39.323 | 89.13 |
| 5 | 20 | 1 | JP | Boekdrukker, Mike | 88 M3 | 18 | -1 Lap | 01:40.785 | 87.83 |
| 6 | 67 | 1 | HS | Kissinger, George | M3 E36 | 18 | 00:05.722 | 01:43.806 | 85.28 |
| 7 | 77 | 1 | JS | Klein, Peter | M3 E30 | 18 | 00:06.271 | 01:43.835 | 85.25 |
| 8 | 118 | 2 | JP | Chalkais, Bill | 89 E30 M3 | 18 | 00:23.392 | 01:44.479 | 84.73 |
| 9 | 671 | 2 | JS | Reid, Brian | 88 M3 | 18 | 00:27.797 | 01:44.593 | 84.64 |
| 10 | 52 | 3 | JS | Abrami, Phil | 88 E30 M3 | 17 | -2 Laps | 01:51.616 | 79.31 |
| 11 | 81 | 4 | JS | Colquhuon, Joe | M3 E30 | 17 | 00:00.298 | 01:50.701 | 79.97 |
| 12 | 102 | 2 | AM | Botsinis, Nick & Peter | 85 325is | 16 | -3 Laps | 01:34.974 | 93.21 |
| 13 | 23 | 2 | HS | Landwehr, Fred | M3 E36 | 16 | 01:50.961 | 01:53.718 | 77.85 |
| 14 | AM | Gray, Frank & Hanson, Peter | 88 E30 M3 | DNS | |||||
| 15 | JS | Ferguson, Fred | 88 E30 M3 | DNS | |||||
| 16 | AM | Macnie, Sandy | 320 | DNS | |||||
We got one practice session in before the midday endurance race. We were delighted that Sandy Macnie and his crew managed to get his car onto the track and Sandy turned some impressive times in the morning. Even Marcus Glarner came by to wish us all luck and say how disappointed he was not to be racing . Next year, Marcus.
We completed ceremonial and pace laps before the green flag was dropped. Leading the way on the ceremonial lap was another first for club racing. Roger Edson brought out his beautiful K1200 RS Beemer and led the field around the course by motorcycle. I hope this is an annual tradition but with a few more of those beautiful bikes next time.
Off we roared at the drop of the green. Very quickly the modified cars of Botsinis and Macnie, who started at the back of the pack, were passing slower cars. But everyone did as they were supposed to and things sorted themselves out nicely.
Unfortunately, Sandy's race was short-lived. He picked up some track debris which damaged one of his twin turbos. He parked it for the day after only two laps.
Chuck Stickley was determined to avenge his loss of the previous day. He pulled out all the stops and built what seemed like a commanding lead on the second place Colivaros car. But not quite halfway through the race, Bill Chalkias put his E30 M3 gently on its side in the tire wall in corner two-a tire had gone flat. Bill was fine and his car suffered little damage but the course went full yellow and the pace car came out.
And this was where the extra drama of an endurance race came fully into play. In club racing, an endurance race requires every car to come into the pits for a mandatory five-minute stop. You may re-fuel and change drivers or not but you must stop. Timing is done by each team but checked by timing and scoring. Leave too early and it's a penalty as a couple of our racers learned later. There are a few more rules too but chief among these is that you cannot pit under a full course yellow. But you can pit legally when only one corner is yellow as some of the racers succeeded in doing. Like it or not, every position was not determined by actions on the track; skill and luck in the pits counted too.
It was awhile before Bill's car was extricated from the tirewall. This allowed the field to bunch together again behind the pace car. Chuck's commanding lead was gone. And while Chuck had won the first half of the endurance race, the Colivaros brothers won the second half. A Canadian sweep! Small consolation to Chuck that he recorded the fastest lap of the weekend.
| Mosport Endurance Race Results BMW Club of Canada & BMW CCA Club Racing September 12, 1999 |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Race 2 Classes: All classes | |||||||||
| Course Length: 2.459 Miles | |||||||||
| Race Length: 29 Laps | Fastest Lap of Race: | ||||||||
| Race Distance: 46.72 Miles | Car #: 70 | ||||||||
| Elapsed Time: 1:0016.226 | Time: 1:33.233 | ||||||||
| Average MPH: 70.99 | MPH: 94.949 | ||||||||
| Pos. | Car | Class Pos. | Class | Driver | Make | Laps | Time Behind | Fastest Lap | MPH |
| 1 | 147 | 1 | AM | Coliviras, Frank & Steve | 89 E30 M3 | 29 | 01:00:16.226 | 01:33.734 | 94.44 |
| 2 | 70 | 1 | BM | Stickley, Charles | M3 E36 | 29 | 00:35.349 | 01:33.233 | 94.95 |
| 3 | 102 | 2 | AM | Botsinis, Nick & Peter | 85 325is | 28 | -1 Lap | 01:35.017 | 93.17 |
| 4 | 47 | 2 | BM | Lombardo, Ernest | 95 M3 | 28 | -1 Lap | 01:38.862 | 89.54 |
| 5 | 80 | 1 | IP | Checca, Ron | M3 E30 | 28 | 00:04.017 | 01:40.309 | 88.25 |
| 6 | 77 | 1 | JS | Klein, Peter | M3 E30 | 28 | 00:40.260 | 01:42.847 | 86.07 |
| 7 | 671 | 2 | JS | Reid, Brian | 88 M3 | 28 | 00:53.466 | 01:45.594 | 83.83 |
| 8 | 67 | 1 | HS | Kissinger, George | M3 E36 | 27 | -2 Laps | 01:43.663 | 85.40 |
| 9 | 81 | 3 | JS | Colquhuon, Joe | M3 E30 | 27 | 02:16.975 | 01:50.445 | 80.15 |
| 10 | 23 | 2 | HS | Landwehr, Fred | M3 E36 | 26 | -3 Laps | 01:52.001 | 79.04 |
| 11 | 52 | 4 | JS | Abrami, Phil | 88 E30 M3 | 26 | 00:06.188 | 01:52.684 | 78.56 |
| 12 | 20 | 1 | JP | Boekdrukker, Mike | 88 M3 | 16 | DNF | 01:41.716 | 87.03 |
| 13 | 118 | 2 | JP | Chalkais, Bill | 89 E30 M3 | 15 | DNF | 01:44.664 | 84.58 |
| 14 | 35 | 3 | AM | Macnie, Sandy | 320 | 2 | DNF | 01:43.673 | 85.39 |
| 15 | AM | Gray, Frank & Hanson, Peter | 88 E30 M3 | DNS | |||||
| 16 | JS | Ferguson, Fred | 88 E30 M3 | DNS | |||||
| Cars 67 & 102 assessed one lap penalties for insufficient time in pits. | |||||||||
The aftermath of MD1 A whole bunch of folks took some risks and worked awfully hard to bring club racing and a third great BMW CC driving school weekend to Mosport. I would especially like to thank my race co-chair, Frank Gray, and other National Directors including Rob Foreman, John Dimoff, Rolf Lange, and Steve Arlauskas. Derek Hanson was a wonderful race mentor; Michael Coates took some great photos; Lee Vuong made a terrific poster; and Blake Nancarrow posted all our stuff on the web site. We benefited from having some together race stewards in Stan Parker, Peter Borsel, and Arlan Pool. Finally, the help and encouragement we received from Fran and Scott Hughes made the event possible. Thanks to all of them and everyone who got into the spirit of being contributing members of our club of enthusiasts.
The satisfaction of our toil is knowing that we did it. We also learned we did our first club race well via some unsolicited testimonials from the racers:
We all have our favorite tracks. Mine is now Mosport. It is extremely fast and suddenly slow. It has simple and complex linked turns. The two blind entry (the bottom drops out AND you need to turn in smoothly, or else) turns will send your kidneys to your throat every single time. Familiarity does not change the rush. It has sudden major elevation changes, both up and down. Let's not forget that it is one and one half car widths wide in almost all of the turns, maybe. This makes passing very exciting. That is, unless you have the HP to pass at the end of the one long very uphill straight. We went out to look at the track during a school session. Big mistake! When we saw how narrow the track really is, we all just looked at each other and said "Oh my that is narrow". It appears MUCH wider from the car at speed. The new ownership (Panoz) is going to widen Mosport in the near future. I hope that it won't completely change the venue. My very close second is (was, as I have not been there since the changes) Sears Point. The weekend was blessed with perfect weather. We got plenty of track time and had a good dinner at the track on Saturday night. The corner workers were the best. No erroneous Blue flags. When you saw a passing flag, it was real. None of the typical Bogus Blues where you have lapped someone and YOU get the Blue. Thanks to the Canadians again! You folks from South of the Border have just missed two great events. If you missed Mt. Tremblant (the Blues Festival alone is reason enough to attend this weekend) and Mosport, you owe it to yourself to go next year.
Peter Klein #77 JS
Those of you who did not attend the Club Races at Mosport this past weekend, you missed one heck of a great time. Phil Abrami, Frank Gray and the BMW Car Club of Canada really put on a first-class, well organized event. The race stewards and especially the flaggers were top-notch. The Canadian GT racers finally gave Chuck Stickley some great competition too. I think it's safe to say those of us who attended had a very good weekend and agree that Mosport is a very challenging and fun track. I had a wonderful time, and Mosport is a great track. I certainly do hope there will be another race next year.
Ron Checca #80 IP
Thanks to Phil, Frank and the rest of the folks from the Great White North for hosting a great event. I'm looking forward to visiting Mosport many times in the coming years.
Brian Reid
Us, them, and we
My biggest disappointment of the MD1 weekend was learning afterwards that a small number of club members complained about what they thought was loss of track time to the racers. I've heard similar grumblings before about the BAB events so I thought I'd air out the issue here.
As I've already made clear, I think this was the single best weekend the BMW CC has ever held. And from the feedback we've gotten from racers and club members alike, there are quite a few folks who share this view. Its going to be a long winter of waiting and anticipating before we get back on track again. I think we accomplished a great deal this weekend to draw new enthusiasts to the club, to invigorate old ones, and to develop external links (e.g., Pirelli and BMW Canada) of strategic importance.
Otherwise, it is my belief that the BMW Club of Canada, its members, executive, and chapters should welcome enthusiasts of all sorts and encourage various forms and degrees of enjoyment of the marque. This suggests that we exercise a degree of tolerance and flexibility towards others whose interests and passions may be somewhat different from our own.
The club racers in attendance at Mosport are all members of either the American or Canadian clubs (and some are members of both). They were there to enjoy Mosport and by all accounts they did. While they may have been responsible for certain delays in the schedule, they were certainly not responsible for all of the delays or even half of them. Furthermore, I believe they brought special things to the weekend which we have not ever seen before at a BMW CC event at Mosport. These included: their special knowledge about, and enthusiasm for, BMWs; their skill at driving; the excitement of the races; and so on.
It distresses me to think that any of our club members view on track delays as caused by a particular faction or group. I don't like the delays when they happen, but I don't single out the organizers, instructors, racers, advanced students, intermediate students, or novice students when they make a mistake that causes a delay. I prefer us to think that we are in this together rather than to think in terms of "them vs. us".
It is also the case that the addition of a third weekend at Mosport in 1999 for the BMW CC came about after I contacted track management about holding a joint school and race weekend. Eventually we were awarded the extra date. In planning this year's Mosport Dayze event, it was always my intention, supported by the BMW CC directors, to bring something extra to the members of the club. This is also the way I approached the organization of the three Bimmers Across the Border events. In each case, I encouraged the addition of a weekend to the club driving school schedule in order to hold a club race in combination with a driving school. In short, by hosting the joint weekends we added track time, not lost it.
Furthermore, the experience we gained at our other club races helped me and the other MD1 organizers to develop a schedule to accommodate everyone and minimize delays and/or shortened sessions. For example, wherever possible racer run groups were scheduled immediately before lunch breaks or at the end of the day. At MD1, we invited Derek Hanson to insure the racers learned the track quickly and drove it with an understanding of its challenges.
Nevertheless, this was our first solo event of this sort and I'm sure we'll do it better next year. We will have a better schedule, better organization, and experienced volunteers to make the MD2 weekend better yet. And please, if you have any suggestions, please pass them my way. Otherwise, get involved yourself by helping us plan and run the event.
I believe the record number of driving school applications, particularly at these joint events, tells us that the inclusive approach of the BMW CC is successful and will continue to be so for the foreseeable future. Alternately, members who do not wish to participate in events where racers are present may elect from a host of alternatives including lapping days and solo one organizations.
I was especially pleased that we had a record number of Canadian participants in the club races at Mosport. I'm just as happy that for the first time ever, a Canadian won a club race. I think there is clear evidence of a growing enthusiasm for this aspect of our hobby and one which I will continue to work hard to support.
I am going to ask the national directors and members of the BMW CC to renew their commitment to club racing. I want to make our races at Tremblant and Mosport annual events but make them bigger (i.e., more race entrants) and better each time. I want to build on the number of Canadian racers we had this year and expand the programme both east and west across the country. I think we can do that best by working together to support each others efforts and by pitching in and lending a hand when there is work to be done to make things better.
That's where I stand. And you?
